[Todd R]

I've not heard the v2, but supposedly it's a bit more aggressive/focused than the v1.

I've owned both. The V2 is not more aggressive. The vocals are a lot more present, where on the V1 they were recessed and not as clear.
Really digging the V2, just got the Dana Cable and it's even better.

 

[heliosphann]

I've owned both. The V2 is not more aggressive. The vocals are a lot more present, where on the V1 they were recessed and not as clear.
Really digging the V2, just got the Dana Cable and it's even better.

I read quite a few people say they're more energetic and the bass was punchier and more impactful in the mid bass.

 

[Gavin C4]

I think the changes in sound quality is mostly due to the re-design of the housing and the distance of the driver between your ears. Since the diver is exactly the same, a closer distance to the driver will allow us to hear more detail, more bass impact and vocals will definitely seem closer.

 

[gto88]

I think the changes in sound quality is mostly due to the re-design of the housing and the distance of the driver between your ears. Since the diver is exactly the same, a closer distance to the driver will allow us to hear more detail, more bass impact and vocals will definitely seem closer.

Yes, that was my impression too, I had both for a few days to compare them.
HEK V1/V2 has the best sub bass that I I came across so far.

 

[heliosphann]

Yes, that was my impression too, I had both for a few days to compare them.
HEK V1/V2 has the best sub bass that I I came across so far.

Yea, for sure. I've kept mine because the bass reaches into the abyss with ease.

 

[reeltime]

I've owned both the V1 and V2. The V2 bettered the V1 in nearly every area. Bass was the biggest difference to my ears-- more quantity and quality. Better soundstage-- just a better headphone all around.

 

[ruthieandjohn]

I preferred the HE1000 v1 to the HE-6 (both unmodded). Haven't heard the HE1000 v2.

 

[TheGadaffiDuck]

I own the HE6, and im wearing an HE560 on my head right now, wondering why i have ever bothered with the HE6. Considering going all the way, ditching both for an HE1000 V2

 

[heliosphann]

I own the HE6, and im wearing an HE560 on my head right now, wondering why i have ever bothered with the HE6. Considering going all the way, ditching both for an HE1000 V2

What don't you like about the HE-6? Is it stock? I had the 560 a long time ago and I wouldn't even put it in the same class as the HE-6.

 

[TheGadaffiDuck]

What don't you like about the HE-6? Is it stock? I had the 560 a long time ago and I wouldn't even put it in the same class as the HE-6.

The HE6 is not stock, and the 560 and 6 for me personally are quite similiar regardless. The 560 is rounder slightly in the mids, HE6 being quicker/analytical in this, and while the HE6 is much more punchy, needs an exceeding amount of power to get on to the level that the HE560 can achieve more on a normal desktop amplifier. HE560 is quite comfortable sounding, and the HE6 is the party animal planar sound that was the hifiman of old (especially in the treble.) Superlatives aside, I'm talking about small variables. My problem is that i paid $360 for the HE560, and the HE6 $1050, and the difference is in price performance is not astonishingly dramatic like the prices i paid. I could literally sell both for an HE1000 if i wanted

 

[sahmen]

I replaced the stock cable on my He 1000 v1 with a Norne Silvergarde S Clear cable, and the cable transformed the sound for the better in ways that were not subtle. Later, I have also replaced the v1 pads with the V2 pads, and the sound has changed again : So how does my HeK v1 w/Norne cable + v2 pads now stand in relation to the stock HeK v2, sq wise? I have not the slightest clue, since i have not tried the stock V2 before, but I like the way the v1 sounds now and I am not sweating it. I feel that I can live without experiencing the V2, although if I get the chance to audition one, I would fully embrace the opportunity.

Sometimes, I think components and accessories (DACs/AMPS/Cables) make such substantial differences and transform the sound of cans to such a degree that it almost makes no sense to take another person's evaluation of headphone at face value, unless the headphones and signal chains that are being compared are strictly identical. Even under such circumstances, subjective human hearing and preferences can also introduce their own wild-card variables to muddy the waters....

And then there is the question of diminishing returns, and price-performance ratios and matching etc. etc., which I have lately come to consider to be a "voodoo science" if there ever was one. I have the He-1000, the Edition X, the He-6, the He-500, more recently the He-400i (Ironically, I never ever set out with the intention of acquiring so many Hifiman headphones... In all but the case of the He-500, I got unexpectedly lucky at a certain point, and found the cans selling at a price that was sooo good, and so hard to resist that I couldn't turn away, and I pulled the trigger... And that is how come I own so many of them)... Look I am not complaining... I have found something to like about all these cans, and I have the option to sell any one of them at any time, if I start feeling that they're superfluous, or have become too boring but I digress.

What I wanted to say is that I have never found the differences between any pairing of these cans to match, the differences in price-points, not even in comparing the most expensive among them (the He 1000) with the least expensive (the He-400i)... There differences are there, but they are typically in "small variables" as TheGaddafiDuck has just metioned, and if you were to ask me to put a price on any of those variables or deltas, none, in my opinion should be worth $1000 (hell none would be worth even $500, if we are considering the SQ alone without going into issues of build-quality, ergonomics, and cosmetics).... I have come to find the relationship of prices to the cans to be entirely arbitrary, and I confess that Hifiman has also contributed to the feeling by all the prices they've slashed in the past couple of years...What was the more appropriate pricing for the He-1000? The original $3K or the more recent $2k +? The Edition X ($1799 or $1299)? And the He-560? ($899 or 499)? What are the rationales for the changes? Are they appropriately valued now even at the ire present lower price points? Who can answer such questions in any satisfactory way?

At any rate, such lines of thinking have made me somewhat cynical about getting any new cans.... I have been curious about the Susvara, the focal Utopia, the Audeze LCD-4 and others, but I have not been able to audition any of them. The funny thing is that I do not particularly care any more, because I have become convinced, without even trying them that the differences between the sound of those cans the sound of those I already have would not be great enough to warrant the price differences, and that has made my lack of access to those new cans much much more tolerable... I shall eventually get to audition them if or when I run into any of them somewhere. In the meantime I really don't feel like I am missing a whole lot, by not hearing these new cans, although of course I might be wrong, and that is okay too. This state of mind has been created by my experiences with all the various cans I have tried or owned so far in the past several years, and on the strength of that experience, I do not think I am too widely off the mark in the suppositions I have just outlined. As in all things Audio, your mileage may, of course, vary.

 

[ra990]

Just got these headphones from a fellow head-fier and really loving them but my Woo Audio WA8 is not providing enough power to these. I have it turned up to max a lot of the time and need software preamping for a lot of the music I listen to. I think I'm going to try the Edition X, which I hear pairs very well with the WA8. I've listed the HE1000 V2 in the for sale forum, if anyone is interested. They're in excellent condition.

 

[TheGadaffiDuck]

I replaced the stock cable on my He 1000 v1 with a Norne Silvergarde S Clear cable, and the cable transformed the sound for the better in ways that were not subtle. Later, I have also replaced the v1 pads with the V2 pads, and the sound has changed again : So how does my HeK v1 w/Norne cable + v2 pads now stand in relation to the stock HeK v2, sq wise? I have not the slightest clue, since i have not tried the stock V2 before, but I like the way the v1 sounds now and I am not sweating it. I feel that I can live without experiencing the V2, although if I get the chance to audition one, I would fully embrace the opportunity.

Sometimes, I think components and accessories (DACs/AMPS/Cables) make such substantial differences and transform the sound of cans to such a degree that it almost makes no sense to take another person's evaluation of headphone at face value, unless the headphones and signal chains that are being compared are strictly identical. Even under such circumstances, subjective human hearing and preferences can also introduce their own wild-card variables to muddy the waters....

And then there is the question of diminishing returns, and price-performance ratios and matching etc. etc., which I have lately come to consider to be a "voodoo science" if there ever was one. I have the He-1000, the Edition X, the He-6, the He-500, more recently the He-400i (Ironically, I never ever set out with the intention of acquiring so many Hifiman headphones... In all but the case of the He-500, I got unexpectedly lucky at a certain point, and found the cans selling at a price that was sooo good, and so hard to resist that I couldn't turn away, and I pulled the trigger... And that is how come I own so many of them)... Look I am not complaining... I have found something to like about all these cans, and I have the option to sell any one of them at any time, if I start feeling that they're superfluous, or have become too boring but I digress.

What I wanted to say is that I have never found the differences between any pairing of these cans to match, the differences in price-points, not even in comparing the most expensive among them (the He 1000) with the least expensive (the He-400i)... There differences are there, but they are typically in "small variables" as TheGaddafiDuck has just metioned, and if you were to ask me to put a price on any of those variables or deltas, none, in my opinion should be worth $1000 (hell none would be worth even $500, if we are considering the SQ alone without going into issues of build-quality, ergonomics, and cosmetics).... I have come to find the relationship of prices to the cans to be entirely arbitrary, and I confess that Hifiman has also contributed to the feeling by all the prices they've slashed in the past couple of years...What was the more appropriate pricing for the He-1000? The original $3K or the more recent $2k +? The Edition X ($1799 or $1299)? And the He-560? ($899 or 499)? What are the rationales for the changes? Are they appropriately valued now even at the ire present lower price points? Who can answer such questions in any satisfactory way?

At any rate, such lines of thinking have made me somewhat cynical about getting any new cans.... I have been curious about the Susvara, the focal Utopia, the Audeze LCD-4 and others, but I have not been able to audition any of them. The funny thing is that I do not particularly care any more, because I have become convinced, without even trying them that the differences between the sound of those cans the sound of those I already have would not be great enough to warrant the price differences, and that has made my lack of access to those new cans much much more tolerable... I shall eventually get to audition them if or when I run into any of them somewhere. In the meantime I really don't feel like I am missing a whole lot, by not hearing these new cans, although of course I might be wrong, and that is okay too. This state of mind has been created by my experiences with all the various cans I have tried or owned so far in the past several years, and on the strength of that experience, I do not think I am too widely off the mark in the suppositions I have just outlined. As in all things Audio, your mileage may, of course, vary.

How did the V1 change with the V2 pads. I bit the bullet and bought the HE1000 V1.

 

[sahmen]

How did the V1 change with the V2 pads. I bit the bullet and bought the HE1000 V1.

Good question, but I do not have a very satisfactory answer as yet to it. I did notice a change when I first swapped the pads, and I remember wondering whether I liked the sound of the new pads better or not, but couldn't come to any definitive conclusion about that in that instant. I made myself the kind of promise that I usually make at such moments of audio related uncertainty : i.e. that I shall come back, when I have some time to spare, to swap the pads back and forth listening to a few select "diagnostic" tunes in order to make a surer determination. Unfortunately, that moment has not come as yet. I can say two things though : I have kept the new pads on and never reverted back to the older ones, but the only conclusion one can draw from this is that I do not dislike the changes they brought about.. Yet the decision as to whether I like them better or not than the earlier pads remains to be made. On the other hand, I am much more certain about liking the Norne Audio Silvergarde S better than the hifiman stock cables. That is a difference I fully ascertained within minutes of listening to the Norne Cabble, and I have not looked back.

 

[heliosphann]

I'll try and A/B the pads in the next few days. I've had the v2's for several months now and still haven't put them on. Poor HEK's haven't got much love lately.