HIFIMANHE1000 Stealth Magnets Version Open-Back Hi-Fi Planar Headphones

Just wow! Extremely comfortable and really good sound

Living in London I am blessed to have the opportunity to book a demonstration in store (no, not at Canjam, where the noisy crowd create conditions that are too poor for critical listening). I took my trusted HD800S with me.The store had the new EF600 amplifier ready for the demo, which took me 3 hrs.I started with the most expensive unit, the Susvara. This is a highly revered model which is fairly hard to evaluate because you are always left with the doubt that the amplifier wasn't up to the task. Some owners drive these out of speakers amplifiers with a special connector and, in dact, this may also be the cheaper way to drive them as you do not need a high-end speakers amplifier for this task, while for headphone amplifiers you would. No doubt the Susvara sounded convincing but switching to the HD800S and listening acoustic Jazz I didn't think I was missing much. The Susvara is a bit more detailed but not enough to justify the price and the amplification hassle.Moving on, the HE1000SE was next. Very interesting soundstage, not as wide as the HD800S and Susvara but surprisingly more holographic and convincing. Now you are no longer sitting in 30th row in a large auditorium, but very close to the musicians and with the extra involvement that this entails. Ok, I would definitely choose these over the HD800S. I compared the 2 in many songs and in none I preferred my old trusted Sennheiser: I can tell that technology caught up and they are no longer the ultimate tool even for orchestral music. It does not hurt that the Hifiman has also a bit better bass, not evident when listening Classical but onvious when moving to Jazz, and I also did not notice the 6k Hz peak that the HD800S are known for. Fantastic headphone: at that point I saw myself leaving with them. Should I even try the cheaper HE1000 Stealth? Waste of time? Well, I had time and thankfully I did.The HE1000 Stealth can be described as the ultimate HD800S: for me it fixes all the weakness and, importantly, by doing so it is no longer the one trick pony that the HD800S is. Perhaps it is an exaggeration but I have onky recommended the HD800S to classical music lovers: it was designed for that and it does it supremely.The HE1000 Stealth is the first headphone with a wider soundstage and with added depth than the HD800 and HD800S. Yes, for me also this record no longer belongs to Sennheiser. The remarkable difference is how chamaleontic it is. Put it with more modern music and the bass suddenly comes hitting and the headphone becomes very involving, even more than the HE1000SE. I do not listen ekectronic music but fir the sake of the test I tried some Blank & Jones and these impressed: I could actually keep on listening beyond the test period. Jazz is inceedible with these, far more detailed than the Sennheiser and likely on par with the HE1000SE.And that was enough for the HD800S: surclassed by the rivals, I put it back in its case. The debate was now only between the 2 HE1000 models. This took me a whole hour. Overall the differences are 2: soundstage width and bass quantity, and in both areas the Stealth is preferable to me, while costing considerably less. The HE1000SE has more soundstage depth, resulting a bit more enveloping. It is slightly more composed in its excellence: it is more of a Rolls Royce while the Stealth is sort of an Aston Martin: still elegant but not betraying the sport car essence either.The quality of bass is on par. I tested some tracks of Nenad Vasilic and Dietr Ilg, my favourite contrabass players, and could not pick a winner. But in electronic music you can easily hear that the Stealth has a bit more impact. If you thought the LCD-X had good, unbeatable bass (I did), be ready to change your mind: they got beaten. With electronica I found it even more striking.The choice for me was the Stealth and still now, 3 months later, it never ceases to impress me. I own many other headphones and still use them but none gives me the chills like the HE1000 Stealth can.I also have bought the Arya Stealth and Organic later on. The both can't match the resolution and soundstage width of the HE1000 and in my view in particular the Organic is not worth the price because too close to the HE1000 Stealth in this aspect but not in performance. I also found bizarre the name choice: in audiophile terms "organic" is used as synonym of natural or analog sounding. Well, the Arya Organic turned out to be by far brighter than than the HE1000 and even more when compared to the Arya Stealth. I am 53 y/o by the way, if it sounds bright to me I can't imagine how it will be received by younger ears who may throw some heavy metal on them.So, yes, in my view this is the current best way to spend your headphone money if you listen acoustic music and possibly not only that because, as I said, the have highly impressive bass when called for.

These headphones are fantastic for certain types of music. The detail is sublime. The separation of each of the components of the music is second to none. Each of the layers are sent through your head which brings a smile to your face.The spacial soundstage is amazing.The bass and midrange are the best I’ve heard.My gripe with these is the higher frequencies can become overbearing.I found these very difficult to listen to for more than 20 minutes without getting fatigued.It’s such a shame, because they performed perfectly well with most types of music. However with dance tunes and cymbals etc in abundance, I found them way too bright.Also, being open backed, you can hear external sounds which can spoil the enjoyment.