Super discounted Hifiman HE-R9

I've seen on the hifiman website an apparently really good deal on this headphone, from 600 to 100 dollars. Does this make any sense? I know hifiman is known for absurd price cuts - which might say long about their future resell value - but this seems to tell me that this headphone is not worth very much in the first place.

Likewise, the higher end model HE R10 dynamic has a 75 percent discount.

I'm curious if anyone has tried it before? I've been browsing around for some closed back to listen to at the office.

 

I don't have any direct experience with them, but the reviews are quite negative. I think they would make nice mod or transplant candidates though.

 

I didn't like it, as there's a scoop in the mids. I'd say the Drop R7DX(?) sounds more even than R9 though R7's got less bass. I saw some modded R9, and some redditors quite like it, but iirc, the earpads are hard to be taken off, so it's not that easy to tinker with.

I'd say the price looks right, it's about the same as in China during promotion. And MSRP of Hifiman product is just meaningless.

 

I've written elsewhere on this site about what an absolute turd this headphone is.

I own one and it just sits around gathering dust. I picked it up just to hear it again out of boredom and it somehow magically developed a channel imbalance while sitting around not being touched?

At $100 it's a cheap lesson to learn, at least. If it is modifiable and can be made to be less terrible then maybe it would be worth a shot. I've paid more money for less entertainment before.

 

I will say this as a deeply biased person with vaguely distinct preferences and someone who was aghast at their blatant BRAGGING about being able to wholesale rip off the MDR-R10 because associated patents expired (have never heard an R10):

This is still a raw deal. Got to hear one in store and compare against other, better-known headphones. No.

EDIT: My mistake, the one I got to try was the R10D.

 

Well, depends on which model, there's a R10D, for dynamic version, and a R10P, for planar version. (Can rarely see the P now)

I just don't get the obsession of R10 in China, as people used to "mod" TH900 into "R10", because you know, wood cup + bio-something drivers. Sign.

 

If you're used to more quality sounding headphones, you may feel robbed after trying the R9. If you can even get past the stage gate of getting a working (no imbalance) pair, the bass alone is very muddy, boomy, it bleeds all over the mids and everything else.

IF I had to roll the dice here with HIfiman, I would give the Sundara closed-backs a shot, given the lineage and success of the Sundara, and its not far from the R9 pricing.

 

Do the cups at least *look* nice in person? From photos I've seen it almost looks like they were going for that glossy Fostex urushi lacquer look.

 

I tried Sundaram-C for a few minutes, just brief listening, but I might prefer R9... R9 had this weird hole in vocal, other than that, it's ok-ish. Sundara-C sounded hollow, to me, it was like some cheap speakers playing in the next room kind of feeling, or some crappy 32kbps MP3 file type of sound? I forget. I didn't even have the patience to listen to it for a bit longer.

If you don't need closed-back option, HE400SE is ok, the stealth version is slightly less bright, which is better, and I love Deva Pro, great for daily use including gaming. (If you can get them for cheap)

 

They look ok is the best I can say. They don't look anywhere as good as the Fostex TH900's red cups imo.

 

I bought my set and returned them back to Amazon within 48 hours. They sound like a muddy mess in the lows and have a plasticy sound to the highs.

 

I don't think headphone models get cut this deeply without there being something wrong with quality, sound or otherwise. The wooden cup model that was made as a "haha we can sell headphones with this cup shape and Sony can't do anything about it" is cut deeply, too.

There are plenty of decent closed headphones you could pick for office listening that would be better bets than this, as long as you understand what compromises you should make.

 

Well good to know. I've only heard the Sundara open backs. I would have hoped that the closed back versions simply killed the soundstaging a bit but gave it better controlled bass. But hollow sounding is a bit of a mood killer as well.

How Hifiman can make the Susvara, and HE-1000, while really botching basic level headphones is astounding.

 

Think if anything, shows how consistent Hifiman is at making bad sounding closed backs. Sundara Closed is supremely cursed sounding but we sell a ton of them. The world is a true anomaly.

 

@purr1n might remember who, but an OG SBAFr once took apart a high end Hifiman and found the driver was protected by window screen. On the other side, they've made some really good stuff (currently enjoying an HE-4XX), perhaps in spite of themselves.

 

The R10D are finally down to a reasonable-ish price(still a heavily colored flavorphone.) If the 9s are same but worse $100 is about right. That being said if you want a closed Hifiman dynamic & don't care for the 'boomy vintage stereo' flavor the Dekoni Cobalt walks all over the Rs.