[ohhgourami]

People are that unwilling to mod these even after beta period? If it weren't for modding, I would shipped them back the next day. I had to make sure the box didn't say MidFiMan.

 

[richard51]

  HIFIMAN HE1000 (Beta) Impressions
 

 Thank you very much for this truly honest and detailed review....

 

[lojay]

  As I prefaced my first post in this thread, I honestly think a lot of people are going to really like these. I would like to paint a very realistic follow-up impression today, based on how I have been hearing these headphones over extended listening. This is my due dilligence to the community and Hifiman as beta tester, in addition to my original impressions in the first posting in this thread. I will not repeat what I've written as I think that is accurate after extended listening. This will not be a metaphoric post, but very dry and to the point. Read it as is. There is no catch. Here we go. 

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

- The HEK are technically good for a flagship, but are not technical masters. The modded HD800s continue rule supreme the macro resolution and DR field. The SR-009s, while I do not have them here, I owned for long enough to tell they would still lead the cutting edge precision of transient response and speed. The HE-6s are still undisputed leaders of attack viscerality. I cannot point to an area of sound quality the HEK do best out of all the flagships I'm familiar with (except for soundstage height). And this overall is the key with them as it follows.
 
- The HEK are all-arounders but do not excel in all genres. Acoustic, unamplified, classical and high DR music are left to be bettered by other headphones such as the HD800s, SR009s and HE-6s that can scale accordingly. The HEK have an inherent advantage in the stage height the drivers provide for, but this is not a DR attribute.
 
- I think the primary audience for these headphones would be those who are looking for a flagship with relaxed sound, relatively easy to amplify, and with technical substance. However for this the RRP is very steep. I would prefer and will be more comfortable to experiment further with the modded HD6X0 for this type of sound.
 
- These are true flagship headphones for the masses, and at that I think they will please many. And this is where Hifiman could have succeeded, compared to the previous flagships. There are few subtleties and a lot of average enjoyment to be had. While in comparison they do not bite, energize or engage as some other flagships, they are perfect for background undisturbing listening. They can also reproduce both extremely good and extremely average recordings to a very satisfactory level.
 
These headphones don't have many flaws, but they do not excel much either compared to other established flagships.
 
I will now bow down and will return the HEK beta when that time comes. I feel I have been 100% honest in my beta test opinion, like it or not. 
 
Rig used:
Eddie Current 2A3 MK4 amplifier (4x EML, 2x Amperex tubes)
Dual mono class A 60 watts speaker amplifier, 160 watts AB
Schiit Yggdrasil
Theta Generation V 
Audioquest SKY interconnects
Acrolink power cables
SOTM usb interface and LAN streamer

 
I think I like the HE1000 more than Negura, but you need to know where Negura is coming from - he has a speaker set up that is more impressive in every way than any headphone he has heard. Qualities that matter to some (such as soundstage realism) may not be the highest priority to him. 
 
Is the HE1000 laid back? Yes, certainly, compared to the HE6, SR009 and HD800. More than one beta tester has opined that there is a distinct lack of treble sparkle / attack compared to other flagships. 

 

[koiloco]

   
I think I like the HE1000 more than Negura, but you need to know where Negura is coming from - he has a speaker set up that is more impressive in every way than any headphone he has heard. Qualities that matter to some (such as soundstage realism) may not be the highest priority to him. 
 
Is the HE1000 laid back? Yes, certainly, compared to the HE6, SR009 and HD800. More than one beta tester has opined that there is a distinct lack of treble sparkle / attack compared to other flagships. 

+1.  That's the impression I've gathered so far from reading various reviews and opinions.  I am following this thread closely to possibly looking into getting the HEk.  I loved my HE500 when I still had it.  Hopefully, HEk would live up to the hype.  From the feedback so far regarding SQ, design & comfort, the price, IMO, is a touch high?  But then again, $ is always relative like everything else.  

 

[Cotnijoe]

  People are that unwilling to mod these even after beta period? If it weren't for modding, I would shipped them back the next day. I had to make sure the box didn't say MidFiMan.

 
We're still in beta... 

 

[calaf]

 
- The HEK are technically good for a flagship, but are not technical masters. The modded HD800s continue rule supreme the macro resolution and DR field. The SR-009s, while I do not have them here, I owned for long enough to tell they would still lead the cutting edge precision of transient response and speed. The HE-6s are still undisputed leaders of attack viscerality. I cannot point to an area of sound quality the HEK do best out of all the flagships I'm familiar with (except for soundstage height).
 

I don't like throwing around big audiophile terms, but since this seems to be the tone of your post may I suggest naturalness and midrange purity?
 
 
Quote:

 
- These are true flagship headphones for the masses, and at that I think they will please many. And this is where Hifiman could have succeeded, compared to the previous flagships. There are few subtleties and a lot of average enjoyment to be had. While in comparison they do not bite, energize or engage as some other flagships, they are perfect for background undisturbing listening. They can also reproduce both extremely good and extremely average recordings to a very satisfactory level.

 
spoken (written?) like a true audiophile.

 

[n3rdling]

I haven't read any posts in this thread yet as I was hoping to keep influences to a minimum.  People have probably already said much of what I'm going to say, we'll see. 
 
 
Bass:  The bass extension on these is amazing, think sealed Abyss or Audeze.  Overall bass is too present though, and it can be a bit overbearing on certain tracks, again think Audeze.  Bass is very textured similar to electrostat/HD800/Qualia bass, but with more quantity.  The bass isn't visceral like the Abyss or HE-6 though.  I'll get into some of this again later.
 
Mids:  Overall average but I think there's a lot of room for improvement here with mods.  Nice for most male vocals, but a lot of female vocals seem to have something missing.  In fact, my biggest qualm with this headphone is that there's almost no presence.  Not only is this a distant sounding headphone, but it's not involving at all.  In fact, I have to put the volume up or things start turning into background music.  I'd like to be able to play these at any volume level and feel as involved as I normally am.  The lack of presence makes everything outside of the bass sound dead.  I should shun them for this alone as I can't think of much worse to say about a HP, but I think it can be fixed.  The HE1000 is where cymbals go to die.
 
Treble:  I guess presence also falls into this area, but further up I'm fine with the treble.  Not really noticing much sibilance on my unit, and treble sounds pretty clean.  Not grainy like most dynamics, and not distorted or shelved off like some orthos.  However, there's a lack of spacial cues/air present, so live albums can sound more like studio albums with clapping.
 
Impact:  Don't expect the impact of the Abyss, HE-6, or Audeze here.  These sound like they want to hit hard but then kinda push on the breaks at the last second...it's really weird.  Bass impact for instance sounds a bit like the diaphragm is hitting a sponge before full excursion or something.  I'm not sure if this is due to the asymmetrical magnet arrangement, but I haven't heard a headphone with this feature.  Most stats don't hit hard, but they don't exhibit any slowing down before impact.
 
Detail/speed:  These are fast and pretty detailed.  I'd put them about on par with the Abyss here.  The lack of detail is mainly a result of the FR issues I pointed out: bass overemphasis can put a veil on the music, and spacial information is lacking.  They are quite clean sounding as well. 
 
Soundstage/imaging:  Not crazy about this aspect.  Soundstage definitely has the 3 blob effect going with little portrayed in the areas between.  Images are large vertically and a bit on the diffuse side.  Soundstage on most tracks is a good size, but I haven't found them able to expand the soundstage out beyond the drivers.  Then again, few headphones can do that well.
 
 
Overall a good headphone but I haven't made up my mind yet on whether to keep them or not.  I like the clarity and convenience of these, but the FR needs improvement for them to stay.  I think with a redesigned earpad these can actually sound a lot better.  In stock form I wouldn't recommend these for the asking price to most people.  If you like some extra bass in your music and pump these loud enough to not be effected by the lack of presence much then you should check them out, though.  I had high hopes for this headphone and thought for sure I'd like them a lot.  I think they have that potential, but as of now these are probably right outside my top 10 headphones.

 

[miceblue]

Impact:  Don't expect the impact of the Abyss, HE-6, or Audeze here.  These sound like they want to hit hard but then kinda push on the breaks at the last second...it's really weird.  Bass impact for instance sounds a bit like the diaphragm is hitting a sponge before full excursion or something.  I'm not sure if this is due to the asymmetrical magnet arrangement, but I haven't heard a headphone with this feature.  Most stats don't hit hard, but they don't exhibit any slowing down before impact.

How many hours of burn-in do you have on your unit? I experienced the same thing but with just 1 hour's use out-of-the-box. I'm thinking the bass frequencies don't decay as quickly as the SR-207 I have since it does seem a bit muffled to me, as you suggest. The SR-207 does indeed not have the same kind of gut-hitting bass that's typical of planar magnetic headphones, but for being a nanometre-sized diaphragm, I was expecting the HE1000 to keep up with the SR-207 in the bass department at the least since planar magnetic forces are much stronger than electrostatic.

 

[jamato8]

What amps are being used and source? I realize that no one else has the RM DIY amp I have but I have found these phones to be dynamic with an extremely fast and quality bass. The imaging 3D aspect to me, is a definitive of what it should be in a headphone. Even at lower sound levels these phones do not retreat. I am mystified by some of the observations here as there is such a dichotomy to some of the impressions. I have some very good phones to compare to and to my ears, the HE1000 outshines all of them. 
 
Hours on the phones (burn-in or whatever you want to call it) I find to be very important as they went through some up and down sound during this process. 

 

[ohhgourami]

  What amps are being used and source? I realize that no one else has the RM DIY amp I have but I have found these phones to be dynamic with an extremely fast and quality bass. The imaging 3D aspect to me, is a definitive of what it should be in a headphone. Even at lower sound levels these phones do not retreat. I am mystified by some of the observations here as there is such a dichotomy to some of the impressions. I have some very good phones to compare to and to my ears, the HE1000 outshines all of them. 
 
Hours on the phones (burn-in or whatever you want to call it) I find to be very important as they went through some up and down sound during this process. 

 
Yggy and Krell FPB 300cx. Both are extremely dynamic and the Krell is as 3D as a solid state amp gets. I agree strongly with what both Negura and n3rdling have said.

 

[goldendarko]

Nerdling, have you broken the HE1000 in fully, the midrange does improve quite a bit with burn-in.
 
I was going to ask if we were listening to the same headphones but then I saw your list of current gear which reads like a greatest of all time list, so I'd have to defer to you as you obviously have more experience than I do with high end headphones, but in my relatively limited experience they are the best I've heard yet, beating my previous fav. the LCD-3F and also topping the HD-800 IMO

 

[lojay]

 

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

I haven't read any posts in this thread yet as I was hoping to keep influences to a minimum.  People have probably already said much of what I'm going to say, we'll see. 
 
 
Bass:  The bass extension on these is amazing, think sealed Abyss or Audeze.  Overall bass is too present though, and it can be a bit overbearing on certain tracks, again think Audeze.  Bass is very textured similar to electrostat/HD800/Qualia bass, but with more quantity.  The bass isn't visceral like the Abyss or HE-6 though.  I'll get into some of this again later.
 
Mids:  Overall average but I think there's a lot of room for improvement here with mods.  Nice for most male vocals, but a lot of female vocals seem to have something missing.  In fact, my biggest qualm with this headphone is that there's almost no presence.  Not only is this a distant sounding headphone, but it's not involving at all.  In fact, I have to put the volume up or things start turning into background music.  I'd like to be able to play these at any volume level and feel as involved as I normally am.  The lack of presence makes everything outside of the bass sound dead.  I should shun them for this alone as I can't think of much worse to say about a HP, but I think it can be fixed.  The HE1000 is where cymbals go to die.
 
Treble:  I guess presence also falls into this area, but further up I'm fine with the treble.  Not really noticing much sibilance on my unit, and treble sounds pretty clean.  Not grainy like most dynamics, and not distorted or shelved off like some orthos.  However, there's a lack of spacial cues/air present, so live albums can sound more like studio albums with clapping.
 
Impact:  Don't expect the impact of the Abyss, HE-6, or Audeze here.  These sound like they want to hit hard but then kinda push on the breaks at the last second...it's really weird.  Bass impact for instance sounds a bit like the diaphragm is hitting a sponge before full excursion or something.  I'm not sure if this is due to the asymmetrical magnet arrangement, but I haven't heard a headphone with this feature.  Most stats don't hit hard, but they don't exhibit any slowing down before impact.
 
Detail/speed:  These are fast and pretty detailed.  I'd put them about on par with the Abyss here.  The lack of detail is mainly a result of the FR issues I pointed out: bass overemphasis can put a veil on the music, and spacial information is lacking.  They are quite clean sounding as well. 
 
Soundstage/imaging:  Not crazy about this aspect.  Soundstage definitely has the 3 blob effect going with little portrayed in the areas between.  Images are large vertically and a bit on the diffuse side.  Soundstage on most tracks is a good size, but I haven't found them able to expand the soundstage out beyond the drivers.  Then again, few headphones can do that well.
 

 
Overall a good headphone but I haven't made up my mind yet on whether to keep them or not.  I like the clarity and convenience of these, but the FR needs improvement for them to stay.  I think with a redesigned earpad these can actually sound a lot better.  In stock form I wouldn't recommend these for the asking price to most people.  If you like some extra bass in your music and pump these loud enough to not be effected by the lack of presence much then you should check them out, though.  I had high hopes for this headphone and thought for sure I'd like them a lot.  I think they have that potential, but as of now these are probably right outside my top 10 headphones.

 
It's no news, but I agree with you Milos. Your views are similar to those of Negura's but described in a different way. I wrote down my initial impressions elsewhere and they are similar to yours. My main gripe is simply the lack of realism - on live recordings you do not feel like you are "there" - unlike a modded HD800 or for more intimate recordings, the SR009. It might be the FR as you say, but to me I think it is the fact that spatial cues are too rounded and there is a lack of air and space between them. Otherwise the HE1000 does many things right. It tries so hard to get everything right that it becomes somewhat dull. A more neutral term to describe the HE1000 is "unoffensive".
 
I like the HE1000 a lot because it is the best you can get for background listening. I use these at work and like how they get out of the way and are comfort and convenient to use. If I want more excitement I turn up the volume for a while.
 
I might get flamed for this, but hand on heart I realise that the HE1000 impressions of those with truly TOTL set ups are generally more lukewarm compared to those with less stellar setups. I made my view known that I strongly prefer the modded HD800 for certain types of audiophile music (classical / unamped live performances) given its sheer realism. But for most other types of music I like the HE1000, especially when I am at work.

 

[Sorrodje]

qualities that matter to some (such as soundstage realism) may not be the highest priority to him. 

Do you think the soundstage is a strong point of your he1000?

Edit: sorry I missed your post above.

 

[lojay]

Do you think the soundstage is a strong point of your he1000?

 
Compared to HE6, yes. Compared to SR009, better in some respects (soundstage width and height/ pin point imaging) and worse in others (stage depth/ layering/ naturalness in spatial cues). Compared to HD800, no. Overall, very good, and "unoffensive".

 

[daltonlanny]

Borrowed a Schiit Ragnorak from a friend...Wow! extremely impressive, clean, and powerful amp!
Also been using my revamped B22. Very impressive as well!
Ok,
from everthing I have heard from mine so far, and from other opinions...
In all honesty, and in its current state, and in order for this this headphone to really sell well, be more popular, and better overall once it goes into production, IMHO:
1. Improve the realism, energy, snap, and micro detail slightly.
2. Improve the frequency response in certain areas, especially around 7khz (the peak, slight coloration? ), and lower the retail price $500.00 to $1,000.00?
(The Stax SR-009 is down to just over $2,700 new now too!)
3. Redesigned/thicker earpads. I think this could help alot.

The HEK does do some things really well, but for the price I honestly expected more.
Now, bass extension and bass detail is almost perfect to me though. I really love that aspect.
Everything does improve with higher volumes, but would prefer more at lower levels too.
Its not burn in either. Mine have at least 200 hours.
Maybe I am spoiled by my modded HE-6's strong suits?
As is, I'm very undecided on whether or not to keep these.
Right now probably leaning towards 40/60... (40% chance of keeping, 60% chance of sending back.)
Please don't take this all negatively. Just stating the honest facts.
I really love the headphones, I just honestly feel, as others have also stated, that there is room for improvement here, especially at the retail price.
But, this is a beta test, and I'm sure the negatives will help Hifiman just as much as the positives on improving the final product.
The HE1000 does have alot of potential, no doubt about that.
Been very busy lately. More to come as I get time...