SPECS:
http://www.hifiman.com/products/detail/178
Driver Type Single-sided Planar
Plug Type 6.35mm
Plug to headphones: 2.5mm TRS or Screw-on connectors
Cord Length 2.0m
Frequency Response 15 Hz – 50 kHz
Impedance 45 Ohms
Sensitivity 90 dB
Weight 375g
WHERE TO BUY / COST:
$899 new
OVERVIEW
The release of the HE-560 felt like an attempt to keep up with Audeze and bring wooden earcups into the HiFiMAN market. The HE-560 adds a strip of wooden veneer to the outside edge of the earcups, lowers the sensitivity by 3dB, and increases the impedance by 10 Ohms. Here are some of the goals that HiFiMAN lists for the HE-560.
- Premium quality, full-size planar magnetic headphone designed for reference use in the home or studio
- Light Weight & Comfortable
- Sense of Exuberance
- Ebony-decorated earcups for a ruch, classic look
How did HiFiMAN do in raising the bar in their planar line of headphones?
AESTHETICS
The shape and size of the 560 is similar to the 400i, but it does have .5 cm or so thicker earpads. The wooden veneer is where things start to feel cheap. Instead of adding wood elegantly to the earcups it looks and feels like an afterthought. If you are going to go for a “sense of exuberance” you need to step it up and go for something like the Audeze LCD-XC seen below. Add some gloss, add some thickness, and make it count! Otherwise just leave the wood off the headphone and justify the increase in price with clear improvements to the sound quality.
To me the 560 feels more like a solid piece of plastic than elegant wood and fine materials. I am truly disappointed in the feel of the 560 especially considering they are almost double the price of the 400i. The pair I tested even had the screw-on connectors making it awkward to get the cable to connect to each earcup. The 2.5mm connectors are the way to go!
ACOUSTICS
The 560 sounds similar to the 400i in that it has linear bass, an up-front midrange, and enough treble to capture chimes, bells, and brushstrokes. Where the 560 differs is in the upper midrange and treble. Playing pink noise quickly reveals some serious unevenness in the 560’s sound signature. I detected two peaks in the treble that made it sound brighter than the 400i. On some tracks this was pleasant and welcomed, but on others it added artificiality. The 560 artificially added air to some tracks and on others it made the treble sound uneven. The 400i is more neutral in this regard. The 400i is my top recommended desktop headphone. It is neutral sounding, has very linear bass, an even midrange, and perhaps just a db or two excessive reduction in the top treble.
CONCLUSION
The HE-560 is a headphone that should easily outperform the 400i. It misses in aesthetics as well as sound. It feels cheaply made for an $899 headphone and the sound signature is not improved over the cheaper 400i. Going from headphones like the Audeze LCD-2 to the LCD-3 obvious improvements are heard. In the case of the 560 vs the 400i the 560 sounds artificially enhanced just to sound different not better, more impactful, or resolving.
If you are looking at the 400s, 400i, and 560 the 400i is easily my top recommendation. It feels more robust than the 400s, sounds more neutral than both the 400s and 560, and will not cost twice as much just to put some wood veneer on the earcups. All of these headphones deserve a new cable because the stock cable that comes with the 400i is too rigid and has a 90-degree jackplug making it difficult to connect to an amp. The 560 cable is too long and bulky perhaps trying to justify the added cost.
LINKS
Headphone Reviews by NA Blur 