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HiFiMan HE-560 - extended impressions
TLDR: Missed it by that much...
Preamble:
What is it?
What does it sound like?
Comfort and build:
Purely subjective rankings:
Other notes:
TLDR: Missed it by that much...
Preamble:
- My sound preference: Generally on the warm and dark side of neutral
- Source Chain: PC --> BMC PureDAC --> Taurus (balanced out) --> Headphones
- Other headphones used: HE-500 (Jergpads), LCD-2 (non fazor), HD 800 (Anax 2.0)
- Time owned: ~4 Months.
What is it?
- Product link: http://www.head-direct.com/Products/?act=detail&id=197[1]
- Description: It's a circumaural, open, planar magnetic headphone.
- What do you get: Box, Headphones, cable.
- Price paid: £554.99 (shipped from AdvancedMP3Players.co.uk)
What does it sound like?
- Bass: Fairly typical of open planar magnetic headphones. It extends down low pretty well, and the punch is decent if a bit lacking behind both the LCD-2 and HE-500 (still better than the HD 800). No mid bass emphasis or bleed into the mid range.
- Mids: Pretty good, not quite as lush/thick as the LCD-2 or HE-500, but certainly not recessed in the important areas. It does have a slight upper mid range dip which is always a good thing imo.
- Treble: Overall I would say the HE-560 sounds brighter than the HE-500 (and by extension the LCD-2). It's not as prone to sibilance like the stock HD 800, though there is sometimes a bit of harshness. It does sound more airy than the HE-500 and LCD-2.
- Soundstage: Definitely more spacious sounding than the LCD-2 and HE-500. HD 800 still sounds considerably more wide and open. Imaging is decent, probably better than the other planars though still not as good as the HD 800.
- External Isolation: Being an open back headphone, it provides next to no external isolation. No worse or better than the others in this regard.
- Overall: A slightly brighter, more open/airy sounding, less warm HE-500.
Comfort and build:
- Headband: In terms of design, it is an improvement in certain aspects when compared to the HE-500. The headband is larger/wider in the center plus it is a suspension design (which imo is still the best type of head support structure). Padding is minimal and the material is some kind of soft-ish pleather, no real complaints there. Unfortunately, the room for adjustment is too limited for me. I have to have the headband at it's maximum extension to even get it to fit over my head, which means there is actually quite a bit of pressure exerted on the top of my noggin. If they made the arms slightly longer it would be perfect, but they didn't so, bugger.
- Earpads: Like the headband, the ear pads are also improved over the HE-500 in certain areas. They've definitely taken some design cues from the Jerg pads (velour top and dampening) The overall shape is still circular (including the inner opening), with a slight slant/angle (pads are thicker at one end). The contact surface area is now flat (like the Audeze pads), which is good. The padding used is also softer than the old HiFiMan pads, and there is more of it compared to the fairly thin padding on the HD 800. The bad part is that they've made the inner opening smaller in diameter, which means the lower part of my earlobes are now under pressure (becomes an issue after ~1 hour of listening). This could be an issue of the ear pads sitting to high up on my head but since there is no more room adjustment, so again, bugger.
- Cable and Connectors: YES! Finally an all round improvement. So much better than that piece of crap, microphonic garbage that came with the HE-500. It still uses the stupid SMC connectors unfortunately. The length is 2m and is terminated in a 1/4" Neutrik jack. Microphonics are minimal, it's noticeable past the splitter but that's pretty much an issue with any cable apart from the Stax ribbons. I should note that I don't use the stock cable anymore (switched to a balanced cable from BITV to use with my amp).
- Clamp: Strong, LCD-2 strong. In fact it actually feels worse than the LCD-2 because the ear pads are thinner/less plush. HD 800 is noticeably more comfortable, and even the HE-500 has less clamp.
- Weight: At ~375 grams, these noticeably lighter than the other two planars and it is a nice change of pace. I will say the HD 800 is still more comfortable even though they are fairly similar in weight.
- Durability: These have seen regular use over the last few months and I have had no issues so far. The stitching on the ear pads could be a point of concern (though thankfully the pads are easily replaced) but mine don't have any signs of coming apart. The wood veneer seems durable enough even if it does look cheap.
Purely subjective rankings:
- Bass impact: LCD-2 > HE-500 > HE-560 > HD 800
- Bass extension: LCD-2 >= HE-500 > HE-560 > HD 800
- Bass enjoyment: LCD-2 > HE-500 > HE-560 > HD 800
- Mids lushness: LCD-2 >= HE-500 > HD 800 = HE-560
- Upper Mid range harshness: HE-560 = HE-500 = HD 800 > LCD-2 (harshest -> softest)
- Mids enjoyment: LCD-2 > HE-500 > HD 800 >= HE-560
- Treble air: HD 800 > HE-560 > HE-500 >> LCD-2
- Treble enjoyment: HD 800 >= HE-500 >= LCD-2 > HE-560
- Soundstage width: HD 800 >> HE-560 > HE-500 > LCD-2
- Imaging: HD 800 > HE-560 >= LCD-2 > HE-500
- Headband comfort: HD 800 >> HE-560 > LCD-2 >= HE-500
- Earpad comfort: LCD-2 > HD 800 > HE-560 >> HE-500
- Clamping pressure: LCD-2 = HE-560 > HE-500 >> HD 800 (strongest -> weakest)
Other notes:
- Amping: They are about as hard to drive as the HE-500, which is to say, you'll want to run them out of an amp. Anything that can push around 500mW into 50 ohms should be more than adequate. 9 O'clock on the Taurus gets them more than loud enough for me.
- Those stupid SMC connectors: I know a lot of people don't have issues with these connectors but I just think they are a poor fit for this particular application. Now there isn't anything inherently wrong I guess with the connector design itself. But trying to tighten the lug on a recessed jack is a pain in the ass (you can't fully grip the hex collar so you're basically spinning it from one side). One simple solution to help alleviate this issue is to make the collar fixed to the rest of the connector body (so you need to spin the whole thing rather than just the ring). This would make screwing the damn things in a lot easier.
- An amendment on comfort: Getting a haircut has fixed my main gripe with the headband not having enough extension. It now sits more comfortably on my noggin and the pressure is reduced on the top of my head. The ear pads also seem to sit a bit more comfortably now and there is less pressure on the lower parts of my ear (the fit is still snug though).
- A word on soundstage and imaging: I find it quite hard to accurately judge soundstage differences so be aware that like everything else above, I could be full of garbage.
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