This is not bad at all. It looks reliable.
HIFIMAN HE-R10 Closed-Back Headphones Discussion & Impressions
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Simple..
1) let's start from the fact that it is outrageous to clearly copy the legendary MDR R10, a cornerstone of the history of sony, of the hifi world, and a reference to today's headphones today, with the justification that "sony's patent has expired"
In any sector one takes a cue, and nobody says anything about this, but so it is a joke.
2) Everything is relative, and also the cost, especially in the hifi headphone sector.
But 6000 euros in the price list is simply ridiculous; for a closed headset, for the poor quality used in the construction (according to the owners, as I do not own it)
Other things,there is still something called "competition"
I am sure it sounds good, I have worn a susvara several times and I was satisfied with it. If the nature of the headphones is that then we could not say anything about the sound.
But you pay € 6000 not only for the sound.
I am sure it is a headphone with excellent potential, but with too many gaps in marketing and this hifiman fashion in copying, ridiculing the brand to a "copy-paste china products"
I must be the only person who feels this way- but the mistake of Hifiman is not that they copied the Sony R-10. It is that they copied the name and aesthetics but not the technology and sound. If they would have made an exact copy sonically as well of the King of headphones whose patent has expired- I would buy it tomorrow. It was the most beautiful sounding headphone I ever heard. I have no interest in the magnetic planner version, I want an EXACT copy. Same design, drivers, sound. Perhaps if they could make it lighter that would be OK- but sonically I would have wanted a duplicate.
Why develop expensive bio cellulose driver technologies when you can just copy the legendary looks of the R10 for $5 per earcup.
There were speculations of Hifiman releasing a K1000 duplicate in the future.
Sorry, but I can't conceive of the angle of the cup in a planar transducer; the r10 was designed this way just to give a listening sensation with speakers, and it sounds like that.
Many have designed DIY headphones by copying the cups of the r10 without equaling neither the timbre, nor the three-dimensionality of the real r10.
It's a whole set of details, starting from the angle, to the transducer, to create that sound signature and soundstage.
not to mention that besides the shape, the stiffness of the zelkova counts a lot.
It is a copy, an end in itself and a decoy; they know that the enthusiast buyer does not worry about cost and hifiman has focused on this. We are crazy to spend all this money, it is true; but it is also true that in our madness we always weigh the purchases according to our needs.
That cut, that cups has nothing to do with other transducers except with the original project that sony has used in the past 1989
IMHO
Many have designed DIY headphones by copying the cups of the r10 without equaling neither the timbre, nor the three-dimensionality of the real r10.
It's a whole set of details, starting from the angle, to the transducer, to create that sound signature and soundstage.
not to mention that besides the shape, the stiffness of the zelkova counts a lot.
It is a copy, an end in itself and a decoy; they know that the enthusiast buyer does not worry about cost and hifiman has focused on this. We are crazy to spend all this money, it is true; but it is also true that in our madness we always weigh the purchases according to our needs.
That cut, that cups has nothing to do with other transducers except with the original project that sony has used in the past 1989
IMHO
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Yes and the colour looks it could be the R10D and not the R10P. The lack of box, booklet warranty card etc, I’m skeptical.
boozcool
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ufospls2
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Thought this was sort of interesting (don't think its been shared yet in this thread.) ES Labs from hong kong, who make the ES1a seem to be doing an R10 tribute/replica sort of thing. Seems to be targeting actually replicating what the Sony was vs. the Hifiman approach. Regardless, looks neat 
https://www.eslabhk.com/product-page/es-r10-closed-back-dynamic-headphone
https://www.eslabhk.com/product-page/es-r10-closed-back-dynamic-headphone
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It's still in stock though? https://store.hifiman.com/index.php/he-r10-planar.html
Where are you seeing it dead? Funnily enough both HE-R10s are here on a review loaner, so I just chanced upon this thread.
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Thought this was sort of interesting (don't think its been shared yet in this thread.) ES Labs from hong kong, who make the ES1a seem to be doing an R10 tribute/replica sort of thing. Seems to be targeting actually replicating what the Sony was vs. the Hifiman approach. Regardless, looks neat
https://www.eslabhk.com/product-page/es-r10-closed-back-dynamic-headphone
That looks like a much more legit homage to the original. Looks like a complete replica, and even notes a biocell driver, plus they're selling parts to owners of original R10!
Is there a dedicated thread yet?
I'm interested in this too. There are a few reviews on the site which you can translate. There appear to be somewhat positive impressions, with one person saying it achieves 80% of what the original R10 does, but does density better. I'm going to think about maybe purchasing one. Maybe
omega1990
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I placed an order for an ES-R10. Looks like I'll be receiving one in a week or 2. I had no idea that eslabs was making one. I've never heard an R10 before, but if it's as close to the Sony R10 as the reviewers say, I'm definitely excited to hear them.
Also, I'm going to look into purchasing the Hifiman HE-R10D and will try to do a comparison of them both.
Update: I placed an order for the Hifiman HE-R10D and got them with 2 day shipping, so I will receive them most likely early next week. ES Labs said my R10 will be shipped out sometime next week. As I receive each one, I'm not going to post a full comparison right away, more an initial reaction to each of them. I want to give them both at least 200hrs of burn in to see if any changes occur as the reviews I read on both have not accounted for this. So it'll be awhile before I post the full comparison.
Also, I'm going to look into purchasing the Hifiman HE-R10D and will try to do a comparison of them both.
Update: I placed an order for the Hifiman HE-R10D and got them with 2 day shipping, so I will receive them most likely early next week. ES Labs said my R10 will be shipped out sometime next week. As I receive each one, I'm not going to post a full comparison right away, more an initial reaction to each of them. I want to give them both at least 200hrs of burn in to see if any changes occur as the reviews I read on both have not accounted for this. So it'll be awhile before I post the full comparison.
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omega1990
100+ Head-Fier
Hi everyone, my HE-R10D from moon audio has arrived. The good news is that I now have it, and the bad news is that well....
Ok first off I understand that when people talk about hifiman its really about the sound, not build. This is my second hifiman headphone, the first being my he6se v1. While the build is cheap on the he6se, at least it felt a little sturdy. The HE-R10D is profoundly cheaply built, I am actually impressed by its cheapness.
The headphone weighs like nothing, which you think would be a good thing until you hold them in your hand. The cups from what I read is of actual wood, in person it feels more like cheap plastic. The headphone feels and appears more like a cheap dollar store toy. The screws holding the headband to the headphone are loose on at least one side of them and every time I pick it up I have to press down on a screw to keep that part of the headband attached. In the photos I show a picture of the screw before and after I press down on it. It clearly moves every time I put on and take off the headphones.
The padding on the headband reminds me of the firmness found in a helmet I wore when playing football during middle-school. However, this is not of any acceptable quality for a headphone.
The pad situation is not good as they are crushed by the box they are stored in. As you can see in the photos the lower half is being squashed and it is so tightly placed inside the box that I feel I might damage the headphone in an effort to pull them out. If you adjust the headphone to wear them, you will have to put the headband back into the lowest setting in an effort to get them back in the box which was a little challenging because of how tight it is. In comparison the he6se when putting it away is more a snug fit in its box and not tight like the HE-R10D's box.
I will say the best built thing was not the headphone but the cable. Its nothing impressive, but it is definitely an improvement from the he6se's cable which felt sticky and constantly bent because the material housing the wires inside is not very sturdy.
Ok so how is the sound? What I will say now will not necessarily be my final verdict as the manual mentions it needs about 150 hours of play time before reaching its supposed optimal state. I will burn it in for 200 hours simply because that is how long I burn in my zmf's. I feel it would be more fair to the HE-R10D if I matched the burn in hours of my other dynamic headphones.
With that said this headphone while presenting a good amount of transparency, sounds weak and lifeless. The first piece I played was Eine Kleine Nachtmusik by Mozart. A piece everyone knows when heard but probably won't know what its called. Anyway, the strings appear to sound decently accurate. However, the attack conveyed by the violins is a bit sibilant and the decay is sloppy in that I feel that the angular wooden cups are actually working against what the drivers are doing. The driver seems to be trying to convey what seems to be a transparent and accurate sound, but the influence of these thin hollow cups are preventing the violins from sounding realistic. There is no richness carried by the attack of instruments. What I mean in another way is that information is made available by this headphone, but it lacks all the weight behind it. The soundstage is not really that wide, just barely outside of my head which is surprising because I thought that since hifiman copied the cups of the sony r10 it would get a larger soundstage. I have never heard an original sony r10 but have read that the soundstage is supposed to be pretty big. The headphone itself plays sound that feels a little more like an open back, so you don't hear the sounds hitting a wall pre se, but it's still not really all that wide.
Just out of curiosity I pulled out my zmf atticus blackwood using ori leather pads and a zmf silver verite cable and here is what I heard in comparison to the hifiman headphone. The Atticus is just as wide as the HE-R10D but is immensely richer. But here's the thing, not only is the Atticus conveying sounds with much more girth and richness, it also allows the string to carry a crisppy attack with no sibilance and what I feel is a more realistic resonance. Since the Atticus is thicker sounding, distant sounds in the recording will have less presence than the HE-R10D but nevertheless that very same information can still be heard on the atticus. The Atticus rendition of this Mozart piece is more involved and engrossing and more holographic.
I then played a bass track nothing sophisticated. I played the first thing that came up and it was Megan thee stallion's savage. A straight forward bassy track. The HE-R10D appears to have a large punch but has no meat on the bone. It also lacks almost any subass. There is no proper sustaining of bass sounds on this headphone. Again the information is clearly understood thanks to the HE-R10D trying to sound transparent. But again the Atticus did everything better.
On the Atticus bass punches hard but subbass is present as well. The vocals are more intimate and when it plays this song you'll bounce in your chair as it so lively and the attack is so direct and yet easy to listen to. The bass did no favors for the HE-R10D.
I find it troubling that a much warmer and thicker sounding headphone like the Atticus is able to better play classical music with a substantially better sense of organicness than the HE-R10D, when judging by the lighter weighted wood and its tuning you would think it would play classical better, but as of now it doesn't.
You would think the HE-R10D would have a wider stage than the Atticus but the Atticus matches it every time and the cups don't stick as far out as the HE-R10D. The pads are deeper on the Atticus though, so keep that in mind.
Even though we are off to a disappointing start I want everyone to know that I will burn in the HE-R10D for 200 hours and give them more listening sessions before posting my final word on them. I am hopefull that they will perform better as time goes on.
My next post will be for the es labs r10, but just to let you all know, they have not been shipped out yet. They told me it takes about week before shipping them out.
To be continued,
Update 03/10/22 got a message from es labs. The r10 has been shipped, eta 03/15/22. Can't wait to hear it!
Ok first off I understand that when people talk about hifiman its really about the sound, not build. This is my second hifiman headphone, the first being my he6se v1. While the build is cheap on the he6se, at least it felt a little sturdy. The HE-R10D is profoundly cheaply built, I am actually impressed by its cheapness.
The headphone weighs like nothing, which you think would be a good thing until you hold them in your hand. The cups from what I read is of actual wood, in person it feels more like cheap plastic. The headphone feels and appears more like a cheap dollar store toy. The screws holding the headband to the headphone are loose on at least one side of them and every time I pick it up I have to press down on a screw to keep that part of the headband attached. In the photos I show a picture of the screw before and after I press down on it. It clearly moves every time I put on and take off the headphones.
The padding on the headband reminds me of the firmness found in a helmet I wore when playing football during middle-school. However, this is not of any acceptable quality for a headphone.
The pad situation is not good as they are crushed by the box they are stored in. As you can see in the photos the lower half is being squashed and it is so tightly placed inside the box that I feel I might damage the headphone in an effort to pull them out. If you adjust the headphone to wear them, you will have to put the headband back into the lowest setting in an effort to get them back in the box which was a little challenging because of how tight it is. In comparison the he6se when putting it away is more a snug fit in its box and not tight like the HE-R10D's box.
I will say the best built thing was not the headphone but the cable. Its nothing impressive, but it is definitely an improvement from the he6se's cable which felt sticky and constantly bent because the material housing the wires inside is not very sturdy.
Ok so how is the sound? What I will say now will not necessarily be my final verdict as the manual mentions it needs about 150 hours of play time before reaching its supposed optimal state. I will burn it in for 200 hours simply because that is how long I burn in my zmf's. I feel it would be more fair to the HE-R10D if I matched the burn in hours of my other dynamic headphones.
With that said this headphone while presenting a good amount of transparency, sounds weak and lifeless. The first piece I played was Eine Kleine Nachtmusik by Mozart. A piece everyone knows when heard but probably won't know what its called. Anyway, the strings appear to sound decently accurate. However, the attack conveyed by the violins is a bit sibilant and the decay is sloppy in that I feel that the angular wooden cups are actually working against what the drivers are doing. The driver seems to be trying to convey what seems to be a transparent and accurate sound, but the influence of these thin hollow cups are preventing the violins from sounding realistic. There is no richness carried by the attack of instruments. What I mean in another way is that information is made available by this headphone, but it lacks all the weight behind it. The soundstage is not really that wide, just barely outside of my head which is surprising because I thought that since hifiman copied the cups of the sony r10 it would get a larger soundstage. I have never heard an original sony r10 but have read that the soundstage is supposed to be pretty big. The headphone itself plays sound that feels a little more like an open back, so you don't hear the sounds hitting a wall pre se, but it's still not really all that wide.
Just out of curiosity I pulled out my zmf atticus blackwood using ori leather pads and a zmf silver verite cable and here is what I heard in comparison to the hifiman headphone. The Atticus is just as wide as the HE-R10D but is immensely richer. But here's the thing, not only is the Atticus conveying sounds with much more girth and richness, it also allows the string to carry a crisppy attack with no sibilance and what I feel is a more realistic resonance. Since the Atticus is thicker sounding, distant sounds in the recording will have less presence than the HE-R10D but nevertheless that very same information can still be heard on the atticus. The Atticus rendition of this Mozart piece is more involved and engrossing and more holographic.
I then played a bass track nothing sophisticated. I played the first thing that came up and it was Megan thee stallion's savage. A straight forward bassy track. The HE-R10D appears to have a large punch but has no meat on the bone. It also lacks almost any subass. There is no proper sustaining of bass sounds on this headphone. Again the information is clearly understood thanks to the HE-R10D trying to sound transparent. But again the Atticus did everything better.
On the Atticus bass punches hard but subbass is present as well. The vocals are more intimate and when it plays this song you'll bounce in your chair as it so lively and the attack is so direct and yet easy to listen to. The bass did no favors for the HE-R10D.
I find it troubling that a much warmer and thicker sounding headphone like the Atticus is able to better play classical music with a substantially better sense of organicness than the HE-R10D, when judging by the lighter weighted wood and its tuning you would think it would play classical better, but as of now it doesn't.
You would think the HE-R10D would have a wider stage than the Atticus but the Atticus matches it every time and the cups don't stick as far out as the HE-R10D. The pads are deeper on the Atticus though, so keep that in mind.
Even though we are off to a disappointing start I want everyone to know that I will burn in the HE-R10D for 200 hours and give them more listening sessions before posting my final word on them. I am hopefull that they will perform better as time goes on.
My next post will be for the es labs r10, but just to let you all know, they have not been shipped out yet. They told me it takes about week before shipping them out.
To be continued,
Update 03/10/22 got a message from es labs. The r10 has been shipped, eta 03/15/22. Can't wait to hear it!
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sam0227
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I wish that I"m in one of the major city so I could have some local source to test this out. Heard once the orignal Sony R10 and absolutly stunning. If someone can spend 5k on these why can't spend a bit more to get a Sony?
Any thought?
Any thought?
It’s hard to find a good pair, and if it breaks you can’t get it repaired by Sony. That said, the ES-R10 replica looks to be a good alternative at like $2000. I’m still considering it myself. I like the R10P, but haven’t heard the R10D. I’ve never heard the original Sony, but I’m curious. Part of me thinks it’s just nostalgia and myth, but admittedly I can’t verify that
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