[Decoy]

  All my measurements displayed this phenomenon. Do note that I could not hear the 'sawtooth' waves during a frequency response sweep. Originally thought it was some sort of error for my protocol/set-up, so I ended up running a TON of measurements on them. Also note that the dip in the 7khz region is an artifact that appears on all my headphone measurements due to my specific testing set-up!!!

Could you give us some details about your test setup?  If you don't mind sharing, I would be interested in how much it cost you to put together the testing rig.

 

[money4me247]

Could you give us some details about your test setup?  If you don't mind sharing, I would be interested in how much it cost you to put together the testing rig.

sure, when get back to you once I get home & will update my previous review w some measurements & some more sonic impressions perhaps

 

[MacedonianHero]

Well my new production pair are on their way to me...fingers crossed they get here tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to trying them. My good friend Frank I's comments really got me interested in them and I'm curious to hear how they stack up to my other headphones.

 

[doctorjazz]

That's quite a collection of cans, you should be able to do some TOTL comparison.

Well my new production pair are on their way to me...fingers crossed they get here tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to trying them. My good friend Frank I's comments really got me interested in them and I'm curious to hear how they stack up to my other headphones.

Got the 1k today...had it a while back just for a moment, couldn't get a good sense of it. The band is redone, fits great, really comfortable. Have to let it burn in a bit...

 

[reddog]

That's quite a collection of cans, you should be able to do some TOTL comparison.
Got the 1k today...had it a while back just for a moment, couldn't get a good sense of it. The band is redone, fits great, really comfortable. Have to let it burn in a bit...

Glad they have redone the band, thanks for the information.

 

[Trance_Gott]

Headband is only one thing. But what about the strangely soft attack. Is it fixed in the production unit? Hope someone with the production unit can clarify this.

 

[miceblue]

Had a 4-hour mini meet with another fellow beta tester admit.

Tried the HE1000 with an Emotiva Mini X A100 speaker amp using the speaker taps. Volume-matched against the Objective 2 and blind tested, there was hardly a difference in how they sounded. I slightly preferred the A100 since it had a slightly better center image, but my friend preferred the wider soundstage of the O2.


MacBook Pro with Audirvana Plus, no upsampling, hog mode, integer mode - transport
HD Tracks, CD-rips - music source
LH Labs Geek Out 1000 with FRM digital filter - DAC
Y-splitter to A100 and Objective 2 (battery-powered) - amplifiers
Outputs of amp to FiiO HS2 - A/B switch
HE1000 with 6.3 mm terminated cable (1-ohm higher impedance than the 3.5 mm one when measured with a digital multimeter) - headphone

All tests were volume-matched by ear with pink noise and 1 kHz sine wave signals generated from Audacity.

Some listening tests were done with that setup on either amp and compared with the STAX SRS-2170.
SRS-2170 setup:
LH Labs Linear Power Supply 4 - clean power source
LH Labs Geek Out 450 with FRM digital filter - DAC (connected to LPS4)
3.5 mm-RCA adaptor
STAX SRM-252S - amp (connected to LPS4 with polarity inverter adaptor)
STAX SR-207 - headphone

A custom Mac application made from an Apple Script was used to quickly switch between the two DACs, and thus headphones, in Audirvana Plus. In previous listening tests, the two Geek Out units sound pretty much identical to one another and to compensate for any worse characteristics of the GO450, it was connected to the LPS4 while the GO1000 was just connected to a USB port on the MacBook.



Between the STAX SR-207 and HE1000, it was mostly tied for my friend for the myriad of songs we tested but a slight preference for the HE1000 due to its warmth. I preferred the SR-207 most of the time due to its speed (especially in the bass-lower-midrange area) and more cohesive soundstage and imaging. We both agreed that for a lot of our music listening preferences, the SR-207 would probably be our headphone of choice.


Yes, that's actually popcorn that we had as a midnight snack.



MacBook Pro with Audirvana Plus, no upsampling, hog mode, integer mode - transport
HD Tracks, CD-rips, LAME MP3s - music source
LH Labs Linear Power Supply 4 - clean power source
Geek Out 1000 with FRM digital filter, bit-perfect line-out with 64-bit attenuated signals for HE1000 volume control - DAC/amp (connected to LPS4)
MediaBridge 3.5 mm-RCA adaptor - interconnect
STAX SRM-252S - amp (connected to LPS4 with polarity inverter adaptor)
HE1000 - headphone
STAX SR-207 - headphone

For listening sessions here, we would each have one headphone (either HE1000 or SR-207), listen to a track to get a good feel of how it sounds, switch headphones, listen to the same track, maybe switch a few more times, and ask each other which headphone we preferred and why.



I'll write up a more detailed review for the HE1000's sonic performance but I thought I'd share these impressions for now.

 

[Sorrodje]

Ok. End of the Beta program For me. So it's time to release my final review.  the original one is released in french there : http://www.tellementnomade.org/feedback-hifiman-he-1000-beta/
 
Many many thks to Hifiman. The Beta program was a great and fun interesting experience. Hifiman Teams helped me a lot with some Issues and Jeff is a very kind  guy to deal with.  Absolutely great people
 
 
Thks to @purrin , @n3rdling, @negura , @knerian
@ohhgourami @frenchbat @thune @anetode
@lojay  and other mates with whom we shared impressions and experiences during the Beta.  You can do a google search and  find a big thread opened for Beta testers. We've  shared there early impressions since the beginning.
 
I learned a lot with you guys. thks 

 
 
Here's the translation of the french review ( Thks to people who help th make it understable in english. All residual mistakes are my own fault. ) 
 
 

 
 
 
 
At this point, I’ve had the HE1000 for 4 weeks and 100 hours  of burn in and listening. I’ve used it almost exclusively in balanced mode in association with the Audio-GD HE-9 kindly loaned by Audiophonics and my DAC TotalDAC A1 and I’ve been able to compare it carefully with the HE-6 and a HD800. This last one is my usual reference headphones and I am quite used to it.
 
In terms of amplification I tested as well an Ibasso DZero mkII and a Jpslabs O2 in addition to HE-9. Strangely, the result is not bad at all but the HE-9 offers a big improvement. IMO The HE1000 deserves serious work and attention to build the  associated system but is still easily usable on a mobile system and an entry level one. Keep in mind though that the HE1000 deserves attention to the amp to shine at its best. 
 
I was able to get all the music I usually listen to :  namely a mixture composed mostly of contemporary jazz, classical music and various electronic music. I spice it from time to time with a little Blues / Pop / Rock / metal but it is quite rare. 
 
Then you know where I come from. Indeed your personal appreciation can vary considerably if your tastes are very different from mine. Please also remember that I exaggerate purposely for the sake of explanation.
 
In real life, the differences are often more subtle.
 
 

 
 
 
 
Where to start?
 
If I had to sum up my feelings, I'd say I have a feeling that HE1000 brings something new. It allows us to have a forgiving and easy to like headphone and listen to high-level technical capabilities: resolution, bass extension & definition, open sounding and refinement. I would even say that HE1000 is the best « Jack of all trades , master of none » headphone ever but I lack experience with forgiving headphones.  In any case, I have often thought the HE1000 achieved what the K812 desperately missed to do: an excellent headphone, technically excellent, easy to love, forgiving, easy to associate with different sources and amps . This is already a great achievement in itself.
 
If I had to advice an headphone to someone I don't know very well and who want a headphone to complete his Hi-end Speaker system and If I had no idea of his musical tastes, maybe the HE1000 would be the easiest headphone to advice. Hope that makes sense. 
 
That been said , in most other case, I think I'd advice a more specifically good headphone and for my personal use, I wouldn't pick the HE1000. 
 
 

 
 
 
 
Let me explain why a bit longer. 

At first sight, the beauty and the immediate balance that emerges from the sound rendering of HE1000 is stunning. At first listen I would say that some kind of majesty impresses the listener. Some kind of « grandeur ». undoubtedly, the HE1000 tries to give a taste of luxury.
   
Obviously the frequency response is primarily responsible for these impressions. The headphones seem to have been designed and tuned according to the model defined by the work of doctors Olive & Welti (http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/harman-researchers-make-important-headway-understanding-headphone-response ), and is designed to reproduce what you can hear on a very good living room speaker system.

Bass is obviously the first thing that jumps to the ears. The HE1000 goes low, very low. The extension seems absolutely bottomless and the entire sub-bass range is particularly impressive. The HE1000 does not offer deeper bass than the Abyss. HE1000 bass is more neutral but less impactful. I can only hear a small bump below 40 or 50hz maybe. What strikes most is the very high level of precision and clarity. Transients are sharp and extremely fast without reaching the absolute speed offered by the SR009. Textures are impressive as well . However, the HE1000 offers a relatively weak impact. HE-6's viscerality is not there, nor the mid-bass slam of the HD800. The HE-6 offers more solid lows. Clearly,  HE1000 sub bass dominates. The listener seems to be overwhelmed by an enveloping and addictive bath of bass. They have body mass or heft but they don't have enough slam to it. we can contemplate and savor them, however we can't feel the physical feeling of vibration offered by the HE-6. If I had to describe the HE1000 bass , I would say it is "oceanic": clear, deep and enveloping.
 
Obviously, bass dont overwhelm mids by any means. Mids are also superbly presented. It is quickly apparent during the first listenings that High mids are lacking. Therefore, no hardness or harshness here . Voices seem particularly free from any metallic resonance or excessive sibilance. Vocals seem a bit washed in my opinion. They're cleaned from anything that can prevent the listener from enjoying his music quietly. However, no artificial coloration is added and everything sounds very natural. Let us add that, in the grand scheme of things, the HE1000 faithfully reproduces acoustic intruments timbres.  Strings sound again very naturally, without aggression or denaturation. The symphony orchestra sounds as it should although brass lack bite. Some instruments are a bit shifted. Sometimes I can perceive discomfort when the volume is loud enough and some fatigue can appear. Especially when I listen to male voices but maybe it's just a matter of taste. The fact is that recessed High mids induce some consequences  and the range covering 1 kHz and lower sounds emphasized compared to Hig mids. Body, solidity are improved but presence is lacking.  I still feel it lacks a bit of clarity for my tastes. Especially compared to the HE-6.
 
In line with this polite Hig mids, HE1000 treble demonstrates a smoothness that's restful for the listener. Clarity lovers can look elsewhere, the HE1000 won't bring them what they need. At worst, I can feel a hint of 7 kHz which may interfere. I know some other Beta testers felt the need to soften this issue. Personally, ten minutes of brain burn in is  almost enough to make me forget the discomfort. Apart from that, everything is silky, not aggressive or with any bothersome grain. Maybe we could point out a lack of extension and air but honestly that's no big deal. In summary, HE1000's treble  is, apart from the 7kHz peak, slightly "laid-back" without making the HE1000 a dark headphone.
 
Overall the sound signature is in my opinion more "natural" than truly neutral. I can imagine that some will call it "musical". I'd just say that HE1000 is slightly on the warm side of neutral. No excessive analyticism here and that's a good thing. People used to comfortable listenings with their living room speaker system won't be disappointed. Quite honestly, I think this is a perfect tonal balance. It's pretty close to the balance of a K812 for example but much "cleaner" in all aspects.
 

 

Besides the strict frequency response, the listener can not miss the presentation and soundstage offered by the HE1000. The HE1000 offers a lot of space to play with !  Depth is there and The HE1000 sounds really open. what is rarer is to find a good feeling of height! The HE1000 succeeds to fool us and make us perceive a real height. Sometimes I even felt the Height was superior to depth an then sounds a bit artificial . But overall this illusion of height contributes to the « premium » impression that this HE1000 brings to the table. The depth is there as well but it may not be the stronger aspect of the HE1000 presentation.  
 
About Resolution :  the sound material is rich and never seems too "simplified". It sounds real.  The resolution is very good. The subtle volume variations, cues, reverbs and spaces are very well transcribed. it seemed to my ears that progress is significant compared to Stock HE-6. The tiny nuances of a String quartet are properly transcribed. A priori, therefore, the HE1000 offers excellent micro-dynamic rendering. Other testers have found that the HE1000 resolution is significantly inferior to the HD800's one.  I trust them, but I have not found much difference myself. my System is probably not resolving enough. In terms of transparency, I would say that the transparency is almost there. At least it's enough to hear different recording qualities. The fact the HE1000 is very sensitive to the associated amp is revealing. That said , I don't thing the HE1000 competes with the most transparent headphones in the market. 
 
 

 
 
 
Perfect tonal balance, great soundstage, high resolution capability.  So, here we are : is this HE1000 a true competitor for the SR009 or even an Orpheus System ?
 
At this stage of the demonstration, I reiterate some background points: First, the impressions you read here are certainly mine but corroborated by a number of other Beta testers around the world with whom I have been able to continuously communicate during testing . So the findings that follow do not solely come out of my imagination but must be considered in the light of the framework outlined above.
 
My main concern with the HE1000 is its lack of attack and leading edge.
 
Rendering is soft, very soft. Unoffensive. The bass does not hit,  trumpets don't bite enough,  A drum rimshot should pierce my brain  more. Cymbals as well. The HE1000 offers a wonderful and relaxing sound experience. Too relaxing for my blood.
 
We really struggled to identify precisely the issue and to find images to symbolize the point : Imagine the driver has to produce an attack of notes (imagine the sound « Ka ») it should accelerate quickly from its ground state to producing the attack of K. At this time, the driver should accelerate immediately and strongly right ? Well it looks like the HE1000 pushes simultaneously on the brake and the accelerator. Then there's a kind of hesitation.  N3rdling spoke about spongy attack too. As if the driver had to fight against inertia before accelerating. It's a fairly subtle effect and it softens the whole sound reproduction. Instead of reproducing Ka as « Kaaaa » , the HE1000 sounds like kHAAAAA. As if the attack was weaker than the sustained sound. You see the point?
 

 
Overall, it is very beautiful, very relaxing, it participates to the immersive atmosphere offered by the HE1000 and sometimes it's very convenient to listen quietly to some of the rotten masterings that pop music likes so much. but it still induces some problems when combined with the rest of the characteristics of the headphone because it pervades across the whole Frequency range.
 
Let's come back to bass for example.
 
The Range  is clearly dominated by astounding sharpened, detailed, textured, beautiful low bass. So, comparatively, mid-bass seems a bit erased. If we add that lack of attack I described above , we obtain a slightly soft mid bass with a lack of punch and rebound . Then the listener is looking for more speed , engagement and fun ...then crank up the volume again and again without finding what he is looking for .
 
Here comes up against a second issue.
 
The slight lack of attack and leading edge induces a lack of instrument delineation. It's more obvious at higher volume , kind of a "wall of sound" . This is kind of subtle but fatiguing. The brain struggles to focus on the right information in a kind of nebulous mass of sound.  Just imagine a very definite and sharpened picture . And imagine that someone  blurs enough the edges of the picture elements, then you get the point.  
 

 
 
Last consequence of this softness in attacks and leading edge, the blur in the image and clipping voices, instruments and consoles is also reflected in the staging of plans soundstage. Honestly the depth of the soundstage HE1000 is decent but not stellar. Considering the lack of depth is combined with the overall softness, then the layering is far from perfect. It is difficult to clearly distinguish the positioning and the distance between different instrumentalists and it is difficult to prioritize sounds. No need to draw you a picture on the headphone's ability to image? This is rather vague and imprecise. Still nebulous . It is hard to get a clear mental picture of the music. With the HD800, I can "see" Mathias Goerne singing Schubert's lieder. I know how close he is to me and can even guess when he changes slighty his position while he's singing. With the HE1000 I know he's there. almost there in front of me. Not better.

On the other hand, with the example of a Jazz double bass that is played mainly « pizzicato », We can realize that the HE1000 allows a very good feeling of the body resonances and makes use see the size of the instrument. On the other side, compared to the HE-6 or the HD800, it lacks much of the string slams on the HE1000, and  the fingers pulling the strings. If you listen to Marcus Miller, the very special sound of his bass lost his metallic resonances. An electric bass that again has metallic resonances due to frets and strings material will tend to sound like a fretless with smooth strings. In Jeremy Denk’s Goldberg Variations, the piano’s hammers seem to have all stiffness removed, or someone left a bag of cotton in the Steinway. Here is the mix between lack of attack and slightly darkish signature of the headphone that is at work.
 

 
 
So, one of the main issue is that the HE1000 hardly give us that sense of presence and intensity that we love so much. This feeling that the artist is there or we're really here with him.  In the endeavour to soften things and present the listener with very pleasing results, the HE1000 seems to miss capturing one essential aspect: to transport us into the musical act.
 
Obviously there's a very positive aspect to all this. The HE1000 invariably sounds beautiful and offers an incredible ability to reproduce everything with ease. The other side of this coin is that it doesn't quite fully highlight the gap between recording quality extremes. And HE1000 somewhat fails to extract magic from the best recordings. Between recording quality extremes the HE1000 varies between, at the worst, a satisfying reproduction and at best superb sound. With the Sennheiser the range of sound reproduction is between unlistenable and magic, if that makes sense. 
 
 

 
 

CONCLUSION

I'll use the example Negura has shared on the HE1000. He simply explained that the previous day he had received a brand new and beautiful CD and before listening eagerly for the first time he had hesitated to choose between the HE-6 or the HD800 but never HE1000.
 
Everything is there. Pretty as that may sound HE1000, it seems that he lacks the something that characterizes the most exceptional headphones and making them exciting. Abyss, SR009, HE-6 ... when we put them on the head, it happens something special. The HE1000, we say "wow this is beautiful" and half an hour after. we think of something else. Every time I listen music with my HD800 , I struggle to stop the music to go to sleep. That's why I spend money in audio. 
 
After we can always imagine that because of its highly forgiving nature, the HE1000 can perfectly complement a more demanding headphone. Maybe. I even personally asked myself the question  before realizing that I probably will not give much headtime to the HE1000 . Considering my musical preferences, a forgiving headphone wouldn't be so useful. 
 
I am not very convinced SR009s, HE-6s or HD800s fans will replace any of these headphones for the HE1000s. Perhaps Audeze fans are the closest to consider a direct switch, considering the closer proximity in sound, but the Audeze I know (and LCD2.2 LCD3) offer density, fullness that is not found elsewhere and offer some lush in mids that adds presence to voices.
 
Apart from that, the HE1000 really offers beautiful bass (perhaps up to what offers the Abyss. more neutral though but less impacting) an extremely nice tonal balance and a beautiful sound in all circumstances. If these elements are priorities for you, so take the opportunity to listen it as soon as you can, you will not be disappointed, especially if you are a fan of pop music for which the HE1000 forgiveness will do wonders.
 
For the asked price of $ 3,000, and given the initially claimed purpose (SR009 or Orpheus Killer, best headphone in the world…) , I'm underwhelmed but as US people usually say: YMMV.
 
Moreover, the HE1000 I described is a Pre-production Unit.  Final HE1000 could be significantly different. 
 
 
 
Thks to have taken the time to read that. 

 

[inseconds99]

Thank you for this, as a HD800 owner I was curious to hear opinions from another 800 owner.

 

[miceblue]

When people write long reviews/posts, can we not quote their entire post please? It's kinda annoying having to scroll through the material twice on a mobile device. Thanks.

 

[wink]

Spoiler: Gotcha.....

Ok. End of the Beta program For me. So it's time to release my final review.  the original one is released in french there : http://www.tellementnomade.org/feedback-hifiman-he-1000-beta/
 
Many many thks to Hifiman. The Beta program was a great and fun interesting experience. Hifiman Teams helped me a lot with some Issues and Jeff is a very kind  guy to deal with.  Absolutely great people
 
 
Thks to @purrin , @n3rdling, @negura , @knerian
@ohhgourami @frenchbat
@lojay and other mates with whom we share impressions and experiences during the Beta.
I learned a lot with you guys. thks 

 
 
Here's the translation of the french review ( Thks to people who help th make it understable in english. All residual mistakes are my own fault. ) 
 
 

 
 
 
 
At this point, I’ve had the HE1000 for 4 weeks and 100 hours  of burn in and listening. I’ve used it almost exclusively in balanced mode in association with the Audio-GD HE-9 kindly loaned by Audiophonics and my DAC TotalDAC A1 and I’ve been able to compare it carefully with the HE-6 and a HD800. This last one is my usual reference headphones and I am quite used to it.
 
In terms of amplification I tested as well an Ibasso DZero mkII and a Jpslabs O2 in addition to HE-9. Strangely, the result is not bad at all but the HE-9 offers a big improvement. IMO The HE1000 deserves serious work and attention to build the  associated system but is still easily usable on a mobile system and an entry level one. Keep in mind though that the HE1000 deserves attention to the amp to shine at its best. 
 
I was able to get all the music I usually listen to :  namely a mixture composed mostly of contemporary jazz, classical music and various electronic music. I spice it from time to time with a little Blues / Pop / Rock / metal but it is quite rare. 
 
Then you know where I come from. Indeed your personal appreciation can vary considerably if your tastes are very different from mine. Please also remember that I exaggerate purposely for the sake of explanation.
 
In real life, the differences are often more subtle.
 
 

 
 
 
 
Where to start?
 
If I had to sum up my feelings, I'd say I have a feeling that HE1000 brings something new. It allows us to have a forgiving and easy to like headphone and listen to high-level technical capabilities: resolution, bass extension & definition, open sounding and refinement. I would even say that HE1000 is the best « Jack of all trades , master of none » headphone ever but I lack experience with forgiving headphones.  In any case, I have often thought the HE1000 achieved what the K812 desperately missed to do: an excellent headphone, technically excellent, easy to love, forgiving, easy to associate with different sources and amps . This is already a great achievement in itself.
 
If I had to advice an headphone to someone I don't know very well and who want a headphone to complete his Hi-end Speaker system and If I had no idea of his musical tastes, maybe the HE1000 would be the easiest headphone to advice. Hope that makes sense. 
 
That been said , in most other case, I think I'd advice a more specifically good headphone and for my personal use, I wouldn't pick the HE1000. 
 
 

 
 
 
 
Let me explain why a bit longer. 

At first sight, the beauty and the immediate balance that emerges from the sound rendering of HE1000 is stunning. At first listen I would say that some kind of majesty impresses the listener. Some kind of « grandeur ». undoubtedly, the HE1000 tries to give a taste of luxury.
   
Obviously the frequency response is primarily responsible for these impressions. The headphones seem to have been designed and tuned according to the model defined by the work of doctors Olive & Welti (http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/harman-researchers-make-important-headway-understanding-headphone-response ), and is designed to reproduce what you can hear on a very good living room speaker system.

Bass is obviously the first thing that jumps to the ears. The HE1000 goes low, very low. The extension seems absolutely bottomless and the entire sub-bass range is particularly impressive. The HE1000 does not offer deeper bass than the Abyss. HE1000 bass is more neutral but less impactful. I can only hear a small bump below 40 or 50hz maybe. What strikes most is the very high level of precision and clarity. Transients are sharp and extremely fast without reaching the absolute speed offered by the SR009. Textures are impressive as well . However, the HE1000 offers a relatively weak impact. HE-6's viscerality is not there, nor the mid-bass slam of the HD800. The HE-6 offers more solid lows. Clearly,  HE1000 sub bass dominates. The listener seems to be overwhelmed by an enveloping and addictive bath of bass. They have body mass or heft but they don't have enough slam to it. we can contemplate and savor them, however we can't feel the physical feeling of vibration offered by the HE-6. If I had to describe the HE1000 bass , I would say it is "oceanic": clear, deep and enveloping.
 
Obviously, bass dont overwhelm mids by any means. Mids are also superbly presented. It is quickly apparent during the first listenings that High mids are lacking. Therefore, no hardness or harshness here . Voices seem particularly free from any metallic resonance or excessive sibilance. Vocals seem a bit washed in my opinion. They're cleaned from anything that can prevent the listener from enjoying his music quietly. However, no artificial coloration is added and everything sounds very natural. Let us add that, in the grand scheme of things, the HE1000 faithfully reproduces acoustic intruments timbres.  Strings sound again very naturally, without aggression or denaturation. The symphony orchestra sounds as it should although brass lack bite. Some instruments are a bit shifted. Sometimes I can perceive discomfort when the volume is loud enough and some fatigue can appear. Especially when I listen to male voices but maybe it's just a matter of taste. The fact is that recessed High mids induce some consequences  and the range covering 1 kHz and lower sounds emphasized compared to Hig mids. Body, solidity are improved but presence is lacking.  I still feel it lacks a bit of clarity for my tastes. Especially compared to the HE-6.
 
In line with this polite Hig mids, HE1000 treble demonstrates a smoothness that's restful for the listener. Clarity lovers can look elsewhere, the HE1000 won't bring them what they need. At worst, I can feel a hint of 7 kHz which may interfere. I know some other Beta testers felt the need to soften this issue. Personally, ten minutes of brain burn in is  almost enough to make me forget the discomfort. Apart from that, everything is silky, not aggressive or with any bothersome grain. Maybe we could point out a lack of extension and air but honestly that's no big deal. In summary, HE1000's treble  is, apart from the 7kHz peak, slightly "laid-back" without making the HE1000 a dark headphone.
 
Overall the sound signature is in my opinion more "natural" than truly neutral. I can imagine that some will call it "musical". I'd just say that HE1000 is slightly on the warm side of neutral. No excessive analyticism here and that's a good thing. People used to comfortable listenings with their living room speaker system won't be disappointed. Quite honestly, I think this is a perfect tonal balance. It's pretty close to the balance of a K812 for example but much "cleaner" in all aspects.
 

 

Besides the strict frequency response, the listener can not miss the presentation and soundstage offered by the HE1000. The HE1000 offers a lot of space to play with !  Depth is there and The HE1000 sounds really open. what is rarer is to find a good feeling of height! The HE1000 succeeds to fool us and make us perceive a real height. Sometimes I even felt the Height was superior to depth an then sounds a bit artificial . But overall this illusion of height contributes to the « premium » impression that this HE1000 brings to the table. The depth is there as well but it may not be the stronger aspect of the HE1000 presentation.  
 
About Resolution :  the sound material is rich and never seems too "simplified". It sounds real.  The resolution is very good. The subtle volume variations, cues, reverbs and spaces are very well transcribed. it seemed to my ears that progress is significant compared to Stock HE-6. The tiny nuances of a String quartet are properly transcribed. A priori, therefore, the HE1000 offers excellent micro-dynamic rendering. Other testers have found that the HE1000 resolution is significantly inferior to the HD800's one.  I trust them, but I have not found much difference myself. my System is probably not resolving enough. In terms of transparency, I would say that the transparency is almost there. At least it's enough to hear different recording qualities. The fact the HE1000 is very sensitive to the associated amp is revealing. That said , I don't thing the HE1000 competes with the most transparent headphones in the market. 
 
 

 
 
 
Perfect tonal balance, great soundstage, high resolution capability.  So, here we are : is this HE1000 a true competitor for the SR009 or even an Orpheus System ?
 
At this stage of the demonstration, I reiterate some background points: First, the impressions you read here are certainly mine but corroborated by a number of other Beta testers around the world with whom I have been able to continuously communicate during testing . So the findings that follow do not solely come out of my imagination but must be considered in the light of the framework outlined above.
 
My main concern with the HE1000 is its lack of attack and leading edge.
 
Rendering is soft, very soft. Unoffensive. The bass does not hit,  trumpets don't bite enough,  A drum rimshot should pierce my brain  more. Cymbals as well. The HE1000 offers a wonderful and relaxing sound experience. Too relaxing for my blood.
 
We really struggled to identify precisely the issue and to find images to symbolize the point : Imagine the driver has to produce an attack of notes (imagine the sound « Ka ») it should accelerate quickly from its ground state to producing the attack of K. At this time, the driver should accelerate immediately and strongly right ? Well it looks like the HE1000 pushes simultaneously on the brake and the accelerator. Then there's a kind of hesitation.  N3rdling spoke about spongy attack too. As if the driver had to fight against inertia before accelerating. It's a fairly subtle effect and it softens the whole sound reproduction. Instead of reproducing Ka as « Kaaaa » , the HE1000 sounds like kHAAAAA. As if the attack was weaker than the sustained sound. You see the point?
 

 
Overall, it is very beautiful, very relaxing, it participates to the immersive atmosphere offered by the HE1000 and sometimes it's very convenient to listen quietly to some of the rotten masterings that pop music likes so much. but it still induces some problems when combined with the rest of the characteristics of the headphone because it pervades across the whole Frequency range.
 
Let's come back to bass for example.
 
The Range  is clearly dominated by astounding sharpened, detailed, textured, beautiful low bass. So, comparatively, mid-bass seems a bit erased. If we add that lack of attack I described above , we obtain a slightly soft mid bass with a lack of punch and rebound . Then the listener is looking for more speed , engagement and fun ...then crank up the volume again and again without finding what he is looking for .
 
Here comes up against a second issue.
 
The slight lack of attack and leading edge induces a lack of instrument delineation. It's more obvious at higher volume , kind of a "wall of sound" . This is kind of subtle but fatiguing. The brain struggles to focus on the right information in a kind of nebulous mass of sound.  Just imagine a very definite and sharpened picture . And imagine that someone  blurs enough the edges of the picture elements, then you get the point.  
 

 
 
Last consequence of this softness in attacks and leading edge, the blur in the image and clipping voices, instruments and consoles is also reflected in the staging of plans soundstage. Honestly the depth of the soundstage HE1000 is decent but not stellar. Considering the lack of depth is combined with the overall softness, then the layering is far from perfect. It is difficult to clearly distinguish the positioning and the distance between different instrumentalists and it is difficult to prioritize sounds. No need to draw you a picture on the headphone's ability to image? This is rather vague and imprecise. Still nebulous . It is hard to get a clear mental picture of the music. With the HD800, I can "see" Mathias Goerne singing Schubert's lieder. I know how close he is to me and can even guess when he changes slighty his position while he's singing. With the HE1000 I know he's there. almost there in front of me. Not better.

On the other hand, with the example of a Jazz double bass that is played mainly « pizzicato », We can realize that the HE1000 allows a very good feeling of the body resonances and makes use see the size of the instrument. On the other side, compared to the HE-6 or the HD800, it lacks much of the string slams on the HE1000, and  the fingers pulling the strings. If you listen to Marcus Miller, the very special sound of his bass lost his metallic resonances. An electric bass that again has metallic resonances due to frets and strings material will tend to sound like a fretless with smooth strings. In Jeremy Denk’s Goldberg Variations, the piano’s hammers seem to have all stiffness removed, or someone left a bag of cotton in the Steinway. Here is the mix between lack of attack and slightly darkish signature of the headphone that is at work.
 

 
 
So, one of the main issue is that the HE1000 hardly give us that sense of presence and intensity that we love so much. This feeling that the artist is there or we're really here with him.  In the endeavour to soften things and present the listener with very pleasing results, the HE1000 seems to miss capturing one essential aspect: to transport us into the musical act.
 
Obviously there's a very positive aspect to all this. The HE1000 invariably sounds beautiful and offers an incredible ability to reproduce everything with ease. The other side of this coin is that it doesn't quite fully highlight the gap between recording quality extremes. And HE1000 somewhat fails to extract magic from the best recordings. Between recording quality extremes the HE1000 varies between, at the worst, a satisfying reproduction and at best superb sound. With the Sennheiser the range of sound reproduction is between unlistenable and magic, if that makes sense. 
 
 

 
 

CONCLUSION

I'll use the example Negura has shared on the HE1000. He simply explained that the previous day he had received a brand new and beautiful CD and before listening eagerly for the first time he had hesitated to choose between the HE-6 or the HD800 but never HE1000.
 
Everything is there. Pretty as that may sound HE1000, it seems that he lacks the something that characterizes the most exceptional headphones and making them exciting. Abyss, SR009, HE-6 ... when we put them on the head, it happens something special. The HE1000, we say "wow this is beautiful" and half an hour after. we think of something else. Every time I listen music with my HD800 , I struggle to stop the music to go to sleep. That's why I spend money in audio. 
 
After we can always imagine that because of its highly forgiving nature, the HE1000 can perfectly complement a more demanding headphone. Maybe. I even personally asked myself the question  before realizing that I probably will not give much headtime to the HE1000 . Considering my musical preferences, a forgiving headphone wouldn't be so useful. 
 
I am not very convinced SR009s, HE-6s or HD800s fans will replace any of these headphones for the HE1000s. Perhaps Audeze fans are the closest to consider a direct switch, considering the closer proximity in sound, but the Audeze I know (and LCD2.2 LCD3) offer density, fullness that is not found elsewhere and offer some lush in mids that adds presence to voices.
 
Apart from that, the HE1000 really offers beautiful bass (perhaps up to what offers the Abyss. more neutral though but less impacting) an extremely nice tonal balance and a beautiful sound in all circumstances. If these elements are priorities for you, so take the opportunity to listen it as soon as you can, you will not be disappointed, especially if you are a fan of pop music for which the HE1000 forgiveness will do wonders.
 
For the asked price of $ 3,000, and given the initially claimed purpose (SR009 or Orpheus Killer, best headphone in the world…) , I'm underwhelmed but as US people usually say: YMMV.
 
 
 
Thks to have taken the time to read that. 

Edited by Sorrodje - Today at 1:43 am

 

[icebear]

....  
For the asked price of $ 3,000, and given the initially claimed purpose (SR009 or Orpheus Killer, best headphone in the world…) , I'm underwhelmed but as US people usually say: YMMV.
 
Thks to have taken the time to read that. 

I was not part of the beta program but heard the early prototype in New York and your impressions are pretty much in line with my thoughts.
I think the way you explained the attack [ kHAAAAA ] nicely explains what Tyll has measured on the HE1000 impulse response [early version, still not production].
There is a "lot" of movement of the membrane going on that is much less controlled than e.g. the HD800.
 
Obviously the initial hype was exactely that and the current flagships have not too much to worry about.
For something that you're underwelmed of, you really put a lot of time and effort in, to share your view. It might help a few folks to save $3k

 

 

[mark2410]

hello all, i cant recall if i made a point of letting known that i too was one of the peeps chosen to have a play with a pair.
 
ive been practically silent on the matter, i like to spend a while with things plus im generall more and IEM guy so open cans are not where i am most acustomed to hearing and sizing up in a particularly timely fashion.
 
however ive speent a good while with them and  with the many vagaries that one can humm and haww about in regards to any particular aspect i think there is one thing that for me and my interactions with HiFiMAN head/earphones has been one has lead me to wonder if Fang and my ears are practically the same.  the 1000 reminds mo so much of my 252 experience, a certain element of floral verbiage, yep lets go with that, and the 1000 is just that 252 but on another level entire.
 
oh my, they are really something, something and nothing all at once, a conduit more than a creator of sound, tonally and inflection.  of everything and something and nothing and raw expression.  yes i do indeed like it, i like it lots.

 

[rgs9200m]

In case anyone is familiar with them, is this similar to the Harbeth sound? (Along with other British BBC monitors?)
Another possible comparison to this latest review might be the Stax SR007 (mk1 for me, which seemed to have resolution w/o too much attack or vibrancy).
Thanks.

 

[Sorrodje]

@rgs9200m : Ask n3rdling. he will be usefeul to give you faithful comparisons I first thought the HEK was close to the 007..at least what I remember from a brief listen of a 007 mkII. But Milos said us I were wrong.