[Licht]

Mine from Adorama sale looks like this.

Four digit serial number on the right slider and the PAPER box.
Probably exclusive serial number for this paper box version?
It has no correlations with the driver serial numbers which is in seven digits.

Driver serial number nomenclature might be:
1st digit: last digit of the year of the production
2nd to 5th digit: month and day of the production (mmdd)
6th to 7th digit: serial number of the day (and odd number for the left and even number for the right driver)
Keep in mind that this is just my guess.

 

[qatccv]

Mine is also from Adorama sale, serial number 0363. No issues so far, I guess I am on the lucky side.

 

[LCMusicLover]

...Driver serial number nomenclature might be:
1st digit: last digit of the year of the production
2nd to 5th digit: month and day of the production (mmdd)
6th to 7th digit: serial number of the day (and odd number for the left and even number for the right driver)...

According to that scheme, my drivers would have been built on March 29, 2017. I purchased mine well after that, so certainly plausible.

 

[antdroid]

Mine from Adorama sale looks like this.

Four digit serial number on the right slider and the PAPER box.
Probably exclusive serial number for this paper box version?
It has no correlations with the driver serial numbers which is in seven digits.

Driver serial number nomenclature might be:
1st digit: last digit of the year of the production
2nd to 5th digit: month and day of the production (mmdd)
6th to 7th digit: serial number of the day (and odd number for the left and even number for the right driver)
Keep in mind that this is just my guess.

INTERESTING!

My warranty exchange (not broken) headbands do not have a number scribed to the headband but my broken ones (from Adorama) DO have the same numbers scribed into it !

The new ones also do not say HE560 on them.

Also, the broken ones feel smoother to the touch than the warranty'd ones. Those ones have a grainier texture to it.

I wish I could break off a small piece of my new ones and go run some surface analysis on both of them and see if there's any differences between the two.

 

[pauldgroot]

The problem is that HIFIMAN designed the yokes to be very tight, about three mm tighter than the width of the cup, I think the plastic they've used is not able to withstand the stress from this for a long time and thus snap over time.

After some interations this should work, I've made this part to fit the cups with just a slight bit of tensioning so the stresses should be minimal. I don't have a broken one on hand so I can't assemble it. The original yokes have a small aluminium insert which should fit in the slot you can see in the pictures. Assembly would require you to take out the one from the broken yoke and glue it in the slot, then glueing both halves together. After this you can sand down the seam slightly if needed. This is printed in ABS plastic and should have enough flex to prevent snapping.

I need someone to test these for me and that person should meet the following requirements:

• Have a broken yoke from which to scrap the part needed.
• Have a digital caliper to measure potential adjustments.
• Have the time to do this when the parts comes ASAP.
• Preferably live in Europe as I have to ship from the Netherlands

Please let me know if you're interested, in return for testing you will only have to pay for shipping and get the part for free.

 

[SilverEars]

@pauldgroot

I just noticed the wood on yours. They don't look fake like the typical Hifiman wood. Did you get them swapped out? I see that they are the old connectors.

 

[koover]

The problem is that HIFIMAN designed the yokes to be very tight, about three mm tighter than the width of the cup, I think the plastic they've used is not able to withstand the stress from this for a long time and thus snap over time.

After some interations this should work, I've made this part to fit the cups with just a slight bit of tensioning so the stresses should be minimal. I don't have a broken one on hand so I can't assemble it. The original yokes have a small aluminium insert which should fit in the slot you can see in the pictures. Assembly would require you to take out the one from the broken yoke and glue it in the slot, then glueing both halves together. After this you can sand down the seam slightly if needed. This is printed in ABS plastic and should have enough flex to prevent snapping.

I need someone to test these for me and that person should meet the following requirements:

• Have a broken yoke from which to scrap the part needed.
• Have a digital caliper to measure potential adjustments.
• Have the time to do this when the parts comes ASAP.
• Preferably live in Europe as I have to ship from the Netherlands

Please let me know if you're interested, in return for testing you will only have to pay for shipping and get the part for free.

Those cups look sweet. They don't even look like the same HP.

 

[Licht]

The wooden cups are the original version HE560 (maybe prototype?) but soon changed to plastic with veneer for the quality reason.
(crack or warping on the wooden housing)

 

[pauldgroot]

I made the cups myself using teak wood like the original beta versions HIFIMAN was presenting and giving out to beta testers. You can see more pictures over here: https://imgur.com/a/Ev27o. HIFIMAN opted to go with wood fineer over a plastic cup because wood cups were prone to cracking due to humidity and temperature changes I think. Mine have been holding up well for the past three years or so.

 

[SilverEars]

The new ones also do not say HE560 on them.

I do have the same number(from the back side of the paper box) machine etched in the same spot like @Licht pointed out. It also has HE560 written on the pivoting mechanism where the yoke connects to.

 

[Licht]

I made the cups myself using teak wood like the original beta versions HIFIMAN was presenting and giving out to beta testers. You can see more pictures over here: https://imgur.com/a/Ev27o. HIFIMAN opted to go with wood fineer over a plastic cup because wood cups were prone to cracking due to humidity and temperature changes I think. Mine have been holding up well for the past three years or so.

Wow!
That's awesome mod!

 

[gardibolt]

I also saw this box online as well.

My box from Adorama was the cardboard one; the replacement I got directly from HiFiMan at its Amazon store was this leatherette version. Drivers failed on both of them. Still waiting on set #3.

 

[SgtPepper]

Does anyone have any tips for replacing the headband? I'm trying to attach the yokes to the cups but the cups seem way too wide to be able to snap onto the yoke from both sides. I feel like If I stretch the yoke enough so that they can wrap around the cup then it's going to snap like the last one.

 

[Anaz]

Does anyone have any tips for replacing the headband? I'm trying to attach the yokes to the cups but the cups seem way too wide to be able to snap onto the yoke from both sides. I feel like If I stretch the yoke enough so that they can wrap around the cup then it's going to snap like the last one.

I haven't done this yet, but I'd insert one tab into the ear cup, and slide the the other yolk tab along the curved edge of the ear cup* until it snaps into place.

* use a piece of very thin, smooth plastic to protect the wood veneer

 

[SgtPepper]

I haven't done this yet, but I'd insert one tab into the ear cup, and slide the the other yolk tab along the curved edge of the ear cup* until it snaps into place.

* use a piece of very thin, smooth plastic to protect the wood veneer

Thanks. Sliding did the trick.

INTERESTING!

My warranty exchange (not broken) headbands do not have a number scribed to the headband but my broken ones (from Adorama) DO have the same numbers scribed into it !

The new ones also do not say HE560 on them.

Also, the broken ones feel smoother to the touch than the warranty'd ones. Those ones have a grainier texture to it.

I wish I could break off a small piece of my new ones and go run some surface analysis on both of them and see if there's any differences between the two.

My replacement headband came just as you described. Also, the clamp force on the new one is not nearly as skull-crushing as the original. Maybe these were made not to suck?