[Gavin C4]

I have also been looking into the Utopia recently, lurking for a possible upgrade. But with the HE1000v1 w V2 pads, I just won't get tired of listening 4-5 hours for an entire Sunday afternoon. Yes, I do pair the HE1000 with tubes on the mj2. I guess I will be sticking with the HE1000 for quite a while. The Utopia is great, I can always go demo it at the shop when I am free.

 

[TheAttorney]

Encouraged by the unlikely success of my glasses-port mod, I thought I'd put in a bit more effort into creating a port larger than the tiny opening caused by my glasses frame. So I toiled night and day using the complex equations below to calculate the perfect port mod.

These equations predicted that the perfect port mod would be an 8mm diameter plastic drinking straw. Which, by amazing coincidence, I happened to have in my kitchen cupboard. How lucky was that!

So I cut 2 pieces and squashed them into an elliptical cross-section for a more streamlined fit under the pads. Then I inserted these plastic tubes under the pads in the same place as my glasses frame. And voila! I was astonished to find….. erm…. nothing. Not only was there no improvement, I think the SQ was actually degraded compared to stock pads. Which just goes to show that such mods are trickier to get right than you might think. In future I'll leave such things to the experts like @Maxx134.

Perspective time:
At the highest point of my excitement-o-meter, I wrote that my glasses-port mod was in the same ballpark as a good cable upgrade. Well now I've put this to the test by replacing my Toxic SW22 with the stock rubbery cable. The result was that the Toxic cable gave a bigger improvement than the glasses-port mod, but the good news was that both had no downsides and both were complementary to each other: It's all good. Next step is to find the right neoprene washers to do the job properly…

 

[Hoower]

I've had most of the HE headphones, and currently own the HE1000 V2. I have never been able to find a headphone stand that i've been truly pleased with. That is especially true with the HE1000 V1 and V2. Since i got them i have been using the Sieveking omega type stand. I have always felt that the Sieveking puts too much pressure on the earpads. Other stand i've tried for the HE1000 i felt have put too much strain on the headband. When the Shangrila launched i saw this picture, and its amazing proprietary stand:



My first thought was that this stand was awesome. No strain on the headband, and no unnecessary pressure on the earpads. So i contacted Hifiman to see if i would be able to purchase it, as it is not avalible in their shop. The answer i got was that they were unsure, and that the solid curved block stand is rather hard to make. So i thought i would give it a go making my own. I chose oak as the material, since it is a hard wood that will last. I took my measurements directly from the cup of my headphone. After cuting it perfect for the HE1000, i stained it with a topoil.



After leting the topoil dry, I added a Hifiman logo to the front. I am quite pleased with the end result. For me this has to be the ultimate headphone stand/cradle for the HE1000.



If anyone is interested in the measurements and scale drawing to build it, let me know.

 

[hifimanrookie]

I've had most of the HE headphones, and currently own the HE1000 V2. I have never been able to find a headphone stand that i've been truly pleased with. That is especially true with the HE1000 V1 and V2. Since i got them i have been using the Sieveking omega type stand. I have always felt that the Sieveking puts too much pressure on the earpads. Other stand i've tried for the HE1000 i felt have put too much strain on the headband. When the Shangrila launched i saw this picture, and its amazing proprietary stand:



My first thought was that this stand was awesome. No strain on the headband, and no unnecessary pressure on the earpads. So i contacted Hifiman to see if i would be able to purchase it, as it is not avalible in their shop. The answer i got was that they were unsure, and that the solid curved block stand is rather hard to make. So i thought i would give it a go making my own. I chose oak as the material, since it is a hard wood that will last. I took my measurements directly from the cup of my headphone. After cuting it perfect for the HE1000, i stained it with a topoil.



After leting the topoil dry, I added a Hifiman logo to the front. I am quite pleased with the end result. For me this has to be the ultimate headphone stand/cradle for the HE1000.



If anyone is interested in the measurements and scale drawing to build it, let me know.

I am very interested..but also a bit cautious...what hold the sides of the cups??? I always keep my heavy cables connected so i am afraid the headphone coukd tumble sideways..the hm stand has support on both sides of cups if i see it correctly..urs doesnt..why? Thanks for replying

 

[SilverEars]

I find listening to sound is very therapeutic(I guess depends on if the sound is pleasant or cause some pleasing sensations), relieving stress. Here's a track for an example of that, really tingly in sensation as a result of the sound, and well matched with the HE1000's spatial sound sig, air, and the depth.

Enjoy!

 

[Hoower]

I am very interested..but also a bit cautious...what hold the sides of the cups??? I always keep my heavy cables connected so i am afraid the headphone coukd tumble sideways..the hm stand has support on both sides of cups if i see it correctly..urs doesnt..why? Thanks for replying

I thought about that at first aswel. I also keep my cables attached at all times, just not for the photo. The resting surface of the cups is 7 cm in front, 8 cm in the back, and since the heaviest part of the phones are the cups themselves and not the headband, you need quite a lot of force for them to tumble sideways of the stand. Basicly, the force needed for them to fall out of the stand/cralde, would make most other stands tip over aswell. After using it for a few days i have not had this concern ever since.
The Hifiman original stand for the Shangri-la do not have any support on the sides either. Google "hifiman shangrila stand" to see more pictures of it.

 

[Liu Junyuan]

I agree in general with your assessments Liu, and I think you really should try the HEK V2.
I should add though that no headphone is perfectly neutral, and both Utopia and HEK can be helped by a touch of EQ. Apart from that, I've found that the primary cause of most "brightness" issues in any good setup is most likely to be the digital source. The FR peaks of any headphone will of course give it a certain sound characteristic that may also exacerbate upstream issues. But it is the quality of the source that most likely will determine if that "characteristic" becomes a "problem". There's also the recording itself, but we can't do much about that, so no point in fretting about it.

Yep, I agree no transducer is entirely neutral. It can only aim to approximate neutrality. I tend to prefer not precisely neutral unless I were monitoring.

I also agree on source, which has been a huge deal for me the past two years. I enjoyed the uRendu/LPS-1 for a year. I currently enjoy the Lynx AES16e as my main source into a Sonic Frontiers DAC or Yggy. Eitr is good too.

 

[SilverEars]

Electronic on the HE1000 is really good. Here this on the HE1000(give it time, it gets better and better). Boy, does this sound fun.

 

[rgs9200m]

Headphone stand for the HEKv2? I use the Woo with no problem: no strain, touching, instability, cable bending, and there is fine ease of access. The only minor accommodation is they have to go a little forward so the metal rod in the headphone does not touch the back of the stand, but there is still quite enough clearance.

The earpads are not pressed against any part of the stand. The bads do touch each other, but just naturally and lightly with no sign of too-much pressure as far as I can sense.

By the way, the Woo stands works well with every headphone I ever owned to my recollection.

 

[Slim1970]

Agree with @rgs9200m that the Woo Audio stands are great. Here's a pic of my HEK V2's on one.

 

[Hoower]

Agree with @rgs9200m that the Woo Audio stands are great. Here's a pic of my HEK V2's on one.

I agree that the Woo stand is good. My gripe with that type of stand for the HE1000 is that with the HE1000 and HE1000 V2 i have seen many having problem with the connection between the leather headband and metal frame has broken over time. And since the process of getting it replaced/repaired is a huge pain, I really want to do all i can to avoid that type of wear/damage in the long run. There are several examples of this in this forum thread. It might be that their phones had some kind of error from manufacturing, but i wanted to remove the strain of having the headphones hang from the leather band all together.

 

[Slim1970]

I agree that the Woo stand is good. My gripe with that type of stand for the HE1000 is that with the HE1000 and HE1000 V2 i have seen many having problem with the connection between the leather headband and metal frame has broken over time. And since the process of getting it replaced/repaired is a huge pain, I really want to do all i can to avoid that type of wear/damage in the long run. There are several examples of this in this forum thread. It might be that their phones had some kind of error from manufacturing, but i wanted to remove the strain of having the headphones hang from the leather band all together.

Okay, I understand what you're trying to do. Your design makes a lot more sense now. I wonder if Hifiman would sell the Shangri-La stand one day?

 

[kernel8888]

So, just tried the he1k v1 on an emotive xda2 / mini x a100 and it was incredible. I am returning the minix a100 because it was listed as the basX a100, and have a new bas-x a100 on the way with the headphone jack and resitors, but I plan to bypass them.

Using the xda2 DAC to control volume and keeping the bas-x volume low, is there much REAL WORLD (not hypothetical) risk of hurting my he1k with the 50wpc out of the basx a100?

 

[weasel1979]

To all of you, what's your judgment on the combination of the HE 1000 V2 with the EF-6? Thanks

 

[kernel8888]

Anyone noticed that the edition x clamps tighter than the hek? Ive had 2 pairs of each and the he1k always feels floppy and kind of wobbly, while the edition x seems more stable both on and off the head

Not sure if it's the weight of the drivers or a difference between v1 and v2- both of my he1000 we're v1 and both edition xs have been v2.

Anyway I've thought if it was the actual headband I might be able to buy an edition x headband from hifiman and install it on a he1000, and then maybe paint the grills black.

If it gave me the tighter clamp and more stable feel, I think it would look pretty sweet also, basically like a blacked out he1000 with the veneer cups

I just don't see a way to remove the cups from the hinges, didn't want to screw something up