[dermott]

Anyone think the Ragnarok 2 is still a worthy amp for the HE1000se? They are last chance, priced to sell. I have a Violectric V340 currently. Limited to single ended inputs and the sound is a bit polite. Couple of hundred more gets you MJ3 (plus a healthy wait)

 

[IlyaP]

Today amazon delivered the HE1000SE to me.
I was very happy. Loved the packaging, lots of "quality control" stamps and inserts. In general, the packaging is at the highest level. Tactilely everything is also very good. But after connecting them I realized that the right channel is silent... does not work at all. I tried changing the cable, and connected to another amplifier.
In the end I issued a refund. As soon as I get my money back, I want to buy it again.

Received my second new HE1000SE today after almost 3 weeks. After the procedure of returning the defective ones.
I guess I have no luck with hifiman.
This time they sent me a factory box, obviously used many times. The box has obviously been opened more than once and looks worn. The factory production stamp is for the year 2022. In the box was a invoice from SPORTIQUE. I bought them from the same hifiman page on amazon though.
There is a strong unpleasant chemical odor coming from the box and the headphones. Maybe it's a cigarette odor, I don't know. The first headphones didn't stink like that.....
There was also a "quality control" slip missing from the box. The cable is also different. In the first ones it was a black cable, in this version the cable is in a hard translucent braid.
I have a question. What did they sell me? A store-bought demo, a refurbished copy? A refund of some kind?
Has anyone had an odor out of the box with new headphones?

They seem to play without question.
But I'm so pissed off that I have no desire to listen to it.
I wrote to hifiman support asking them to comment on the situation.

 

[Patlezinc]

It doesn’t answer your question Dermott but I just got an EarMen Ch-amp + Tradutto for the He1000Se. What a great combo. Price is really lower now for the EarMen combo (was 2300$ at the start, about 1100 now).
Deserve a serious look for someone looking for something to feed the hifiman. You can find reviews here.

 

[nighthink]

I have a question. What did they sell me? A store-bought demo, a refurbished copy? A refund of some kind?
Has anyone had an odor out of the box with new headphones?

That is really unfortunate situation, can't explain this and certainly does not fit into my type of experience.

I ordered "refurbished" version, just because in Europe there was no new available and I didn't want to go through the hassle of import from China. I ordered in the middle of 01/2024 and when it came, the warranty label mentioned numbers like 231130XYZ, which I believe means the quality control was done in 11/2023. The box itself did look very nice (maybe even new), just the lock felt apart very shortly, but that could be also due to transport and not very good screws mechanism overall (the hole in the box got too big for that screws). The hekse were looking really nice and basically like new though. I felt very happy about them and had that good feeling I bought new headphones for the price of refurbished ones (which was already after that big price cut).

But I ordered directly from Hifiman store, not from Amazon. Maybe that is the difference.

In any case, it is really sad to see that buyers of headphones that previously costed $3500 are treated like this. That can't be right or acceptable. Even for $2000 it is definitely far from a cheap product.

If you got those hard translucent cables I suspect you got some older returned piece. The cables were changed for black version in the middle of 2023 or so. That label mentioning year 2022 only supports that.

 

[steve468]

Received my second new HE1000SE today after almost 3 weeks. After the procedure of returning the defective ones.
I guess I have no luck with hifiman.
This time they sent me a factory box, obviously used many times. The box has obviously been opened more than once and looks worn. The factory production stamp is for the year 2022. In the box was a invoice from SPORTIQUE. I bought them from the same hifiman page on amazon though.
There is a strong unpleasant chemical odor coming from the box and the headphones. Maybe it's a cigarette odor, I don't know. The first headphones didn't stink like that.....
There was also a "quality control" slip missing from the box. The cable is also different. In the first ones it was a black cable, in this version the cable is in a hard translucent braid.
I have a question. What did they sell me? A store-bought demo, a refurbished copy? A refund of some kind?
Has anyone had an odor out of the box with new headphones?

They seem to play without question.
But I'm so pissed off that I have no desire to listen to it.
I wrote to hifiman support asking them to comment on the situation.

That sucks! Probably just return them, no?

Does Hifiman sell on Amazon where you are? I don’t think they do where I am. I’ve had nothing but great experiences buying from Hifiman, but Amazon’s ever growing cabal of fly-by-night third party “sellers” on the other hand…

 

[IlyaP]

That sucks! Probably just return them, no?

I guess I'll do that.
I want to wait to hear back from Hifiman.
I bought the second one at the same place as the first one at the Hifiman store on Amazon. I used the link from my shopping cart. I don't know why they sent them to me from SPORTIQUE, or who they are....
What is more surprising is this attitude towards clients. They have a lot of positive feedback there, so my case is probably an exception. The first time, I was probably unlucky enough to get a defective product. This time it's different. Someone consciously sold such goods as new. But his box says otherwise.
The first box was definitely new.
The second - 3 kinds of tape on it, old stickers from the postal service, on the walls of the box dents. It's strange that the red "leather" case had no damage at all with such a box.

 

[Brandfuchs]

Received my second new HE1000SE today after almost 3 weeks. After the procedure of returning the defective ones.
I guess I have no luck with hifiman.
This time they sent me a factory box, obviously used many times. The box has obviously been opened more than once and looks worn. The factory production stamp is for the year 2022. In the box was a invoice from SPORTIQUE. I bought them from the same hifiman page on amazon though.
There is a strong unpleasant chemical odor coming from the box and the headphones. Maybe it's a cigarette odor, I don't know. The first headphones didn't stink like that.....
There was also a "quality control" slip missing from the box. The cable is also different. In the first ones it was a black cable, in this version the cable is in a hard translucent braid.
I have a question. What did they sell me? A store-bought demo, a refurbished copy? A refund of some kind?
Has anyone had an odor out of the box with new headphones?

They seem to play without question.
But I'm so pissed off that I have no desire to listen to it.
I wrote to hifiman support asking them to comment on the situation.

I'm wondering if it's because Hifiman didn't want to send a replacement HEKSE directly from China to you (due to postage, duties etc etc), so they found an authorised dealer in your area and had them send a HEKSE to you instead

 

[IlyaP]

I want to wait to hear back from Hifiman.

I spoke with Hifiman's customer service. The first headphones I bought from them, the second ones I didn't.
They explained that this SPORTIQUE is their former dealer. And apparently they sold me some old pair of stale headphones. Hifiman did not comment on its possible condition, but advised me to return them and take my money back.
Why the purchase didn't come from Hifimen is an Amazon issue as I understand it. Apparently amazon's algorithms rank sellers according to some rule of their own. Now on Amazon there are different sellers HE1000SE, but the firsth seller amazon puts me some "Gramophone store", not the official Hifiman. the official Hifiman must be selected from a drop-down list... This is not intuitive, and not explicitly visible. That's what I didn't know, and I didn't check. And I was sure I was buying from Hifiman. Just like the first ones.
But it turned out to be some old dealer, old headphones.)
I'm in the process of returning them.
All in all the customer service Hifiman are well done. The issue has been resolved. They offered a solution.
They also said that the first time it was necessary not to make a return to Amazon. And to turn to them and they would have solved everything with a replacement. I don't know if that's right.

I hope my story helps someone not to find themselves in the same situation

 

[tholt]

IME Hifiman customer service has always been prompt and mostly helpful.

 

[Brandfuchs]

Good to hear it was resolved!