Somewhere between 500-1000 I think
Hifiman HE1000-SE
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- he1000se impressions
Schiit Lyr 3 for lower end 500 or stretch to around 1500 to take it to the next level of sound performance with the Cayin HA-3A.
Hotdoggn
New Head-Fier
I am pretty fond of the Schiit Mjolnir 2 + Gold Lion tubes. That’s what I’d been using with my SEs, and they sound really good together. This combo really opens up the soundstage, and provides a smooth listening experience while maintaining a lot of the detail/air the SEs can pump out. They’re only available on the second hand market though, so you’ll have to be on the lookout for them. I’ve put mine up for grabs, but no one has bit yet. Let me know if it sounds interesting to you via PM.
MrHaelscheir
100+ Head-Fier
Let's say I had recently had a chance to measure the Stax SR-X9000, and while it was exceptional, distortion wise, the Meze Elite was still very competitive for that measure even with significant EQ (which impressively mainly introduced second-order harmonics). As such, I am now more seriously considering fetching the HE1000se for Christmas and "collectability", and to satisfy my curiosities regarding its distortion performance (hoping that it does better than the Arya and approaches the Meze Elite's while maintaining its sharp transient qualities) among other things once and for all. For comfort and presentation amid all the high-end headphones I've tried...
Given that, could folks confirm how the clamp force on the HE1000se is compared to the Arya Stealth or others. It seems like it should indeed be decently lighter. Does it move around much when rotating your head up and down a decent bit? Best if you have also compared its clamped force directly against the Meze Elite's. And how smooth does the upper treble and top octave sound when listening to sine sweeps? A comparison of the sharpness of the peak around 4 kHz between the HE1000se and Aryas or others would also be nice.
Short tidbit: I recently in Toronto at the George Weston Recital Hall heard the New York Philharmonic String Quartet perform Mozart String Quartet No. 19 and Schubert String Quartet No. 14. I can say that my binaural head-tracking solution with the Meze Elite (as for the HE1000se, I would be EQing it to the same free-field response; the head-tracking unit is especially easy to mount to the Meze Elite's headband) is actually coming pretty close. Among my favourite recordings are https://app.idagio.com/recordings/22555426 (particularly clear-sounding, and with more vivid imaging through my virtual anechoic speaker simulation), https://app.idagio.com/recordings/40018188 and https://app.idagio.com/recordings/43632904 for the Mozart, and https://app.idagio.com/recordings/41529816 and https://app.idagio.com/recordings/37627707 (beautifully sweet violin timbre and expression, but not as bright as in the live performance; at least two live violins I've heard had a warmer tone comparable to this) for the Schubert. It is simply coming close to a timbral match with live performances, with binaural head-tracking through SPARTA AmbiRoomSim and AmbiBIN on Reaper approaching simulating convincing forward imaging of the live stereo field. The occasional orchestral recording convincingly gives a sense of sounds actually originating from beyond the wall in front of me.
- Audeze MM-500: neutral; I at the time preferred the Arya Stealth's presentation and stock tonality
- DCA Expanse: Harman neutral; bass quantity and quality; almost bright; a bit closed-in; not favourite comfort; overdamped but cleanest transients
- 2022 Focal Utopia: clear like the Focal Clear MG; surprisingly open-sounding; not preferable comfort, and not too impressive when A/Bed against an EQed Meze Elite; transient decay along with the Sennheiser HD 800 S isn't the cleanest
- Final Audio D8000 Pro: stock tonality sounds off due to upper midrange dip; damped but clean transients; similar comfort complaints to the Focal Utopia's smaller circular pads
- Sennheiser HD 800 S: not my favourite comfort style; no special soundstaging to me
- Audeze CRBN: neutral; not the best comfort, though with quite soft pads; tons of driver crinkle; decent bass impact; sounded very small even when driven decently loud off of the Stax SRM-D10
- Sennheiser HE-1: excellently smooth frequency response from my in-ear measurements, hence an excellent platform for precision EQ; reasonably comfortable; decent bass impact with noticeable bass hump; the EQed Meze Elite's or Arya Stealth's presentation was probably preferable; unobtainium
- Abyss Diana MR: neutral/agreeable, but with poor comfort on my head; I likely would not like the Abyss 1266 at all, especially with that horrid stock tonality
- Grado GS3000x: neutral/agreeable, but horrible comfort like wearing stiff grey packing foam with a narrow rim
- Stax SR-X9000: neutral, exceptional in-ear measurements (which I am unfortunately not allowed to share; very smooth frequency response competitive with the Sennheiser HE-1; distortion levels comparable to the Meze Elite on my setup, maybe better in the bass) suitable for precision EQ, but doesn't have enough front and back seal on my head; presentation also feels closed-in compared to bigger pads
- ATH-ADX5000: neutral/agreeable, but not the best comfort or presentation
Given that, could folks confirm how the clamp force on the HE1000se is compared to the Arya Stealth or others. It seems like it should indeed be decently lighter. Does it move around much when rotating your head up and down a decent bit? Best if you have also compared its clamped force directly against the Meze Elite's. And how smooth does the upper treble and top octave sound when listening to sine sweeps? A comparison of the sharpness of the peak around 4 kHz between the HE1000se and Aryas or others would also be nice.
Short tidbit: I recently in Toronto at the George Weston Recital Hall heard the New York Philharmonic String Quartet perform Mozart String Quartet No. 19 and Schubert String Quartet No. 14. I can say that my binaural head-tracking solution with the Meze Elite (as for the HE1000se, I would be EQing it to the same free-field response; the head-tracking unit is especially easy to mount to the Meze Elite's headband) is actually coming pretty close. Among my favourite recordings are https://app.idagio.com/recordings/22555426 (particularly clear-sounding, and with more vivid imaging through my virtual anechoic speaker simulation), https://app.idagio.com/recordings/40018188 and https://app.idagio.com/recordings/43632904 for the Mozart, and https://app.idagio.com/recordings/41529816 and https://app.idagio.com/recordings/37627707 (beautifully sweet violin timbre and expression, but not as bright as in the live performance; at least two live violins I've heard had a warmer tone comparable to this) for the Schubert. It is simply coming close to a timbral match with live performances, with binaural head-tracking through SPARTA AmbiRoomSim and AmbiBIN on Reaper approaching simulating convincing forward imaging of the live stereo field. The occasional orchestral recording convincingly gives a sense of sounds actually originating from beyond the wall in front of me.
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jaysec
New Head-Fier
Has anyone had any luck ordering HE1000se from EU warehouse in the past month? I’ve been trying since mid September but was only able to buy the Shangri-La headphone stand.
I'm the guy you are looking for
. I compared them side by side quite a bit.Assuming there is no unit variation, clamp force is significantly lighter on hekse. While i found Arya Stealth's clamp a bit high, i think Hekse's clamp force is a bit low. So neither of them ''perfect'' for my taste. Arya feels more secure and confident which i like when i listen music but Hekse's lighter clamp force can help you wear them all day but they can slide around and mess your ''perfect placement''... Hekse's headband is better though which was a surprise to me since i wasn't expecting that difference from the headband. It's more elastic so it gives you better control compared to strict Arya headband.
4khz: There is a distinct 4khz peak on Arya Stealth, it doesn't exist on Hekse. In fact i'd say 4khz is weaker than surrounding frequencies. There is a slight dip there.
My impression from tone generator is that Hekse is slightly louder at 3khz, Arya S significantly louder at 4khz, Hekse louder at 5khz(small peak).
After that, they are similar 5.5khz little muted, from 6khz to 7.8khz rising intensity, pretty loud. 8 to 9k little subdued then it picks up at around 9.3k with a peak. Pretty loud up to 13k. Hekse has a bit more extension and air.
Edit: Despite being similar in terms of FR, i think they sound quite different. If i use crossfeed button of ifi zen can then Hekse become more similar to Arya. Hekse is more stereo sounding if that makes sense. Things are more expansive, separated and have echoes to them.
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about bifrost 2/64 pairing with he1000se, awful dac makes every thing sound bad apart from vocals dont buy it for he1000se my topping e30 dac that costed lass the shipping of this dac did 5 times better job apart from vocals.even my Sennheiser HD 6XX sound bad with this dac, i mean it sound so bad that i will use my pc dac before i will use this dac no joke..
Would Chord Mojo 2 and Topping A90 be a good fit for the HE1000SE?
I also have a litz cable from custom cans. Would it be better than the one that comes in the box?
Thanks!
Federico
I also have a litz cable from custom cans. Would it be better than the one that comes in the box?
Thanks!
Federico
Still better a desktop amp...
Italian? So am I
morpheus69
100+ Head-Fier
The BiFrost 2/64 sounds amazing with the HE1000se, and any of the HiFiMan in general. perhaps you have a problem with yours? or the rest of the chain?
I am super happy with Mojo2 and no extra amp. The EQ helps to calm down treble a bit and makes the HEkSE sound a bit less bright. Will try a WA7 soon to see if it injects some tube magic.
maybe it's faulty dac but i don't think so. my chain is fine and been tested with different amps and cables, it's just overhyped trash that i had to pay 60% taxes and shipping and will only get like 40% back at best, feels bad.
