I picked up my HiFiMan HE-560 V4 Premium Planar Magnetic Headphones today.

The box was shipped from China with Customs tags affixed, with zero indication that the cans were ordered from Adorama.

It looked more like a drop shipment.

Adorama has these listed twice — once for $299 if one follows the SD link, and once for $899 if just searching the site with the products name.

Inside the retail box had a a corner imprinted Adorama Exclusive, so I have no idea WTF.

Maybe these are refurbs sold as new with a step discount.

Anyway...


These are terrific headphones!

This is the first pair of magnetic planar headphones I've ever owned, and they are wonderful.

I've only plugged them into my 'Phone so far and am pretty impressed at the volume, but the impedance is only 50omhs compared to a lot of other 'phones.

I am truly impressed by the flat frequency response compared to all my other 'better headphones'.

The bass is so much cleaner with no creep into the midrange!

What a huge difference that makes, a magnitude better than what were 'better cans'.

A ton of Time-Life oldies sound new and so clean, with a lot more energy — WOW!

Listening to some Doors ripped as ALAC is spine tingling.

We Don't Need Another Hero is phenomenal, love Tina's voice!

Damn!

There's so much detail, I have no words.

Bonnie Raitt's Angel from Montgomery, Rick James You and I, Leon Russell's A Song for You...

So much texture...

Charo's Fantasia y Tu Color, Mars, the Bringer of War, Fanfare for the Common Man... WOW.

Next up is a lot of Beatles.

(Yeah, most of my music is old, but then so am I!)

And this is all 160-320-bit rate mp3 and ALAC stuff, nothing hi-res.


Volume is – adequate for the moment, but some songs that were produced with a lower volume just squeak by, with a lot of rock tunes moving the needle to near the middle of the meter.

A headphone amp is in my future.

I am excited to hear old music as new, with a greater delta in improvement than when getting my Senns and Beyer dynamics.

It's been a very long time since I've experienced an increase in my enjoyment of music, to such a degree.

This is a significant bang for the buck for me.

I very much appreciate the discussions of magnetic planar headphones.

More than you'll ever know.

Thank you all.

---

I am that Masked Man.

All you can do, is all you can do.

There’s trouble — it's time to play the sound of my people.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

Damndamndamndamn, you are going to cost me money.

---

Hurts like a bastid...

I use the Magni 3+ with my planar magnetics.

Quote

Maximum Power, 16 ohms: 2.8W RMS per channel
Maximum Power, 32 ohms: 2.4W RMS per channel
Maximum Power, 50 ohms: 1.6W RMS per channel
Maximum Power, 300 ohms: 410mW RMS per channel
Maximum Power, 600 ohms: 215mW RMS per channel

[www.schiit.com]

...told ya.

EDIT: I've been researching DACs and I think this is the one I'm gonna go with: [ifi-audio.com]

---

It is what it is.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/21/2022 12:37AM by N-OS X-tasy!.

Tellushowyoureallyfeeltellushowyoureallyfeeltellushowyoureallyfeel.
==

Quote
N-OS X-tasy!
...told ya.

EDIT: I've been researching DACs and I think this is the one I'm gonna go with: [ifi-audio.com]

Dayum.

---

Edited 999 time(s). Last edit at 12:08PM by jdc.

...told ya.


LOL, indeed you did.

I already have an audioengine D1 DAC connected to the mini.

What I didn't realized, shame on me, is that it's a

D1 Headphone Amplifier
The D1 includes a headphone amp based on the
TI OPA2134 low noise opamp. The high-performance
headphone output was designed for a wide range of
headphones and will satisfy even the most demanding
headphone enthusiasts.

So I'm going to use it for the time being.

I'm not sure improving the DAC/AMP will give me the same BFTB that moving to mag-planars did.

But I will want something for the 'Phone and iPad, maybe battery operated so there's some portability, just to move around the domicile, not to be out and about.

Maybe something like the iFi Audio GO Blu Portable Bluetooth DAC & Amp.



It's tiny, at a decent price point, and can use BT if desired.

My preference would be for a short Type A/Lightning and dual 3.5/6.3mm cable.

---

I am that Masked Man.

All you can do, is all you can do.

There’s trouble — it's time to play the sound of my people.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

Unless they have improved Bluetooth recently you are going to see a huge loss in sound quality over bluetooth.

---

C(-)ris
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's immensely satisfying to find a piece of audio equipment that increases the chills-down-the-spine factor. Congratulations!

Quote
RAMd®d
I picked up my HiFiMan HE-560 V4 Premium Planar Magnetic Headphones today.

The box was shipped from China with Customs tags affixed, with zero indication that the cans were ordered from Adorama.

It looked more like a drop shipment.

Adorama has these listed twice — once for $299 if one follows the SD link, and once for $899 if just searching the site with the products name.

The SD link currently lists them at $229.

What size plug do they come with, and how are you connecting them to your phone?

FYI, I've seen Drop listing planar magnetic HPs before.

---

“Every great and deep difficulty bears in itself its own solution. It forces us to change our thinking in order to find it."

Quote
RAMd®d
...told ya.


LOL, indeed you did.

I already have an audioengine D1 DAC connected to the mini.

What I didn't realized, shame on me, is that it's a

D1 Headphone Amplifier
The D1 includes a headphone amp based on the
TI OPA2134 low noise opamp. The high-performance
headphone output was designed for a wide range of
headphones and will satisfy even the most demanding
headphone enthusiasts.

So I'm going to use it for the time being.

I'm not sure improving the DAC/AMP will give me the same BFTB that moving to mag-planars did.

But I will want something for the 'Phone and iPad, maybe battery operated so there's some portability, just to move around the domicile, not to be out and about.

Maybe something like the iFi Audio GO Blu Portable Bluetooth DAC & Amp.



It's tiny, at a decent price point, and can use BT if desired.

My preference would be for a short Type A/Lightning and dual 3.5/6.3mm cable.

Do your research before buying. Planar magnetic headphones require MUCH more power than standard headphones, especially at higher volumes. Just make sure whatever you end up purchasing will be able to handle the new cans.

---

It is what it is.

I don't like to oversell anything as what makes a huge difference to me can be "OK, that's nice" to someone else. And vice versa of course. So I didn't do that here.

But RAMD®D's reaction is the same as mine was when getting my first Planar Mag headphones.

Try out some of the 2009 Beatles Remasters in full CD Rez on these with a decent amp.

You may not want to listen to anything else for a few hours days.

Quote
N-OS X-tasy!
...told ya.

EDIT: I've been researching DACs and I think this is the one I'm gonna go with: [ifi-audio.com]

I use a Dragonfly Black as my DAC (older so probably worse than that iFi) but have what looks like that guy's predecessor, the iFi iCan as my amp. It's super-goodly wonderful!

Oh, you people with good-working ears. I'm jealous.

I'm not sure improving the DAC/AMP will give me the same BFTB that moving to mag-planars did.

It won't, and that's OK. There are no recipes here, although I think most would agree speakers and headphones are a huge influence on sound quality.

What I try to do with hardware swaps is seek out additional advantages besides sound upgrades. A new feature or usage enhancement to go along with whatever subtle sound improvement helps justify the cost for me.

In the end, we're all beholden to what the recordist, mixing and mastering engineers did, which is why lossy can easily be more enjoyable than lossless. But here's the thing ... as lossy begins to sound better because of better playback hardware, the gulf between it and lossless begins to widen even more.

Until we reach wurm's plateau.

Yeah. This is the joy I like to see. And with that, I'm about to bump some Rick James.

The SD link currently lists them at $229.


Yes, that's what I used.

If you go to Adorama directly and search for the same model, you see a price upgrade.

However those have simulated wood surrounds on the cups instead of the SD-linked gloss black.



What size plug do they come with, and how are you connecting them to your phone?


The could with a Y-cable that uses 3.5mm plugs to connected to each ear cup, with the single end having a 6.3mm (1/4") phone plug to connect to standard audio gear.

With a firm pull, it's removed to reveal a 3.5mm plug for 'earphone' jacks.

I use a 3.5mm to Lightning adapter from AMZ to connect to my 'Phone.






Connecting directly to the 'Phone means volume is limited.

Boosted to max, the 'Phone's amp is over driven, resulting in distorted audio.

I backed it down 'till that was gone, but volume was less that desirable on many songs, but adequate on others.

Still, none really approached rock the house/raise the roof levels, though they were still vastly entertaining.

---

I am that Masked Man.

All you can do, is all you can do.

There’s trouble — it's time to play the sound of my people.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

Quote
wurm
Oh, you people with good-working ears. I'm jealous.

While I'll assume your hearing isn't great, I won't claim more than one reasonable-working ear.

I'm ~90% deaf in one ear with crazy frequency response, and can't hear above about 12.5 kHz in the other.

But I can very much hear the difference with great headphones. It's even possible my weird hearing is more greatly affected by problems in sound reproduction as imaging problems in people's home stereos make it seem like movie dialog is sometimes coming from the back of the room and other sound location weirdnesses.

Unless they have improved Bluetooth recently you are going to see a huge loss in sound quality over bluetooth.


Tell me something I don't know.

I've mentioned that fact many times in other posts.

BUT— as I mentioned above, none of my music is hi-res, the highest resolution being CDs ripped to ALAC.

So BT 5.1 bandwidth would have minimal if any affect on audio quality.

BUT— even if it did, the iFI connects via cable as well.



I don't like to oversell anything as what makes a huge difference to me can be "OK, that's nice" to someone else.


I feel ya.

I didn't pitch these as a recommendation, for the same reasons. It's just my particular reaction.

They took me by complete surprise, as my ears, never golden to start with, are at a time and place where nuance, though greatly appreciated, is not all that easy to resolve and appreciate.

To that end, I'll say that to me, these are pure joy.



Planar magnetic headphones require MUCH more power than standard headphones, especially at higher volumes.


Hm.

The Blu-Go's spec is 165mW @ 32 Ohm; 2.8v @ 600 Ohm for the 3.5mm/single-end output.

That pales in comparison to that of your IDSD's 1,000 mW @ 64 Ohm, but then I pale at the Signature's price.

So yes, I'll reconsider a DAC/amp.



There are no recipes here, although I think most would agree speakers and headphones are a huge influence on sound quality.

Agreed.



But here's the thing ... as lossy begins to sound better because of better playback hardware, the gulf between it and lossless begins to widen even more.


Agreed, again.

I will say, given my place in space and time and this recent purchase, my relentless pursuit of perfection has slowed some.

But I will be getting a DAC/amp.

---

I am that Masked Man.

All you can do, is all you can do.

There’s trouble — it's time to play the sound of my people.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

Schiit and JDS Labs both offer great DAC/headphone amp stacks, and they’re made in the USA.

[www.schiit.com]

[jdslabs.com]

---

One of things about the iDSD unit I posted is that it is portable (although it stretches the meaning of the work somewhat). At the very least, if I decide I want to listen to my cans at different locations throughout my domicile, I can pick it up and take it with me. Headphone amps that rely solely on AC power essentially tether the listener to a single listening position.

---

It is what it is.

One of things about the iDSD unit I posted is that it is portable (although it stretches the meaning of the work somewhat). At the very least, if I decide I want to listen to my cans at different locations throughout my domicile, I can pick it up and take it with me. Headphone amps that rely solely on AC power essentially tether the listener to a single listening position.


All this.

For the time being, my D1 works adequately.

One of these would connect it to my 'Phone:



But I'm still locked into one place.

As it's USB powered, I suppose I could get a power brick, but that's a lot of stuff to drag around.

A battery powered DAC would be my preference.

I wish the output spec of the Lightning port was available, to see if the Go Blu DAC provides any improvement in volume.

Maybe I'll jot a note to ifi.

---

I am that Masked Man.

All you can do, is all you can do.

There’s trouble — it's time to play the sound of my people.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

Quote
RAMd®d
The SD link currently lists them at $229.


Yes, that's what I used.

If you go to Adorama directly and search for the same model, you see a price upgrade.

However those have simulated wood surrounds on the cups instead of the SD-linked gloss black.

Thanks for the info, though I am still a bit confused, since the pictures don't seem to distinguish between simulated wood and gloss black.

The SD link for $229 and the Adorama full price listing $899 both have the SKU: HMHE560V4. The Adorama listing $299 (Black) has the SKU: HMHE560V41.

Which model # did you buy, and what was the finish? Thanks.

Which model # did you buy, and what was the finish? Thanks.


I followed the SD link and got the $299/Gloss Black headphones.

This link is from a search at Ado for HIFIMAN: [www.adorama.com]

I see what you mean about both links showing the same 'phones.

It looks to me like they used the older black phones' pic.

This is what you see for HE560 at the HIFIMAN site:



That's a wood veneer trim on the $899 version.

Other than that and the headband, I don't know what the other differences may be.

I didn't look at the specs beyond magnetic planar.

I'll bet big money if you order the $899 version, it won't be black.

I've been listening to these since 9:00pm last night and I love 'em.

Right now it's the 2009 remaster of Rubber Soul.

And while their volume will be — ok — out of the box, if you don't rock out, you will need a headphone amp, or a digital analog converter/amp combo.

I'm not talking standing in front of a stack of Marshall amps loud, but volume that makes you want to dance around in your underwear will rustling up some breakfast loud.

That's not a reasonable application for these cans, by the way.

---

I am that Masked Man.

All you can do, is all you can do.

There’s trouble — it's time to play the sound of my people.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

Quote
Lew Zealand

Quote
N-OS X-tasy!
...told ya.

EDIT: I've been researching DACs and I think this is the one I'm gonna go with: [ifi-audio.com]

I use a Dragonfly Black as my DAC (older so probably worse than that iFi) but have what looks like that guy's predecessor, the iFi iCan as my amp. It's super-goodly wonderful!

You might be interested in this new offering from iFi that combines the functionality of the xCAN and xDSD into a single unit: [homestudiobasics.com]

---

It is what it is.

Has anyone looked into / listened on the Sundara from HiFiMan?

[store.hifiman.com]

I see an open-box option for around 300.

[www.headphones.com]

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