Best Headphone under 1k$?

As Geoff mentioned, Hifiman RE800S earphone sounds very fast and exciting.

With Cocktail Audio X12 music server and CD player, it is listenable while it sounds too bright to listen with Chord Dave.

Thus with some system matching, Hifiman earphone could be good value.

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 went back to Hifiman Sundara with Cocktail Audio X12 music server and CD player.

It sound much more musical than RE800s earphone with balanced and relaxing sound.

If somebody want to try out planar headphone for the first time, I recommend Sundara.

In the IEM space, the SHURE SE846 are amazing. $999, and they come in a few color versions. I have this clear pair myself.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DIUGW6A/ref=as_li_qf_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=simonb033-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B00DIUGW6A&linkId=d5a123cc791acdf40d284ed9181d641b 

Some reviewer claim that Hifiman RE2000s at 800$ is a bargain for the price.

But it also tend to sound on the bright side although not serious as RE800s.

Thus I had decided to try out Periodic Audio BE which appears to have soft treble.

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. 👀

Geoff

I agree with your overall opinion about Hifiman RE earphone.

It sound metallic and spitty but with fast and lively dynamics.

But Sundara is very musical which beat Grado SR60 that I tried last month handily.

If you can afford, Sundarda is a real deal at 350$.

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 is taking strange turn.

Hifiman RE 800S is listenable with more bass and tamed but fast treble after 70 hours of burn in.

Now I find sound from Sundara a little bit closed on top although it sounds very musical.

I use earphone when I work on Photoshop.

It is not comfortable to wear magnifying glass on headphone.

Thus I prefer earphone to headphone for my personal reason.

It may be too early to judge Periodic Audio BE IEM only after 10 hours of burn in.

But I prefer open and fast sound from Hifiman RE 800S to the neutral sound of Periodic Audio BE.

To experience the best earphone under 1K$, I placed an order for MASSDROP X EMPIRE EARS ZEUS UNIVERSAL IEM.

https://drop.com/buy/massdrop-x-empire-ears-zeus-universal-iems?mode=guest_open&utm_campaign=Transactional%3A%20Shipping%20Notification&utm_source=SparkPost&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Transactional%3A%20Shipping%20Notification&utm_content=1560968955870.083665385797592302809037&referer=67VW66

Thomas

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

Geoff

You may like Sundara.

It is a really good deal at 350$ with magical sound although slightly closed on top.


Now I may have to change the subject to "Best earphone under 1k$".


I placed an order for MASSDROP X EMPIRE EARS ZEUS UNIVERSAL IEM based upon following review.

https://headfonics.com/2016/03/the-zeus-by-empire-ears/

Tone onset has an accurate articulation – smooth and fast, and when properly driven Zeus displays excellent dynamics. The combination of its forward center midrange and high resolution creates a clear center image, while accentuating subtle effects of echo and reverberation – making them more present, while contributing to that sense of standing in a great hall. This resolving nature brings detail to the foreground, without having an analytical or bright tone. This reflects quality, as it is technically more challenging than simply ‘turning the light up’.

The soundstage is about average in width, but both tall and deep. It wouldn’t suffice to say imaging is excellent, for it has a precision and 3D feel that reflects an incredible degree of technical engineering. Instrument position is incredibly precise in the different layers spreading along the width and depth of the field, and together with the exceptionally high resolution provides a clear image of the instruments in space. Zeus inherently has a clean background and is highly transparent; although the warmth in the atmosphere is highly sensitive to the source, and can vary accordingly.

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.”

It seems that all earphones need lot of burn in time of least 50-100 hrs or more.

MASSDROP X EMPIRE EARS ZEUS UNIVERSAL IEM will arrive tomorrow after paying additional 15$.

But I can expect to do serious comparison between three earphones only after Saturday.

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? 

"...I’m using Kraftwerk, Beastie Boys, Zeppelin, things of that nature."

Why use music that is so similar? Led Zeppelin and Kraftwerk are like one.

Also worthy of consideration are Meze Audio Classic headphones at approx $300.

A nice lighter weight closed back set of cans, very efficient but very solid deep bass and tight mids, possibly a little soft on high treble.

I have been using for a few weeks now and quite content for home use.

The Klipsch I recommended earlier I use for travel.

Attention Headphone users and lovers!
Can Jam Southern California 2019 is this Saturday and Sunday June 22 and 23 at the Irvine, California Marriott Hotel.
Huge Number of  exhibitors. Many having special Show Pricing. I plan to be there both days.
David Pritchard

After burn in of 5 hours using Isotek Enhancer CD, I got blown away by the sound of MASSDROP X EMPIRE EARS ZEUS UNIVERSAL IEM.

1k$ earphone sounds like 30k$ Kef Blade speaker.

I will prepare detailed report during weekend.

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. 😛

Practical question is where do you draw the limit of waiting for burn-in/break-in. How do you decide when enough is enough and there is no improvement to be expected anymore? When does "not enough burn-in" become "these earphones are just not that good"?

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. 😳

"Actually, if I had a repeat button on my portable CD player..."

It is very odd if you do not have it. What model is it? I forgot.

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

I really do not remember ever seeing a CD player without a repeat option. Not that I have been keeping statistics, but check it.

Pretty sure that none of my CD players have a repeat function tbh.....

Then I may be wrong in my assumptions although you may have fancy stuff that got rid of conveniences for some reason. However, portable CD player is usually lower on the totem pole.

EDIT: Out of curiosity, I just checked Burmester BA 069 CD player. It has "repeat". It seems that it does not depend on how high on the totem pole the player is so my assumptions may be completely off.