[BobG55]

USPS tells me set #3 was delivered so I know how I'll be spending my evening. What will go wrong with this set?

A. Left driver failure
B. Right driver failure
C. Cracked/broken yokes
D. Rattle
E. Spontaneous combustion
F. All of the above

Prizes to be announced tomorrow after they fail.

Really empathize with you. And they only sent you a replacement headband ? Wow. What a public relations disaster for a supposedly high end headphone company. You really have to wonder if they care.

 

[XxyzyxX]

Hi. Been lurking for a few months on headfi and decided this would be my first post. Got my he560 from Adorama on Monday. After reading the past few posts about the cracked yolk, went to check my phones and saw a crack on the right side. For those with replacement head band, who did you contact? They should replace the yolk with an aluminum piece...tia

 

[parkerlewis]

Hi. Been lurking for a few months on headfi and decided this would be my first post. Got my he560 from Adorama on Monday. After reading the past few posts about the cracked yolk, went to check my phones and saw a crack on the right side. For those with replacement head band, who did you contact? They should replace the yolk with an aluminum piece...tia

Just emailed customerservice@hifiman.com tonight and included photos of my broken headband / detached left cup, figured that was a good place to start.

 

[BobG55]

Hi. Been lurking for a few months on headfi and decided this would be my first post. Got my he560 from Adorama on Monday. After reading the past few posts about the cracked yolk, went to check my phones and saw a crack on the right side. For those with replacement head band, who did you contact? They should replace the yolk with an aluminum piece...tia

customerservice@hifiman.com

Attention : Mark Ramos (he's the representative working in China & who I dealt with for the headband replacement )

I had to pay $60.00 for a new headband + $10.00 s&h. I received the new headband today & so far it appears to be ok. It's guaranteed for 30 days. I wanted to keep the headphones and did not want to order anything more from Adorama even if they would have sent me a new headband at no charge because of their quality record. The headband ships from the U.S.A.

Plan B was to buy an HE 350 which are terrible headphones and can be bought used for next to nothing. The headband will fit the HE 560.

If this headband does break, although I don't think it will, I've made up my mind to send it back to Customer Service & send the headphones back to Adorama for a full reimbursement.

 

[XxyzyxX]

Thanks for the contact info. If HFM is charging for a replacement part, the whole thing may go back to Adorama. The he560 sounds nice (neutral with decent base and treble) but i just dont believe in paying extra for their defective parts. $350 + $80 gets pretty darn close to massdrop focal elex. Though, it might be fun to find a cheapo body and transplant the drivers into it and bring it to meets...haha

 

[SgtPepper]

I guess I spoke too soon, my headband just cracked as well.

customerservice@hifiman.com

Attention : Mark Ramos (he's the representative working in China & who I dealt with for the headband replacement )

I had to pay $60.00 for a new headband + $10.00 s&h. I received the new headband today & so far it appears to be ok. It's guaranteed for 30 days.

Unreal. So they charged $70 to replace a faulty part with the same part that has been failing for other recent buyers? And they can't even guarantee that you won't have to pay another $70 after a month?

It's not like we are talking about the occasional random dud pair; this is a recent manufacturing defect that has caused a significant number of headphones to fail within the first few weeks of purchase. Mine have started to crack so I'm definitely going to be sending them back and won't be dealing with Hifiman again.

 

[parkerlewis]

I guess I spoke too soon, my headband just cracked as well.


Unreal. So they charged $70 to replace a faulty part with the same part that has been failing for other recent buyers? And they can't even guarantee that you won't have to pay another $70 after a month?

It's not like we are talking about the occasional random dud pair; this is a recent manufacturing defect that has caused a significant number of headphones to fail within the first few weeks of purchase. Mine have started to crack so I'm definitely going to be sending them back and won't be dealing with Hifiman again.

Pretty strange, I got the sense from people on other forums that they were getting free headband replacements, and usually within 2-3 days of making the request. No way would I pay $70 / 20% of the (Adorama) price of the headphones to fix a part that had failed in less than 3 weeks of use.

 

[BobG55]

Pretty strange, I got the sense from people on other forums that they were getting free headband replacements, and usually within 2-3 days of making the request. No way would I pay $70 / 20% of the (Adorama) price of the headphones to fix a part that had failed in less than 3 weeks of use.

But were they getting their free headbands from Adorama or from Hifiman/ U.S. based representative ? I did not want one from Adorama even if it was free.

 

[BobG55]

Well, that's it. The replacement headband which I paid for from Hifiman/ U.S. based representative broke tonight also. I'm returning everything to Adorama & HFM/ U.S. This is the worst product I've ever bought since I've been in this hobby. Hifiman should be ashamed of selling such an expensive headphone of such poor quality. This was my first & last Hifiman product. The aggravation alone was enough to deter me from ever buying any of their products again.

 

[koover]

This is truly unbelievable. I have never heard of such a thing for any type of electroinc, automobile, toy, headphones, whatever. Just stunning.

 

[parkerlewis]

Well, that's it. The replacement headband which I paid for from Hifiman/ U.S. based representative broke tonight also. I'm returning everything to Adorama & HFM/ U.S. This is the worst product I've ever bought since I've been in this hobby. Hifiman should be ashamed of selling such an expensive headphone of such poor quality. This was my first & last Hifiman product. The aggravation alone is enough to deter me from ever buying any of their products again.

Wow, I was willing to accept that the Adorama orders all came from the same batch which had some kind of manufacturing defect but the fact that a replacement straight from HiFiMan also broke.. what a disaster. How could these have been $900 at one point?

That helps makes my decision for me and I'll just send the whole thing back to Adorama for a refund and wash my hands of the HiFiMan experience rather than risk getting a replacement and having to go through all this a second time.

Looking at Beyerdynamics, Sennheisers, and Focals now instead. Enjoyed the sound of the HE560 but they are currently a $350 paperweight sitting on my desk in two pieces.

 

[lugnut]

Well, that's it. The replacement headband which I paid for from Hifiman/ U.S. based representative broke tonight also. I'm returning everything to Adorama & HFM/ U.S. This is the worst product I've ever bought since I've been in this hobby. Hifiman should be ashamed of selling such an expensive headphone of such poor quality. This was my first & last Hifiman product. The aggravation alone is enough to deter me from ever buying any of their products again.

I bought a pair from Adorama, and somewhat liked them for $350. Once I started seeing the plastic breaking in the same area on the headbands, I knew there was a problem. Like I said before whoever made the headbands might have got the % of the plastic formula wrong and thousands of headbands could be compromised ! Once I seen this I sent my "good pair" back, costing me $13.00 to try them out. No, I would not spend any large amounts of money on a HifiMan !

 

[XxyzyxX]

I was going to box to return to adorama...but got lazy to undo the 3.5mm i put on to replace the 1/4 trs (this cable had 6 wires inside btw - 2 for each polarity and 2 for ground). Also it sounds darn nice...So instead i glued a strip of spring stainless steel on the inside of the yolks ( i can post pictures when this site allows me)...i think it will hold up for awhile as i believe the cracks form from the inside...but to reflect the sentiments of others...unless Hifiman reaches out and fix this problem...it will be the first and last product i buy from them...they are aware of the mass defects..it is time the fix it.

 

[DavidA]

Really feel for all of those who are having issues with headbands and driver failures, I'm going to consider my self very lucky to have no issues with either of my HE560, HE400i and HE400.

 

[XxyzyxX]

Luck plays a part, but it's another thing for a company to know of the problem and not take action to make right with their customer. I can't imagine that they are not aware of the issue.