CHANGSTAR: Audiophile Headphone Reviews and Early 90s Style BBS

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Author Topic: Bill-p HE-560 mod  (Read 11840 times)

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TMRaven

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Re: Bill-p HE-560 mod
« Reply #40 on: January 27, 2015, 04:37:03 AM »
If all the recent 560s are tuned like this, I can definitely see why people consider these bright and even HD800-like.  3-4db extra at 9khz makes a noticeable difference, just like the extra 3-4db at 4khz the Focus Pads adds over the Focus-A.

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Bill-p

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Re: Bill-p HE-560 mod
« Reply #41 on: January 28, 2015, 01:23:10 AM »
Yeah, the Focus Pads A, IMO, are still best for the HE-560. Stock Focus Pads give a tighter sound due to more padding (better damping), but I'm guessing the perforated holes inside the ear pads are what's causing that peak at 4KHz.

Jerg originally perforated the ear pads on the HE-500 in order to lift its upper midrange, performance, which I think is appropriate, but the HE-560 has just a tad too much of an upper midrange emphasis at stock IMO.
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Marvey

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Re: Bill-p HE-560 mod
« Reply #42 on: January 28, 2015, 01:35:24 AM »
I took that measurements with the stock pads. Did you want another one with the Focus-A pads before I ship out?
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Bill-p

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Re: Bill-p HE-560 mod
« Reply #43 on: January 28, 2015, 01:55:25 AM »
If you can, that'd be great, though I think I'll end up modding this HE-560 with the Focus Pads (not A) anyway, so if anything, it'll just be for delta purposes (to see whether the mod can address the shortcomings of the pads)?
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Marvey

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Re: Bill-p HE-560 mod
« Reply #44 on: February 04, 2015, 03:35:42 AM »
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Bill-p

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Re: Bill-p HE-560 mod
« Reply #45 on: February 04, 2015, 04:15:30 AM »
Thanks, Marv. Will work on it over the weekend and send it back to you on Monday.

Focus Pads A measurements look very interesting! That drop at 4KHz is very substantial! Wow!
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jerg

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Re: Bill-p HE-560 mod
« Reply #46 on: February 04, 2015, 05:11:15 AM »
Quote from: marvey on February 04, 2015, 03:35:42 AM
Shipped. Updated baseline measurement post: http://www.changstar.com/index.php/topic,2025.msg57297.html#msg57297



Yeah indeed a bit strange that the mid-treble region is elevated to such a degree, compared to older HE560s that were measured. Maybe newer HE560s got slightly retuned.
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Hammy

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Re: Bill-p HE-560 mod
« Reply #47 on: February 16, 2015, 02:05:20 AM »
Quote from: jerg on February 04, 2015, 05:11:15 AM
Yeah indeed a bit strange that the mid-treble region is elevated to such a degree, compared to older HE560s that were measured. Maybe newer HE560s got slightly retuned.

I just got an HE-560 two days ago.  I don't have the tools to measure it, but it sounds like that graph with way too much at 4K and a little too much around 9K.  Too bright for my ears.  I've EQed it to make it tolerable for now.  It will need modding for me to consider keeping it.  I've heard other HE-560's and they didn't sound like this one.  Unfortunate if all new ones are like this.  Indicates that someone at HiFiMAN doesn't have good hearing.

And Focus-A pads go out of stock just as I get my HE-560...  :)p18
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Hands

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Re: Bill-p HE-560 mod
« Reply #48 on: February 16, 2015, 02:32:20 AM »
I'd like to hear an earlier unit to see if it sounds different from the unit I heard. The one I heard was almost literally painful to listen to for my ears. I know the owner of that one was happy with it, though, so take my opinion FWIW.
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Hammy

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Re: Bill-p HE-560 mod
« Reply #49 on: February 17, 2015, 03:50:56 AM »
I consider the brightness to be uncomfortable and unhealthy.  I like to listen relatively loudly.  85dB or so, sometimes more for short stretches.  At that level even a 4dB bump at 4K means my ears are getting nailed at over 90dB in that range.  Yikes!  So yeah, that 4K bump has to get tamed or the headphones have to go.

It would be interesting to get some more measurements of recent production HE-560's to find out if this is a new tuning for new production or just an anomaly.  If the tuning has changed for current production then modding methods may have to adjust.

My goal for my HE-560 is to use them for classical music listening.  My goals for any modding is to optimize for classical.  I don't need to turn them into a dubstep headphone.  I already have an LCD-2 r2 that can do that.  I do like the more open sound of the HE-560.  Its overall sound is something I think can work well for classical music. They're just going to need modding to lose that 4K bump and some of the extra brightness.  I'm very optimistic that the mods will be able to do that to my satisfaction.

I did email HiFiMan about the Focus-A pads.  They said production will go again in March.  It's Chinese New Year now.  Nothing is going to happen for the next two weeks.  Hopefully we'll see new Focus-A pads available sometime in March.
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