We actually didn’t find the RE-1000 demo at the main HiFiMAN booth, in fact the distributor who was helping HiFiMAN out didn’t even know what they were, we gave up on them until we passed a booth that had mainly Fiio and iBasso DAPs and I saw in the back corner a big box that said RE-1000, me and Josh scurried over. The RE-1000 is meant to be custom made, with HiFiMAN not specialising in that area, they let country mate Unique Melody handle the manufacturing while they have developed internals, which features two dynamic drivers inside. Is the RE-1000 a RE-400 and RE-600 merged together? I mean the maths do suggest it. After listening to the universal demo I think not. It is rid of the problems of the above mentioned models, with a much bigger soundstage and better balance due to a more obvious treble. In fact it seems to be a good mix of the RE-600 and RE-272, which is my personal favourite IEM HiFiMAN have ever done. It seems to have the great detail and transparency of the 272 while still sounding more composed, bodied and smooth like the 600. It really seems like a great earphone and considering it is custom fit for what should be only $650, maybe a little more, HiFiMAN may be landing a devastating blow with this. While the other two 1000s seem to set price aside and just seem to be about making something great, this seems to have a great value to it as well, which has traditionally been what HiFiMAN have been known for.
