Cool, thanks, I'll give that a try, lots of information in that thread.
Hifiman HE1000 Planar Dynamic Headphone
After 1 year I had chance listen again HE1000 in meet condition. I have to say it is amazing headphones. I do not listen on high volume as most people. I think this headphone have in sound everything what endgame sound should have accurate, big sound, dynamic, attack, more adult more atmosphere than HEX, similar pressure as spekaers, airy. I do not understand why people talk too much about quality of the materials or cheap look, I think these look nice and it is very comfy, not heavy and overal feels good.
One big negative is HiFiMAN price politic. But HE1000 in one word great sound, definitely I would like to own them one day if I will return to headphone world.
One big negative is HiFiMAN price politic. But HE1000 in one word great sound, definitely I would like to own them one day if I will return to headphone world.
Very interesting, thanks for the article. I tried it out and identified my peak to be 5200 - 6200 Hz, eq'ed down by -3db and that smooth out the harshness, still very small amount left, but so much more enjoyable now. I'm typically not an EQ person, so not sure how I feel about doing this, but this is one solution for sure.
On another note, HEK is so much a better movie headphone compared to Utopia, just watched Passengers, and that rumble when they sling shot around the red star was a very cool experience.
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Glad it helped!
To eliminate that last bit of harshness, eq out 0.5 db on the 500hz either side of the peak you already eq'd. ie 4700 and 6500. There's also a fairly well know peak on the HEKv2's at about 9k but not everybody dislikes it..
I'll have to try watching a movie soon... so little time..
To eliminate that last bit of harshness, eq out 0.5 db on the 500hz either side of the peak you already eq'd. ie 4700 and 6500. There's also a fairly well know peak on the HEKv2's at about 9k but not everybody dislikes it..
I'll have to try watching a movie soon... so little time..
I'm pretty much an EQ newbie, and I've been refining the EQ, pretty happy now with -2 db from 5-7k at 500hz interval with 1.4Q. I think this will be my HEK setup, will try the same with Utopia to see if it's the HP or just my ears that are sensitive to these frequencies.
WillB
100+ Head-Fier
There are probably a lot of HEK V2 fanboys here but I emplore you for an honest appraisal. For my listening, I need sound stage. Big, big, wide open OMG sound stage. The kind of spaciousness where you can distinctly hear sounds close and afar, completely separate and in the correct spatial position. I have the Senns HD 800's and HD 800 S's. They're amazing, comfy, can where them for hours.But I'm still very curious about the HEK. The Audeze LCD-X's I have come close to the Senns but they're 600 grams! That get's pretty wearisome after a short while. The LCD-X's are only 20 Ohms and the HEKs at 35 ohms aren't far behind. The Senns are 300 ohms. So an honest, no BS appraisal only with regards to sound stage and nothing else: Are the HEK V2's on par with the Senns, better or worse? for 3 grand, I really need to know and demoing them in a store because of the gear I use just won't cut it. I'm hoping there are some people here that own the Senns and the HEK's and can give me true, objective (hard with sound I know) appraisal. Should I just stick with my Senns and be happy or can the HEK V2's outperform the Senns regarding sound stage? Final thought: If you can think of any headphones that you truly think can beat the Sennheiser 800/S's in sound stage, let me know.
The V1's have a decent soundstage, it's airy and instruments are well separated. It's got a decent sense of depth. I would say they are very enveloping and musical. Absolutely nothing comes close to the HD800 for soundstage, both it and the 'S' are just immense. But, it's my opinion that they are too analytical and not musical enough to my ear.
Obviously you asked of a direct comparison to the V2, but I can't see how the soundstage from V1 to V2 can be entirely that different.
In my setup (Vega > Taurus MKII) I believe HEK v1 achieves about 80-90% of the HD800S' soundstage size. Sound-wise, 800S is more neutral and fast, HEK v1 is more coloured and bloomy. Both are at the same tier.
auricgoldfinger
500+ Head-Fier
Having owned both, I can confidently state that v1 and v2 are significantly different, so extrapolating from v1 to v2 without hearing both is probably not terribly useful when trying to compare to the 800/S. I have never heard the 800/S, so I can't provide a meaningful response to @WillB's question.
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I also haven't gotten a good listen to the 800s, only at noisy meets. I did get to compare HEK v1 and v2 (but also at a meet, with the v2 using stock cable, the v1 my Norne Zoetic cable. In that setting, I have to say I didn't hear big differences between the two. I'm supposed to get the v2 upgrade, I can post more when I do (it's taking a good bit of time, but no complaints).
My $0.02
My $0.02
auricgoldfinger
500+ Head-Fier
I have found @Maxx134's posts on the changes to v2 to be very accurate. I don't believe in reinventing wheels, so I suggest anyone with an interest search the three HE1000 forums for his posts. I think that perhaps people who don't hear a difference are listening on systems with insufficient resolution.
HEK is as close as you can get to HD800 soundstage without actually getting HD800s. There are no cans that I know of that have a bigger soundstage than the HEK/HEKv2 other than the HD800. But it is still smaller than the HD800 soundstage.
HEK does require quite a bit of power as they are low sensitivity cans. You do need a powerful amp, I would say at least Schiit Jotunheim class to get a good run out of them.
I compared V1 and V2 on multiple occasion with the V2 stock cables and after market cables. The most recent using balanced Kimber Kable Axios plugged to Headamp GS-X mk2. Didn't hear big differences too.
Get a pair of AKG K1000 and you will know the largest soundstage on headphones. But yeah, probably K1000 is not regarded as standard headphone.
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(could be many out there have better gear or better ears than I do. But I've spoken to some dealers, they don't think the differences are big. But if one appreciates v2 more and enjoys it, great. Don't have a horse in this race, I'm getting a v2, I think).
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