You should aim for all copper cables. I personally use Norne Drausk cable for my HE1000se
Hifiman HE1000-SE
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The Cardas clear is a great cable for the HE1000SE, tame a bit of the highs, gives some weight and body to the sound, the detail and transparency it’s still here and improves the soundstage
With regards to cables, I find these 2 cables to sound really good with the HEKSE and they don't break the bank.
* AudioEnvy Tonekraft Headphone cable - around USD300
* Custom cable by Oidio Sound UK using Duelund DCA16GA tinned copper cable - around USD350
* AudioEnvy Tonekraft Headphone cable - around USD300
* Custom cable by Oidio Sound UK using Duelund DCA16GA tinned copper cable - around USD350
I've gone through a number of different cables for my HEKse, including the Cardas Clear, Norne Drausk, Arctic Cables Cuprum, and Forza Audioworks Hybrid. My favorite so far is a special custom design sold only on Ebay, combining 7N cryo OCC copper Litz, palladium plated silver and gold plated silver. It was a bit pricey at almost $500, but beats all the other ones I have tried in transparency and especially soundstage. Imaging focus on different instruments and instrument groups, and depth of soundstage, are unprecedented in my experience, I think due to the use of a number of palladium plated conductor strands; palladium is unique to my knowledge in the industry except for the extemely expensive Arctic Cables Opera. The cable also tames the treble a little, just enough for me at least.
The link to the Ebay page is https://www.ebay.com/itm/124992874347?hash=item1d1a27e76b:g:FfcAAOSwd0tg9xsi . This cable has a balanced 4-pin XLR amp connector. The cable maker does a lot of custom terminations and he probably will make one with other terminations like single ended 1/4" TRS.
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Revisiting my Free Tweaks that significantly improve the HEKse.
Introduction
A while back, I commented that the exact position of the HEK on my head made a significant difference to the sound presentation (this followed on from similar suggestions from @Articnoise I think). In my case, the height adjustment made the biggest difference. To quantify this, my start point was such that 2 holes were visible below the slider on each side (2H, 2H). When I dropped the pads by one click on both sides (3H, 3H), the soundstage increased, the focus decreased and the FR tilted slightly towards the bass. Which gave a very spacious, pleasant sound, but missing the original focus. I found that clicking just one side (3H, 2H) gave a better balance of pros/cons, that I've lived with ever since. Note that the space between each hole (click) is about 5mm. So a click on one side lowers both pads by about 2.5mm. Both pads drop more or less evenly when only one side is clicked, but when going upwards, the pads need a helping hand to defy gravity.
My main system change in the last year was to downsize/up-quality by getting a new server, the superlative Grimm MU1, with a simplified path of MU1 > DAVE > HEKse. This resulted in new levels of resolution and transparency - which showed up more clearly the diffuse nature of (H3, H2). But (H2 H2) wasn't the answer either because of its tonal thinness and smaller soundstage.
The new, improved, height tweak
With the standard 5mm click adjustment being too crude, my next step was to try smaller increments in between the clicks (carefully to stop slippage).
There came a moment when the sound just blossomed - so real and natural, full bodied, no thinness, and with rock-solid images (especially central vocals (note I use DAVE's Cross-feed. If you don't use an equivalent XF then all bets are off regarding my soundstage findings). I subjectively measured this position to be about 2mm lower on one side (2H+2mm, 2H). The tiniest adjustments around here gave incremental, but obvious, changes to this Goldilocks sound. To stop slippage, I wrapped a bit of masking tape above the slider. This means that I can raise the pads any amount, but I can't go lower than the Goldilocks position. So on the other side I added some masking tape to enable an even smaller drop of 1mm as another option. So now my options are:
(2H, 2H) = Start Point. Focused, but slightly thin, with smaller soundstage (especially in reduced height). I don't bother with this one anymore.
(2H, 2H+1mm) = Better than Start Point, but not as good as Goldilocks, so hardly worth it.
(2H+2mm, 2H) = Goldilocks = bliss. My default for most of the time. Makes everything sound more gorgeous than it was before.
(2H+2mm, 2H+1mm) = Goldilocks with a bigger, but more diffuse soundstage. Fun for certain recordings, but I always return to pure Goldilocks.
The amazing thing is that each of the above steps drops the headphones by a tiny 0.5mm (estimated) and yet I can still readily identify the differences.
It's also surprising that taking the headphones off and on again doesn't seem to affect these tiny adjustments - the headphones always seems to land at the same place for me, which is: the back of my ear is close to (but not touching) the back inner pad, and top of my ear is close to (but not touching) the top inner pad. YMMV. In this position the headphones feel and look as if they are set too low. OTOH, it brings my ear hole closer to the widest part of the pads, which may or may not be significant?
Whatever, it's the sound that counts.
Feilian3 Port Mod
I made this mod about a year ago and it has stayed in place ever since. However, with my new Goldilocks position, I now wondered if the port mod was still valid?
So I reversed it - proving that this mod is ultra-easy to reverse:
1. Slightly loosen the gap with fingernail. 2. Pull out the neoprene tab with tweezers. 3. Press back the pad. Done. Simples. (First mark the tab position so that you can put it back in the same position should you want to re-instate the mod. Hint: you will).
So, with my Goldilocks height position, what happened when I removed the Feilian3 port mod? The sound degraded slightly across the board and, surprisingly, also tonally shifted slightly towards the treble (i.e. a bit thinner and less bass quantity). It wasn't night-and-day, but once the full Goldilocks sound is experienced then any degradation is a disappointment. After just 3 tracks, the port mod went back in - for good.
Conclusions
IMO, absolutely everything in the hifi chain matters. Every single main component, cable, fuse, etc. If you've previously found that, say, all servers sound much the same, then I suggest you haven't yet listened to the right ones. Against that, the two free tweaks here combined are as significant as any other change I remember making to my system. They are probably objectively tiny, but subjectively important in terms of drawing me in to the musical performance. I imagine that the more resolving the upstream components, the easier it will be to hear these differences,
With both mods in place, the HEKse is still a HEKse. It still has that open and airy presentation. Maybe a touch soft, with slightly slower bass compared to the best of the rest. But the slight thinness (presumably caused by lower-treble peaks) is all but gone and without the need for EQ. And the solidity of soundstage (and images within) is still giving me occasional goosebumps on any decent recording. As a dedicated audiophile, I will still keep a casual eye out for the next FOTM, end-game, TOTL headphone, but my HEKse has raised its game and is now making a stronger case for being that end-game headphone. One day, I'll try the LCD5, Elite, etc, but really, there's no rush at all.
Caveats
Your head and ears are obviously different to mine. So your Goldilocks position will be somewhere else, or you may never find it, or maybe you're already there.
After much repeat sliding back and forth, the slider and click mechanism seemed to get a touch looser, although still fully working. As a precaution, I suggest that you stop forever moving it around once you've found your own Goldilocks position.
Postscript
I unintentionally had an opportunity to revisit the Felian3 port mod - with result that I now feel that the earlier conclusions above were selling it short. I now feel that the port mod is by far the more significant tweak that needs to be done first in order to gain an overall uplift in performance. The extra detail and dynamics then allows the height tweak to be more obvious. This is the order I originally followed, but at the time I didn't realise how important that order was. I've also found a really simple way of making the tiny adjustments to the port mod to easily find the sweet spot and have added this in a postscript to my post in that thread - here
Introduction
A while back, I commented that the exact position of the HEK on my head made a significant difference to the sound presentation (this followed on from similar suggestions from @Articnoise I think). In my case, the height adjustment made the biggest difference. To quantify this, my start point was such that 2 holes were visible below the slider on each side (2H, 2H). When I dropped the pads by one click on both sides (3H, 3H), the soundstage increased, the focus decreased and the FR tilted slightly towards the bass. Which gave a very spacious, pleasant sound, but missing the original focus. I found that clicking just one side (3H, 2H) gave a better balance of pros/cons, that I've lived with ever since. Note that the space between each hole (click) is about 5mm. So a click on one side lowers both pads by about 2.5mm. Both pads drop more or less evenly when only one side is clicked, but when going upwards, the pads need a helping hand to defy gravity.
My main system change in the last year was to downsize/up-quality by getting a new server, the superlative Grimm MU1, with a simplified path of MU1 > DAVE > HEKse. This resulted in new levels of resolution and transparency - which showed up more clearly the diffuse nature of (H3, H2). But (H2 H2) wasn't the answer either because of its tonal thinness and smaller soundstage.
The new, improved, height tweak
With the standard 5mm click adjustment being too crude, my next step was to try smaller increments in between the clicks (carefully to stop slippage).
There came a moment when the sound just blossomed - so real and natural, full bodied, no thinness, and with rock-solid images (especially central vocals (note I use DAVE's Cross-feed. If you don't use an equivalent XF then all bets are off regarding my soundstage findings). I subjectively measured this position to be about 2mm lower on one side (2H+2mm, 2H). The tiniest adjustments around here gave incremental, but obvious, changes to this Goldilocks sound. To stop slippage, I wrapped a bit of masking tape above the slider. This means that I can raise the pads any amount, but I can't go lower than the Goldilocks position. So on the other side I added some masking tape to enable an even smaller drop of 1mm as another option. So now my options are:
(2H, 2H) = Start Point. Focused, but slightly thin, with smaller soundstage (especially in reduced height). I don't bother with this one anymore.
(2H, 2H+1mm) = Better than Start Point, but not as good as Goldilocks, so hardly worth it.
(2H+2mm, 2H) = Goldilocks = bliss. My default for most of the time. Makes everything sound more gorgeous than it was before.
(2H+2mm, 2H+1mm) = Goldilocks with a bigger, but more diffuse soundstage. Fun for certain recordings, but I always return to pure Goldilocks.
The amazing thing is that each of the above steps drops the headphones by a tiny 0.5mm (estimated) and yet I can still readily identify the differences.
It's also surprising that taking the headphones off and on again doesn't seem to affect these tiny adjustments - the headphones always seems to land at the same place for me, which is: the back of my ear is close to (but not touching) the back inner pad, and top of my ear is close to (but not touching) the top inner pad. YMMV. In this position the headphones feel and look as if they are set too low. OTOH, it brings my ear hole closer to the widest part of the pads, which may or may not be significant?
Whatever, it's the sound that counts.
Feilian3 Port Mod
I made this mod about a year ago and it has stayed in place ever since. However, with my new Goldilocks position, I now wondered if the port mod was still valid?
So I reversed it - proving that this mod is ultra-easy to reverse:
1. Slightly loosen the gap with fingernail. 2. Pull out the neoprene tab with tweezers. 3. Press back the pad. Done. Simples. (First mark the tab position so that you can put it back in the same position should you want to re-instate the mod. Hint: you will).
So, with my Goldilocks height position, what happened when I removed the Feilian3 port mod? The sound degraded slightly across the board and, surprisingly, also tonally shifted slightly towards the treble (i.e. a bit thinner and less bass quantity). It wasn't night-and-day, but once the full Goldilocks sound is experienced then any degradation is a disappointment. After just 3 tracks, the port mod went back in - for good.
Conclusions
IMO, absolutely everything in the hifi chain matters. Every single main component, cable, fuse, etc. If you've previously found that, say, all servers sound much the same, then I suggest you haven't yet listened to the right ones. Against that, the two free tweaks here combined are as significant as any other change I remember making to my system. They are probably objectively tiny, but subjectively important in terms of drawing me in to the musical performance. I imagine that the more resolving the upstream components, the easier it will be to hear these differences,
With both mods in place, the HEKse is still a HEKse. It still has that open and airy presentation. Maybe a touch soft, with slightly slower bass compared to the best of the rest. But the slight thinness (presumably caused by lower-treble peaks) is all but gone and without the need for EQ. And the solidity of soundstage (and images within) is still giving me occasional goosebumps on any decent recording. As a dedicated audiophile, I will still keep a casual eye out for the next FOTM, end-game, TOTL headphone, but my HEKse has raised its game and is now making a stronger case for being that end-game headphone. One day, I'll try the LCD5, Elite, etc, but really, there's no rush at all.
Caveats
Your head and ears are obviously different to mine. So your Goldilocks position will be somewhere else, or you may never find it, or maybe you're already there.
After much repeat sliding back and forth, the slider and click mechanism seemed to get a touch looser, although still fully working. As a precaution, I suggest that you stop forever moving it around once you've found your own Goldilocks position.
Postscript
I unintentionally had an opportunity to revisit the Felian3 port mod - with result that I now feel that the earlier conclusions above were selling it short. I now feel that the port mod is by far the more significant tweak that needs to be done first in order to gain an overall uplift in performance. The extra detail and dynamics then allows the height tweak to be more obvious. This is the order I originally followed, but at the time I didn't realise how important that order was. I've also found a really simple way of making the tiny adjustments to the port mod to easily find the sweet spot and have added this in a postscript to my post in that thread - here
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is anyone use Matrix element X with He1000SE, I wonder what the synergy is
Articnoise
Headphoneus Supremus
I haven't heard them together. My guess however is it will sound very clean, resolved and transparent, but also a bit clinical.
I can't find this combination of Matrix X and Hek SE anywhere, but I know that Soundnews review both, but unfortunately he doesn't answer on his page or I'll wait a year, and he doesn't have an email, so my only choice is Head-fi. Interestingly, nobody have this combination because Matrix Element X is a very good Amp superior Dac and Streamer in one
Thanks
Thanks
Palyodgree
100+ Head-Fier
Donato’s stable of components is truly impressive and his analysis are noteworthy, I wholeheartedly agree with Donato regarding the HEK SE driven by the Cayin HA 300 just when you think you’ve reached the performance ceiling of the HEK SE a truly outstanding match up with this tube amplifier changes all of that.
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I am not even done testing the HE1000se before the Susvara made its way into the review calendar. Happy holidays!
Both look great, but I have to give the edge to the Susvara for comfort already. I haven't listened to the Susvara just yet, there's another part of the puzzle coming in for that. In the meantime, I will continue to enjoy listening to the HE1000se.
Both look great, but I have to give the edge to the Susvara for comfort already. I haven't listened to the Susvara just yet, there's another part of the puzzle coming in for that. In the meantime, I will continue to enjoy listening to the HE1000se.
migo
500+ Head-Fier
Will you add measurements of HEkSE and Susvara to your database?I am not even done testing the HE1000se before the Susvara made its way into the review calendar. Happy holidays!
Both look great, but I have to give the edge to the Susvara for comfort already. I haven't listened to the Susvara just yet, there's another part of the puzzle coming in for that. In the meantime, I will continue to enjoy listening to the HE1000se.
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Yup absolutely. I am waiting on a calibration set of headphones to arrive from Crinacle first, so I will see how far off my rig is from the GRAS standard rig and then maybe apply a compensation curve accordingly. But based on the measurements done so far for headphones (HD 6XX, Meze 99 Neo, HIFIMAN Arya, Audeze LCD-XC) it seems fine enough.
which amp / dac do you recommend for he1000se on low buget. I took a look at the Matrix Audio Mini-i Pro 3 and TOPPING D30 PRO DAC + A30 PRO AMP .Tips are welcome
tnx
tnx
Gene4797
100+ Head-Fier
Hey, hard to give you right advice, because you have headphones like Mercedes class and ask about to put in it engine from cheap car, but I think i find out not expensive way to let sound he1000se sound good, Chord Mojo will support your headphones real good
now i have a Schiit Jotunheim 1 multibit dac , do you think it's ok for now until i buy a better amp / dac, I plan to buy Violectric HPA V550 then dac Matrix - X-SABER 3, but in the meantime I would drive with cheaper amp / dac, tnx
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