HiFiMAN HE1000 v2 + HEX v2 release soon?

Thanks, might email Hifiman and see what they say. This is what I like about Sennheiser... you launch a product and then it stays like that for at least 5 years. Not like Hifiman or Audeze which have a million different models and revision and no one can compare anything because it's all different. Grrr.

 

I emailed them about it a while back and received the following...

Thank you for contacting us
We do have the updating service of V2 in the near futrue.
If you want to know more details, please pay more attention to our website.

 

If we use Amazon pricing as a guide,
The V2 is selling for $700 more than the V1.
Therefore might expect a $600 upgrade fee for what amounts to some pads and slimmer cups which have less wood so less material costs and design since it probably same cup dimensions as HEK and/or their top stat model Shangri-la.

I bought one open-box for just under and sold it like a hot potato at a loss.

Haha bahaha...
Even at $300 we be screwed over because of initial price paid ..
Wait,
I am one of those screwed over..

They actually wanted me to wait all this time for the upgrade to become available!
I chose just replace my unit, and I glad I did as I now have V2 drivers in my V1.
With my mods (in mod thread) I am thinking I may be better off than V2,
So I will try to compare my unit soon at a dealer.

Here are some fun pics:

Scary:

A heart attack of $3k down the drain...
Thank God for warranty coverage.
Your inflated purchase price wasn't all for nothing..

Plus, look at what clumsy modding can do:
A Fingerprint stretch on driver!:

It's hard to see in bottom left corner,
Oh, and new shitty plastic piece to hold socket on bottom pic!
Used to be aluminum..

 

Here is pic V1 driver:

Notice nice flat shiny horizontal magnet bars...


Now let's take a look at V2 driver:

Notice the thicker grey cemented horizontal magnet bars...

 

looks like a really hardcore xtremmme gillette razor for plus ultra smooth skin

 

Another interesting note is that the Audeze EL8, also looks like a mini HEK/X design inside the pads. .
And the 2016 EL8 open version sounds better to me than the Flow....(!)
Edit **
EL8 more balanced but not as lively.

 

I got my HEX v2 today.
Wow, this pair of headphones sound way better than expected (seems to require no break-in?).
I can safely say that HEX v2 can compete well against Focal Elear in every audiophile criteria.

I'll keep ABing this with Elear more. Pretty excited.

 

HFM have announced details of the HEK upgrade program...

http://store.hifiman.com/index.php/exclusive-offer-for-loyal-he1000-v1-owners.html

$650 and you have to send your v1 back to USA, Hong Kong or Japan. No EU location. I dread to think how much insurance would cost to send these international, especially with the crazy brexit pound right now. Shame they can't do it via local dealers. Still, I'll probably go for it as the v1 is pretty much worthless right now, and frankly my small head needs another notch on the headband.

 

@pedalhead - hardly surprised. After what various dealers have said about the difficulty of getting HFM stuff in the UK (and HFM's own Amazon store being out of stock of almost everything, a lot of the time), they don't seem to give a wet slap about This Sceptic Isle.

(I recently got a new pair of HE-560 for a shade under £600, the dealer knocked off a chunk due to the box being a bit grubby and beaten-up inside after I unsealed it. It was going to be weeks before they got new stock, try as they might. Several other places only had old stock with screw-in connectors, and no plans to get any more due to the difficulties in ordering.)

 

I guess I'm one of the lucky ones. I got an email from hifiman a few days ago letting me know that I was one of the lucky ones chosen for the free upgrades...woohoo.

@Maxx134 just how many different hifiman hps have you had total.

 

Glad you got your HE560s @Kattefjaes . Part of the supply issue in the UK could be that HFM in the past screwed over their UK/EU distributor & dealers so I think there may be less of an appetite to stock them.

@Ice-man I saw on HF that you got lucky, good stuff congrats. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on them

 

^^ Thank you. I'd almost sold them several times. Then the price dropped off on them so much I thought it would be better just to keep them rather than take the big loss on them. And then bam, I get lucky.

 

Well, rather you than some of the people I've encountered on HF..

 

Exactly the same for me (without the happy ending!). I put mine up for sale for £1300 and they didn't sell so I also figured I'd wait for the upgrade program to appear. Bit pricey, but even if I end up selling the v2 I think it's probably still worth it just because the bottom has fallen out of the v1 used market.

 

I actually like the Hex v2 that I heard briefly. Seems that the build quality is improved a fair bit. And the sound was cohesive and full bodied (30 minute audition). I have a Hex v2 on order that will be here Saturday and I plan to put it through the ringer during my audition to see if it could possibly be a keeper.

I still don't have any idea about receiving the Hek v2.

 

This is a real shame. Especially for the kind of guys who save up for a long time to get the ''ultimate'' and be done with upgrades for a few years.

I followed Big Sound 2015 closely and was surprised when Tyll picked the HE-1000. It always sounded too ''soft'' to me. Everything I read about the company made me decide not to spend the cash on their flagship because I just did not trust them.

Now they do this after just 12 months. The $500 price drop on the HEX is even worse.

They're now pricing their Shangri La system at 50K. I really wonder who would buy that based on their history.

Advice to Hifiman: Get your build quality up on the cheaper cans and treat customers right before releasing 50k statement products , stop trying to run before you can walk!

 

Totally agree. I was wow'd by the bass extension and soundstage width of the HEK, and I do still enjoy them a lot, but as you say they are very soft compared to a decent dynamic headphone. I do worry that I'd miss their strengths if I went for something like the Utopia though.

HFM as a company are really shitty.. I've heard too many stories about how they treat their distributors, and they're clearly all about the £££. I mean, when Fang had his original HE1000 prototype at a show, he walked around the place asking other traders "how much do you think I could get for this?". No talk of costs + reasonable margin... Just out to get whatever the market can bear. I guess a lot of people would say that's simple economics 101, but imho if you're gonna do that then you'd better have the build quality and materials to match the attitude.... And don't get me started on the "beta". Sheesh. V1 owners are the beta testers, no doubt about that. /rant off.

 

Thanks! It's a shame that yours had the old connector, or I'd have cheerfully given them a good home.

 

Ugh yeah why on earth did they use that connector in the first place? Bonkers.