[money4me247]

I like his Audio Ethos #1: "1. I listen to music, not equipment." Why bother even being on Head fi? A generic mp3 player and the earbuds that come with it should be more than sufficient for you to "listen to music".

 
I think he is on head-fi because of a common shared love of music, headphones, and audio equipment... and the amazingly friendly atmosphere =P
 
I personally love reading about both objective data (such as graphs) and subjective data (impressions & personal preference). What he said actually makes sense. We don't invest the ridiculous amount of money into headphones & other equipment to make graphs. We all are spending the money for personal enjoyment of music. Graphs are one great objective tool for comparison, but not the end-goal.

 

[georgelai57]

Headfonia's review is up http://www.headfonia.com/hifiman-he-560-xl-ortho/

 

[398698]

  Headfonia's review is up http://www.headfonia.com/hifiman-he-560-xl-ortho/

When I received the first HE-560 the lovely wooden box was damaged. Not only that but it was full of greasy finger prints under the wrapping. Not a good start but ok it’s just a box, right? The cups on the new Hifiman were wooden (Teak) and after the box and prints, I immediately turned on the lights for a closer inspection of the headphone. And yes, my disappointment only got bigger.

There were scratches caused by friction where the headphone is connected to the headband. I found multiple dents in the grill and the wood, which also had chips out of it. The ear pads were too small for my tiny ears, had extremely bad stitching and weren’t symmetric. To top it off there was a huge dried drop of varnish on the Teak on one side. “Oh my” I said to myself, “consumers get this for $899?” 

 

So it looks like I'm not the only one...

 

[TMRaven]

He says he likes the 560 out of the Samsung S4 more than the AK 240, haha!  Now I'm starting to like Headfonia again.
 
Don't know why unsubscribed from this thread after the pad craze.  He could have learned something from it and added a comparison of the 560's sound with the two different pads to his review.

 

[conquerator2]

I agree with the review, especially the mysterious bass part. I wonder how the 400i will fare as well, not just the bass of course. Should get mine next week 

 

[TeskR]

  So it looks like I'm not the only one...

 
In that part of the review he is talking about the first revision HE-560s, the ones that were sent out to reviewers etc. months ago.

 

[Sonic Defender]

CanadianMaestro, you are taking a beating, and while you did bring it on yourself I can't help but feel sorry for you. I don't think you meant to come off the way you did, or at least I hope not (we Canadians are supposed to be all mellow and polite don't you know?). You are very welcome to express your views, in fact you should. My advice to you would be to be diplomatic in doing so. It generally will get peoples backs up if you tell them graphs are useless (which they most certainly aren't, they have a place) and that they only need their ears. I think you can appreciate that there is not a one size fits all approach to the hobby and we need to be respectful to each other here. I have been a moderator and user of Internet communities since 1998, and let me tell you, head-fi is one of the very best communities. Why not try starting over in this thread and see how easily people roll past little distractions like this. I'm sure you have things to share and learn.
 
As others have said, I love the graphs and objective data perspective in conjunction with the subjective, touchy feely stuff. Frankly, the objective data side of things is not my strong suit at all, I am primarily a listener, but I love learning about the objective/measurable aspects of the hobby and I have learned a great deal here over the years.  

 

[hifimanrookie]

Graphs are a great baseline as it lets me know what kind of tonal balance to expect (at least when it comes to easy to understand ones like Tyll's or purrin's.)

People can spout off what kind of sound signature headphones have, but I have heard everything from the LCD2 being neutral (it isn't, at leaat pre-fazor), or an HD650 being bright to some. Hence why graphs let me know what impressions are more accurate and true to a headphone's signature. It isn't always the case (i.e. Headroom's graphs of the D7000 showing a steep sub bass roll off which is opposite of what it actually sounds like), but it's true more often than not.

Guys..many of the more experienced posters here know me by now...i dont like stats etc. to prove a headphone is excellent sounding or an amp..etc...i do agree that it can be interesting to read about it..but to base ur choice on a headphone who measures well? No thank u

..my ears..and some say ur brain (right stan and david?..hehehe) are the ones who has to decide for u if a phone is for u or not....look at the stats of OTL tube amps...u would buy stakes and crosses and garlic to keep them out of ur house..as they have stats so horrifying thats almost devilish..lolz but SOME sound sooooooooo heavenly with the he500 (and am sure with the he560 also).
My point..its fun reading those stats..and i respect and appreciate people doing and posting that... BUT..its only meant as info...I HOPE! I see those as helpful for my general curiosity...i will never ever base any buy based on any stats..consumer audiowise ofcourse...on other products they ofcourse matter very much...
My ears (or brain..*******..i think i am brainwashed by those two techies!!! Lolz) will ultimately decide if i like a component or not..whether dac, amp, headphones or cables. IMHO ofcourse..

Ps..i think canadianmeastro meant this also, what i just posted...he only said it a bit wrongly... Right?

Now back to the he560... Lolz

 

[Sonic Defender]

Damn, last night I rebuilt my music server and don't you know it, major pain in the ass driver issues with my PCI slot where my HDMI video card goes. Now I have to do it all over again! I won't be able to enjoy my 560s for another night. So sucks, but I decided to move over to a SSHD drive so the performance should improve a little as well as getting a few terrabytes of badly needed space. I promise not to provide a before and after graph

 

[Ultrainferno]

  I agree with the review, especially the mysterious bass part. I wonder how the 400i will fare as well, not just the bass of course. Should get mine next week 

 
+1
I still haven't figured out the bass completely but I know I like it. On occasions it could use more body though (for my ears). I hope/expect the bass on the 400i to have bigger body (when will these be available actually?)
 

  He says he likes the 560 out of the Samsung S4 more than the AK 240, haha!

 
Does that mean that you agree or just the opposite? Don't you like the AK240?

 

[kkcc]

+1
I still haven't figured out the bass completely but I know I like it. On occasions it could use more body though (for my ears). I hope/expect the bass on the 400i to have bigger body (when will these be available actually?)

Nope, the 400i while a tad bassier and warmer didn't give you that extra body. It may actually sound even thinner than the 560. I agree the he560 can use more body and it is almost the only sound related weakness I found with it. You will find that body you look for with he6.

 

[conquerator2]

Nope, the 400i while a tad bassier and warmer didn't give you that extra body. It may actually sound even thinner than the 560. I agree the he560 can use more body and it is almost the only sound related weakness I found with it. You will find that body you look for with he6.

Absolutely NOT my experience with the HE-6.
I used a speaker amp with it so the underpowering argument does not apply.
I am willing to accept that it was due to my particular setup though but that only shows that one needs to look for a very particular rig if he wants to get the best [or close] out of the HE-6...
In my experience overall body presence was HE-560>HE-6. The HE-6 was noticeably brighter too, the HE-560 is almost dark sounding in direct comparison. The HE-6 had more air because of it and was more "refined" if you want to call it that but on my setup it wowed me not. Great headphone? Sure! Better than HE-560? In certain aspects, yes. Overall? No.
YMMV.
 
TLR - HE-6 is VERY setup dependent and getting them to perform might prove more time consuming or expensive than worth. IMO.

 

[kkcc]

Absolutely NOT my experience with the HE-6.
I used a speaker amp with it so the underpowering argument does not apply.
I am willing to accept that it was due to my particular setup though but that only shows that one needs to look for a very particular rig if he wants to get the best [or close] out of the HE-6...
In my experience overall body presence was HE-560>HE-6.
YMMV.

True. Maybe different upstream will produce difference results and just that with what I had paired them with I haven't came across a pairing where he560 gave me more body than he6. Tried pairing from using hm901 to ef100, nfb28, wa22, Lyr, LD VI and EF6.

 

[TMRaven]

   
Does that mean that you agree or just the opposite? Don't you like the AK240?

 
Neither, I haven't heard the 240, but I do laugh at it.

 

[conquerator2]

True. Maybe different upstream will produce difference results and just that with what I had paired them with I haven't came across a pairing where he560 gave me more body than he6. Tried pairing from using hm901 to ef100, nfb28, wa22, Lyr, LD VI and EF6.

Yeah, that's the conclusion I came to.
My previous, previous setup was a budget one, around 500$ [namely, the NFB-3.32, a warmish DAC and an Emotiva X-a100, a fairly neutral amp] and the HE-6 was good but not great or amazing.
I am willing to bet that HE-560 would perform quite a bit better off that setup.
My previous setup, a roughly $500 Compass2 DAC/amp sounded pretty great with the HE-560 [but wouldn't with the HE-6 due to lack of power] and my current mid/hi-fi SA31SE/NFB7 sounds even greater with the 560, so it certainly scales up too! [and will with the 400i as well, no doubt]... I'd have my doubt with the HE-6 though as it is a fairly neutral setup and because the HE-6 was already pretty bright with a kinda warmish setup... Might have been even brighter now.
I guess what I am trying to say is that with the HE-6 you ideally want a warmer setup [which yours setup kinda is, except for the NFB, maybe].
But what do I know? Maybe I'd be wowed with the HE-6 if I purchased it again, as this was a year ago.
Still, I think I'll wait for its successor or the Jade II for now...  HE-6's very low sensitivity with its bright nature and high revealing/scaling ability is an advantage for some but a downfall for others.
 
TLR - The HE-6 is a TOTL headphone that coupled with its very low sensitivity and bright nature requires very serious tweaking which is not for everyone.