[Law87]

But apparently there are those who disagree with you

I find my E2 very comfortable and have no trouble wearing them for long sessions. And I certainly wouldn’t call their sound ‘atrocious’.

BTW, ‘thin’ was used to describe the sound of HEK, not their physical form factor.

again your .02 cent is not needed, if I would have ask for you or replied to you then you would know. Ether 2 good on you? good for you.

 

[LCMusicLover]

again your .02 cent is not needed, if I would have ask for you or replied to you then you would know. Ether 2 good on you? good for you.

Dude, seriously?

You post on a public forum, you should expect others to respond. Don’t like others disagreeing with you, then don’t post opinions.

 

[Law87]

Dude, seriously?

You post on a public forum, you should expect others to respond. Don’t like others disagreeing with you, then don’t post opinions.

no I dont like nosy people like YOU, I have no qualms with others. Your post are full of crap and you sure as hell here on a different agenda.

 

[LCMusicLover]

no I dont like nosy people like YOU, I have no qualms with others. Your post are full of crap and you sure as hell here on a different agenda.

LOL!

 

[kid vic]

LOL!

Lol you sure got PWNED! I hope you know better than to show your avatar around these parts again...

 

[koven]

Anyway, back on topic.. I've gone down the Susvara rabbit hole now but sometimes I have nostalgic thoughts about my past SE + DAVE combo.. 1 box, 1 headphone, a simpler life!

 

[Swisshead]

Here is a comparative test by a German reviewer. It's still interesting. You could translate with browser.

https://musicalhead.de/2018/11/20/t...meze-empyrean-audeze-lcd4z-mrspeakers-ether2/

I am also seriously considering buying another 1000SE. It excites me extremely, to round off my collection to the top. Must be a brilliant listener, what you read everywhere. Also here it is interesting to read through all contributions. Thank you for the good and meaningful contributions!

 

[Law87]

Here is a comparative test by a German reviewer. It's still interesting. You could translate with browser.

https://musicalhead.de/2018/11/20/t...meze-empyrean-audeze-lcd4z-mrspeakers-ether2/

I am also seriously considering buying another 1000SE. It excites me extremely, to round off my collection to the top. Must be a brilliant listener, what you read everywhere. Also here it is interesting to read through all contributions. Thank you for the good and meaningful contributions!

having owned 3 out of those 4, I agreed with the ranking. However on the bass department, the Meze wasnt a good matched for me, it bother me to no end.

 

[Slim1970]

Here is a comparative test by a German reviewer. It's still interesting. You could translate with browser.

https://musicalhead.de/2018/11/20/t...meze-empyrean-audeze-lcd4z-mrspeakers-ether2/

I am also seriously considering buying another 1000SE. It excites me extremely, to round off my collection to the top. Must be a brilliant listener, what you read everywhere. Also here it is interesting to read through all contributions. Thank you for the good and meaningful contributions!

Good review. I’d swap 2 and 3 around with one caveat. The 4z’s sound better with a cable exchange. Put a silver cable on the 4z’s and they shine even more. To my ears, they leap frog the Empyrean’s who also sound better with an upgrade cable. The HEKse’s are just really good. I‘d rank them 1 in all those categories except bass quantity. The quality of bass is better than the other three. Depending on the song, the sub bass on the HEKse’s has serious rumble. Even surpassing the other three in surprising fashion.

 

[mixman]

Good review. I’d swap 2 and 3 around with one caveat. The 4z’s sound better with a cable exchange. Put a silver cable on the 4z’s and they shine even more. To my ears, they leap frog the Empyrean’s who also sound better with an upgrade cable. The HEKse’s are just really good. I‘d rank them 1 in all those categories except bass quantity. The quality of bass is better than the other three. Depending on the song, the sub bass on the HEKse’s has serious rumble. Even surpassing the other three in surprising fashion.

Wish I could be with you on the 4z, silver, platinum, whatever cable, I just find them too dark, outstanding resolution, just missing too much in the upper mids. Guitars sound like they are missing something with the 4/4z and I view them as the absolute best Audezes.

 

[Slim1970]

Wish I could be with you on the 4z, silver, platinum, whatever cable, I just find them too dark, outstanding resolution, just missing too much in the upper mids. Guitars sound like they are missing something with the 4/4z and I view them as the absolute best Audezes.

The LCD-4z’s are much better in that region than the LCD-4’s. But neither of them can match HEKse’s energy there.

 

[mixman]

The LCD-4z’s are much better in that region than the LCD-4’s. But neither of them can match HEKse’s energy there.

Here is the other thing I found out at CanJam after about 30 min with the TT2 + Mscaler, 4, 4z and 24. I actually thought surprisingly the resolution was better on the 4 than the rest. You are correct the 4z has less of that upper midrange dip and more energy there, but I thought the 4 had a better soundstage and more micro detail. Before I tended to like the 4z more, now it’s the 4, weight and all.

I did want to ask you, since you have both the SE and Susvara, which do you think has better slam and dynamics?

 

[Slim1970]

Here is the other thing I found out at CanJam after about 30 min with the TT2 + Mscaler, 4, 4z and 24. I actually thought surprisingly the resolution was better on the 4 than the rest. You are correct the 4z has less of that upper midrange dip and more energy there, but I thought the 4 had a better soundstage and more micro detail. Before I tended to like the 4z more, now it’s the 4, weight and all.

I did want to ask you, since you have both the SE and Susvara, which do you think has better slam and dynamics?

I’d give the edge to the Susvara’s when driven properly. The HEKse’s seem to perform those tasks more effortlessly at lower volumes.

 

[dleblanc343]

I owned the HEKse for about 7 months and upgraded to Susvara which are my true endgame until I get an HE1 lol!

Here's my ranking of top tier headphones I've heard or owned as with an added tonality summary. Owned is bolded:


HE1: "Real" and holographic like nothing out there. One single coherent blanket of cohesive sound/ nothing in your head.

Susvara: Near perfect tonally/ ever so slightly bright with ever so slightly too fast bass

Shangri-La Prototype: Ethereal, speaker like, but brighter and less convincing tonality compared to the two above.

HD800: Natural sound, great bass after EQ, tamed highs but still have dynamic and attack (I use Oratory1990's Harman Target curve, and add a bit more bass boost to his shelf up to 100hz. I will never ever listen to a stock HD800 again, it's poor.) HD800 is legitimate. I sold these in favor of a Focal Clear 3 years ago because I never dared change their tuning as an anti-EQ person. Turns out I got around to EQ'ing these and 100% vouch for it. They outshine Susvara sometimes even!

HEKse: Neutral/Bright. Trickle down of Susvara, more stage height and width (diffuse) lacks the same quality bass and especially grainier treble. Still my choice for end game performance and gear flexibility for price. Needs treble smoothing. I feel like HiFiMAN wanted to makes an HD800-like phone but with punchier, cleaner and more textured bass. Sadly treble is grainier than HD800.

Utopia: Neutral/bright. Sounds super focused and coherent, dynamics for days, transparent, punchy with amazing holography and proportionate staging in all axis'. Sadly stage width isn't as wide as competitors, but is more coherent than most regardless. Metallic timbre sometimes even on a warm system. I'd call this the best end-game for a single headphone user, paired up with a nice tube amp like Cayin HA-300A for example.

HE6 4 Screw (early production): Natural/aggressive. Some of the best and most authoritative bass and treble in a planar, much more grain-free up high vs all HiFiMAN's besides Susvara. More open and diffuse than HE6 6 screw, cleaner bass and image. Sounds more like a dynamic or e-stat. Importance of a powerful amp can't be understated.

SR007MKI: Neutral/smooth: Not an e-stat guy at all because they have no tactility in bass, but these are the sweetest and most natural stax I've heard.

SR009(S): Neutral/bright and neutral/bright w/ bass boost. Impressive with great recordings, detail monsters. Great imaging. Heard with KGSSHV and the portable Stax amp lol. Has no soul, has no tactility and visceral impact. Incredible with great recordings.

HE6 6 Screw: Natural/aggressive. Punchier bass and edgier treble vs 4 screw. Much easier to drive, more focused image with better depth projection. Really in your face and fun headphone, treble is unpolished and sometimes too metallic. Scales with powerful amps, again.

LCD4: Natural/dark. These have some of the best staging in sub 5k headphones. Very open in all 3 axis, nearly as wide and high as HD800 which caught me off guard. Not my preferred tonality, but it's done fantastically and allows for musical enjoyment with almost any music... provided you stick to this single headphone and calibrate to it in a listening session. Phenomenal bass, a bit too lingering imho, but the best after Susvara, outperforming HE6 except in visceral slam.

HEKv2: Natural/holographic. I think the tuning of this headphone is amazing. It sounds analog, music sounds "real", barely ever glare-y or digital, despite a peaky region. Issue with this generation of Hifiman is that it's a bit too soft and lacking tightness and dynamics. Bass is more bloomy than tight. HEKse remedies to that, but sacrifices the stage width and more natural timbre of HEKv2 in favor of the more focused and punchy attack.

K1000 Bass Heavy: Neutral. Most "neutral" headphone I've ever heard. Helps that the bass rolls off super early lol. But these, like the LCD4, sound incredible if you have a listening session with just it. Resolution and transparency is barely any better than my HD580 Jubilee, but the staging is addictive and satisfying with the right type of music, and tonality is near perfect with music that doesn't have a lot of low bass. It still handles bass superbly until 90hz, it's just not visceral. Can be fun with a subwoofer, but requires careful calibration and always sounds slower with a sub.

The rest: Arya, Empyrean, Clear, LCD3, HD580J, HD600, HE500,Sundara, HD650, etc. Not elaborating as I'm tired of writing. I can give my take on them if you guys care/ ask me

My rig is Singxer SU-1->Holo Spring KTE->Rebuilt and modernised McIntosh MC225. Chain sounds natural/neutral with neutral bass, and lots of airiness and no digital glare (tonal smoothing of R2R DAC).

 

[Fegefeuer]

I'd love to read more. Do it!