Great review. You’re tempting me a lot.Okay so I received my HE1000SE today and I compared it with my Arya Organic. And i'm really excited i'm gona be honest I think it's a really long time ago I have been this excited when it came to soundquality.
I'm in no way a professional reviewer so my appologies if I would describe some things unclear and i'll only give my impressions about the Sound.
Just wanted to add also I was very impressed with the Arya Organic, and I think it was a small step up compared to the Arya stealth and a significant step up to the Edition XS.
So here we go HE1000SE vs Arya organic:
Clarity of the HE1000SE is superior in a big leap, no competition here compared to the Organic: notes, strings, voices everything sound. Hard to give a percentage but I would give it a solid 15-20% more transparancy.
Notes have more weight, guitars have more body, sound fuller, voices sounding fuller, more textured, more layering for the HE1000SE compared to the Organic.
Treble: HE1000SE sounding smoother while remaining more detailed, Organic might give the impressions retreiving more micro details but in a Artificial way if that makes sense. I compared here several times between the two, HE1000SE is giving same amount of details in treble. I would give a Tie here in this compartiment
Mids: Organic is very well refined in this area, but HE1000SE is even even more refined here, it wins in it's transparency and fuller notes imo it's sounding lusher. Organic sounds nice and warm, HE1000SE sounds sweet and full both are very good here. But i'm giving the HE1000SE a win for my personal taste.
Bass: I was not expecting this but the HE1000SE is rocking hard, no competition here, HE1000SE takes the lead with deeper and fuller bass, more controlled and more in quantity at the same time. I can push my EQ much further without bleeding in other frequencies on the HE1000SE than I can do on the Organic. Maybe it beats even my Audeze in this area? i'm confused
Soundstage Depth: I might sound already like a fanboy, sorry about that but again no competition here in soundstage depth the HE1000SE wins in holography, every note is floating around you while the Organic does the same but in a smaller scale and with bit less "floating", more intimate, the Organic sounds like a medium sized studio the HE1000SE sounds like a hall concert.
Soundstage width: HE1000SE sounds very open here, wide, much wider than the Organic and even wider than the Edition XS (Which was until now the widest soundstage headphone I had).
I think for me it's clear which one wins, i'll send the Organic back and keep the HE1000SE without any hesitation.
I bought the HE1000SE for 1750€ refurbished and I wanted to thank hifiman to send me a decent pair, it looks like new to be honest. Knowing I have 3 year warranty on the HE1000SE it's a no brainer for me.
If you ask my honest opinion: The organic is still a very good headphone, but for 300€ more you have a HE1000SE which is in my opinion more superior and more refined in every way.
Question here. Would you say that , to an extent, the width and depth (what you describe as cathedral) is unnatural in certain circumstances?
Which type of songs have you listened to with the HEKse ?
I’m an Ananda Nano user looking to upgrade. I use them for critical listening ( mix and master )
Best,