HE1000 Unveiled

Stealth V3 was better especially for gaming than all \~20 other headphones i tried for 2-4 weeks each but then organic immediately beat it by a mile, especially in imaging and soundstage (with EQ all headphones) and i think organic is where you have the last good price increase that actually yields enormous changes. Then i tried HE1000se, and it just perfected everything for me. Imaging in V3 in the front angle was bad in games, sides were fine, Organic fixed it and with HEKSE i hear things literally noone in my team hears and when they hear it later they dont know where it comes from yet. I give so many more sound comms now because it feels like i went from being deaf to having hearing Try the organic, for me it was only \~55€ difference to V3 and it is so much better. https://preview.redd.it/m5m5rne8bzvg1.jpeg?width=8160&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=52352ad36446a112e4ccacff4dc7829ec5e235fa

Good skip, Organic is a straight upgrade to V3 I didnt try Unveiled, but from all the reviews i found, HEKSE is simply better overall, HEKU is more detailed but to a point where its getting to be too much if you catch me. You can find a lot of opinions on it vs HEKSE and for my use case (competetive gaming and enjoying music secondary) i dont think i will find something better than HEKSE. Might try HEKU for a month at some point tho just to see

Hello just got into the HIFI/Audiophile hobby. After some research I chose the HIFIMAN He 1000 unveiled and HIFIMAN Serenade amp/dac. “never knew how much of a difference music sounded or who much I was missing” now I’m going down a rabbit hole and was wondering if a better dac/amp will do a noticeable difference with these headphones, and which one would you guys recommend? Or should I just keep the setup as is. Thanks in advance.

HE10000 Unveiled is impressive. In my experience it scaled noticeably with more powerful amps also. With my Hiby DAP and limited power output it seemed pretty on par with the 800S. With a proper desktop amp, it was clearly better. (Huge price difference though, so the value is debatable, but at least a bit better in pretty much every way, which adds up.)

I tried both but settled on Arya Stealth because the HE1000 Stealth was too bright for me. In gaming the explosions would sound piercing to my ears. I think Arya Stealth is the max brightness I can take. Even though graphs may not show the real difference, it was definitely not worth it FOR ME. The very minor detail retrieval was muddied by the piercing sounds that caused me ear pain. On Arya Stealth I do not need to EQ anything and run them stock with the following enhancements: \- K13 R2R - provides full details but tames ever so slightly treble compared to delta sigma DACs \- Dekoni Elite Velour pads - tames treble and adds better bass and mids definition that helps with treble I even tried both of those enhancements to HE1000 Stealth to no avail and sent them back. Was a bit disappointed as many people told me I would get bigger soundstage or higher detail retrieval but for my ears it backfired. I could not perceive the bigger soundstage and details were exactly the same to my ears. To answer your original question - Arya Stealth is absolutely the best headphone I have used for gaming (both SP and MP). I have had it for now 4-5 months and am super pleased by it after trying over 100+ headphones. I usually play COD BO7 and BF6 with it. Hope this helps. YMMV. P.S. I am 2-4K and 8-10K treble sensitive.

You can do a frequency sweep - it will be from 20 Hz to 20 KHz and figure out if you wince/or it pinches you at a specific spot. Even if it doesn't my limited learning has to be that I need to try it out in a specific circumstance. For example, I need the grenades to be going off repeatedly in Nuketown to wince at HE1000 Stealth. Other options is usually female vocals. I A/B tested Arya Stealth and HE1000 Stealth and for example in a song by Selena Gomez she was saying TRUSSSS ME on HE1000 Stealth and TRUST ME on Arya Stealth. That meant that to my ears it was sibilant and I could not hear certain consonants in that song (it sounded wrong to me). As I said, everyone is different so I am sure there are thousands who don't have this issue but among Hifiman planars, I can only use possibly Edition XV (I own it), Arya Stealth (I own it), Arya Unveiled (I want to own it) and Susvara/Susvara Unveiled. All other stuff I tried like Arya Organic, HE1000 Stealth, HE1000 SE, HE1000 Unveiled, all the Ananda line and Edition XS are too bright for my ears. They actually hurt me so I can't really use 'em. :D.

Went to an audio store to try out the 3 planars that I short listed after lots of trial and error. Tried everything from ZMF cans to Meze to Fostex and beyond. Ended up with head to head of LCD-X vs Arya Unveiled vs HE1000 Unveiled LCD-X Pros \- Great impactful bass (reminds me of my Audeze Maxwell 2 post EQ) \- Surprisingly vocals didn’t feel as recessed as FR would have you believe \- Sparkle up top \- Good low end, never felt muddy or boomy \- Planar that felt it was in between Planar and Dynamics \- Organic sound with body Cons \- Those 612 g destroyed my neck within half hour. And I already daily an Audeze Maxwell 2 which is 560 g almost \- Pads got hot \- Can be shouty for some higher pitched vocals \- Layering and separation was less than what I expected; I felt Audeze Maxwell 2 does it better \- Small soundstage Arya Unveiled Pros \- Amazing organic smooth sound \- Great warm vocals \- Beautiful timbre \- Bass is clean and fast \- Top end is fantastic and never fatiguing \- No comfort issues Cons \- Some tracks can get shouty \- Soundstage smaller than HE1000 Unveiled \- Piano black plastic \- Exposed driver (though not bad like Susvara Unveiled) HE1000 Unveiled Pros \- Amazing organic smooth sound \- Most resolving and (hot take) felt even better than Susvara to my ears \- Best timbre \- Vocals are lush and smooth \- Holographic stage \- Best imaging I have heard \- No comfort issues \- Mid was never shouty \- Top end is ethereal Cons \- Exposed driver \- Bass impact was slightly lower than Arya Unveiled (might be source also as it was Astell & Kern DAP) \- Price At the end of the day, I wish someone would make a can with bass of LCD-X, weight of Unveiled, price of Arya Unveiled, Mids and top end of HE1000 Unveiled and resolution of HE1000 Unveiled. Here are some pictures of the planar wars.

Dubai Audio. There are also other stores here where I tested HE-1, ZMF etc.

I am a big soundstage guy with over emphasis on instrument separation. Once you hear that aspect, you realize that Susvara (OG) lacks a bit in that area. Soundstage is a bit underwhelming plus the separation and layering can be a bit in the center (or on top of each other making it hard to distinguish making it a bit less resolving to my ears). The Susvara Unveiled and HE1000 Unveiled I find very very close with maybe a limited advantage to Susvara Unveiled in resolution. But honestly for 1/4th the price, I can only afford HE1000 Unveiled. lol. P.S. I am not an audiophile so I maybe misusing some terms here.

Agreed. You would need a 6K headphone and maybe another 5-10K of DAC/amp/tubes/power supply to drive it properly. I am just not ready to drop that kind of cash. Don’t get me wrong Susvara is amazing but for what I am looking for, I prefer the HEKU to it.

I think most of audio is YMMV situation. With recent videos by headphone show even the FR is YMMV :).

Unfortunately, I am not used to heavy cans. Normally draw the line around 450 g. Maxwell 2 is the only exception also because there is no cable weight. The LCD-X felt more like 700 g due to cable (plus the lady at the shop was using 2 connectors (XLR to 6.35 and then 6.35 to 3.5). It wasn't a pleasant experience for me. People can be different :).

I have tried LCD - X, LCD - 2C (Open), LCD - 2C (Closed), LCD - 3, LCD - 4z, LCD - 5, CBRN2, Audeze Maxwell and Audeze Maxwell 2 (own this one). I liked LCD - 3 but the soundstage was still small to my liking. It definitely is a good can but not 2K good IMO. I actually really liked LCD - 2C (Open) as it has slightly less weight and is a bit more relaxing to my ears (less sparkle than LCD - X).

I am looking at the graph of Aether and it seems to have a massive peak at 8K which I am extremely sensitive to. Any thoughts on that? Also bass feels a bit anemic compared to my Arete 2 with bass switch on (which is how I use it).

I have a K13 R2R. I can order them for about 150$ right now with 14 day returns so it's not a problem. Was thinking of trying them or EM6L or Odyssey as all of these are on discounts right now. Arete 1 is also 130$ for today.

Unfortunately, I don't have Dunu test/demo units in my local area. Maybe at next Can Jam I could try them out but that is in Jan for us here in Dubai.

Still thinking. I already had an Arya Unveiled which I returned to buy HE1000 Unveiled. So I might just do that or re buy Arya Unveiled. I am confused af right now.

It's not that bad. I had Arya Unveiled and routinely would touch the driver etc. It's quite sturdy. Unless you are bringing magnets to it or throwing it around or taking a knife/pencil/piercing items to it, I don't see how you can damage it.

I tried Dan Clark products. I have tried E3 which I liked. But it didn’t have the detail, separation and layering I enjoy. I also tried Aeon 2 Flow Open which was OK. Felt overpriced for its offer. I tried Stealth. I liked it but it was not worth the money they are asking. In that money I would prefer other products to it - from Meze or ZMF. Had a treble peak as well for me. I also tried Noire XO and it was fine. Generally was too smooth. And bass was anemic.

I do prefer bass above normal but generally I listen to different types of cans. I love trying different stuff. I also tried HE1000SE and liked it but it wasn’t the step up from my Arya Stealth that Arya Unveiled and HE1000 Unveiled are.

Don’t tempt me… I wants it! https://preview.redd.it/m7p35svwg6xg1.jpeg?width=4284&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=43870d1ac7daac598569bc72b9d88686a2d0b8cd

Fair enough. These headphones do require care but so do most planar magnetics. If you drop them, there is a very high chance they would be gone. For me the outside grill is not a real biggie. I anyways, keep them in a clean environment. Also I never clean headphones with a cloth (especially the inside) so in this case won't do it on the outside.

i've listened to the atrium and he1k unveiled, they were both outstanding. one thing is that there is much more going on in the 2 drivers that make them esoteric/special/colored whatever one wants to call it. compared to what has "impacted the industry" it seems to just be a race to get to neutrality or the next best researched curve - which i'm all for, the 6x0 series is undoubtedly good and i find myself listening to 6xx even with other much more expensive headphones.

lol you are really chasing that end game(i feel the same way). I actually prefered the atrium to the caldera closed on brief listen. cc didn't do anything special to me somehow. he1k unveiled is crazy good detail/tuning though probably endgame next susvara if you are chasing technicalities/detail

Too many people think the he1000 unv sounds to same or better than sus. For me sus has 1 step higher realism, the he1000 is the most natural sounding he1000 but it has an ever slight artificialness to the sound. Would be interested in what you think of the sus unv.

open back great tonality would probably have to be the heku right now. maybe the arya u if u want a calmer treble. but i mention heku because the used prices on it have dropped crazy low and the people i've let listen to mine are pretty taken by it. very natural sounding with a touch of warmth in the >1khz region.