preproman
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2011
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Tuesday afternoon I packed up the modded HE-6, modded HE-560, Audio gd Master 7, AMR DP-777, and F1J and eagerly drove an hour and a half to the Trump Soho hotel to hear the HE1000. A Head-Fi buddy of mine (thegunner100) met me outside, and as we entered the room the faces of Fang and two other Head-fiers with him seemed to say, what is all this you have here? After setting up we began listening.
I gotta say, I was very disappointed with the HE1000 for two reasons. First, Fang seems to be leaning towards pricing these at around $3000 with a pimped out limited edition run priced at around $5000. Second, I couldn't leave with one that very night. I would have loved the opportunity to take one home with me where I could explore their capabilities for a few weeks.
Impression: I have no problem with their look or size. They didn't seem as big as they looked in the photos I've seen and to be honest once I started listening I didn't care about their appearance (Fang mentioned that there was an error in the production, and the metal was supposed to be Satin rather than glossy). They are quite light and very comfortable. On my F1J amp I was surprised that the HE1000 barely played any louder than my HE-6, however it played much louder on the EF1000 than the HE-6 at the same volume setting. The thing that stood out to me the most was the bass. It was noticeably fuller and had more impact than the HE-6. It did have a more HD800 like out of your head sound. On top it seemed a bit more extended and resolving. I really can't comment on the mids as I feel I would need more time to decipher the difference. Recently I told a buddy I wish they made a headphone with the resolving power of the HD800, the great organic mids of the HE-6 and the full bodied deep and impactful bass of the Abyss. Somehow it seems Fang was listening in on our conversation because the HE1000 appears to fit the bill perfectly. The HE-6 came the closest to my ideal headphone (which is why I have three and made it my soul headphone) but the HE1000 has me convinced they're about to be replaced. As for the EF1000, I would need more time to compare it to my F1J but it does seem like its more than capable of driving these two headphones to marvelous heights.
Thanks Craig, that's just what I wanted to hear. Coming from you makes the impressions more meaningful. Did you use both DACs?