HIFIMAN HE1000se Full-Size Over Ear Planar Magnetic Audiophile Adjustable Headphone with Comfortable Earpads Open-Back Design Easy Cable Swapping

I love the HiFiMan sound - mostly. Although some people will claim heresy, the HE400 was not for me - it was too bassy. I really enjoyed the HE500 for a while. It had a sweet midrange, but was heavy. I next got the Ananda. I considered returning it! The sound was only very slightly better. I decided to keep it though because it was much more comfortable than the HE500. Finally, I bought the HE1000se. I was again underwhelmed by the sonic improvement relative to the cost. After careful listening, I could discern that the HE1000se was superior in every way sonically to the Ananda - but only so slightly. It is more accurate. The bass is tight and accurate. The treble was much better. Some might think it too bright, but I think it is accurate. I evaluated the headphones using flute, violin, and opera soprano music before coming to this conclusion. I think the midrange is most similar to the Anandas, but there was a minor improvement even there. The sound is similar enough that I probably couldn't tell the difference between the HE1000se and the Ananda without doing an A-B comparison. On the other hand, while the Ananda is comfortable to wear, the HE1000se is even more comfortable. The HE1000se also looks more expensive. It comes with several high-quality wires (XLR and regular) and a nice-looking presentation case. At this price... I had to think hard about keeping it. However, I use my headphones a LOT, and these represent the best quality that I could ask for. So, I kept them. If you are a bass head, you may like Audeze better. If you want the biggest sonic stage possible, the best Sennheisers deliver. These headphones are very fast, but I have heard none faster than the Stax electrostats. So, there are other choices out there depending on what you value most. I love midrange and accuracy. I think the HE1000se delivers! PS. My review was using the excellent Topping DX7 Pro+ DAC/amp.

Compared to the lesser offerings from HIFIMAN, such as the Edition XS, Ananda Nano, and Arya Organic, this outshines them all easily. The instrument separation, imaging, soundstage is much greater than anything I've ever heard. Incredible detail. Notable step up in build quality. The only area that could be improved is the comfort. They fit a little loose on my *small* head, a little bit more clamping force would be nice. Also, the ear pads feel very stiff, but I replaced them with some Dekoni Elite pads and they're now very comfortable. All in all they're the best headphones I've ever used and finally satisfied my urge for better and better equipment.

Two months ago HIFIMAN was totally unknown to me. I used to be heavily into Audio HIFI and abject poverty when living on the edge of London. Now I live in a tiny flat in China. No HI End hifi, Nuffin. So why a review?I have an 8 year old Cambridge Audio DVD player claimed to be good at music, with its big power amp, plugged into small Bose sub woofer and tiny satellites. I use QED Reference cables which are excellent value for money. I think the power amp needs a pre-amp to sound better. 8 years ago I splashed out to get a Benchmark DAC//headphone amp, then a few years ago, I pulled out the large jack plug and the headphone amp blew its last sound. I recently discovered that the rear XLR sockets are working well with the front volume control, so why not use these?OK why this preable? These HIFIMAN HE1000se headphones do require an audiophile system to reach maximum performance, like all Audiophile products. So my system is limited. I recently bought an Apple MacBook Pro M2 new.So here we go...Comfort- they are big, my head I think is small. They do stay in place- my wife laughed when she saw them on my head- she doesn't laugh very often. The clamping force is quite comfy. Yesterday I wore them for 6 hours. So 4/5.Cables: They come with 2 free cables,no info provided, but I think they maybe single strand silver. Using the 3.5mm 90 degree cable, nice touch, into my new M2 Macbook pro, (we had a power cut this morning).Sound: I listened happily to Ben.E King (Best Of), Alice Cooper-Hey Stoopid, Band on the Run(Wings) all brilliant, but then I noticed the high end shrill response,especially with Ace of Base-All that she wants, some reviewers had mentioned this. . I was listening to my music collection that I had copied over into iTunes (now Music). Power restored, I transferred to my 10 year old Macbook pro, using my music recorded on my external hard drive. The top end was much more reduced but sounded better. I then tried my new Macbookpro M2 again but listening direct from my external hard drive plugged in. Much better. top end very open but under control. The headphones handle all types of music I can throw at it. From heavy rock to strings and especially brass instruments. Very musical and involving especially with Ben E. King.DVD audio.: Using my Benchmark DAC2 HGC XLR into my new Aune S17 Pro headphone amp, I used my new GU Multistrand silver headphone cable (4 pin XLR Balanced) , multi-strand cable handle high frequency better. The sound is PURE DEAD BRILLIANT (PDB). An old Scottish expression. Everything from James Bond transients to Bruce Springsteen. Very open well separated and engaging, very musical but with loads of power, Unusual combination.Live In Hyde Park,(DVD bluray) my favourite,The Blues Bothers, Opera (Les Troyennes-Berlioz), Just Good Friends-BBC Sitcom. Vocals ere extremely clear and well separated from background. Background is silent, Instruments sound like musical instruments. I spent 8 years playing the violin in my very early days, The Aune S17 says it is tuned to musical instruments. The headphones are expensive, but in my experience the only other headphones I have liked were Stax with their valve headphone amp, far more expensive.YouTube Videos: I watch a lot of Youtube videos (on old computer) from current news to old UK TV programmes made in 1970-1990's. Using the HIFIMAN HE 100 se with the free cable as before, the audio was very good, vocals and music were exceptional, hence 6 hours watching Youtube yesterday. No sign at all of shrill top frequencies, maybe due to Youtube compression.Home-Made videos: I have just checked on my new computer (M2 2023) with free cable ,and my videos are running quite bright in upper frequencies compared to old Macbook Pro 15 inch 2013. I can adjust them in DaVinci Resolve (free video Editer) when I can study how to do it. Maybe just need some GU multistrand silver cable with 3.5mm balanced plug for the headphones. I think it's the new computer headphone drive and DAC running a bit rough.As I said yesterday I watched/listened to Youtube videos using free cable on old 2013 computer for 6 hours never having noticed any brightness, only with new computer.Amazon Service: Excellent as usual. Very helpful and I was rewarded with prompt rebates on my China Import Tax assessment. Most unexpected. Maybe spend it on some more multicore silver cable.or portable DAC/Amp for my new computer. Products arrived in time well packaged, no problems at all. Big thanks to everyone.

The sound stage is spectacular and the airiness is just wonderful. I truly have nothing bad to say about these headphones. There are complaints about the cables being crap that come with the product, but I believe HIFIMAN changed that because everything I received felt very premium.I tried out several other headphones, especially ones that contrasted the He1000se like the Audeze LCD-4z. I think if you want a warmer signature than you get invest in a decent pre-amp and play with the EQ settings to smooth out certain high notes that sound particularly harsh, but that problem only occurs if you are listening at a volume that pushes 85db human hearing safety for the He1000se.I'm excited to explore more amp and pre-amp options in the future to find a balance that works best for me. Out of the box these headphones are fantastic. Excellent value for money and while the design of them might not be for everyone, I personally love the style.They are open back and very power hungry so these are not for mobile use, if you manage to be on the go with them everyone will hear what you're listening to. However for a work from home set up they are simply a dream.