[nighthink]

I can’t afford those cables and I’m more of a practical and value guy. Looks are secondary to sound quality for me. Instead, I got the closest to the Susvara stock cables in sound quality with the audiophile Ninja cables.

Those actually seem to be exactly something like OCC copper (if that is their 99,9% pure copper wire), they are based on Canary which is kind of profesional standard but good quality. Just sending it to Europe would mean like 200 usd including shipping and all taxes . It raises the question if there is nothing better for that money.

 

[borkenarrou]

Those actually seem to be exactly something like OCC copper (if that is their 99,9% pure copper wire), they are based on Canary which is kind of profesional standard but good quality. Just sending it to Europe would mean like 200 usd including shipping and all taxes . It raises the question if there is nothing better for that money.

CustomCans litz copper cable is a good option too, they claim very low capacitance in thier website, I have Audiohle Ninja cables too but I prefer the Custom Cans more with my HekSE as it seems a bit more detials in the highs not 100% sure it is placebo or not, altough I prefer the Adiophile Ninja with my Radiance.

 

[TheEman]

Just received my HE1000SE. Was not expecting a planar to have such crazy driver speed, but wow. Such crisp. Almost like an old Stax. FLAC/WAV Roon —> Chord Qutest —>Schiit Asgard 2 in low gain.

But the treble…oof. It is intolerably bright to the point where I just stop listening because it becomes painful. Tool’s Lateralus, for example, was near ear-piercing. Not exaggerating. Whereas the Meze Elite I’m auditioning sounds sublime with respect to treble. But the bass tends to be uncontrolled and sloppy and there seems to be a veil over the entire frequency response. Not impressed, especially at the $4k price point.

I feel like the Asgard 2 might be holding back both these headphones. Do I need to go the tube route (Cayin HA-300MK2, for example) to smooth out the highs? Or do I need 100 hours of burn-in? Or does quality control suck that bad?

 

[Alexzander]

Just received my HE1000SE. Was not expecting a planar to have such crazy driver speed, but wow. Such crisp. Almost like an old Stax. FLAC/WAV Roon —> Chord Qutest —>Schiit Asgard 2 in low gain.

But the treble…oof. It is intolerably bright to the point where I just stop listening because it becomes painful. Tool’s Lateralus, for example, was near ear-piercing. Not exaggerating. Whereas the Meze Elite I’m auditioning sounds sublime with respect to treble. But the bass tends to be uncontrolled and sloppy and there seems to be a veil over the entire frequency response. Not impressed, especially at the $4k price point.

I feel like the Asgard 2 might be holding back both these headphones. Do I need to go the tube route (Cayin HA-300MK2, for example) to smooth out the highs? Or do I need 100 hours of burn-in? Or does quality control suck that bad?

Burn-in will definitely help, it would already settle down in 50 hours or so.
You can also switch to a pure copper cable twice as thick to tame it down until it settles.

 

[borkenarrou]

Just received my HE1000SE. Was not expecting a planar to have such crazy driver speed, but wow. Such crisp. Almost like an old Stax. FLAC/WAV Roon —> Chord Qutest —>Schiit Asgard 2 in low gain.

But the treble…oof. It is intolerably bright to the point where I just stop listening because it becomes painful. Tool’s Lateralus, for example, was near ear-piercing. Not exaggerating. Whereas the Meze Elite I’m auditioning sounds sublime with respect to treble. But the bass tends to be uncontrolled and sloppy and there seems to be a veil over the entire frequency response. Not impressed, especially at the $4k price point.

I feel like the Asgard 2 might be holding back both these headphones. Do I need to go the tube route (Cayin HA-300MK2, for example) to smooth out the highs? Or do I need 100 hours of burn-in? Or does quality control suck that bad?

Will suggest a R2R DAC too like Soekris 2541 or Denafrips Ares 12th which have a smoother top end compared to Delta/Sigma DACs plus the realistic timbre, Hifiman / Dr Fang Bian seems to prefer and tune their headphones with R2R DACs looking at thier product releases.

 

[steve468]

Just received my HE1000SE. Was not expecting a planar to have such crazy driver speed, but wow. Such crisp. Almost like an old Stax. FLAC/WAV Roon —> Chord Qutest —>Schiit Asgard 2 in low gain.

But the treble…oof. It is intolerably bright to the point where I just stop listening because it becomes painful. Tool’s Lateralus, for example, was near ear-piercing. Not exaggerating. Whereas the Meze Elite I’m auditioning sounds sublime with respect to treble. But the bass tends to be uncontrolled and sloppy and there seems to be a veil over the entire frequency response. Not impressed, especially at the $4k price point.

I feel like the Asgard 2 might be holding back both these headphones. Do I need to go the tube route (Cayin HA-300MK2, for example) to smooth out the highs? Or do I need 100 hours of burn-in? Or does quality control suck that bad?

My HE1Kse definitely changed A LOT with burn in, surprisingly, for a planar. But the HA-300 is a fantastic match - still speedy, detailed and expansive, but with the option to roll in some warmer tubes. Great synergy there. Sorry about your wallet.

 

[andrewchoppa]

Just received my HE1000SE. Was not expecting a planar to have such crazy driver speed, but wow. Such crisp. Almost like an old Stax. FLAC/WAV Roon —> Chord Qutest —>Schiit Asgard 2 in low gain.

But the treble…oof. It is intolerably bright to the point where I just stop listening because it becomes painful. Tool’s Lateralus, for example, was near ear-piercing. Not exaggerating. Whereas the Meze Elite I’m auditioning sounds sublime with respect to treble. But the bass tends to be uncontrolled and sloppy and there seems to be a veil over the entire frequency response. Not impressed, especially at the $4k price point.

I feel like the Asgard 2 might be holding back both these headphones. Do I need to go the tube route (Cayin HA-300MK2, for example) to smooth out the highs? Or do I need 100 hours of burn-in? Or does quality control suck that bad?

Already mentioned but burn in definitely helps. Hek range sing on otc tube amps-definitely go that route! I’m selling a sparkos Aries amp and that was more mellow than my new Burson soloist. I don’t t have an issue with the treble so Burson sounds amazing but sparkos definitely tamed it a bit. Not pushing to sell, just saying different amps sound completely different imo.

 

[tholt]

Just received my HE1000SE. Was not expecting a planar to have such crazy driver speed, but wow. Such crisp. Almost like an old Stax. FLAC/WAV Roon —> Chord Qutest —>Schiit Asgard 2 in low gain.

But the treble…oof. It is intolerably bright to the point where I just stop listening because it becomes painful. Tool’s Lateralus, for example, was near ear-piercing. Not exaggerating. Whereas the Meze Elite I’m auditioning sounds sublime with respect to treble. But the bass tends to be uncontrolled and sloppy and there seems to be a veil over the entire frequency response. Not impressed, especially at the $4k price point.

I feel like the Asgard 2 might be holding back both these headphones. Do I need to go the tube route (Cayin HA-300MK2, for example) to smooth out the highs? Or do I need 100 hours of burn-in? Or does quality control suck that bad?

That album is mixed a bit hot IMO. I've heard it on many different systems and that treble can definitely sound bright. It's not just the 1000se, although the 1000se will exacerbate it.

Agreed with most others here, a warmer chain can help and be complementary. Although I will say, these headphones are never going to totally mellow out. That brighter top end and slightly thinner upper mids I've found characteristic of its sound.

 

[MrHaelscheir]

Just received my HE1000SE. Was not expecting a planar to have such crazy driver speed, but wow. Such crisp. Almost like an old Stax. FLAC/WAV Roon —> Chord Qutest —>Schiit Asgard 2 in low gain.

But the treble…oof. It is intolerably bright to the point where I just stop listening because it becomes painful. Tool’s Lateralus, for example, was near ear-piercing. Not exaggerating. Whereas the Meze Elite I’m auditioning sounds sublime with respect to treble. But the bass tends to be uncontrolled and sloppy and there seems to be a veil over the entire frequency response. Not impressed, especially at the $4k price point.

I feel like the Asgard 2 might be holding back both these headphones. Do I need to go the tube route (Cayin HA-300MK2, for example) to smooth out the highs? Or do I need 100 hours of burn-in? Or does quality control suck that bad?

HiFiMan planars have indeed presented some of the most incisive transients I have heard.

Now, I would contribute the view that "driver burn-in" is more likely "mental burn-in" in the sense of acclimatization to tonality or treble levels one is not used to, whereby I have personally experienced "mental burn-in" with the mere act of getting used to a new EQ profile. It would help to clarify whether it is the treble (3 kHz to 9 kHz) or the top octave (10 kHz to 20 kHz) that is bothering. Either way, I found that certainly even after 180 hours of playback, those frequencies produced by the driver will not physically change, or the best you would get are less than a dB of change due to differences in pad compression and position relative to your ears (see Figures 1 and 2 below). As for "putting up with brightness", I suppose acclimatization may allow one to appreciate greater vividness and clarity in music, or be able to better bear brightness levels consistent with "true neutrality" as you would measure from neutral speakers with in-ear mics. Neutral studio monitors can impart more than 5 dB more 2 kHz to 5 kHz "ear gain", making neutral headphones regarded as "resolving" sound relaxed. (2024-03-19: See "Calibration using threshold of hearing curves" in https://www.head-fi.org/threads/rec...-virtualization.890719/page-121#post-18027627 (post #1,812). Everything I have said about neutral speakers actually having a lot more ear gain than neutral headphones was wrong.)

Regarding HiFiMan QC, https://www.head-fi.org/threads/totl-disappointments.925164/page-63#post-17949397 (post #936) covered my findings with three different HE1000se units, and Pelilin back in https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hifiman-he1000-se.886228/page-333 discussed their own detection of audible driver matching and distortion issues with a unit also dated to November production like the two "bad" units I encountered, but I personally found the distortion barely audible and certainly not a situation like treble accentuated beyond QC control of driver tonality.

Figure 2: Third HE1000se unit right driver distortion measurement, the very first signal I had played through this unit. The distortion between 1.5 kHz and 5 kHz is accentuated compared to the past good unit I received, and there are likewise more audible higher-order distortion harmonics. These measurements are taken with in-ear microphones in a setup described in https://www.head-fi.org/threads/con...-series-on-cables-mattering-for-audio.970430/ (post #8).

Figure 2: Third HE1000se unit right driver distortion measurement after around 180 hours of playback. Playback was probably a bit louder than in that very first measurement for which the level calibration was only approximate to avoid playing any test signal through the driver prior to taking the first measurement. At best, maybe some "driver exercising" helped abate the QC-related 2 kHz distortion, though the higher than ideal 4 kHz distortion was still present if not accentuated. Otherwise, it should be clear from the upper brown trace that barely anything in the frequency response changed that couldn't be explained by the positioning of the headphones or my in-ear microphones having changed a bit between the two measurement sessions.

Figure 3: First HE1000se unit left driver distortion measurement within a day of receipt. As can be seen, the distortion levels between 2 kHz and 5 kHz are in much better control with primarily less audible second-order distortion (the red trace), 4 kHz being what I consider to be a "known resonance" that I suppose HiFiMan engineering has yet to resolve for such a large driver. This distortion performance was already a relative excellence that no amount of "physical burn-in" would have improved. You can also see that unit variation for frequency response isn't bad.

Regarding the Meze Elite, I would argue that though the bass and lower midrange is accentuated in the stock hybrid pad tonality, when EQed to neutral, the Meze Elite exhibits the lowest distortion bass I know of and exceptional multi-tone distortion as shown in https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hifiman-he1000-se.886228/post-17865104 (post #4,789) and https://www.head-fi.org/threads/rec...r-speaker-virtualization.890719/post-17955514 (post #1,801).

 

[bagwell359]

Just received my HE1000SE. Was not expecting a planar to have such crazy driver speed, but wow. Such crisp. Almost like an old Stax. FLAC/WAV Roon —> Chord Qutest —>Schiit Asgard 2 in low gain.

Planars respond to notes about as fast as estats. Ribbons too. Planars lag however in quieting after the note is done, although they are getting better at that when its addressed - Audeze and DCA seem better overall at it than HFM.

But the treble…oof. It is intolerably bright to the point where I just stop listening because it becomes painful. Tool’s Lateralus, for example, was near ear-piercing. Not exaggerating. Whereas the Meze Elite I’m auditioning sounds sublime with respect to treble. But the bass tends to be uncontrolled and sloppy and there seems to be a veil over the entire frequency response. Not impressed, especially at the $4k price point.

I find the HEK SE to be a bit much in the treble myself. The v2 is a bit more laid back in that regards, even the Stealth. PEQ can address it, unless the CSD charts show a lot of ringing.

There are other headphones to consider - HEDD v2, Rall CA-1a, DCA E3 - but please demo, you wouldn't like all 3.

I feel like the Asgard 2 might be holding back both these headphones. Do I need to go the tube route (Cayin HA-300MK2, for example) to smooth out the highs? Or do I need 100 hours of burn-in? Or does quality control suck that bad?

I have found since the late 70's that speakers and headphones with mylar membranes do improve with break-in - wrap them in a towel and play them continually to get there fast. Getting used to them might help too - ear burn in is a real thing too.

Affordable transformer tube amps that can drive planar driver bass with a quick rise time - don't know of any. Some folks like a warm underdamped mid bass, and that's what I've usually found - and that's not my taste. I've had best luck with Class A (full or sliding bias) SS amps to be the far more common and affordable.

I couldn't listen to any of the HEK's in my set-up with a basic Delta Sigma DAC. Ever try R2R (or multi-bit in Schitt parlance)? That makes a top to bottom difference whereas tubes unless very well done don't sound the same from top to bottom. Hybrid tubes with tube front ends - that's a good way to try and inject some warmth too if you go that way.

 

[gonzalo1004es]

Just received my HE1000SE. Was not expecting a planar to have such crazy driver speed, but wow. Such crisp. Almost like an old Stax. FLAC/WAV Roon —> Chord Qutest —>Schiit Asgard 2 in low gain.

But the treble…oof. It is intolerably bright to the point where I just stop listening because it becomes painful. Tool’s Lateralus, for example, was near ear-piercing. Not exaggerating. Whereas the Meze Elite I’m auditioning sounds sublime with respect to treble. But the bass tends to be uncontrolled and sloppy and there seems to be a veil over the entire frequency response. Not impressed, especially at the $4k price point.

I feel like the Asgard 2 might be holding back both these headphones. Do I need to go the tube route (Cayin HA-300MK2, for example) to smooth out the highs? Or do I need 100 hours of burn-in? Or does quality control suck that bad?

If you find them bright, burning-in will not change that. I would suggest either returning them or trying Dekoni Fenestrated pads; these pads will transform the sound, not a subtle difference.

 

[bagwell359]

My HE1Kse definitely changed A LOT with burn in, surprisingly, for a planar.

Had many a planar/estat speaker and headphone, and the new ones, or refurbished with new mylar sheets all had significant changes with burn in - w/o exception.

Peter Aczel (Audio Critic) a strident early leader of the objective ABX crowd said so, as well as Jim Winey the developer and producer of Magnepans.

 

[psy472]

Just received my HE1000SE. Was not expecting a planar to have such crazy driver speed, but wow. Such crisp. Almost like an old Stax. FLAC/WAV Roon —> Chord Qutest —>Schiit Asgard 2 in low gain.

But the treble…oof. It is intolerably bright to the point where I just stop listening because it becomes painful. Tool’s Lateralus, for example, was near ear-piercing. Not exaggerating. Whereas the Meze Elite I’m auditioning sounds sublime with respect to treble. But the bass tends to be uncontrolled and sloppy and there seems to be a veil over the entire frequency response. Not impressed, especially at the $4k price point.

I feel like the Asgard 2 might be holding back both these headphones. Do I need to go the tube route (Cayin HA-300MK2, for example) to smooth out the highs? Or do I need 100 hours of burn-in? Or does quality control suck that bad?

The cheaper method is to preamp your Asgard with a Magni Unity or Lyr. The Magni has a very Tube sound and will shave off the brightness on the HEK while adding to the Lower bass and mids. You will finally hear an HEK bass slam with a preamp.

 

[steve468]

Had many a planar/estat speaker and headphone, and the new ones, or refurbished with new mylar sheets all had significant changes with burn in - w/o exception.

Peter Aczel (Audio Critic) a strident early leader of the objective ABX crowd said so, as well as Jim Winey the developer and producer of Magnepans.

I’m just bewildered as to what actually is burning in. The pads? They did soften up quite a bit, but would that account for the amount of change? It was a BIG change.

 

[MrHaelscheir]

I’m just bewildered as to what actually is burning in. The pads? They did soften up quite a bit, but would that account for the amount of change? It was a BIG change.

As I had found in post #5,049 above, it could be the mind getting used to a tonality. In-ear mic measurements revealed minimal differences between three-months used stock pads from the Arya Stealth and fresh stock pads from an HE1000se. I've personally found that tonal acclimatization can even occur in the middle of a live classical concert, though it can either be a case of getting hyped about the "perfect" sound and then getting used to it, else initially not liking the sound and then coming to find it agreeable. I've even switched between EQ profiles for a period and upon switching back with just two clicks found the previous EQ I used to love to sound weird. Or a new EQ profile could sound almost too bright, but vivid, then become quite more bearable after time, leaving the old EQ sounding dull.