Hifiman HE1000 Planar Dynamic Headphone | Page 188 | Headphone Reviews and Discussion - Head-Fi.org

jelt2359 · Mar 30, 2015 at 12:05 AM

speedracer1 · Mar 30, 2015 at 7:59 AM

Background:
I wanted to attend the HIFIMAN event held on the 19^th of March at Stereo Exchange in NYC but I was heading out of town that day so I contacted the folks at Stereo Exchange and Dr. Fang Bian was kind enough to allow me to take a listen to the pre-released HE-1000’s the day before the event. To make the most of my visit I packed my Cord Hugo, Fostex TH-900 cans and my trusty little AK240. I was very excited to have an opportunity to finally listen to these bad-boys and potentially consider them to replace my 900’s.

As I arrived a full day before the scheduled event, not everything was completely set-up and this was completely understandable. What I was able to do was to listen to the HE-1000 attached to the EF-1000 amp. According to Dr. Bian, this amp is a custom purpose built hybrid amp. Essentially it’s a “one-off” for a pair of speakers. He mentioned the name of the speakers but the name escapes me at the moment.

Yes the amp is “very powerful” as others have said on similar treads and the amp weighs approximately 60 pounds! The amp cost Dr. Bian over $10,000 to build and each component was “hand selected” as best in class technology and the entire amp is hand built. I listened to the EF-1000 and HE-1000 combination thru my AK240 connect via optical cable to the Hugo and from the Hugo thru the stereo RCA outputs connected to the EF-1000.

As far as the sound it’s as musicman59 describes it in a single word “sublimed”. My adjectives are “really ridiculously amazing”. The combination of the amp and headphones are transparent, clear, musically accurate, excellent sound stage and imaging and overall physically engaging. A true toe tapping euphoria!

That said, I was not able to make an honest assessment of just the HE-1000 as I’m familiar with my source amp (the Cord Hugo not the EF-1000) and I simply couldn’t isolate just the HE-1000. Again, I was there a full day before the event and the necessary cables were not available at the time.

I have a few brief comments and thoughts to share with the HF Community:

According to Fang, “the Cord Hugo will NOT sufficiently drive the HE-1000”. This is really very unfortunate for me and 10,000 other Cord Hugo customers who continue on their quest for the very best sound in headphones and either can’t or don’t have the money to spend on electrostatic headphones and electrostatic amps. This simply knocks out a huge market segment for HiFIMAN!
According to Fang,”the new 901S will drive the HE-1000” as there will be a specific “amp card” available for the 901S. Yes more powerful than the Cord Hugo amp. Again great for anyone looking to buy a new DAC player and more HIFIMAN stuff.
The EF-1000 is a long way off from production ready. I asked Dr. Bian how long and it looks like its months or more out. He didn’t exactly say. The issue is taking a custom, one-off, purpose built amp like the EF-1000 and designing and re-designing it using components that may not be in the current amp but are required to work in a production ready version is a large under-taking. Many things can change including the “sound signature”. That said, I have no question that Dr. Bian and his team can do it at “some point and at some price” but this is where things are at the moment.
I hope for those fortunate enough to purchase the HE-1000 in the near future the build quality and product failure rates are very low. And most importantly the “sound signature” that I’ve heard and come to expect in the HE-1000 is consistent from headphone to headphone.
Let’s face it, $3k is a lot of cabbage to spend on headphones and if I’m going to shell it out I’m making a big investment in the company not just the headphones! I’m relying on their customer service and their reputation, build quality and so on….
HIFIMAN is known for building affordable, good sounding products for a wide audience of people. Quality materials and quality control on some of the products I’ve wanted to purchase has not been to my standards and that was the reasons I purchased the AK240 over the 901. These headphones are “hi-end” and don’t appeal to the larger wide audience. Therefore the HE-1000 are outside what the consumer has typically seen from the company. This will without question place force changes within the company to cater to the very demanding high-end marketplace.

I hope my views were helpful and thank you for reading.
Sincerely your friend in HF,
-Speed

Currawong · Mar 30, 2015 at 8:26 AM

I had a listen to the HE1000 at Canjam. First was out of Stillhart's X5, but even though that was completely underpowered, it was still apparent how great the headphones were. The second listening session was me borrowing a pair for a few minutes to listen on the Schiit Rygg (Rag/Yggy) and that was fantastic, more like a pair of the best Stax than anything. I wish I'd had more time with them.

paulchiu · Mar 30, 2015 at 11:43 AM

currawong said:
I had a listen to the HE1000 at Canjam. First was out of Stillhart's X5, but even though that was completely underpowered, it was still apparent how great the headphones were. The second listening session was me borrowing a pair for a few minutes to listen on the Schiit Rygg (Rag/Yggy) and that was fantastic, more like a pair of the best Stax than anything. I wish I'd had more time with them.

how did it feel on the head? Like a LCD3, Sr009 or HD800?

No_One411 · Mar 30, 2015 at 12:17 PM

paulchiu said:
how did it feel on the head? Like a LCD3, Sr009 or HD800?

Exceedingly comfortable imo. Might have some issues with smallest setting if your head is small, but It fits more like the SR-009 with larger earpads. Your head has to be reaaaaally small.

More comfortable than HE-560, due to the larger earpads.

paulchiu · Mar 30, 2015 at 12:40 PM

no_one411 said:
Exceedingly comfortable imo. Might have some issues with smallest setting if your head is small, but It fits more like the SR-009 with larger earpads. Your head has to be reaaaaally small.

More comfortable than HE-560, due to the larger earpads.

Yes, I agree with the Sr009. Those pads are too small for my ears and just barely enough for my head.
What about pressure? Is it like LCD3 or Grado PS1000 or something else?

No_One411 · Mar 30, 2015 at 12:52 PM

paulchiu said:
Yes, I agree with the Sr009. Those pads are too small for my ears and just barely enough for my head.
What about pressure? Is it like LCD3 or Grado PS1000 or something else?

Not much clamping pressure either. Thing just sits on your head and you barely notice.

Much lighter than the LCD headphones.

paulchiu · Mar 30, 2015 at 1:08 PM

no_one411 said:
Not much clamping pressure either. Thing just sits on your head and you barely notice.

Much lighter than the LCD headphones.

good news. how much outside of the head does it get? HD800, SR009, R10, K1000, something else?

money4me247 · Mar 30, 2015 at 1:10 PM

do we have a numberical weight out yet for these? weight in comparison to the he560? kinda felt like they were a tad bit heavier than the he560, but not a direct comparison

n3rdling · Mar 30, 2015 at 6:00 PM

paulchiu said:
good news. how much outside of the head does it get? HD800, SR009, R10, K1000, something else?

I was pretty disappointed with this headphone, and the soundstage sounded messed up. I don't know if the one I auditioned was broken or if one of the drivers was out of phase. It didn't even come close the headphones you mention in terms of soundstage, though.

Edwood · Mar 30, 2015 at 6:51 PM

n3rdling said:
I was pretty disappointed with this headphone, and the soundstage sounded messed up. I don't know if the one I auditioned was broken or if one of the drivers was out of phase. It didn't even come close the headphones you mention in terms of soundstage, though.

I'm not saying you were since I didn't witness you wearing them, but I noticed a lot of people wearing the HE-1000's Backwards. It was more to do with the headphone display holders that HifiMan were using were too short for the HE-1000, and many people put them back on reversed to keep from resting them directly on their headphone cables.

The soundstage from the HE-1000 is completely different from any headphone I've ever heard. And by different, I mean, it's simply better. No contest. The phasing on the HE-1000 is the best I've ever experienced as well. Using them with my Smyth SVS Realiser has really emphasized that fact, since the SVS system is extremely picky about phasing.

I'm having some quality time with the HE-1000 / EF-1000 prototype. They're not the final version that's going to be released, so take that with a grain of kosher salt.

But I'll let this picture speak for itself, I'm giving them a quality shootout with a another "nice" headphone / amp combo.

I had the company of a good Head-Fier and friend, Iron_Dreamer.

Needless to say, we thought it would require a lot more time and stringent A/B comparison, however the differences were not exactly subtle. But we spend all night listening in a nice quiet environment.

Edwood · Mar 30, 2015 at 7:03 PM

money4me247 said:
do we have a numberical weight out yet for these? weight in comparison to the he560? kinda felt like they were a tad bit heavier than the he560, but not a direct comparison

HE-1000 (no cable)= 470 grams
HE-560 (no cable)= 381 grams

Using my kitchen scale.

paulchiu · Mar 30, 2015 at 7:08 PM

edwood said:
I'm not saying you were since I didn't witness you wearing them, but I noticed a lot of people wearing the HE-1000's Backwards. It was more to do with the headphone display holders that HifiMan were using were too short for the HE-1000, and many people put them back on reversed to keep from resting them directly on their headphone cables.

The soundstage from the HE-1000 is completely different from any headphone I've ever heard. And by different, I mean, it's simply better. No contest. The phasing on the HE-1000 is the best I've ever experienced as well. Using them with my Smyth SVS Realiser has really emphasized that fact, since the SVS system is extremely picky about phasing.

I'm having some quality time with the HE-1000 / EF-1000 prototype. They're not the final version that's going to be released, so take that with a grain of kosher salt.

But I'll let this picture speak for itself, I'm giving them a quality shootout with a another "nice" headphone / amp combo.

I had the company of a good Head-Fier and friend, Iron_Dreamer.

Needless to say, we thought it would require a lot more time and stringent A/B comparison, however the differences were not exactly subtle. But we spend all night listening in a nice quiet environment.

I am not sure what Smyth Realiser you were using with the HE-1000, as I cannot recognize it in the above photo. I have a realiser from years ago.
Since the function of the SVS Realiser is to emulate speakers with headphones, your HE1000 should have better soundstaging with it. What was the HE-1000 like with conventional amps? Thanks

Edwood · Mar 30, 2015 at 7:32 PM

paulchiu said:
I am not sure what Smyth Realiser you were using with the HE-1000, as I cannot recognize it in the above photo. I have a realiser from years ago.
Since the function of the SVS Realiser is to emulate speakers with headphones, your HE1000 should have better soundstaging with it. What was the HE-1000 like with conventional amps? Thanks

Other than adding HDMI as an input, there have been no changes to the Realiser from the original as far as how it sounds and functions. (other than improvements from firmware updates).

With better headphones, the better the SVS Realiser processed effect sounds.

The most noticeable difference between the HE-1000 and others like the SR-009, is that the HE-1000 had the least amount of your typical left right phasing separation sound effect that you can hear. It's difficult to explain until you hear it for yourself. There's a kind of reflected echo that you hear in the furthest left and right sides. It is almost completely absent with the HE-1000.

We compared the HE-1000 with the EF-6 Amp as well. Didn't have time to break out the GS-X. (not really enough room to put them up on same table area, LOL.)

The EF-6 is more than capable of driving the HE-1000. Seems that the EF-1000 is bit warmer sounding, with perhaps a little bit more "oomph" in the bottom end Bass dynamics. Measuring the two amps, the EF-6 uses an average of about 58 watts, while the EF-1000 uses about 195 watts, and gets really hot. Whether the extra power usage and heat generated are worth it for the very small amount of sound change, is up to you. Granted the EF-1000 is even less finalized than the HE-1000, so there can be further changes, but the amount of power it uses will likely not, since it's meant to double as a speaker amp, it has speaker binding posts in the back as well.

paulchiu · Mar 30, 2015 at 7:45 PM

edwood said:
The EF-6 is more than capable of driving the HE-1000. Seems that the EF-1000 is bit warmer sounding, with perhaps a little bit more "oomph" in the bottom end Bass dynamics. Measuring the two amps, the EF-6 uses an average of about 58 watts, while the EF-1000 uses about 195 watts, and gets really hot. Whether the extra power usage and heat generated are worth it for the very small amount of sound change, is up to you. Granted the EF-1000 is even less finalized than the HE-1000, so there can be further changes, but the amount of power it uses will likely not, since it's meant to double as a speaker amp, it has speaker binding posts in the back as well.

how would you describe the sound and experience between the SR009 with Blue Hawaii and the HE1000 with the regular amps you tried? thanks

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