[wmedrz]

Bass improved significantly after burn in, but still feels somehow weak and mushy on some tracks, but significantly present on others. Weird. It's as if mid-bass is interpreted and reproduced as low-bass by the HE-560. I rarely experience hard hitting bass with these headphones. Every other aspect of the headphone is pretty competent though.

Mushy is a good way to describe what I'm hearing with sub bass - seems very fluid and spread out albeit with good texture. Mid bass is more solid and concentrated with great texture. Timber is fantastic on these phones but I'm hearing a sort of "roughness" in some deep vocals like Leonard Cohen. Mids are closer sounding and treble smoother compared with the 500's. 500's treble is rough to me by comparison with 560. I've been using Focus A pad almost exclusively because of the comfort and less clamping force. 

 

[Ultracer]

Out of curiosity, can you touch and damage the driver from poking with your finger at the center opening of the pad/cup?

 

[TMRaven]

You can touch the driver a little and it won't damage it.  I've touched my HE-400's driver before a little bit to get some hair off of it.  Just don't go stabbing it with scissors or something.

 

[tigon_ridge]

I've seen the diaphragm of my HE-400 vibrate vigorously (from testing sub-bass) and was okay afterwards, so I don't see how touching it a little to clean will do any harm.

 

[helian]

I'm looking for a portable amp, up to $200, to use with my Clip+ and HE-560.  Is the Fiio E12 a good choice ?

 

[awshosll]

Hifiman Ef2a or Ef3, as recommended by Fang himself in Chinese forum

 

[Rudiger]

clip+ have no lineout.
i buy an e12 because i just receive my he560 and go to holidays. but finally i prefer rockbox clip+ without the e12, if you double amp you loose subtility and details.

edit : holidays are sweet but i can't wait to try my he-560 with my Nad amp at home ! i believe it will be a lot better than the clip+...

 

[SBranson]

For a portable amp, I would err on the side of the most power you can get.  On some albums, my CEntrance HiFi-M8 needs the highest gain and the dial at 2-3 o'clock.   You can listen to the HE560s straight out of an ipod but I wouldn't recommend it as it doesn't sound that good.
 
As far as burn-in...  I know many don't believe in it but I purposely left my HE560s running for about 4-5 days only listening to a couple songs at a time and only a few times over that period so that it wouldn't just be my "brain getting used to the sound".   Partially I was just too busy but also I was a little underwhelmed at first and wanted to hear if it actually would get better.  At first detail wasn't great and imaging was a bit smeared and the bass was wooly.  I thought it was a bad pairing with the CEntrance as the ALO Continental sounded better but at about the 75 hour mark I couldn't believe how much better they sounded..  I started to hear a lot better instrument separation and the seemingly flat soundstage I thought was the CEntrance's fault developed much more depth and better spacial cues.  Treble is finely extended without glare or sibilance.
They still possess an immediacy that I've heard with orthos but these have a wider sound than most.
 
Give them some time... they do "come into their own" and I think the booklet's recommendation of 150hours is fair.

 

[Rudiger]

i totally agree. first, my clip+ was not loud enough. and after 70h of burning the level is loud even at 0 db !
edit : at -5 db on most albums in fact. out of the box +6 db was not enough on most albums.

 

[helian]

awshosll,  the hifiman amps seems good, but they are not portable.
 
I tried only with the Clip+ and with Clip+ and Fiio E07k and didn't like the results. I will try this again once I receive the new phone ( I got the pre-order version, the new one should be delivered sometime next month. )

 

[SBranson]

i totally agree. first, my clip+ was not loud enough. and after 70h of burning the level is loud even at 0 db !

That was the oddest thing too.  Straight out of the box, I had the CEntrance on max gain for everything and on some albums I had the volume near max.  After the 75hours I could listen to more recent recordings on mid gain and the volume at about 2 o'clock and the harder to drive albums still on max gain but at a lower volume setting.
 
I've never encountered this before..

 

[Rudiger]

happy to see that i am not insane same, never happen to me before.
i am truly a burn in believer now.

 

[hifimanrookie]

happy to see that i am not insane same, never happen to me before.
i am truly a burn in believer now.

welcome to the darkside of burn in :evil:

 

[tuna47]

Not a big burn in believer but these do get better with more hrs brain or real I don't know, but loving the results

 

[Sonic Defender]

I don't want to start a debate believe me, but I feel obligated to point out that none of the recent posts describe a situation that expectation bias could not explain the perceived difference. Even if the person goes into the situation feeling that they don't believe in burn-in; however, if they are willing to "just try it" and see what happens, this may well indicate that there is a glimmer of doubt and that may be the hidden expectation/hope bias. Only well designed, controlled experiments allow us to make a claim of causation, everything else is at best quasi-experimental and only allows you to discuss correlation.