[bogginhead]

Yeah, man. I've had em for about a month now, and I like em quite a bit. They are a little on the bright side but not terribly so; I threw a pair of ZMF Ori pads on em and it cleared that up for the most part. I purchased these as a replacement for my backup pair (HE400i; I sold them as soon as I received the 5se) and I feel like they are definitely an upgrade in that regard. They're definitely keepers, imho.

 

[bagwell359]

HE5se now going for $299 new at Adorama...

 

[bagwell359]

I find it interesting that there is not much written about the HE5SE's here, or in the "Darth Vadar" site, and even more: lack of reported testing. Has the runaway release train coming out of HFM finally taken its toll?

Pretty sure there are at least two versions of this can, anyone writing about that?

 

[bogginhead]

I find it interesting that there is not much written about the HE5SE's here, or in the "Darth Vadar" site, and even more: lack of reported testing. Has the runaway release train coming out of HFM finally taken its toll?

Pretty sure there are at least two versions of this can, anyone writing about that?

As far as I know (from Hifiman and my own research - which is pretty limited from lack of available info tbh) there's only one version of the 5se. The wood cup version talked about last year was never released with that type of cup specifically after some plans ended up not materializing. As for what happened with that I have no clue, but I'd definitely like to know the reasons for the changes from what they originally expected to release.

 

[bagwell359]

As far as I know (from Hifiman and my own research - which is pretty limited from lack of available info tbh) there's only one version of the 5se. The wood cup version talked about last year was never released with that type of cup specifically after some plans ended up not materializing. As for what happened with that I have no clue, but I'd definitely like to know the reasons for the changes from what they originally expected to release.

Interesting... I decided to give them a stay of execution because I'm getting 114-115 VAC into my home lately, and my rig (Cambridge CXC specifically) doesn't like under 117. Time to order up the pieces to build an XLR cable for them, and my VAC returns to normal 117-120.

I still marvel at the lack of serious testing around them and still suspect that they are near the Sundara sonically - having less low bass is the only delta I'm sure about.

 

[GirgleMirt]

I find it interesting that there is not much written about the HE5SE's here, or in the "Darth Vadar" site, and even more: lack of reported testing. Has the runaway release train coming out of HFM finally taken its toll?

Yeah, bit weird? There doesn't seem to be a thread about them specifically, but here's one; https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hifiman-he5se-versus-the-original-he5.893222/ At 299$ might be an interesting upgrade for 400i? Had a few potential upgrade candidates (Elex, Verum One, Koss 950, etc.) but so far nothing really really excited me enough for the jump. What is the best Sundara price these days?

 

[buzzbuzz]

Adorama has HiFiMan HE5se Over Ear Planar Magnetic Headphones on sale for $269 today.

 

[bagwell359]

I was tough on them at first, but they reacted well to getting a new cup and taking off the back screens. Going to a good XLR cable will unleash my Rag and perhaps turn these into the better replacements for the 400i/4xx I sold/gave away I was hoping. Last night with the most VAC coming into the house in 2 weeks they held up pretty well against my HE-500 Modified and HEX v2 with the crummy stock cable (the HE5se that is - have nice XLR's on the other two).

 

[WHO23]

Hifiman HE5se Measurements:
(MiniDSP EARS. Purr1n's compensation. 500Hz 84dB normalized. 1/12 smoothing)

Hifiman HE5se vs Hifiman HE4XX

Hifiman HE5se vs Hifiman HE-500

 

[ciber]

If the chart is correct, he5se has worse sound than he400i and he500. If so, I would return the $269 he5se. From the sound quality, it is at most $150 consider he4xxx is 180 at massdrop.

 

[Ithilstone]

If the chart is correct, he5se has worse sound than he400i and he500. If so, I would return the $269 he5se. From the sound quality, it is at most $150 consider he4xxx is 180 at massdrop.

I see it is your first post...
"From the sound quality" Did you judged sound quality by looking at the graph? Or did you actually listen to them?

 

[ciber]

I see it is your first post...
"From the sound quality" Did you judged sound quality by looking at the graph? Or did you actually listen to them?

I compared them with Sennheiser HD600 (listening with hm901s player). I noticed HD600 has slightly better at lows; HE5SE has more brighter sound at high, seems to me slightly exaggerate. The graph chart seems to confirm my observation. Does anyone has HE400i? It would be interesting to see how HE5SE compared with HE400i?

 

[Ithilstone]

I have both as per photo from first post.

As good as hm901s is ( I love mine) for dynamic headphones and IEMs . Unfortunately it is simply no match for full size planars as it not provides enough current and planars are current driven as opposed to dynamic HPs that are voltage driven.
You should try He5se with some decent desktop amp or even better with speaker amp.
He5se (as well as he400i) can go really down and provide good deep bass - he400i are slightly hotter on top so seems a bit brighter - with enough current from decent class AB amp both are fine HPs - He5se being more comfortable one.
I will not comment on the graph as it doesnt say what amp are those HPs testes - I can only say that it mostly does not confirm my observations.
The fact that I listen to my planars using an equivalent of 400-500W mono blocks might have something to do with it.

 

[ciber]

I think the major problem of the HE5SE is that the 20-50hz area is much lower than HE500 and even HE400i. However, in 55hz-100hz, there is a ridge, HE5se intentionally emphasize there and 5se still has bass. ( I think the 5SE did not sound naturally as HE500 mainly due to this).

 

[Ithilstone]

Thats the problem with the graph - I was listening to "Hans Zimmer The Dark Knight Medley : Why So Serious? " (lossless)

and I do not hear that 20-50hz issue indicated by that graph - both he5se and he400i sound similar at very low end - Sundara stays just slightly behind