General Headphone Advice

HE-560 was one of my least favorite headphones. So bright. But others love it, so take a listen, and decide for yourself.

 

I heard them with both FocusPad types. Just so painful to listen to. Could not do it. Again, YMMV in regards to taste and product variation (yes, I've heard reports of some 560s being less bright).

I don't really know how they compare to Grado other than I regret the SR60i being my first "real" headphone. Can I just keep away from both with a 20ft pole?

 

• HE-5: Precursor to HE6. See HE6 - very similar. Might be better behaved than HE-6, but not sure. This is the headphone that LFF's Codex was based on.
• HE-6: Extremely inefficient. Powered to its full potential, a slamming and resolving can. Neutralish sound signature with bitchy etchy treble unless modded. Great combination of transient response and tactility not matched by any of the new HFMs. Arguably the best overall HFM headphone after proper mods and with appropriate component matching. Some make the case that HE-K is better, but really, two different sounding headphones and ultimately HE-6 has more correct timbre.
• HE-500: Speaker-like FR with bass, warmth, and nice body to the mids. Slight mid-treble spike that manifests itself differently on different gear. On some systems can sound dark. One note bass and not particular strong in technicalities, but enjoyable nevertheless. There is a reason why is one of the last HFM headphones I had lying around before I sold it.
• HE-400: V-shaped FR, actually more precisely, a huge dip the upper mids and lower treble causing bite of guitars and drums to be muted. Can be tizzy with some last octave emphasis. Really nice taut bass. Poor mid distortion from single sided magnets. A great value at that time, considering lack of other options, great quality bass, and no nasty low-treble spikes.
• HE-4: Almost famous. Clean, fast, super zippy. Taut bass as good as HE-400. Unfortunately, a very evident treble spike does it in. Would be one of my favorites if not for the spike. Has some similarities to HE-400i, but this one is cleaner sounding. Reminds me of a spikier HE-5LE, of which I won't comment too much on because I don't remember it that much and I never had it in my hands that long.
• HE-560: Could be some minor production variation, but Focus-A earpads are mandatory to address several peaks in the vocal harmonic and treble regions. Needs proper matching to make sure it doesn't sound too lean; but once match is achieved quite good. Not as demanding as the HE-6, but with proper tweaks, a fairly fast, surprisingly resolving, and neutralish headphone. Slight plasticky timbre similar to that of the HE400S and HEX. Under good conditions and synergy, fantastic and up there close to HE-K and HE-5. You can argue a case for this against HE-5 because of easier amping demands.
• HE-K: Fast, open, and diffuse sounding TOTL type can. Splashy treble in some units. Substantial variation observed - anecdotal. Softer impact compared to HE-6. Especially soft if not amped well. Most resolving HFM can, microdetail retrieval approaching but not meeting Sennheiser HD800. Super clean sounding. Fun bouncy bass character, but top end timbre could use some work.
• HE-X: Technically less competent version of HE-K, but better tonal signature. Along with HE-500, best FR of the HFM headphones, with this one being less dark and more even in the treble. Soft and not as clean as HE-K. The difference in technical ability between HE-X and HE-K is substantial. It's not 90% of the HE-K, but more like 40%. The FR and timbre of the HE-X is better than the that of the HE-K though.
• HE400i: Not quite what people wanted or expected as the HE-400 successor as the bass wasn't as clean and dexterous as the HE-400. Lower-treble spike which could be difficult with many records. Overall much better technicalities than HE-400 and slightly better than HE400S; but that treble spike...
• HE400S: Must use with Focus-A pads to get proper seal, otherwise significant low bass rolloff. Cleaner and higher quality bass than HD6X0. Slightly laid back until a small lower/mid treble spike which is tolerable or easily mitigated by a sheet of TP. Behind the HE-X and HE-500 in tonal signature. HD6X0 has it beat from mids on up though.

 

Yes, the 400 is quite different from the 400i. I'm adding more HFM cans to the list as we speak.

 

The Messiah forgot two.

HE5LE : "fixed" HE-5 for people who disliked the HE-5 brightness . Impactful bass, slitghly dull high mids but overall good balance especially when the felt behing the driver is removed. it misses the mid greatness of the HE-6.
HE-4 : light and more affordable HE-5 . Kinda U shaped , clean fast and impactful bass, stlightly lean and bright and bit tizzy (less than the HE-400) , very airy . Slightly recessed mids but not the huge dip of the HE400 but overally a great headphone

Both inferior to the HE-6 but both are nonetheless very good and enjoyable IME (I owned both) . They're both typical of the "old" hifiman sound we are a several to love.

The only old Hifiman I disliked was the HE400. I struggled to stomach the High mids dip / treble peak articulation.

 

I found an old HE-5LE for cheap and picked it up out of curiosity.

It doesn't sound bad at all! I prefer it to my old HE-500 with Jergpads.

@ohhgourami 's modded HE-6 and Luis's Code-X are among the best headphones I've heard.

 

OK done. Added everything. I realized I need to move some measurements from Changstar over to here.

 

Comfort is definitely way better on the HE-X. HE-X does not have quite as good bass extension and is a bit softer in the treble, the latter being a good thing in my book. The main issue, and this is only based on memory, is that the HE-500 handles volume better. HE-X falls apart when you crank it. Otherwise, the HE-X, HE-500, and HE-400S w/ Focus-Pad A are my favorite HFMs, leaning towards the HE-400S simply because they're priced so well, sound good, and are comfortable.

 

Absolutely not. The HE-500 despite its lack of clarity and tendency and to plod (in respect to other planars) has more correct less plasticky timbre, is less soft and nebulous, and has more of that "big speaker" frequency response compared to HE-X. A corrected HE-560 (Focus-A pads, jerg mods, EQ, TP, etc.) would be closer to the HE-500 than the HE-X.

The classic HFMs with two sided magnets could take a shitload of power. HE-500 responded well to power amps, much like the HE-6. The SE magnets stuff is cost-cutting.