[money4me247]

  HE-560 jerg modded still sounded like a stock HE-560 to me.

I've always had difficulty hearing differences between earpads, though I did not try jerg-mod earpads for the HE-560 as that seems a bit too permanent of a mod for me.

 

[DreamKing]

I think burn-in makes audible change on this headphone but one aspect can be unit dependent. My first HE-560 didn't have a piano grain but this second one did. After burn-in, no piano grain and the bass developed. 
 
That's not why I'm writing today though. Something worse happened than grain this weekend...Sub-bass rattle in the left driver. Thought it was harmonic distortion at first because it didn't sound like how my first HE-560 rattled but then I realized it was the driver making the noise, once again. Back to square one and I'm not sending this one back. It was straight from their supply store, so recently made I'm guessing. It's mainly noticeable on quiet sub-bass, so A LOT of the time. I wasn't aware of this issue from the reviews so I added a note in mine as well as how to fix it.
 
According to jerg, sealing the pads to the driver from his mod fixes it . My amazon order for the glue is going to take longer than expected so I'm gonna have to go to the local store if I wanna get it fixed this week. Minus half a star from my review until it's fixed. I'm being generous because the sound unhampered really is incredible at this price. And not to doubt jerg but If it doesn't....I'm gonna get mad a. A problem like this shouldn't exist at this price point, in high end products. Shouldn't exist even for lo-fi.
 
So, all in all, if it works for me then jerg's mod has an objective benefit for the HE-560 irrelevant of sound preference. Thus blind comparisons won't matter for this.
 
This better not have potential to happen to the HE-1000 too, or Hifiman has problems. If you have to mod those to fix something that has nothing to do with subjective tonal balance then it's a huge issue. People better let Hifiman know if it happens to the HE-1000 beta unit. I would have let them know if I was in a HE-560 beta, took me less than a month to notice both times. I heard they had their driver design issues but didn't think something like this could happen with the HE-560. What makes it even worse is this is a unit that replaced one where the same happened so it's a HE-560 issue like jerg explains. 
 
 Hope this helps other people as I don't think many are aware of this.

 

[henkie196]

How long a burn-in do you think the HE-560s would need? I'm pretty sure I'm getting some brain burn-in (I have no other explanation of why the headphones would've sounded clearer from one day to the next as there had been no running hours in between), but not so sure about the physical burn-in.
 
I hope mine will not develop the rattling driver issue, though I'm not sure I'll keep them that long. I've listened to them since last saturday (not that long, granted), but the bass seems to resonate in my ears or something and anything more than low listening levels is giving me a sort of headache. Also the amount of bass seems to make the headphones sound unclear to me, though that may be my ears (or brains).

 

[DreamKing]

Yeah, brain-burn is valid too if you've never heard a headphone like it, like me. As for physical burn-in, Hifiman says 150 hours and I don't see anything wrong or inaccurate with that. I think the best evidence of burn-in is may be the rattling lol.
 
And I find the bass quite amazing on this headphone actually, minus the situational rattle on quiet deep sub-bass. Clear, precise, perfect extension. Only thing I would suggest for a replacement, as far as tuning, is more activity at 20-30hz without muddying the sound. I currently have a low shelf filter of 3dB at 30hz and it does wonders to the power, while not audibly obstructing the soundstage, anything different than that messes up the balance for me. 

 

[henkie196]

I agree the bass detail and extension is very good, it's just that the quantity appears to be too much for me. I was listening to them over the weekend and on monday used my Vsonic GR07s at work as usual, and it was actually a relief to listen to them, as there was no bass resonating in and around my head anymore.
 
When you say you have a low shelf filter of 3 dB at 30 Hz, does that mean that you reduce the bass at 30 Hz with -3 dB?

 

[DreamKing]

No, it's a filter that goes over 3dB (boost) that only affects 30hz and less in parametric EQ. I tried to tune it at 35hz but that craps on the stage depth to my ears. It's a slight power increase that gives the lows more presence, as well as the overall sound vs slightly thinner sounding to me with no EQ. IMO 20-30hz is the foundation for thin vs thick or full. Anything different messes up the balanced to my ears. But since the bass is already too much for you, it wouldn't do anything in your case currently.

 

[CanadianMaestro]

How long a burn-in do you think the HE-560s would need? I'm pretty sure I'm getting some brain burn-in (I have no other explanation of why the headphones would've sounded clearer from one day to the next as there had been no running hours in between), but not so sure about the physical burn-in.

I hope mine will not develop the rattling driver issue, though I'm not sure I'll keep them that long. I've listened to them since last saturday (not that long, granted), but the bass seems to resonate in my ears or something and anything more than low listening levels is giving me a sort of headache. Also the amount of bass seems to make the headphones sound unclear to me, though that may be my ears (or brains).

How loudly are you playing music,and what types of music are you playing?

30 hrs of playback thru my Soloist and iPod Classic hitched to an HP-P1 DAC were enough to smoothen the slight treble boost on my 560. Haven't heard any substantial change after 50 hrs on my BHA-1.

 

[CanadianMaestro]

. Something worse happened than grain this weekend...Sub-bass rattle in the left driver. Thought it was harmonic distortion at first because it didn't sound like how my first HE-560 rattled but then I realized it was the driver making the noise, once again. Back to square one and I'm not sending this one back. It was straight from their supply store, so recently made I'm guessing. It's mainly noticeable on quiet sub-bass, so A LOT of the time. I wasn't aware of this issue from the reviews so I added a note in mine as well as how to fix it.

What makes it even worse is this is a unit that replaced one where the same happened so it's a HE-560 issue like jerg explains. 

 Hope this helps other people as I don't think many are aware of this.

Thanks for the heads up on this rattle. I haven't heard any yet on my pair, bought in May recently, and in retrospect, I don't have that many tracks with really deep sub bass below 20 Hz. Maybe will play some Mezzanine or something, to check.

 

[mandrake50]

I think burn-in makes audible change on this headphone but one aspect can be unit dependent. My first HE-560 didn't have a piano grain but this second one did. After burn-in, no piano grain and the bass developed. 

That's not why I'm writing today though. Something worse happened than grain this weekend...Sub-bass rattle in the left driver. Thought it was harmonic distortion at first because it didn't sound like how my first HE-560 rattled but then I realized it was the driver making the noise, once again. Back to square one and I'm not sending this one back. It was straight from their supply store, so recently made I'm guessing. It's mainly noticeable on quiet sub-bass, so A LOT of the time. I wasn't aware of this issue from the reviews so I added a note in mine as well as how to fix it.

According to jerg, sealing the pads to the driver from his mod fixes it . My amazon order for the glue is going to take longer than expected so I'm gonna have to go to the local store if I wanna get it fixed this week. Minus half a star from my review until it's fixed. I'm being generous because the sound unhampered really is incredible at this price. And not to doubt jerg but If it doesn't....I'm gonna get mad a. A problem like this shouldn't exist at this price point, in high end products. Shouldn't exist even for lo-fi.

So, all in all, if it works for me then jerg's mod has an objective benefit for the HE-560 irrelevant of sound preference. Thus blind comparisons won't matter for this.

 Hope this helps other people as I don't think many are aware of this.

Too bad about the driver problem. A couple of things. Several people have mentioned that they did a sort of quick and dirty sealing mod. Simply used some kind of tape to seal around the seam between the pad and the housing. This might allow you to see if the mod would actually fix your problem without going to the ...much harder to reverse, Hot glue mod. Second, at one point Jerg was recommending using any one of many Silicon, Room Temperature Vulcanizing sealer. You can pick up a tube of GE or similar RTV sealer just about anywhere that sells any kind of glue. Using the correct type and using it sparingly, it releases fairly easily and is pretty easy to peel off if you need to work on the drivers later. Or is you just decide to reverse the mod.

If you take a look around the thread, Bill P posted a fix he did for the driver rattling problem, though I seem to remember his fix being a bit more involved.

 

[CanadianMaestro]

So the tape or glue acts to dampen the rattle/ vibrations from reaching the eardrums? I don't get it.
Cheers,

 

[mandrake50]

I've always had difficulty hearing differences between earpads, though I did not try jerg-mod earpads for the HE-560 as that seems a bit too permanent of a mod for me.

Not if you do it with a spare set of pads.

 

[mandrake50]

So the tape or glue acts to dampen the rattle/ vibrations from reaching the eardrums? I don't get it.
Cheers,

I think that the idea is that the seal allows the air pressure between the membrane of the driver and your head to damp the driver movement. Especially at lower frequencies where more excursion is required.

 

[henkie196]

How loudly are you playing music,and what types of music are you playing?

30 hrs of playback thru my Soloist and iPod Classic hitched to an HP-P1 DAC were enough to smoothen the slight treble boost on my 560. Haven't heard any substantial change after 50 hrs on my BHA-1.

If I hook them up to my DX90, and depending on track, low would be around 160 @ low gain. Moderate listening levels would be roughly 175 (also at low gain). Moderate levels is typically not something I can listen to for a long period.
Type of music is a mix of alternative rock, metal, some electronic music and a variety of game soundtracks.

 

[CanadianMaestro]

If I hook them up to my DX90, and depending on track, low would be around 160 @ low gain. Moderate listening levels would be roughly 175 (also at low gain). Moderate levels is typically not something I can listen to for a long period.
Type of music is a mix of alternative rock, metal, some electronic music and a variety of game soundtracks.

That's unfortunate, the bass ringing in your ears afterwards. Only thing I can suggest is using EQ'ing to reduce the amount of low bass.
It's a shame as a product at this price point shouldn't have to be EQed. Do you get the ringing with any other HPs? If so, then suggest you see an audiologist.

 

[mandrake50]

No, it's a filter that goes over 3dB (boost) that only affects 30hz and less in parametric EQ. I tried to tune it at 35hz but that craps on the stage depth to my ears. It's a slight power increase that gives the lows more presence, as well as the overall sound vs slightly thinner sounding to me with no EQ. IMO 20-30hz is the foundation for thin vs thick or full. Anything different messes up the balanced to my ears. But since the bass is already too much for you, it wouldn't do anything in your case currently.

Do you hear the rattle if you run a flat response curve on the EQ?
3 db doesn't sound like much to most, but depending on the EQ you are using can mean a doubling of power at the selected frequency.