[moodyrn]

Interesting, no dust mesh built into the inner face of the drivers? the dust screen on the earpads is 100% necessary then.

2mm wide strips should be excisable with a fresh xacto knife, or better yet some iris scissors.

Can't wait for the North American batch#1 to start distributing over the coming days.

Umm, it may be time to dig out my wife's cricut machine lol. But even I(self proclaimed master modder) would'nt have the courage to attempt this on a 3000.00 can.

 

[preproman]

  We only focus on "balanced" because it is a choice that affects how we connect our headphones. We don't have these discussions about whether a [insert any common topology here} would be any better for a particular pair of headphones than [insert any other common topology] because it doesn't change how we use the amp.
 
Anyhow...
 
I popped off a pad. It is possible to touch the drivers, which is a bit scary. There is a grill in there presumably to align phase which looks like a good candidate for a fuzzor mod, if one is up for cutting strips of material only 2mm or so wide.

So is it possible to hardwire these?

 

[purrin]

But even I(self proclaimed master modder) would'nt have the courage to attempt this on a 3000.00 can.

 
You are no master modder if you lack the courage!

 

[MattTCG]

You are no master modder if you lack the courage!

No lack of courage from Moody. I'll vouch for that.

 

[moodyrn]

Thanks for the vote of confidence Matt. But he's right. That post did just strip the word master from my modder title lol.

 

[figaro69]

  ^^^^That's why many won't even post early impressions without proper burn-in and extended use. We have read about them sounding from bright to polite which are two total opposites. Have also read "inside your head(only by one person btw) to far outside of your head imaging and soundstaging.

Yep, none of this makes any sense to me. 

 

[lojay]

Yep, none of this makes any sense to me. 

It does make sense. I don't think anyone has said the HE1K is bright. The tonal balance is superb but the treble is unnatural. It's the quality of it not the quantity of it. I am told by Hifiman that the beta units need burn in so please wait for people to opine when things settle down.

Otherwise I must say I like the HE1k.

 

[Currawong]

Stax earspeakers are bright, but not in a fatiguing way. The HE1000s are rather like that, though I reckon there might be a bit of reflection off what I presume are phase grills.
 
This is stuff though that if nobody told you and you didn't have a lot of experience with headphones and this kind of discussion, you probably wouldn't notice it, being too busy smiling at the sound quality. 

 

 

[wuwhere]

Is that the serial number at the bottom?

 

[daltonlanny]

If the treble problem doesn't go away after extended burn-in on the beta units, then hopefully Hifiman will try to correct it on the actual production units.
If it is not due to the fact that the driver needs to settle down, then it could very well have something to do with the phase grills Currawong spoke of above.
Looks like they could very well obstruct the sound, or cause some undesired reflections.

 

[hpz]

Currawong may I ask you to measure the earpad depth in front of and behind the ear?

 

[jerg]

  If the treble problem doesn't go away after extended burn-in on the beta units, then hopefully Hifiman will try to correct it on the actual production units.
If it is not due to the fact that the driver needs to settle down, then it could very well have something to do with the phase grills Currawong spoke of above.
Looks like they could very well obstruct the sound, or cause some undesired reflections.

They hold magnets, so you can't just remove them. 

 
 
And from the looks of it, fuzzor mod might not be easy on those thin arrays.

 

[daltonlanny]

  They hold magnets, so you can't just remove them. 

 
 
And from the looks of it, fuzzor mod might not be easy on those thin arrays.

Well, noted, but they may have to redesign them if they somehow obstruct the sonics or cause treble issues/reflections 

 

 

[jerg]

 
Well, noted, but they may have to redesign them if they somehow obstruct the sonics or cause treble issues/reflections 

 

AFAIK they already made inner magnets smaller (the asymmetric magnetic field design) to reduce this reflection effect. It was the whole point. But we don't know if anything is causing anything yet, all conjecture until more people get to beta-test these headphones, notably people with both measurement and modding tools at their disposal.

 

[daltonlanny]

  AFAIK they already made inner magnets smaller (the asymmetric magnetic field design) to reduce this reflection effect. It was the whole point. But we don't know if anything is causing anything yet, all conjecture until more people get to beta-test these headphones, notably people with both measurement and modding tools at their disposal.

 
Agreed. Maybe some of the minor sonic issues that have been mentioned will go away or greatly diminish as the drivers settle down with more burn-in or regular use.