[Andrew_WOT]

The Susvara Unveiled already changes the sound when you hold your flat hands 5-6 cm (2+ inches) near the open drivers - Head-Fi.org .

The mesh (or grille) could therefore have influences - and the sound wave reflections & refraction seem to be more than just marketing stuff.

Reflection from the hand (solid object) vs acoustic mesh is not really a fair comparison.
More open grill was a popular H6SE mod, and even with those you could hear huge difference when moving hand closer to the cup, with or without grills in place.

You can hear same difference with pretty much any open headphones when blocking air flow with the hand or other solid object.

 

[HA-1]

You can hear same difference with pretty much any open headphones when blocking air flow with the hand or other solid object.

Yes, I know this effect from my old HE1000V2 - but it was not so sensitive at a distance of 5-6 cm.

But that's a really well known effect with pretty much all open back headphone designs, the only open back headphone that doesn't get affected that much by passing your hands a couple of inches away from the outside of the cups would be my HD6XX, but that's about it.

As far as I remember, my old HE1000V2 changed the sound at a distance of maybe 2 cm - but my current HE1000 Stealth changes the sound only when I hold my flat hands less than 1 cm near the grille. The soundstage of the HE1000 Stealth is in general smaller than that of the HE1000V2.

 

[tassardar]

Did a first look video for it with impression and comparison

Overall it’s a great improvement for me compared to previous HE1000. Infact I will dare say it maybe one of the best I headphone I heard overall

 

[Erick Muller]

The Susvara Unveiled already changes the sound when you hold your flat hands 5-6 cm (2+ inches) near the open drivers - Head-Fi.org .

The mesh (or grille) could therefore have influences - and the sound wave reflections & refraction seem to be more than just marketing stuff.

But that's a really well known effect with pretty much all open back headphone designs, the only open back headphone that doesn't get affected that much by passing your hands a couple of inches away from the outside of the cups would be my HD6XX, but that's about it.

I'm not discussing or disagreeing with the fact that this effect is real or what HFM did with the HEKu didn't actually achieve something tuning wise.

 

[Erick Muller]

Did a first look video for it with impression and comparison

Overall it’s a great improvement for me compared to previous HE1000. Infact I will dare say it maybe one of the best I headphone I heard overall

Saw your review earlier today and I really liked your comparison between the HEKu and the HEKse and the reasons why you choose this instead of the HEKse before. Really interesting comparisons.

 

[Dixter]

Today at the Dallas canjam, Hifiman had a full display of all their headphones... The Sus U was setup next to the HE1000U... the rep told me the HE1000U is the same driver as the HE1000se... but of course the open design..... there were at least 3 or 4 copies of the HE1000U at different spots at the displays... so plenty of different sources to hear them.... I listened to the Sus U first and moved over to the HE1000U.... to me both sounded good but I think the HE1000U sounded better as in a huge open sound and the source I thought was a good match was Tubes.... I also think the open design complaints may be a bit over blown... it would be hard to stick a finger into the magnet grill... they probably could be damaged if you had something actually go past the magnets... but none of it looked that dangerous... the HE1000U are nice and sound fine if an open sound field is what your after..... some headphones just sound thick with dynamics... this isn't like that.... its a little hard to describe... but its like airy...nothing is congested or bloated at all...

 

[SmartCheetah]

@Dixter have you listened to the HE1000se?

 

[Erick Muller]

Today at the Dallas canjam, Hifiman had a full display of all their headphones... The Sus U was setup next to the HE1000U... the rep told me the HE1000U is the same driver as the HE1000se... but of course the open design..... there were at least 3 or 4 copies of the HE1000U at different spots at the displays... so plenty of different sources to hear them.... I listened to the Sus U first and moved over to the HE1000U.... to me both sounded good but I think the HE1000U sounded better as in a huge open sound and the source I thought was a good match was Tubes.... I also think the open design complaints may be a bit over blown... it would be hard to stick a finger into the magnet grill... they probably could be damaged if you had something actually go past the magnets... but none of it looked that dangerous... the HE1000U are nice and sound fine if an open sound field is what your after..... some headphones just sound thick with dynamics... this isn't like that.... its a little hard to describe... but its like airy...nothing is congested or bloated at all...

is it really? The magnet structure of the HEKu on the outside of the cups, where you take off the cup covers is different and more akin to the magnet structure of the Arya Organic with more magnets and these being closer together, on the inside of the cup they seem to be the same magnets with the same arrangement as the HEKse.

That being said, the most important thing is the sound and if the HEKu sounds "better" than the HEKse then that's all that matters.

 

[Dixter]

is it really? The magnet structure of the HEKu on the outside of the cups, where you take off the cup covers is different and more akin to the magnet structure of the Arya Organic with more magnets and these being closer together, on the inside of the cup they seem to be the same magnets with the same arrangement as the HEKse.

That being said, the most important thing is the sound and if the HEKu sounds "better" than the HEKse then that's all that matters.

I re-read my post... to clarify... the membrane and its circuit design is the same... the outside magnets are different and he pointed to the inside magnets structure and said those were the same... so from what I gathered the main change was no grill and the outside magnets spacing was different...

 

[Dixter]

@Dixter have you listened to the HE1000se?

yes I have... to me the difference is a smoother top end on the U version... and the U just sound bigger... not bigger as in dynamics but just bigger as your in a larger venue.... they let me borrow a pair and I took it down to where there was a Cayin C9II because I wanted to hear them on that amp as I could switch between class A, Ab and Tubes on that single amp... they matched up well with that setup.... it was funny because I was at the booth that had that amp and they had a whole table of IEMs... we talked about how well the HE1000U sounded on that C9II amp and I asked him if they had a iem that would even come close to the sound of the HE1000U and he said sure... and we hooked up a Melodic Artification Alter Ego... and it was a pretty close match up ... I would say if you like your SE and could sell/trade then you will like the U.. I don't think it would be a large enough difference to have both in a collection.... oh... and the rep also told me the material change from the wood to the metal was part of the sound sig change.... according to him... the wood has different resonance freq than the new metal and the drivers were coupled differently due to that resonance being gone...

 

[Erick Muller]

I re-read my post... to clarify... the membrane and its circuit design is the same... the outside magnets are different and he pointed to the inside magnets structure and said those were the same... so from what I gathered the main change was no grill and the outside magnets spacing was different...

Ok, thanks for the clarification.

 

[tassardar]

Saw your review earlier today and I really liked your comparison between the HEKu and the HEKse and the reasons why you choose this instead of the HEKse before. Really interesting comparisons.

Yeah. The HEKu has a fuller mids, less to no sibilance and a smoother highs that still maintains good details. Overall it’s a worthy upgrade in sound quality to me that I bought it on the spot

 

[Patlezinc]

does it deserve a 2600€ investment when you have a SE, that is THE question…

 

[Erick Muller]

does it deserve a 2600€ investment when you have a SE, that is THE question…

x2

 

[SmartCheetah]

yes I have... to me the difference is a smoother top end on the U version... and the U just sound bigger... not bigger as in dynamics but just bigger as your in a larger venue.... they let me borrow a pair and I took it down to where there was a Cayin C9II because I wanted to hear them on that amp as I could switch between class A, Ab and Tubes on that single amp... they matched up well with that setup.... it was funny because I was at the booth that had that amp and they had a whole table of IEMs... we talked about how well the HE1000U sounded on that C9II amp and I asked him if they had a iem that would even come close to the sound of the HE1000U and he said sure... and we hooked up a Melodic Artification Alter Ego... and it was a pretty close match up ... I would say if you like your SE and could sell/trade then you will like the U.. I don't think it would be a large enough difference to have both in a collection.... oh... and the rep also told me the material change from the wood to the metal was part of the sound sig change.... according to him... the wood has different resonance freq than the new metal and the drivers were coupled differently due to that resonance being gone...

Yeah. The HEKu has a fuller mids, less to no sibilance and a smoother highs that still maintains good details. Overall it’s a worthy upgrade in sound quality to me that I bought it on the spot

All right, I got my HEKse in July, so I decided to wait a year or so before making another switch, but opinions like this make it harder to stick to my resolution...
I’m getting more and more convinced to pull the trigger.

the rep told me the HE1000U is the same driver as the HE1000se...

I find this especially interesting. Does it mean that, technically, it's the same headphone, and that SQ improvements were achieved solely through a different build/shell?

does it deserve a 2600€ investment when you have a SE, that is THE question…

Keeping both? I doubt it, especially since the HEKU seems to be a direct upgrade. So, I'd look at it as $2,600 minus whatever I’d get from selling my used HEKse.