HIFIMAN HE1000 V2 Over Ear Planar Magnetic Headphone

Product Information

Note: Speaker Break-In (aka. "Burn-in") and audibility of exotic cables is NOT something Audioholics condones as a provable science. However, we allow our writers to express their subjective listening impressions freely. The It’s not the price that gets anyone going, it’s the conditioning of the mind that a planar should be that price. That is a process only the market can decide and so far it has worked out pretty well for Hifiman. The Pitch In truth, the design itself is part evolution, part modernization but there is a definite if evolved consistency from the Jade to the HE1000 in spirit and more than a nod to the HE90 from Sennheiser. This might be one of the best headphones i heard for the mid-range. The vocals here sounds very transparent and tonally accurate and has lots of emotions in them. It is also very dynamic and has lots of micro and macro details everywhere. Instruement separation here was amazing as well, being able to hear each individual instruments in their own placement and they were crazy resolving. If you like vocals, you should like at ZMF headphones on tubes,they are absolutely amazing in terms of vocals but not nearly as detailed as the he1000 (then again the prize difference....). Guitars and especially violins and pianos sound just magical with the right amount of emotions, air and space in them. In the upper mid-range some might find the he1000se too bright, and to me it is just find (except for 1% of my music library) so take note of that.

Yes, the HE1000 V3 is the very best headphones i've tested yet and unless your a basshead or treble head, I highly suggest those to you. We can just say it offer a natural effortless balance too, fully cohesive that doesn't left anything behind so depending of you attention focus, their something for everyone bass, mids and treble wise. The third and final cable is a shorter portable 1.5m cable (terminated with a 3.5mm TRS plug) which I think I remember getting a similar one with the HE400 Gen 1 but not honestly sure. Tonality wise, LCD-4 has plenty of bass, midrange presence and a mild treble roll-off, they possess a more pleasing tonality that works nicer with a wider variety of audio equipment. Older listeners also tend to prefer a warmer sound signature of Audeze. Hifiman went with a reference tuning, with them everything appeared at the same level and nothing stood out that much. You’ll need more time finding a perfect setup for the HE1000SE and not everybody is into linear and honest sounding headphones. I get both tunings, there is no right or wrong…but I believe regular people will get to enjoy the Audeze house sound a little bit more and they are scoring a point.

Design

The build quality is quite improved compared to Arya Stealth and Arya, and also quite a bit better than Ananda. The overall build quality is the best of all the HIFIMAN Headphones to date, and the only two things that I saw happen to the HE1000 V2 over more than a year of super heavy usage is that the parts that hold the earcups gathered a few scratches, and the leather headband got a bit dirty. Other than this, HE1000 V2 looks as new, and I expect this to be the case with HE1000 Stealth too. The comfort is still sublime, there’s enough space inside the earcups for my ears, and then some. The earpads are not very soft, but the material is very friendly with my ears, and the headband has a low amount of tension, plus the clamping force is just enough to hold HE1000 V2 Stealth on my ears without putting any strain on my head, working well with glasses and sunglasses as well. Even the small, portable class PM-3 from Oppo, the lightest yet, is still a hefty 320g which is much heavier than the Sennheiser HD600 and HD650 by almost 100g and they are classed as full-size dynamic cans.

With a lot sadness it seems that my own champions of the past: Audeze LCD-4, Kennerton Wodan and Erzetich Phobos are no longer reigning supreme when it comes to micro-details, ultimate transparency, soundstage and depth information, as HE1000SE easily outperformed them all and crowned itself as the most technical headphone I’ve reviewed. An original “Window Shade” grate constructed from the finest alloys is the key, accurately designed for superior spatial sense in the headphone design. The openness retains sound waves from subsequent refraction to evade surplus vibration and distortion. This leads to a broader soundstage, exceptional imaging and notable clarity. Visually, it also gives a unique, modern look and a suitable design match for HE1000’s premium alloys and wood trim. The piano is another big highlight of these and it's my favorite instrument with saxophone and female vocal.Does it make the previous models look bad? No, I don’t think so. They’re both still incredibly good sounding and performing high end headphones and I could be happy with just the V1 as my main headphone in example. So is the HE1000SE the best so far? Yes, that clearly is the case for me but your ears and amplifiers might prefer one of the other versions more, it’s all subjective in the end. With these improvement the HE1000SE’s driver – according to Hifiman – is faster and more dynamic, presenting every sonic detail for a more compelling performance.

The second big change is the magnet design which Fang hinted at in his chat with me earlier. All Planars need magnets, that’s a given fact for now and a contributing factor to the weight equation.

Sound​

For this first part I used the Auris Audio 2A3 Headonia tube amp, paired with the Musician Audio Aquarius DAC. The setup is fully balanced. You want light, that video pretty much captures how light the diaphragm actually is (regardless of what you think of Queen). Not only light and low in mass but apparently tight, really durable, and designed to produce a very high quality fast-sounding dynamic response compared to regular planar diaphragms. A New Magnet design

The dynamics, resolution, spaciousness, clarity, sound stage (depth + width), etc are all at their best here. That combined with the musicality and powerful delivery make this a great high-end combo and for me this is the best match, closely followed by the Headonia, which is more balanced and slightly lighter.

DACs: Audiobyte HydraVox + HydraZap, Matrix Audio Element X, Gustard X26 PRO, X16, Gold Note DS-10 Plus, Topping D30 PRO, xDuoo XA-10 & others The mid range is brighter, cleaner, more resolved and transparent with Audivina, for those seeking pure high fidelity experience, it's certainly the one to choose. But this mean dynamic is flatter and make the vocal feel less fowards as well as less widen in warmed presence. Note weight is lighter, but edgier in stroke lead definition. This is all true with the: HE-6, HE-500, HEX v2, HE-6 se v1, HE-5se, HE5-LE, Brainwavz Alara. Believe me, its got nothing to do with brand, it has everything to do with slowing down the diaphragm fast enough. The initial wave is quite good, which is what one tends to hear, but complex music with lots going on, the chaos is right there - esp over 1k Hz. If you’re wondering how HE1000SE would fair against other high-end headphones like Hifiman Susvara, Audeze LCD-4 and Meze Empyrean, here is a RAW measurement that will tell you more. (Blue – Hifiman HE1000SE, Orange – Hifiman Susvara, Red – Audeze LCD-4, Green – Meze Empyrean).