HiFiMAN @ StereoExchange Headphone Event Thursday March 19 in New York City

[boombastic]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[hifiman-us]

To boombastic, thanks for posting your pics of the event and thanks for coming. It was a really busy day and we had a great time. 
 
Peter

 

[PilotNorman]

really want to hear he1000

 

[VisceriousZERO]

My photos are late!
 
Some of my show highlights:
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[hifiman-us]

Wow, lots of great photos. Thanks for posting them and of course, thanks for attending.
 
Peter

 

[speedracer1]

Background:
I wanted to attend the HIFIMAN event held on the 19^th of March at Stereo Exchange in NYC but I was heading out of town that day so I contacted the folks at Stereo Exchange and Dr. Fang Bian was kind enough to allow me to take a listen to the pre-released HE-1000’s the day before the event.   To make the most of my visit I packed my Cord Hugo, Fostex TH-900 cans and my trusty little AK240.  I was very excited to have an opportunity to finally listen to these bad-boys and potentially consider them to replace my 900’s. 
 
As I arrived a full day before the scheduled event, not everything was completely set-up and this was completely understandable.  What I was able to do was to listen to the HE-1000 attached to the EF-1000 amp.  According to Dr. Bian, this amp is a custom purpose built hybrid amp.  Essentially it’s a “one-off” for a pair of speakers.  He mentioned the name of the speakers but the name escapes me at the moment. 
 
Yes the amp is “very powerful” as others have said on similar treads and the amp weighs approximately 60 pounds!  The amp cost Dr. Bian over $10,000 to build and each component was “hand selected” as best in class technology and the entire amp is hand built.  I listened to the EF-1000 and HE-1000 combination thru my AK240 connect via optical cable to the Hugo and from the Hugo thru the stereo RCA outputs connected to the EF-1000. 
 
As far as the sound it’s as musicman59 describes it in a single word “sublimed”.  My adjectives are “really ridiculously amazing”. The combination of the amp and headphones are transparent, clear, musically accurate, excellent sound stage and imaging and overall physically engaging.  A true toe tapping euphoria!
 
That said, I was not able to make an honest assessment of just the HE-1000 as I’m familiar with my source amp (the Cord Hugo not the EF-1000) and I simply couldn’t isolate just the HE-1000.  Again, I was there a full day before the event and the necessary cables were not available at the time.   
 
I have a few brief comments and thoughts to share with the HF Community:

1. According to Fang, “the Cord Hugo will NOT sufficiently drive the HE-1000”.  This is really very unfortunate for me and 10,000 other Cord Hugo customers who continue on their quest for the very best sound in headphones and either can’t or don’t have the money to spend on electrostatic headphones and electrostatic amps.  This simply knocks out a huge market segment for HiFIMAN!
2. According to Fang,”the new 901S will drive the HE-1000” as there will be a specific “amp card” available for the 901S.  Yes more powerful than the Cord Hugo amp.  Again great for anyone looking to buy a new DAC player and more HIFIMAN stuff.
3. The EF-1000 is a long way off from production ready.  I asked Dr. Bian how long and it looks like its months or more out.  He didn’t exactly say.  The issue is taking a custom, one-off, purpose built amp like the EF-1000 and designing and re-designing it using components that may not be in the current amp but are required to work in a production ready version is a large under-taking.  Many things can change including the “sound signature”.   That said, I have no question that Dr. Bian and his team can do it at “some point and at some price” but this is where things are at the moment. 
4. I hope for those fortunate enough to purchase the HE-1000 in the near future the build quality and product failure rates are very low.  And most importantly the “sound signature” that I’ve heard and come to expect in the HE-1000 is consistent from headphone to headphone. 
5. Let’s face it, $3k is a lot of cabbage to spend on headphones and if I’m going to shell it out I’m making a big investment in the company not just the headphones!   I’m relying on their customer service and their reputation, build quality and so on….
6. HIFIMAN is known for building affordable, good sounding products for a wide audience of people.  Quality materials and quality control on some of the products I’ve wanted to purchase has not been to my standards and that was the reasons I purchased the AK240 over the 901.  These headphones are “hi-end” and don’t appeal to the larger wide audience. Therefore the HE-1000 are outside what the consumer has typically seen from the company.  This will without question place force changes within the company to cater to the very demanding high-end marketplace.   

 
I hope my views were helpful and thank you for reading.
Sincerely your friend in HF,
-Speed