Hifiman HE-560

General Headphone Discussion
41

You are worse at impulsive shopping than I am. You need to stay away from outlet malls.

You live near one dont cha? :slight_smile:

EDIT: I am also waiting for the re-drop of the XX (not the band)

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42

Yes, but going there isā€¦not my favorite of thingsā€¦the online shopping world is much easier to throw my play money at.

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43

Your as bad if not worse for impulse buying than me. The internet has a lot to answer to. Totally not my fault or weak character.:grin:.

If I had a pound for every time I ordered something and then cancelled it 10 minutes later Iā€™d be a rich man.

You like Hifiman products donā€™t you? I havenā€™t heard any personally is the HE560 your favourite and what do you like about it? Iā€™m just curious. Is it a lot better than the HE4xx?

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44

Honestly my only experience with them is the HE-V1 tried in a store, along with Sundara. Iā€™ve only owned the HE-4XX which I think is a good deal, and they sound great for the price point.

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45

Iā€™ve had my HE-560 for a year and a half. It was my go-to before the Mjolnir-revised STAX tube amp rescued my old STAX from a basement burial. (I used to have an office in the basementā€¦). While I like the Sennheiser HD-580 and 6xx, the HiFiman beats them both out. I do think the STAX are faster, and they are certainly lighter on my head. I have not heard the HE-4XX, but saw only one bad review and many good ones. And itā€™s always possible that the bad one was from a defective unit, as it seemed quite out of character.

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46

Thanks to you and @DarthPoolfor answering my queries. I am not looking to get anymore headphones I was merely curious. Despite the QC and build issues that Hifiman seem to have they do have a loyal customer base. They must be doing something correctly.

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47

Delicateā€”verily diaphanous driver technology is the apparent difference.

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48

Thanks for the info. I know people often complain about build quality but obviously sound quality and the overall listening experience must be very good for a lot of people.

49

People have a similar complaint about STAX Lambda style headphones. They think the plastic is lightweight and junky. Hey, it isnā€™t heavy, like Grado, it rarely breaks despite its looks, and the sound is divine.

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50

Received mine a couple days ago (v3).

Iā€™m sorry to say I canā€™t stand themā€¦ they feel ā€œwrongā€ to me:

  • Unnatural bass. feels ā€œfakeā€, unconsistent, hollow. Bass, upright bass, etc, sound like digital systems in the 90ā€™s, absolutely fake and unnatural. (unless the songs has vocals and bass only). Timbre is off, ā€œbodyā€ reachs only to about 50%.

  • Most offensive mids Iā€™ve found, short of golden masters of music without ā€œtoo much going onā€, I find the mids plainly unbearable. Suddenly 95% of my library became unlistenable.

  • Highs: ok.

  • Imaging: odd, unnatural, confusing, not cohesive at all, all ā€œin your faceā€. Thought HD6XX had ā€œlittleā€ imaging, but I definitely find it much greater than these.

  • Overall tonal balance: a mess. Wooly bass, offensive, harsh, forward mids that end up messing bass and highs. Unrealistic and artificial timbre all-around.

  • Detail: some things are thrown at your face, some are hidden and some are smeared in-between, lost, or appear way off in imaging.

Checked the balanced cable just in case typical Hifiman QC had acted (wouldnā€™t be the first miswired), but cable wiring is fine.

I cannot hear driver rattles or ringings. But to me sound remembers that of clogged IEMs, or IEMs not sealing well.

I know getting used to new headphones takes a little, an analogy I find is something similar to photography/video white balance, which our brain compensates for. Same goes for headphones, to a lesser degree. Your brain ā€œrecalibratesā€.

Butā€¦ I doubt mine will with these, couldnā€™t bear them more than 10-15 minutes in a row.

Could they be defective? (theyā€™re second hand and look in top-notch condition).

Wondering if selling them, or modding them (mod thread in head-fi seems to catter with the unbearable mids, incoherent imaging and getting the bass right).

Any ideas of what to check?

Rig: balanced DAC to Balanced Loxjie P20 to balanced HE-560v3.

51

Thatā€™s how mine sound when run from an underpowered amp. Really awful indeed.

P20 should be okayā€¦? Using balanced out?

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52

Try a different amp. As generic mentioned the He560 takes a lot to drive well and sounds like utter garbage when under-powered. I have mine paired to the Burson Fun which gets probably 90-95% of what the 560 is capable of out of them. Going to a big power tube amp is the next step up.

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53

@generic yes, Loxjie P20, I just unplugged balanced HD6XX and plugged balanced HE-560v3.

Included XLR pins looks kind of thin thoughā€¦ will try making a cable.

@AudioFool thanks, will try it on the NuHybrid and DarkVoice.

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54

Just tried a ESS9023 dac + NuHybrid and HE560 in SE.

Now weā€™re talking. Definitely, these cans are horribly unneficient, so not great expectations with a tube OTL.

Things got better, perceived sound is still ā€œphoneyā€ vs the HD6XX, but those horrible piercing mids are gone and imaging got better.

A tad fast and bright for my liking though, but thatā€™s ESS9023 signature (and me used to SRC2496 / HD6XX), gonna try the DDDAC and a AKM4490 based ones as sources.

Gonna solder a new cable for them with a new XLR connector to test the Loxjie again, I suspect the pins are so thin theyā€™re not making good contact in the Loxjie XLR socket.

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55

Also, have these headphones been broken in? They do change over time.

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56

Mine took at least 50 hours of break in to start sounding right. Buying used, you shouldnā€™t have that issue. As @generic mentioned, these is hungry headphones. Pretty much unlistenable with an underpowered amp.

Feed them some juice, and itā€™s a different story. I find that the iFi xDSD is about the minimum to get good sound. My Headroom Standard (2016 edition) makes em sound pretty.

I have heard others say that they do not pair well with OTL tube amps.

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57

Confirmed, sound out of an OTL was absolute crap as expected.

I hacked a new balanced cable out of a minijack-minijack cable I had, using the XLR4 connectors I know fits the Loxjie fine, and lo and beholdā€¦ sound changed dramatically for the better.

I used a caliper to measure the pins diameter, and I was wrong, both the hifiman cable and the conector I use are 1,6mm. But Hifiman cable sounds like hellā€¦ connector seems to be thermo-formed or encapsulated so cannot inspect it without tearing it apart.

Apparently theyā€™re not broken in. Original owner got them as replacement for v2ā€™s and didnā€™t use them but for a couple tests.

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58

My factory HE-560 cables are as stiff as a corpse. They took days of gentle bending to uncurlā€”magically rigid insulation and cover. I wonder if this leads to internal cracks in the wires.

Happy that you diagnosed the problem.

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59

thanks!

I wonder if this leads to internal cracks in the wires.

Could beā€¦ sound was horrible, something wrong with the balanced cable for sure.

I hate stiff cables anywayā€¦ will do a braided cable set with soft CAT5e.

At what volume do you find yourself using the Loxjie P20 with the HE-560? (0dB from DAC)

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60

Oh, interesting question and a quick research project!

Setup: FiiO Q5 DAC line out to Loxjie P20 (balanced)
Test track: Sleigh Bells A/B Machines (ultra compressed song = consistent volume)
Measurement method: iPhone db meter software with a target of 75db (average) / phone inserted into ear cup for the first 45 seconds of the song

Required Loxjie volume setting by headphone:

  • Focal Elex = -40

  • Sennheiser HD-600 = -38

  • HiFiMan HE-560 = -32

  • MrSpeakers AEON Flow Closed = -32

  • AQ NightHawk Carbon = -40

  • Audeze LCD-2C = -42

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