[olegausany]

 I prefer moderate, tasteful EQ to physical mods.

+1 I totally agree. In most cases with good headphones you can lock in the sound as you like with a touch of eq. All too often people spend a fortune on cable and such mods to achieve what could be done in minutes with a little eq. 

Don't agree again, cause I wish it would so easy

 

[garunamodi]

Just going to weigh in from the Science side on the whole mod/eq thing... You can eq a headphone from any FR to any FR - within reason. That being, no stupidly rolled-off frequencies. Theoretically possible with high voltages, but you'd just damage the headphones in reality.
 
That said, there are loads of other factors which make a difference - most importantly, how the headphone is damped. Something that has long decay just isn't going to be as fast as a Stax.
 
Edit: modding can change these physical factors, but light modding will only make a small difference, as you might expect.

 

[olegausany]

But mods make HE-560 just much better

 

[rgs9200m]

I can see from reading here that modding can be reasonable for those inclined to do it. It just struck me that the 560 seems to be such a prime candidate. For instance, I don't recall much modding of Audezes, Fostex TH900s, or Oppo PM1s, say.
In fact, I don't think earlier Hifiman phones were in the modding arena, certainly not when new. Just curious here.

 

[Soundsgoodtome]

I blame jerg, he got the first end user released he560 and within 24hrs they were already modded.

I can see from reading here that modding can be reasonable for those inclined to do it. It just struck me that the 560 seems to be such a prime candidate. For instance, I don't recall much modding of Audezes, Fostex TH900s, or Oppo PM1s, say.
In fact, I don't think earlier Hifiman phones were in the modding arena, certainly not when new. Just curious here.

 

[money4me247]

I blame @jerg, he got the first end user released he560 and within 24hrs they were already modded.

ROTFL!!!! hahahahahhahaha!
 
lol that is hilarious! dude, he should get a job in the headphone design industry. sure he'll bring about a lot of cool interesting changes.

 

[Insidious Meme]

Sounds like an "endgame" amp, too build your HP collection around, tell us more about it and your 560 and 800's? Also, check out Norne's new Draug 2, it is a killer cable for both your 800's and 560's, with a Throne Adapter, mine is coming with a 4 pin XLR and an extension to a Viablue 1/4", so I can amp them with anything.

Congrats on getting a Draug 2. I had a friend make a cable with adapters as well for the HE560, and dang if I'm not hooked on the sound coming from the speaker tap from the back of the AV receiver I own.

 

[Wildcatsare1]

Congrats on getting a Draug 2. I had a friend make a cable with adapters as well for the HE560, and dang if I'm not hooked on the sound coming from the speaker tap from the back of the AV receiver I own.

What are Receiver are you using and how much power does it put out? Do you use anything to reduce the power output of the amp or are your HP's wired directly to the speaker taps? Having lurked on the HE-6 Thread the idea of using a speaker amp is really interesting.

 

[hermes3893]

Hey guys, do you think there will be a dramatic price drop on these, like there was with the HE-500 in its first year of release. They went from $899 to $699. 

 

[Soundsgoodtome]

  Hey guys, do you think there will be a dramatic price drop on these, like there was with the HE-500 in its first year of release. They went from $899 to $699. 

Maybe when the successor to the HE6 or Jade 2 comes out but doubt it'll have a $200 drop unless you're getting them on a sale, which we've seen already happening here and there for $100 less (open box though).

 

[money4me247]

  Hey guys, do you think there will be a dramatic price drop on these, like there was with the HE-500 in its first year of release. They went from $899 to $699. 

Yes. considering there were sales from headroom to $720 a few months after release, it is reasonable to assume that the profit margin is large enough that the price can drop dramatically. I would estimate in a few years though. I doubt that there will be any official pricing changes from Hifiman until after ALL the old stock of HE-400s and HE-500s are gone. I think earliest would be late fall next year (in time for the holiday season), though my bet would be 2-3 years later. Price of all headphones drop as time goes on, more so in the mid-range class though. Luxury headphones tend to hold their value until something new replaces it.
 
The previous HE-500 price drop was in late fall right before the holiday season. The official reason was that increase growth in new markets, but I think probably just the demand wasn't as high as expected or something like that, so price was moved to be more competitive. Only time will tell how popular the HE-560 will be. Probably one of the best sub-$1000 headphones right now (imo of course heh!). I wonder if there is anything else in this $500-$1000 price bracket can sonically compete. Maybe LCD-2?
 
If you are patient, I am sure you can find a sick deal for them within a year. I would check headroom and razerdog during black friday.

 

[tinyman392]

Yes. considering there were sales from headroom to $720 a few months after release, it is reasonable to assume that the profit margin is large enough that the price can drop dramatically. I would estimate in a few years though. I doubt that there will be any official pricing changes from Hifiman until after ALL the old stock of HE-400s and HE-500s are gone. I think earliest would be late fall next year (in time for the holiday season), though my bet would be 2-3 years later. Price of all headphones drop as time goes on, more so in the mid-range class though. Luxury headphones tend to hold their value until something new replaces it.

The previous HE-500 price drop was in late fall right before the holiday season. The official reason was that increase growth in new markets, but I think probably just the demand wasn't as high as expected or something like that, so price was moved to be more competitive. Only time will tell how popular the HE-560 will be. Probably one of the best sub-$1000 headphones right now (imo of course heh!). I wonder if there is anything else in this $500-$1000 price bracket can sonically compete. Maybe LCD-2?

If you are patient, I am sure you can find a sick deal for them within a year. I would check headroom and razerdog during black friday.

That sale from Headroom wasn't supposed to apply to the HE-560. A few people got it, then it was removed from the site. However, you could get it through email as some people already got the sale. I personally don't see another sale like this coming any time soon. Though anything is possible.

 

[hekeli]

Well here I got mine for 780€... retail in europe is 899€. So 13% off and I didn't even ask for it, but that's the perks for a good local hifi shop. Online you can't "haggle".

 

[wmedrz]

That sale from Headroom wasn't supposed to apply to the HE-560. A few people got it, then it was removed from the site. However, you could get it through email as some people already got the sale. I personally don't see another sale like this coming any time soon. Though anything is possible.

They just did another one and the headphones were in stock on Friday before holiday weekend, just like July 4th, out of stock come Saturday. 

 

[exsomnis]

<flame retardant suit on>
 
I auditioned the HE-560 for a few hours today with my source and music thinking that I would be getting it and I'm really glad that I did audition and didn't get it.  Having read all the reviews, I got the impression that it would be a winner.  Had it not been for the fact that my local dealer had them in stock I would've ordered them online and discovered this only afterwards.  
 
For planar magenetic cans, they are very resolving and do have that HD800 quality about them, as mentioned by reviewers.  There is a clarity and speed to the sound, nothing seems to be muddied up even in the most demanding of passages.  But try as I could to like them, for the whole time I was listening I just couldn't find the mid-range.  Sure there was some bass and there was a control about the proceedings, but in the end it sounded lifeless and artificial - a V shaped sound instead of flat.  I went through several genres of music and could not at any point feel like these were phones that I would listen to, or feel that they were worth getting to complement my LCD 2s.   
 
The HE-560s did improve quite a bit in balanced mode but still not enough to convince me to get them.  On the same setup, I was blown away by a pair of LCD3s.  
 
So I'll be keeping my LCD2s and will be saving up for the LCD3s.