Hifiman Edition X (HEX) Measurements

I got my loaner pair today, big up at Raven for pointing out the distortion, as soon as he said something I started to notice it an the graphs are comfirming it, same can be said of the Sub Bass Roll off :/ I have one song that literally ends with a 20hrz synth... HE 4 handled that bad boi like a dream, HE X... well you can see

 

it has like 2.5dB of rolloff dude >_>

if anything the song has content below 20Hz and that's what you're hearing roll off

 

If you notice it after someone said something and after you saw the measurements.... well I'm thinking placebo effect here.

 

Yeah I too dislike the price. Biggest turnoff with this phone. I'd get a pair if they were a few hundo less, or if I sold a few pairs of mine, not sure whether that'll happen though. Yet, at any rate. Thanks for the graphs!

 

Do you notice the big dip around 4.5-6.5k when listening to these headphones? Also, you mention that they aren't the most resolving. Are they at least up to the HD6x0 level considering how expensive these are?

 

Hate to say it, but I think you were corrupted by placebo. These roll off less than most headphones in the sub-bass department by several dB.

You can read my opinion on the headphones here. Basically, super comfy, slight treble peak, a touch soft sounding, 3x as expensive as I'd consider paying for them.

The bass lacks visceral impact despite being relatively present, but sub-bass rolloff isn't even on the list of gripes I have subjectively or objectively with these headphones. And I'm a certified basshead.

The only thing I can think of is that if your head or jawline isn't big enough for the monster pads, you could get a gap in the pads and the sub-bass would indeed get murderfaced and go away.

 

They are expensive, but we can get away with it by paying (much) less for the associated equipment. Need to factor in the package price.
These ain't no HE-6...
I'd like to see them at <1,200. They would be a BIG hit, then.

Still loving mine. Put the HE-6 on the shelf. Sold the M2.

 

Yea, I'm also disappointed in the new price points from hifiman. I think I'm at the point i realized the diminishing returns aren't helping me enjoy the music more

I'd love to hear any direct comparison to the he6.

 

Has anyone compared these to the HE400i ? The complaints all seem to be the same for both headphones and similar FR. Is the HE-X an improved HE400i in ways?

 

I mean... yeah, the package is worth something, but it's not worth the $600 they appear to be charging for it. And they include two cables, but no balanced cables.

I've become a value nut with headphones now because I've heard so many $1k+ headphones that I thought were worse than $300 headphones at this point.

The HE-X is not one of those, mind you. I could see people loving these and they aren't inherently flawed in any way, I just don't think they're worth $1800. I'd stick them at the $999 price point for MSRP and expect them to frequently be on sale for $750.

 

@Mshenay If I remember correctly (not able to pull up changstar graphs at the moment) the HE-4 has more distortion than the HE-X. Neither headphone has a bass roll-off.

EDIT: HE-4 graphs. - Holy cow that frequency response is almost identical to the HE-X.

@Luckbad I believe Clem is referring to the DAC+amp+headphones as a "package". At least, that's what makes sense to me. Most folks here have setups >$5000 going into the $400 HD650, whereas Big Sound 2015's blind tests proved that the HE-1000 doesn't do a good job differentiating equipment. I would guess Clem is simply saying you'd only need a modest DAC+amp to get most out of the HE-X.

 

This

 

I made sure to prepare him psychologically before I announced it, of course.

The HE-6 stays. I still have the F6 that I can use it with. I just don't have much time for headphones these days and like the convenience of a smaller setup that doesn't heat up my bed and takes 2 hours to warm up.

 

Right, but here's the problem

first time I heard the HE X out of my system it wasn't as open nor as taut in the bass as my HE 4, Hifiman informs me that too much power will cause distortion with the HE X driver, chances are that may have been the issue I was having, as I felt the bass was... softer and much less tactile than my HE 4 not to mention it was considerably slower, the issue may have been power... to much and the HE X... craps out :/ still the two headphones have read simmilarly but the HE X was wider in terms of it's sound stage, but was not as resolving in the central/upper mids and highs. Really the only "impressive" tonality of the HE X was it's resolve in the low mids

The mids are the only place where the "placebo" might have been present. How ever, out of my LG V10 the HE X was flawless! No roll off and it was much cleaner, so I suppose that's a strength of the headphone! Totl resolve an sound out of a simple cell Phone

and let's not start talking about the build quality... with ALL the Mods on my HE 4, I can't really compare it to the HE X, but the first time I heard it the Left Channel was dead :/ my advice is not to purchase one till Hifiman figures out how to tighten up it's QC on this unit