[chowmein83]

Well, @money4me247 got his review posted up on the front page of Head-Fi! Very well-deserved.

 

[money4me247]

  This is exactly what I was thinking. I appreciate his review. But imo if the he 560 has more midrange quantity then others will feel that it is recessed. I found the he560 mids to be a hair split on the thin side of neutral.
 
Also what concerns me is that he said it has to be played loud!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.... That means that it doesnt have the amazing weight to the notes that the he-6 does. The he-6 has some excellent low listening quality, even improperly amped. That is why it became my favorite, it was clear and solid sounding with an amazing amount of tangibility. That means it can be engaging. The he1000 may be a bit soft. @money4me247 would that be an incorrect assumption?

@grizzlybeast, I actually do not think there was any actual quantitative emphasis of the midrange on the HE-560 compared to the HE-1000. It was more along the lines that the improvements to the HE-1k's bass and treble overshined the improvements in its mid-range against the HE-560, which led to an initial illusion of a seemingly u-shaped sound signature. The warmth from the increased sub-bass resolution and presence as well as the 'shininess' of the treble resolution also enhance that illusion, but I really do not think the overall-midrange is recessed. I did detect some variation to the mid-range  during my frequency response sweeps, but I am referring to subtle variations there. Not a significant overall recession. I apologize if that was not clear in the review. I will try to go back & adjust some descriptions in my midrange section when I have more free time to alleviate this confusion as it seems more than one person have misinterpreted my remarks.
 
The HE-560's mid-range does sound a bit thin in direct comparison to the HE-1000's mids. I do think that the HE-1k's presentation of the mids are more tonally accurate and more 'neutral/natural' to my ears. When volume matched, the quantity of midrange is similar on both headphones, but the midrange on the HE-560 does appear not as 'engaging' as it lacks that liquid smoothness to its texture with thinner and more abrupt tonal shifts.
 
The HE-1k does not 'need' to be played loudly. It is just that the low-level micro details present themselves at a very low volume (as to be expected of a realistic portrayal of low-level details). To really appreciate all that micro detail, I personally do find myself pushing up the volume a bit in an attempt to hear those details very clearly. I don't think that low level detail is meant to be loudly or extremely clearly (by definition), but as audiophiles, we always enjoy those kinds of aspects to the music and overly focus on it at times I think. The critique about volume only relates to the volume of the micro-detail and the wide dynamic range of these headphones. I don't think that the realistic weight of the notes on the HE-1k disappears on lower volumes. When I hear the term weight, I think about the sub-bass beneath 50 Hz. That aspect is present regardless what volume the music is playing and is actually one of the strengths of the HE-1k.
 
I am not exactly sure specifically what you mean by the term soft, so I am afraid I may not be able to answer your last question very well. I can see soft referring to volume, spacing of the notes, treble presentation, a specific 4-6kHz region, or attack transients. If you can clarify what sonic aspect you are referring to specifically, maybe I can be more helpful
 
cheers!
 
@jamato8, I think you are right about this. the dynamic response is dependent on the music and we can't have it both ways: it's not realistic to expect a very highly resolving and wide dynamic response while having the music only play within a certain limited volume range that we are comfortable with. hahah that's me with my cake =P
 
At MattTCG, ddanois, doctorjazz, agooh, llcook51, and anyone else that I missed: thank you all for the compliments and kudos on my review. I am really happy to hear that you've found my impression helpful! really made my day to see that fellow enthusiasts here are enjoying the read. anyone else with any further questions or critical comments, feel free to hit me up. I will do my best to try to answer.

 

[money4me247]

@chowmein83, oh wow! thank you for letting me know. I am really happy that I was able to contribute to this community & I am greatly humbled by the front page posting!! Made my day right there !!! heh

 

[wuwhere]

  @chowmein83, oh wow! thank you for letting me know. I am really happy that I was able to contribute to this community & I am greatly humbled by the front page posting!! Made my day right there !!! heh

 
Kudos to you and HiFiman.

 

[Jeb Listens]

Absolutely brilliant review @money4me247 .  Thorough, balanced, articulate and a very entertaining read!  Your commitment to writing the most honest review you can is tangible.   I think this will be a great resource for the Head-Fi community.  This must have taken a huge amount of work and dedication.  
 
I'm not sure I'll ever get to listen to the HE1000:  reading this was probably the next best thing. 
 
Outstanding work.  
 
Jeb. 

 

[jamato8]

I am listening to a violin solo on a DSD recording via the Hugo to my home amp. It isn't like a speaker system nor is it like headphones. I can feel the headphones on my head but the sound floats free of the constraint of ear pads. Very realistic and captivating. I used to play violin and this captures the emotion, harmonics and strings resonating in a splendid way. 

 

[DreamKing]

Agreed with Jeb, like I personally stated to you, stellar stellar review Dennis, @money4me247. Why in the hell aren't you paid for this??!!? You need your own publication at this point haha.
I don't know when I'll listen to the HE-1000 either as got the HE-560 in early March, as I told you, and sill love them but you certainly make one salivate with anticipation 

.
 
One question though: how's the physical comfort of the HE-1000, especially against the HE-560 (one of its best features)?
Cheers!
DK

 

[Djinnenjous]

Strictly irrelevant to the review, but I am so poor!

 

[Fidelity King]

Spectacular review. I have to agree that the HE-1000 is unique in its sound. It's the middle ground between cold/analytic and warm/mellow. It is u-shaped, but only slightly, overall I found it very neutral, certainly good enough for work in a studio. Eveyrthing was impressive, the bass sounds especially good for an open back. With the Headamp blue Hawaii, the Staxsr-009 sounds colder and more treble forward. It's overall a more boring listen, the 009 did sound less colored and slightly more detailed. Both has similar levels of bass, but the bass on the HE-1000 is more potent and digs deeper. Compared to the HD 800, the HD 800 has less bass and also sounds less exciting, but more neutral. the treble on them is very similar that I find it hard to differentiate them, but the less bass of the HD 800 probably makes them sound more detailed. 

 

[reddog]

@chowmein83
, oh wow! thank you for letting me know. I am really happy that I was able to contribute to this community & I am greatly humbled by the front page posting!! Made my day right there !!! heh

You deserve it, it was well balanced and informative. I just hope I can write a review that is half as good.

 

[koiloco]

@money4me247 ,  great review.  You have successfully justified your purchase of the HE-1000.  

now If you could tell me that the HE-1000 would sound good driven by a Woo WA22, I would show my wife your review and ask for.....forgiveness. 

 

[Seamaster]

 I don't want to have to ban anyone from this thread.

 
That sounds like a threat, which almost gives people a wrong impression of this is maybe a paid review. Just saying...

 

[catspaw]

  Um, has anyone (besides "Team HiFiMAN" and a couple others) bothered to read the.....
 

SPECTACULAR review posted by "money4me247"?​

 
Notable things about him:
 
-He's a real musician AND an audiophile.  (Ironically, those two things don't often go together, at least in my experience.) So he knows what real instruments and voices sound like, AND he knows audio equipment.
-His high frequency hearing extends to "only" (!!!) 18 K!  WOW! Is he a cloistered monk or something? Amazing acuity!
-He has a magnificently precise yet detailed writing style. 
-Although clearly brilliant, he's downright humble.
-He has obviously thought this through extremely thoroughly and he obviously knows what he's talking about.
 
So YEAH, I'm impressed......(I also happen to agree with almost every single thing he's saying......)

Funny, I tested myself not long ago and I can hear up to 18.3 kHz . WEll I can hear up to 19k, but its a lot quiter there . If I remember correctly, when I was doing my driving liecence (this was in a silenced room) I was able to get above 20khz by a bit as the doctor told me, and he also asked me If I had any visual impediments as it seems most people dont have that good of a hearing unless their brain is compensating for visual deficiency.
 
I do have to say that his review does not tell me much however (I thought LCD-2, LCD-3 and LCD-X were barely better than my modded HE-400, so I will take his advice with a grain of salt). Clearly better but barely better if that makes any sense.
 
I do however need the best gaming headphone I can get withouth it killing my ears due to treble peaks in games, so I will keep looking and see what is the best I can get (so far, its the HE-560 but I decided that untill I test the HD800 and the HE1000 Im not buying it).

 

[potkettleblack]

I found the hd800 to be the worst gaming headset I'd used. I found more involvement from my momentums and preferred my 700's/x's over pretty much everything else (I haven't tried that many). The 700's can be a nightmare for music sometimes, but for action games the treble peaks create some of the most realistic gunfire I've ever heard. And I've shot a few guns in my time.
 
Games tested:
 
Battlefield
Cod
The last of us

 

[xtreme4099]

The comfort level is par with the 560's, you barely notice you have them on, we had a comparison tonight against the hd800's and 1K's at a friends house, the 800's i think are lighter still but i would say roughly on par comfort wise. Sound comparison, I have to say i still far and away like the 1k's for their silk smooth natural tone, refinement over the 800 on the setup we heard, the soundstage was bigger on the 1k's, that vertical stage was something the 800's didn't have, the drivers on the 1K are massive so its almost unfair. The bass on the 1K, was deeper and more realistic, the 800s by comparison had speedy tight bass but you didn't get a sense of space and subterranean textures that the 1k so prominently displays on every track that calls for it. The 1K manages to be silky smooth, whilst being fantastically detailed, coupled with some of the deepest bass and spot on neutrality. Its almost startling to hear all these things in the same headphone, and not want to rediscover your entire music collection, even losing a little sleep in the process
 
Also worth noting, is how non fatiguing and easy they are to listen to, the 800's by comparison were a little more forward sounding and hot in the treble, you can only listen for so long before having to put them down to give your brain a rest.