[magiccabbage]

   
I believe that sound only gets so good. Each step up is a smaller step, and it will never be as good as a real artist singing and playing music live directly in your own room. Or even if it ever does literally match that, it won't ever get BETTER than REAL. 

I hear this crap so much and its just not true. Most live venue's sound like absolute *****!!! I have only been to a handful of gigs where the sound is better than my home rig and they were all small venues with brilliant acoustics and mostly jazz/acoustic gigs. EDM, rock, pop and the rest sound terrible live because they are mostly in bigger venues. 
 
I have not been to a gig this year where I would say that the sound comes anywhere near my home rig but yet people keep talking about how great live performances are. 
 
I would say that 95% of all the live gigs I have been to have lesser sound than my home rig. People need to start being honest about this - live isn't all its cracked up to be. For me its usually a big let down. 
 
 
P.S sorry about the aggressive tone. 

 

[Happy Camper]

A live acoustic gig is as close as it gets to sounding as the artist intended. Once you go with electric instruments then it's up to the mixer/gear as well as to how it sounds. I've seen a lot of solo artists sit on a stool with an acoustic and entertain me more than a loud group would. My ears aren't bleeding after the show and I can speak without shouting during a show. So a general classification of "live" is deceiving.

I do agree with you in that my home gear sounds better than live most of the time and studio is the best recorded sound.

 

[coachhouse]

Oh sweet Jesus! Anyone want a kidney?

LMAO !!!!

 

[jelt2359]

  I hear this crap so much and its just not true. Most live venue's sound like absolute *****!!! I have only been to a handful of gigs where the sound is better than my home rig and they were all small venues with brilliant acoustics and mostly jazz/acoustic gigs. EDM, rock, pop and the rest sound terrible live because they are mostly in bigger venues. 

I agree with this. For concerts, I'm there for the atmosphere, the company, the chance to see my favourite bands live and see how they improvise and play around with my favourite songs... But not typically the sound. For that I'll go home and listen
 
PS, clubs are normally okay also, for EDM. Alcohol and the atmosphere really contributes to the live experience for that too.

 

[Ritvik]

  Initial impressions from erji are that it has a different sound signature from the HE6.
 
Apparently it sounds very detailed and airy, with great microdynamics. The user compared it to Stax.

Any word on the amp? It's a massive looking thing. Quite sure they're both out of my reach, but I'm still intrigued. 

 

[jelt2359]

More translations.

-More than one person complained about the weight. They did not say it was heavy relative to the HE6, though- just in general.
-It is clear it sounds totally different. One HE6 fan was very disappointed. He says despite the fact that the HE6 are so inefficient and heavy, they are full of soul. He finds the "HEK" (that's their nickname for it) bland.
-Another person says, there is flat and neutral, then there is the HEK. It is HEK is completely and utterly transparent. He said that all he heard was the music, not the headphone.
-A third guy said that there was a lot of weight to the music.
-One guy finds the Orpheus ethereal, airy and relaxing, but with bass that's not weighty enough. Compared to the Orpheus, the HEK has a bigger soundstage and is more enveloping. It has weighty, good quality bass- more quantity than Orpheus too. Its actual weight, physically, is heavier than the Orpheus.
-A fifth guy agrees- the HEK is powerful.
-A sixth guy says he's heard the Orpheus too many times- so he went straight for the HEK- and he's quite sure the HEK is at the top of the game.
-One guy says he was in a rush, so he didn't listen, but the weight was good- about same as the HE560.
-One chap, voice of reason this one, says, when HE560 first came out everyone also compared it to the Orpheus. Now that's a real joke. But he has higher hopes for the HEK.
There's also talk about how the previous designer of Hifiman cans (a certain 'Winny'), including the following: Jade, HE5, HE6, HE5LE, HE500, is no longer the designer starting from the HE560, and now the HEK. So there's speculation that the HEK is the spiritual successor of the HE560, not the HE6.

PS, all impressions were from the EF1000. So I'm not sure where the amp's influence ends and the headphone's sound begins.

 

[rgs9200m]

  I hear this crap so much and its just not true. Most live venue's sound like absolute *****!!! I have only been to a handful of gigs where the sound is better than my home rig and they were all small venues with brilliant acoustics and mostly jazz/acoustic gigs. EDM, rock, pop and the rest sound terrible live because they are mostly in bigger venues. 
 
I have not been to a gig this year where I would say that the sound comes anywhere near my home rig but yet people keep talking about how great live performances are. 
 
I would say that 95% of all the live gigs I have been to have lesser sound than my home rig. People need to start being honest about this - live isn't all its cracked up to be. For me its usually a big let down. 
 
 
P.S sorry about the aggressive tone. 

Just quoting this because it deserves repeating. Totally agree. And in stadium rock concerts, I usually end up listening through etymotic earplugs, so what good is that? For real music, I usually go to my headphone collection, lately mostly my trusty LCD3F ).

 

[Timestretch]

You guys may have misunderstood me. If you guys are trying to say that a recording sounds better than a musician right in front of you, you're crazy. Do you know no singers or guitar players, violinists or pianists, etc, and none of them have played while hanging out right in your own house? I don't care about a stadium with loud crappy speakers worse than ours. I mean the actual music. The source. Right there. And a recording literally cannot sound more accurate than the original right in front of you. That's like saying a photo could be more real than what you see with your own eyes. No photo of the grand canyon ever amazed me like actually seeing it in person. no matter how big or how clear the photo.

No matter how good headphones or speakers will ever be, if you use them to play a recording of someone singing and playing piano, you would be 100% better off just having that person playing piano and singing in front of you.

Now obviously that's not practical, I get that. But the point I am making is that there *is* an upper limit. We aren't there yet. Sure. But one day tech will be there, or will be so close that you can't notice any more. The exact sound of a piano 1 foot in front of your face, vs the recording of that same piano, played back through a set of speakers? At some point the recording/playback will be so good you literally can't tell the difference. and as time goes on, that tech will get easier and easier to create and mass produce. And once we have perfect sound it won't get any better than perfect.

So if you've closed your eyes while listening to an Audeze LCD2 or an HD800 and believed for a moment that you were there in the studio, or the singer was standing in front of you - then you've already touched that perfect illusion, even if only for a moment. You can feel free to spend the $3000+ that the HE-1000 will be to try to capture that illusion more consistently and more often.

The HE-1000 is sure to be an excellent headphone, and perhaps it is closer to real life than the current crop of flagships. That said, the current crop of flagships are very pleasing already. So people like Ron12 have nothing to fear. An expensive headphone existing does not cause cheaper headphones to downgrade.

 

[jelt2359]

You guys may have misunderstood me. If you guys are trying to say that a recording sounds better than a musician right in front of you, you're crazy. Do you know no singers or guitar players, violinists or pianists, etc, and none of them have played while hanging out right in your own house? I don't care about a stadium with loud crappy speakers worse than ours. I mean the actual music. The source. Right there. And a recording literally cannot sound more accurate than the original right in front of you.

 


Yes, I do know musicians, but none whom I would prefer the music of, over those that I have in my collection...

 

[Timestretch]

 

You guys may have misunderstood me. If you guys are trying to say that a recording sounds better than a musician right in front of you, you're crazy. Do you know no singers or guitar players, violinists or pianists, etc, and none of them have played while hanging out right in your own house? I don't care about a stadium with loud crappy speakers worse than ours. I mean the actual music. The source. Right there. And a recording literally cannot sound more accurate than the original right in front of you.

 


Yes, I do know musicians, but none whom I would prefer the music of, over those that I have in my collection...

That's a good point and true (no offense to all of our musical friends).   
  
Anyway I don't mean to derail into some bizarre side discussion about how good headphones can theoretically get.  
  
I'm personally pretty excited to hear the HE-1000 at a meet one day, as HifiMan is my preferred brand so far. Depending on what I hear, it may be something to save up for and own, too. Also, if this is a prototype, I wonder how its appearance will change as it gets closer to a full product release. 

 

[Ron12]

  That's a good point and true (no offense to all of our musical friends).   
  
Anyway I don't mean to derail into some bizarre side discussion about how good headphones can theoretically get.  
  
I'm personally pretty excited to hear the HE-1000 at a meet one day, as HifiMan is my preferred brand so far. Depending on what I hear, it may be something to save up for and own, too. Also, if this is a prototype, I wonder how its appearance will change as it gets closer to a full product release. 

 
The price will be most probably too high for me... but one thing that really concerns me are the focuspads. While I could theoretically easily substitute them for some other pads on HE-400i and HE-560, this won't be as easy on the HE-1000 due to the non-circular shape of their cups ( + maybe large dimensions as well). I would want my multithousand headphones to be equipped with something much much much better than focuspads.
 

 
From the image, those look like focuspads... at least to me.

 

[magiccabbage]

  Just quoting this because it deserves repeating. Totally agree. And in stadium rock concerts, I usually end up listening through etymotic earplugs, so what good is that? For real music, I usually go to my headphone collection, lately mostly my trusty LCD3F ).

I will get to hear the LCD3F very soon and will be comparing it to my HD800. Using a Wa5 as an amp. I'm looking forward to it - the HD800 with have a battle on its hands
 
Since I got my rig sorted ( or there abouts) I am very picky with what gigs I go to. I never go to big stadium shows unless I have  a free ticket or something like that. The last brilliant gig I went to that I could safely say was better than at home was Gregory Porter and Roy Hargrove live at the Cork opera house - that was an unbelievable performance. 

 

[magiccabbage]

You guys may have misunderstood me. If you guys are trying to say that a recording sounds better than a musician right in front of you, you're crazy. Do you know no singers or guitar players, violinists or pianists, etc, and none of them have played while hanging out right in your own house? I don't care about a stadium with loud crappy speakers worse than ours. I mean the actual music. The source. Right there. And a recording literally cannot sound more accurate than the original right in front of you. That's like saying a photo could be more real than what you see with your own eyes. No photo of the grand canyon ever amazed me like actually seeing it in person. no matter how big or how clear the photo.

No matter how good headphones or speakers will ever be, if you use them to play a recording of someone singing and playing piano, you would be 100% better off just having that person playing piano and singing in front of you.

 

I know lots of musicians (I'm one myself - Sax + guitar) and I have worked in video recording on lots of gigs. If the venue is the right size and the acoustics are good then yes the performance is better than anything else but those gigs are rare.Most setups just aren't like that. You go see any world famous band and the sound is usually terrible because they just will not play the smaller venues. If you could manage to get those same musicians in a small setting with good acoustics then its the best of both worlds but that never happens. Nobody gets to see Stevie Wonder or Pink Floyd in those venues! 
 
Maybe in some places like New York or New Orleans you might get a chance to see big names In small clubs - maybe. 
 
I got to see Tommy Emanuel backstage in a small room with his acoustic guitar (I was sitting right beside him) that was amazing, even better than the 6 gigs I seen of him live. 
 
Sorry bout the off topic commemts

 

[Duncical]

I've heard many big names in small clubs dicky betts..bb king..the allman brothers..jamey johnson to name a few. 

 

[rgs9200m]

Mr. Cabbage--good luck with the LCD3Fs; don't be surprised if they sound brighter than expected as a first impression; as the sound quality sank in and I experimented with all kinds of familiar recordings (break-in? who knows), I no longer feel that way and they are just plain real and revealing in an Audeze way.
Back to Hifiman, I have the 500, 560, and used to have the 6. The 6 was too sharp for me, the 560 is just a bit sharp but it's still a keeper (sometimes I use some EQ in Jriver to reduce the lower treble), and the 500 has nice tonality and is musical but it could use a little more detailed texture like the 560 has.
If the new phone has the 560's insight into the character of each musical object, along with it's satisfying speed, especially with percussion, but is a tad less glassy and shiny, that would be something.