[GodsInHisHeaven]

 
 
just noticed veneer crack on left ear cup.
anyone else have same experience ?

 
Don't have any cracks on my HE 560 cups.

 

[Rudiger]

 
 
just noticed veneer crack on left ear cup.
anyone else have same experience ?

I do not think this is alarming (?). I kinda have the same thing on my own. I think these are the veinues wood, but everything is solid.

 

[Arttt]

The crack is 10cm long and goes around the cup.  Veneer is 1mm thick and once crack that wide appears its not a good news ...
In my opinion such thing for a headphone in this price category is unacceptable!
 
Wood or Veneer needs careful handling when installing on a cup.  If such material proves to be difficult for hifiman to handle, why bother with it at all ...
I am disappointed and got to say, a reference headphone should have better quality control.   Even less expensive he400i felt more solid build, compared to he560...
 
If i wasn't addicted to he560 awesome sound character , i would probably go for lcd-2 ....  in terms of quality and finish , lcd-2 seem solid and polished.  he560 feels like half baked cookie ...

 

[Rudiger]

  The crack is 10cm long and goes around the cup.  Veneer is 1mm thick and once crack that wide appears its not a good news ...
In my opinion such thing for a headphone in this price category is unacceptable!
 
Wood or Veneer needs careful handling when installing on a cup.  If such material proves to be difficult for hifiman to handle, why bother with it at all ...
I am disappointed and got to say, a reference headphone should have better quality control.   Even less expensive he400i felt more solid build, compared to he560...
 
If i wasn't addicted to he560 awesome sound character , i would probably go for lcd-2 ....  in terms of quality and finish , lcd-2 seem solid and polished.  he560 feels like half baked cookie ...

I understand, I was not sure. Your headphone is actually in worse shape than mine. Yep, you should contact Hifiman I think they should (they must !) accept a repair.

 

[Soundsgoodtome]

Warranty claim for sure, I don't think it'll effect the sound since it's just a veneer but it is definitely unsightly.

 

[Arttt]

.

 

[DavidA]

  The crack is 10cm long and goes around the cup.  Veneer is 1mm thick and once crack that wide appears its not a good news ...
In my opinion such thing for a headphone in this price category is unacceptable!
 
Wood or Veneer needs careful handling when installing on a cup.  If such material proves to be difficult for hifiman to handle, why bother with it at all ...
I am disappointed and got to say, a reference headphone should have better quality control.   Even less expensive he400i felt more solid build, compared to he560...
 
If i wasn't addicted to he560 awesome sound character , i would probably go for lcd-2 ....  in terms of quality and finish , lcd-2 seem solid and polished.  he560 feels like half baked cookie ...

The LCD-2 also has its share of problems with QC

, only headphones that don't seem to have too much QC problems are Sennheisers, Beyers and Fostex, at least for the models that I own.

 

[MLGrado]

   
Just got my HE-560.  WOW.  Nice, but it IS a bit of a tough bugger to drive?  My current headphone solution won't cut it.  Distorts very quickly, especially on transients.  Typically heavy bass transients.  I just can't adequately control these drivers.  
 
Moving over to my iFi iDSD Micro headphone output.  MUCH BETTER. BUT, gosh, you have to put this thing in full power mode to adequately run these headphones!  In this case, no distortion at the lower power settings, but, not enough volume.  
 
 
SO!  What I want to do next is go back to using my tube amp that can't drive these via its power restricted headphone output.  I want to try running them directly off the speaker outputs.  I have about 12 to 15 watts available.  
 
The HE400s I am replacing, well, it certainly is a lot easier to drive! But very obviously not in the same league as the 560.  
 
But, I guess I wasn't expecting the 560 to be THIS difficult to drive.  Wow.  That means the HE-6 must REALLY be a monster.  
 
 
 
Rather than buy a pre-made solution, though, I will probably just get the soldering station out, order some parts and build a box with a 1/4 inch female to L/R speaker connectors... like this..
 
 

 
 
Just wanted to say, I built this little device, and now I am running my HE-560 direct off my Icon Audio Stereo 20PP tube amp's speaker taps.  WOW!!!!!!!!!  Just about perfect with resistor choices of 6.8 and 1.8 ohms.  
 
The Icon audio has a similar network INTERNALLY.  That is how the headphone output works.  But, it MUST be using much, much higher attenuation.  12 to 15 db of attenuation seems to be just about PERFECT for this headphone.  

 

[Sonic Defender]

  to drive he560 from speaker terminals of an stereo amp, do you need some kind of adapter for it ?  i have an old stereo amp i don't use , Harman Kardon HK980 , its 2 channel , 80W into 4Ohms ,  80 Ampers.   
 
Its nothing special , simple amp ... but maybe it could do a better job with adapter then my Beyerdynamic A1 ( 100ohms impedance ,175mW into 250Ohms) , feels like he560 want more current than A1 can offer , and right now i am looking for a proper amp for he560, but before i get what i want , maybe HK980 old stereo amp with adapter could be something i could use right now ?
 
what you guys think .... ?
by the way , once connecting to speaker terminals , what volume levels do you usually have ?
 
is there different type of adapters out there ? witch one would you recommend ?

You shouldn't need an adapter box, for sure not with a solid state amp, but I believe if you have an OTL tube amp you would. I just went right into the speaker terminals via a custom cable made by Trevor at Norne Audio. Now my amp is decent, not high end stuff, but certainly very competent (NAD M3) so there could be differences with some amps, but in general there really shouldn't be mich issue with any halfway decent amp. What is important is that the amp have good quality power supplies or supply (some have more than one) as stable power is what ultimately matters when driving a load. I researched the idea of an adapter box, but some very knowledgeable members in the thread dedicated to speaker amps driving headphones assured me there was no need at all to do so, certainly not with a solid state amp. In terms of volume, well, I just make sure to turn the volume down each and every time I start up and turn the volume up.
 
I have since used this solution to drive a TH 900. Sony Z7 and HE 400i and none had any issues at all.

 

[MLGrado]

  You shouldn't need an adapter box, for sure not with a solid state amp, but I believe if you have an OTL tube amp you would. I just went right into the speaker terminals via a custom cable made by Trevor at Norne Audio. Now my amp is decent, not high end stuff, but certainly very competent (NAD M3) so there could be differences with some amps, but in general there really shouldn't be mich issue with any halfway decent amp. What is important is that the amp have good quality power supplies or supply (some have more than one) as stable power is what ultimately matters when driving a load. I researched the idea of an adapter box, but some very knowledgeable members in the thread dedicated to speaker amps driving headphones assured me there was no need at all to do so, certainly not with a solid state amp. In terms of volume, well, I just make sure to turn the volume down each and every time I start up and turn the volume up.
 
I have since used this solution to drive a TH 900. Sony Z7 and HE 400i and none had any issues at all.

 
No, you don't NEED any kind of resistor network/adapter etc... especially if have solid state amp.  Although it can still be USEFUL for gain control.  
 
Since I am using a tube amp, you need something to provide a LOAD for the amp.  The output transformers don't like running without a load, and for safely, you really need that load unless you want to put your amp at risk.  I don't know about OTL amps, though.  

 

[Sonic Defender]

   
No, you don't NEED any kind of resistor network/adapter etc... especially if have solid state amp.  Although it can still be USEFUL for gain control.  
 
Since I am using a tube amp, you need something to provide a LOAD for the amp.  The output transformers don't like running without a load, and for safely, you really need that load unless you want to put your amp at risk.  I don't know about OTL amps, though.  

Thanks for the correction mate, yes, that rings a bell, it is the output transformer as you said needing the load. I'm not much of a tube amp guy myself (although I did own and like the Valhalla). I actually think I will get another tube amp soon enough. Those liquid warm mids are pretty nice.

 

[MLGrado]

  Thanks for the correction mate, yes, that rings a bell, it is the output transformer as you said needing the load. I'm not much of a tube amp guy myself (although I did own and like the Valhalla). I actually think I will get another tube amp soon enough. Those liquid warm mids are pretty nice.

 
I will say this much.. I was not prepared at all for the amount of power required by the HE-560.  Now, I had heard all the stories about the HE-6.  But, for some reason, I thought the 560 would be MUCH easier to drive.  Maybe it is easier to drive, but thats a relative thing!!!  Going back and looking at Tyll's measurements at InnerFidelity, wow, the HE560 requires SIGNIFICANTLY more power than most other headphones to reach 90db!  
 
I will say if you are going to get a tube amp for the HE-560, get something that has lots of juice!!  I am running them now directly from a quad of EL84 power tubes, putting out about 12 to 15 watts per channel, and I'm not so sure that even this is enough.  
 
The little 'cable' I made to hookup to the speaker taps is very temporary... I used the cheap resistors on hand at my local electronics store.  Not good stuff at all.  It works, though.  
 
When I build a 'proper' interface, will use much nicer resistors....

 

[MLGrado]

Also, quick question...
 
 
I have noticed that when trying to get a good seal against my head/ears, there is a slight 'crinkle' sound, when the air pressure changes.  Is this the actual thin driver making this sound??  That would worry me... hmmm.. so far no noticeable problems with actual playback...

 

[Sonic Defender]

   
I will say this much.. I was not prepared at all for the amount of power required by the HE-560.  Now, I had heard all the stories about the HE-6.  But, for some reason, I thought the 560 would be MUCH easier to drive.  Maybe it is easier to drive, but thats a relative thing!!!  Going back and looking at Tyll's measurements at InnerFidelity, wow, the HE560 requires SIGNIFICANTLY more power than most other headphones to reach 90db!  
 
I will say if you are going to get a tube amp for the HE-560, get something that has lots of juice!!  I am running them now directly from a quad of EL84 power tubes, putting out about 12 to 15 watts per channel, and I'm not so sure that even this is enough.  
 
The little 'cable' I made to hookup to the speaker taps is very temporary... I used the cheap resistors on hand at my local electronics store.  Not good stuff at all.  It works, though.  
 
When I build a 'proper' interface, will use much nicer resistors....

Yes, the 560 likes some muscle. I found the Asgard 2 was stressed driving it, or so I thought it sounded stressed/ I moved to the Yulong A18 which had amazing synergy and eventually to my speaker tap. I have long since sold the 560s. I only keep headphones around a year before I bore of them and need a new signature. It is a pain, but it is true, I just thirst for new signatures. I bore of everything so it wasn't the 560 at all, it was brilliant I thought.

 

[Sonic Defender]

  Also, quick question...
 
 
I have noticed that when trying to get a good seal against my head/ears, there is a slight 'crinkle' sound, when the air pressure changes.  Is this the actual thin driver making this sound??  That would worry me... hmmm.. so far no noticeable problems with actual playback...

The membrane doesn't like when the seal is broken. I remember people reporting significant distortion in the bass when the seal was broken, I'm not sure it these things are related. I was careful to never break the seal if music was playing.