Hifiman HE1000 Stealth Headphones - Stealth Magnet Edition

Well built comfortable and I am by no means an expert but I do pick up other instruments that I didn’t before.

I've been listening to a pair of HE1k daily for 3-4 hours in average ever since I received them (more than a month now) and compared them back and forth with the other headphones from my fleet (some of which can be seen on the photo). Overall, I'm quite impressed by Hifiman's rendition. They are also very comfortable and just feel nice and well-made. In terms of sound, it is one of the most revealing headsets I've ever had a chance to own, the previous champion was a pair of Sony MDR-EX1000. The HE1k is much smoother, cleaner and can do quite well without equalization on various sources: starting from compact portable 'whistles' such as Cayin 1-bit DAC/Amp combo and all the way to Denafrips top tier R2R DACs paired with Flux Lab Acoustics Mentor. I would describe the sound as airy, non-fatiguing and fitting for a wide variety of music genres. I'm especially enjoying acoustic music and vocals with them. My previous all-time favorites for this use case was a pair of Verum Audio One. Hifiman's HE1k is simply a bit more of everything I enjoyed on Verum Audio's headset.

+ Huge soundstage - gives me a similar feeling that the HD800s gave but the HE1000s extend vertically more than any other headphone I own or have tried. I've gone back and started playing some of my favorite games and listening to my favorite tracks and it feels as if I'm experiencing them the way they were meant to be. + Incredibly detailed - I haven't been able to say this since I first got into the hobby but this is the first time in a long time that I'm very clearly hearing things I wasn't able to before. The imaging and soundstage help a lot here as everything isn't getting muddled together. Combine that with the detail these are able to pull out and it's just so easy to pinpoint everything. + Speed. I suppose I never truly paid attention to the speed of headphones throughout my indulgence in the hobby, but after the HE1000s, I see how they can really altar the excitement you get from content. The bass hits with a nice solid slam, doesn't overstay its welcome, and hits immediately again with the same impact. Bass heavy music and video games are treat because of this. And if you get these cans and are a little disappointed by the low end, they take EQ like an absolute champ. I cranked up the 80hz range by 4db and the rest of the sound range was unaffected. I still got the same detail and soundstage, but with more bass. - Build quality is okay. They don't feel cheap, but they don't feel as well put together as many other headphones in this price range that I've tried. Hifiman doesn't have the best reputation for QC, so I'm praying I wont run into any issues here down the line. The cables it comes with are nothing to write home about. You should definitely get your own for $30-$40. Final thoughts : I'll never say I found my "endgame" pair of anything - I know that'll never be true. BUT, I've finally found a pair of headphones that makes me feel as if I can sell the rest of my collection and not miss them for their specific characteristics because these just do that much of an amazing job all around. At $1100, I don't think you can do much better than these until you start getting into the thousands of dollars range for diminishing returns.