HIFIMANHE1000 Stealth Magnet Planar Magnetic Full-Size Over-Ear Open-Back Hi-Fi Reference Grade Headphones for Audiophiles, Home & Studio Listening

I've had my pair of Hifiman HE1000 Stealth headphones for months now - and without hesitation these are the finest headphones I have ever owned. For comparison I currently own the Arya Organic, Audeze LCD-X, and the classic Sennheiser HD650. In the not too distant past I have owned the Arya Stealth, Fostex TH-X00 Ebony, and Beats.I listen to many genres of music, but the one's I listen to the most are retro synthwave, rap, rock, pop, and classical. These headphones sound amazing listening to any of these. I'll explain why:Retro synthwave: these headphones have the most accurate, tightest, lowest extending sub-bass I have ever heard. They don't thump the hardest, yet they DO thump, but the bass is so tight and extends so deep that many songs take on a totally different character than say with my Audeze LCD-X - which womps in the mid-bass, and has good sub-bass, but nothing like these. For reference I have a +12.5 bass shelf on these and they can easily handle 15 or more, but for overall musical balance this is the maximum where everything sounds great, and rarely do I feel lacking. Yes - I am abit of a basshead, and these satisfy me. It's the difference between two Kicker 15's ported and 3 10" JL Audio W3's in sealed. If ya know ya know.Rap: pretty much the same reasons previously listed, though most rap doesn't go as deep into the sub-bass, but these have superb vocals and you can really appreciate the texture of a rapper's specific voice.Rock: Stringed instruments sound extremely realistic on these. Vocals are sooo good. Drums - lovely. Clean bass guitar lines - check. These aren't as lively or energetic as the LCD-X, but the imaging, sound stage, detail, and clarity of these is even better, and the LCD-X are superb when EQ'd well, so that's saying something.Pop: vocals, clean presentation of multiple sounds and instruments. Sufficient liveliness and energy while retaining precision in the music.Classical: the sound stage on these and the imaging - superb. The better the music was recorded, the better the sound stage will present itself, and the more accurate the imaging will be. Stringed instruments and pianos sound wonderful. Bass is so clean - smooth, tight, and accurate, or deep and booming depending on the music and the actual instrument. Treble is slightly bright, but not fatiguing. Slight airyness to the sound - love it.These are my premiere sound stage and imaging headphones. For movies with epic and classical sound tracks, or wide open spaces - these are the bee knees - word. They accurately reproduce the volume of sound so well. If a scene depicts and person speaking in the kitchen while the camera is in the living room, you will know they are speaking from a distance. As they come closer to the camera the sound increases accurately. If someone is speaking behind a door or in another room - that's exactly what it will sound like.If you happen to enjoy ASMR - these will deliver the tingles!I really can't fault these headphones. For the price they are an incredible deal, especially considering they used to cost well over $2000. They are every bit worthy of their price tag. I have ZERO buyer's remorse. I can't have a home theatre setup that would satisfy me due to neighbors - so investing in high end audiophile headphones (with a quality Amp/Dac and free online equalizer apo) was the route I chose. I am thoroughly satisfied with this purchase and would give it my highest recommendation.They sound good out of the box, but as with many Hifiman products, a little EQ can really turn these beauties into something pretty incredible. As a minimum I'd recommend the stock sound with a +5-7 decible bass shelf at 115hz.Happy listening!

This is my first "expensive" headphone i.e. over $650. Including tax I paid >$1,525 for these plus I replaced the factory ear pads and cable for another ~$150. So now it's a ~$1,675 headphone all said and done. As comparison material I have Meze 99 Classics and Sennheiser HD660S and HD660S2. This HE1000 Stealth blows all of them out of the water (as they should, considering the price difference). The Sennheisers sound dull, dark, muddy and boring in comparison. While livelier than the HD660s, the Meze doesn't come close to the HE1000 in any tonal category and obviously with its closed-back doesn't have a soundstage. The Hifiman HE1000 Stealth has a very nice wide soundstage with the large planar driver and open back design, probably also helped by the airy and extended high-end (treble). The treble isn't fatiguing to my ears. The extended treble makes the music lively and I find myself listening for long periods of time. I can hear all sorts of micro details including the "size of the room" in the recordings. Goosebumps! The bass is very strong. It is good and tight and well controlled but it does overpower the mids a bit too much to my taste. You definitely hear the bass guitar before you hear the vocals. I'm a bass player and I love to be able to hear the bass lines in such great detail. It is better than anything I've ever heard in my life, including other headphones and expensive speakers and bass amps. I can hear every bass note and even fret and grip noise in the recording (good!). But I also like to hear human voices and those seem to be pushed to the background a bit. Maybe this will change with a longer break-in/burn-in period. The headphones improved a lot after playing pink noise through them for multiple days at moderately loud levels. How you perceive these HE1000 headphones is obviously dependent on your source material (I use Tidal hi-res streaming) and your DAC/Amp combo. I use an expensive LAIV Harmony DAC and a relatively affordable Little Dot MkIII tube headphone amp (while waiting for the LAIV HP2A). The little tube amp has no trouble driving these large planar headphones to very loud levels. I also tried the HE1000 on my Parasound solid state DAC/Amp and it sounds very good, although I prefer my tube amp. With the EQ on the Parasound I dialed back bass and treble to bring forward the mids and that worked great to emphasize vocals more. In terms of comfort and quality I did not like the factory ear pads or the cable. The cable was too long, felt cheap and sounded thin. I replaced it with a silver plated OFC 6N copper cable that immediately made it sound better. The factory earpads have a rough textured surface that doesn't feel nice on my skin and I also think they're not soft enough. I replaced the standard pads with Dekoni Elite sheepskin/memory foam pads. Much better feel and sound. This is definitely the best headphone I've ever tried, but I wish it would sacrifice a little bit of bass to bring forward the mids more.

I've had these for over a year now. Sept. 23' I don't use anything else as far as over ear headphones go. I haven't used my HD660s regularly after getting these at all. The best headphone experience I have ever had, I have yet to listen to anything that is more than $2,000 so hard to say. But these are absolutely one of if not the best option in its price range. I paid 1400 originally I think they are $200 less than that now. Great buy for someone who is serious about audio or just wants to enjoy listening. These really do everything super well, they will EQ well if you want that anyhow. I like how they sound out the box. I don't have the vocabulary to tell you about what differences and characteristics this has other than it is good at everything. Sound stage, bass, treble, mids. All of it.