jerg: yeah, I hope that's it. Saw on HF that some units had different impedances than they were supposed to; was worried this unit of mine might have different impedances between the 2 channels.
ohhgourami: I don't have to worry about damaging/affecting the driver? Because they're behind the dust screen? I didn't realise stick-em-on pads was a thing!

Hm this looks doable even for a butterfingers like me. And I could tape up the flaky edges of the Audeze pad while I'm at it.
Is it easy to attach a regular Hifiman pad in the future?
I don't want a crazy sticky residue on the ring.

Got to try the HE-560s out at my local headphone shop yesterday. One thing that I feel not many people point out is that whilst these are an improvement on the HE-500s in terms of comfort, they're still no where near the most comfortable headphones around (and IMO, not $1000 AUD price tag material).

I found the ear cups to be too small and the edges would bristle against my ears. Clamping force also felt uncomfortably strong. The headband was great, but I think the design was transferring the force of the headphones weight to the ear pads (hence the clamping force). Whilst the HE-560s have lost a lot of the HE-500s weight, it is still an ortho and is still heavier than most dynamic headphones. Essentially this means that you will still feel the weight of the headphones on the headband, just not uncomfortably so like the HE-500s.

The velour is improved from the alternative HE-500 pads, but they're still not sennheiser/beyerdynamic quality. I still get a bit of that itchy feel from them.

Sound quality wise, they sound like HD800s without the excessive treble, but also lacking in the soundstage department. Though take my audio impressions with a grain of salt since I wasn't using my own dac/amp setup I feel they do sound better than the HE-500s, but the two are quite different.

SUBJECTIVE IMPRESSIONS + COMPARISON TO ABYSS


I'll make it short and call the HE-560 Abyss Lite.

• Tonal response and presentation very similar to Abyss with some minor differences:
• More 4k emphasis on HE-560, whereas Abyss has more 9k emphasis. The HE-560 is also just a hair warmer. But again both headphones are very similar in terms of tone and presentation.
• HE-560 tends to have a more plasticky timbre, Abyss has more steely timbre. Please don't go around saying I said the HE-560 sounds plasicky. It doesn't. Just trying to find words to describe the differences.
• Abyss has better microdetail extraction, but HE-560 plankton retrieval is very good and something I find quite satisfying. This cannot be said with the HE-500 or even the AKG K812 (see impressions elsewhere on this site to read how the K812 fails in this regard even in the face of the "lowly" HD600.)
• Abyss has more bass power and tighter bass. Bass on HE-560 can sometimes be soft compared against the Abyss. HE-560 is still no slouch in the area. And as mentioned earlier, a huge improvement over the HE-500's mushy bass.
• Abyss has better layering and separation.
• Percussion sounds snappier and less soft on Abyss.

VERDICT: FOUR STARS

I was asked earlier if I felt the HE-560 was worth it. I said yes, assuming that the HE-560 cost $1199. (I have no idea why I thought this.) Anyways, at $899, I find the HE-560 quite a good deal.

Why the comparison to the Abyss? It's not fair no? Because you get 80-90% of it at well less than 20% of the cost. The HE-560 represents a significant improvement over the earlier iterations. Better tonal balance than HE-5/6 and better technicalities and refinement over HE-500. It's all growed up now.

 I nominate "plankton retrieval" for the 'Term of the Year'.