Most reviews of these phones are very positive and many users think they are quite neutral. I found these phones to be very "sibilant", to the point, where some recordings are simply intolerably unnatural. This shows most often in classical music, especially when strings go to higher notes. Also, soprano voices sound way differently from I remember after hearing them a couple of times during live performances. They sound thin, weak and harsh. Vocals have much more life and power in them when I listen to them through my Sennheiser HD580 - more than 20 years old phones. HD580 however, can't go as low as HE560 in bass, here HE560 are much better. Organ music is getting it's grandeur again (due to the bass extension), but only to the moment when higher notes are played. I am originally from Europe, and had opportunity in my life to attend quite a few organ concerts in cathedrals. None of these organs sounded like that. Old masters who were building those instruments would never allow them to sound so harsh and sibilant.
This, I suppose may be the effect of that 4-5kHz boost in frequency response. Is it possible, that HIfiman engineers designing these headphones had hear loss in that region? That happens to people working in industrial environments, audiophiles who like to play it loud, or Harley Davidson riders. So, that would include a large chunk of US population, I guess?
I am in my 50-ties. At that age, it is quite natural to have reduced sensitivity at higher frequencies, the higher you go with frequency, the worse it gets. So, I welcomed very much the fact, that with Hifiman HE560 I hear higher trebles again in jazz music, like I were 20 or 30 years younger. I couldn't hear much in that region with Sennheisers anymore. But I don't need that awful boost at 4-5kHz. It spoils everything.
My HE560 are connected to Asgard 2, which seems to have enough power, even when set to low gain. When switched to high gain, it has plenty of power reserve - volume is set at 12 o'clock. When I connect these phones to phone output on my speaker amp, sound is similar in respect to frequency reproduction. So, the problem doesn't go away. In this case, phones are being driven from current source (resistor connected in series), instead from voltage source. But it doesn't change anything besides sound becoming less refined and sound stage less organized.
Information for religious people - there was some burn in period, maybe 100 hours.
So, what may be a problem here? Did Hifiman changed something in design recently (we can see a huge price drop for these phones recently - $250 at some places), or my hearing is noticeably different than hearing of the rest of population?
This, I suppose may be the effect of that 4-5kHz boost in frequency response. Is it possible, that HIfiman engineers designing these headphones had hear loss in that region? That happens to people working in industrial environments, audiophiles who like to play it loud, or Harley Davidson riders. So, that would include a large chunk of US population, I guess?
I am in my 50-ties. At that age, it is quite natural to have reduced sensitivity at higher frequencies, the higher you go with frequency, the worse it gets. So, I welcomed very much the fact, that with Hifiman HE560 I hear higher trebles again in jazz music, like I were 20 or 30 years younger. I couldn't hear much in that region with Sennheisers anymore. But I don't need that awful boost at 4-5kHz. It spoils everything.
My HE560 are connected to Asgard 2, which seems to have enough power, even when set to low gain. When switched to high gain, it has plenty of power reserve - volume is set at 12 o'clock. When I connect these phones to phone output on my speaker amp, sound is similar in respect to frequency reproduction. So, the problem doesn't go away. In this case, phones are being driven from current source (resistor connected in series), instead from voltage source. But it doesn't change anything besides sound becoming less refined and sound stage less organized.
Information for religious people - there was some burn in period, maybe 100 hours.
So, what may be a problem here? Did Hifiman changed something in design recently (we can see a huge price drop for these phones recently - $250 at some places), or my hearing is noticeably different than hearing of the rest of population?
