HIFIMAN Product Line

[DougTheSnail]

Let me preface by saying I love my HE400i's they are just incredible. (to my ears) but I find the need to upgrade. Will I find a better pair of Planar-Magnetics in the $1200 and under range? I am partial to the warmer sounding side of the spectrum. Going to through the different product lines of HIFIMAN (HE6, HE560, HE500) Audeze (EL8, LCD-2) will any of these be much of an upgrade from the 400i? or will I just be wasting money on minimal upgrades?
 
Note: I listen to rock, jazz, soul, r&b, and hip hop.

 

[Music Alchemist]

The HE6 is certainly an upgrade. When I heard the HE1000, I thought it sounded like the HE400i but a little better. The HE6 sounds the best to me overall because it's more direct and straightforward, whereas the HE1000 is a bit too soft and polite for me. The thing with the HE6 is that you will need a powerful amp for it. Many owners use speaker amps to drive it. For more info on that, check out this thread. But note that the HE6 is more neutral, and slightly bright in stock form, whereas the HE400i and HE1000 are on the lusher side of neutral. You can always use a parametric equalizer to tweak things to your liking.