Best Headphone under 1k$?

I see the word REPEAT. Hmmm, I wonder....🤔

In the case of HIFIMAN HE-600S V2 earphones it certainly appears the review I linked to early in this thread was probably correct - there is no real change to the rather horrid (my word) sound until one reaches the 200 hour mark. And most likely 300 hours is required before making any judgements as to the sound. In the case of my HIFIMAN HE-600S V2 earphones I have about 120 hours on them. They sound better than they did two weeks ago but have a long way to go. Don’t do the crime if you can’t do the time. It’s like being pregnant. You have to wait 9 months to get the baby. Actually, if I had a repeat button on my portable CD player I could have cut my time in half. Woulda, coulda, shoulda. In any case, this new breed of earphones with rare earth magnet structure and single crystal copper wire cable is definitely not for high strung nervous types. 😳

But nothing takes as long to burn in as the HIFIMAN earphones so if you don’t mind I’ll wait til you report on the RE800S after it’s completely burned in. 😛

More to the point is that it appears HIFIMAN earphones require around 300 hours or more to burn in, depending on how the burn in is achieved. If I were using the burn-in track on my XLO Test CD I imagine I could reduce the number of hours required considerably but, alas, I have no track repeat function so I’m using Kraftwerk, Beastie Boys, Zeppelin, things of that nature. I will not do serious listening or evaluation until after I hit the 300 hour mark, which I expect to do in around three weeks. Please stand by.

note to self: Why on Earth is 300 hours required for burn in? Is it the new single crystal copper cable? Something else? 

Thanks for the suggestion. But I’m in it for the long haul. I can wait another 230 hours for the HE-600S V2 to burn in standing on my head. 🤸🏻‍♀️The hurrieder up you go the behinder you get.

“We will make sell wine before it’s time.”

Thanks for the update! You only have 230 hours to go. 😬

I agree with you. But I’m quite certain the HIFIMAN HE-600S V2 will not (rpt not) sound like that after it has been completely burned in. I’ve only got 250 hours to go. 😛 My Sony Walkman earphones sound much better than HIFIMAN does now. Much much better. I don’t think HIFIMAN would allow one his products to sound that bad. It would not be good for business. Also, remember the reviewer stated the initial crappy sound did not change at all for the first 200 hours.

I would certainly hope the Sundara could beat the Grado SR-60.

It should probably be pointed out that some reviewers are given a free set of headphones or earphones when they write a positive review. For example, the excellent and thorough review of HIFIMAN HE—800S V2 I linked to is such a case. No, I’m not saying it’s payola. However....

I would describe my HIFIMAN HE-600 V2 at this stage with around 50 hours of burn in as sounding distorted, synthetic, wiry, spitty, metallic, amusical and bass shy but detailed and dynamic and airy. Compared to my naked Grado SR60s. We’ll see what happens. 👀

Just checking in to say I do not think we’re on the same page yet. But no problem. I expect at the end of the day my HIFIMAN HE600S V2 earphones will have it all, bass, balance, speed, tonality and bass. I am pretty sure brightness will be determined to be an artifact of not being sufficiently burned in. I would caution against drawing any conclusion regarding sound quality prior to the magic 300 hour mark. No reason not to be patient. The hurrieder you go the behinder you get. It’s the reason why one person on Amazon gave the HIFIMAN HE-800S V2 earphones one star, because it had no bass and sounded terrible. Well, duh! He never heard of burn in.

I am saying you should expect the brightness to continue for at least 200 hours. Rome wasn’t built in a day. 😬 At this point in time my Grado 60s sound much better than the HE-600S V2s. And the Grados are relatively inexpensive headphones. The HIFIMANs are FAST, I’ll give them that! It is what it is.

If the 800S is anything like the 600S V2 it’s going to take longer time to burn them in. Much longer. For my new HE-600S V2 after 10 hours per day for 4 days the sound is still decidedly peaky and bright with no bass. As I mentioned somewhere along the line the reviewer of the HE600S V2 stated that no significant changes to bright bass-shy sound occurred until AFTER 200 hours of burn in and that 300 hours is probably about right for the burn in period. If my math is correct that would mean perhaps as much as 600 or 700 hours might be required for one person to do a proper evaluation of THREE such earphones.

glupson

"Kraftwerk sounds super duper."

Did you ever doubt it? You do not need some fancy earphones to figure that out.

>>>>You need to dig deeper, grasshopper. You’re just skimming the surface. 

I thought you just got the RE-800S. 

Making progress in burn in of my HiFiMan RE-600S V2 earbuds. Sounds more open today and more musical but still no bass and sound is quite synthetic and tinny. But it’s better than a couple days ago. Kraftwerk sounds super duper. I’m getting the feeling that the reviewer was probably correct, that this is going to take 300 hours.

Now you’re getting smart.

An old girlfriend of mine married a B-52 pilot. Coincidence? 

I just took a sneak listen on day three of burn in just to see how things were progressing, and shut my mouth and call me corn pone if it didn’t sound like music. No bass to speak of yet, but dynamic and not tinny sounding like yesterday. Of course, it’s the B-52’s right now and they always sound good. Nevertheless....

The HIFIMAN Sundara looks very interesting. Maybe if my EE-600S v2 don’t work out. I’ve only got 250 hours to go. So, anyway, what are some good CDs for breaking in headphones/earbuds? I’m using Kraftwerk, B-52s, Beastie Boys, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. Not that I’m actually listening to them, but you could. 🤗

Looks like I’m in for the full 300 hour burn-in. The reviewer was absolutely correct about the sound right out of the box. 🤮

Let’s get down to brass tacks. Here’s the link to the page where the sound and break in of the HIFIMAN RE-600S v2 are discussed. My order arrives today. 

https://theheadphonelist.com/hifiman-re-600s-v2-in-ear-earphone-review/3/

Looks like I’m going to have to gut it out. I just read a very comprehensive review of the HIFIMAN 600S V2 which, among other things, pointed out that 200 hours is required for break-in, the headphones sounding initially rather dry, anemic and bass shy. That would certainly explain the negative reviews, probably done by those who don’t believe in or ever heard of break-in.

I don’t necessarily believe anything I read about how things sound. 

That reminds me. Anyone know the burn-in time for earbuds? 😬

Thanks for posting. I just ordered the HIFIMAN 600S V2 with single crystal copper cable from Amazon for $99 free shipping.