was the he 560 stock or modded?

am glad my ears can't pick up the "faults" that Hans' pick out!   

my HE-560 have open grills and Focus A pads installed.
was connected via YFS Super30 litz (pure copper) cable, which was a revelation when installed months ago.
this pure copper, many-strand cable easily out performed a previous custom cable from BTG audio that was silver-coated-copper and less strands per channel.

the night of Super30 cable attachment, immediate height and depth to soundstage, better layering, and (finally) some present bass all jumped out of these HE-560s.
it was like Lyr2 got new tubes, or installed a new DAC.

it was my first jaw dropping cable-revalation moment.
 

Wow, again just a great meet all around; I'm still finding it hard to even try to digest it all and it's been 3 full days!

First, below are a few of my impressions on the various headphones that I spent some time with.  I've been in the market for an additional set of cans, so I actually ended up trying quite a few different phones out on my system, DAC-41 and Elekit, in addition to everyone else's setups, with a least one pair on both.  If I had to rank them with amount of time and experience I was able to have, overall I enjoyed the modded HD650s the best, which is no real surprise as I'm a sucker for that headphone and it really does sound that much better.  Next would be the modded PM-2s, then the HE-1000s, the HE560s, and finally the HD800s, but not merely because I don't like the sound of them, I just can't seem to get over the design.  On to the impressions...

Modded HD650:

I thought these sounded just fantastic and better than my un-modded pair in almost every way.  I even swapped out cables a few times, using reference tracks off my system, and they just blew my pair out of the water.  The mod really does lift the veil, but leaves everything else that makes the HD650s great and scalable intact.  I find the sound to be both smoother and more open.  The more neutral sound sig also seemed to aid in providing a bit more resolution in not only the highs, but also somewhat in the low frequencies as well.  I'm convinced now, after hearing them once before, that I can live with this mod and will be attempting it in the very near future.  Very nice!

Modded PM-2s:

I thought these sounded very nice as well, sharing quite a few characteristics with the modified HD650s.  Nice open and detailed sound, that was both smooth and crisp when you wanted it to be.  Plus they were really comfortable.  The ear cups fit my ears perfectly, but I don't necessarily have larger ears, so someone with a larger set might be a more cramped.  Otherwise, they were very light and fit my head just right.  My only dislike was that the sound-stage and imaging seemed a little off to me, or at least not were I would have preferred it.  To try to describe the difference, on my system and also the Ember and Valhalla2, it was almost like being in a opera house and seating in the balcony, but not far away, about center row from the stage.  Now the balcony seemed to be about a half floor above the top of the speakers, so maybe third level.  Not really horrible or anything like that at all, but just very interesting.

HE-1000s:

I mostly tried the pair with the silver cable and to me, compared to a pair of HD800s with a copper cable as well as my HD650s, the HE-1000s did not sound bright to me at all.  Actually close to neutral, but definitely on the warmer side.  I found them to be very smooth, while still detailed and open.  They sounded very nice.  The only thing I found odd was that I was getting a bit of a wispy sound on the high end with certain recordings.  Almost like an airy sibilance on certain voices/instruments.  Sort of like the some of the older designed single drivers with a whizzer cone, like older Lowthars playing a peaky/airy track.  Overall very nice, but only in third place to me based on the wisp, slightly peaky highs, and the fact that they are expensive.

HE-560s:

I liked the tone on these and they sounded nice and open on the Lyr2, both SS and tubes, but I enjoyed the tubes a bit better.  Out of my DAC/amp they sounded nice and pretty neutral, with a great mid-range, however I found the high-end to be a bit sibilant on a few tracks that are normally not so.  This prompted me to try a certain track I use exclusively for sibilance, and it was very present an d even a bit harsh.  It may have been a part of my chain that needed to be tamed down a bit for them, so I'll need to get a better gauge of these in the future to get a better idea.  In hindsight, I should have quickly turned the peak prevention control in Foobar on to see if it smoothed it out (this use to do the trick with one of my older DACs and a particular opamp).

HD800s:

They do really sound very nice.  I've always found them to be a bit brighter than usual for my tastes, but with copper cables and warmer sources/amps, I found them to be very neutral and detailed, while still having some of that Sennheiser sound, with nice and smooth mid-range.  If I could just get over my issues with the design on these, they would be my second pair right now.  To me they just fit my head strange, in addition to always confusing me before I put them on.  Plus, I find the pads to be uncomfortable and they don't cup my head in a way that I feel like a seal has truly been made.  Makes me sense that I'm loosing low-end impact due to the design of the cups, plus that the pads are pretty thin.  Overall, if they just were more comfortable, with better pads, and created a better seal, they would have been 2nd on this list after the modified HD650s.

All in all, I thought all were very nice and I feel I could live with any of them for a very long time.  I'm still holding out to October though, in hopes to try the Ethers, before trying to finally decided on a second pair... otherwise might be down to an Audeze offering, or waiting for something else, since I also find those uncomfortable for long periods of time.

I'll try to get some impressions of a few of the amps/DACs in a few days as well.  Until then... 

IMO No. BW has good extension and impact in bass, but U7 with HE1K will knock your molars out :-)

+1 on the SS tubes of Lyr2.
exactly my hearing impressions.  depending on the price of these, would certainly be a good backup/emergency pair of tubes.
or perhaps a good pairing for those with specific headphone/presentation preferences.

one less write up I need to do now.
thanks Mister R
 
!