HIFIMAN HE1000 V2 Over Ear Planar Magnetic Headphone

Product Information

Top performance cables are the backbone of HiFi Man so their flagship model is now supplied as standard with a triple core cable for improved sound quality. We’re on the later side with this review but that also means I got to listen to it for hundreds of hours. But I would never say HE1000 is master of imaging, definition edge is a bit softed to avoid unpleasant loudness peak so the separation isn't the cleanest horizontaly, as well, since you part of the music it make it harder to precisely track instrument.

Let’s say compared to a HE-6 which is notably more powerful, aggressive and forceful in that regard.

The treble is not only quite a bit more forward, there is also again, more bite, more micro-dynamics, more liveliness. It's more speedy and controlled in attack, the percussions are easier to follow in busy track due to crisper attack edge and cleaner air when mid range instrument take the lead.

With the Ananda, it was the "wall of sound" dynamics that removed any ability to detect any subtle nuances in the sound. The romantic nature makes space for a livelier, playful sense of aggression to the benefit of many plucked string instruments, e-guitars or simply: the attack of a piano.Those note hit without edgy brightness to definition, its smoothly rounded and dense in it's release that envelope the listener with colorful resonance highlining tone color with air vibrancy. The recently updated HE1000 V3 also transfers ear pad material from Velour to Polyester amassing audio transparency and tenacity. Then I looked a bit deeper (and watched Resolve's review) and came to the realization that the treble was probably entirely too hot and spikey in the FR for me to enjoy. In fact, it’s arguably better in this regard now – on a technical level, at least as the romantic, rather soft nature you might have fallen in love is gone now. While this sound impression is mostly based on EF600 DAC-AMP pairing, diversify test I do confirm these are source transparent as well as scaling up with power output.