[cute]

Disappointing....with the quality issues, these were priced too high, imo!

 

[TMRaven]

You also thought it was disappointing that you had to wait a week before they were shipped to you on a preorder.

 

[ieee754]

I ordered the headphone too, and so far I'm very impressed with the sound. Finally, after many trials and errors, a headphone that sounds right in every way! I'll try to write more about sound quality later. However, I have some issues with the product quality:
- there was no Owner's Guide book inside the box
- few scratches on box (but I don't see any drilled holes anywhere), and a small one on one of the wooden cups
- one of the cups is more glossy than the other (if someone has the same problem maybe we could trade them )
 
Pads have perfect size for me, but I have a rather small ears (5.7mm in length), the only issues I have is that velour is itching my skin a bit if I move them often, and that the surface of material inside the pads is touching my ears. I'm very surprised how soft these pads are, I think these are the most comfortable headphones I have ever worn.
 
I hope that there is nothing wrong with the sound, and the fix involves only yokes/pads improvement.

 

[akarise]

I've pretty much come to accept that I'm not gonna have the final version of these for at least another month. The good news is that everyone who ordered directly from Head-Direct have basically become beta-testers so that I won't have to go through the same trouble haha. In the meantime, I'm going to focus on upgrading my portable setup 

 

[conquerator2]

The fix almost certainly is only to fix minor structural or comfort issues...
I expect the SQ to remain unchanged

 

[akarise]

Oh yeah I'm not worried about the sound quality at all, I'm confident that's gonna be top notch. But having a final version with all the minor build/comfort issues smoothed out will definitely put my mind at ease.

 

[grizzlybeast]

That's probably because the bar has recently been raised a good bit by Oppo.
It's good to put thing into perspective: Hifiman never excelled in that area. The HE-560 is their most advanced design. The headband and ear pads are terrific! The build quality is miles away from my first HE-4.

With comfort covered, what matters is sound and durability: while I can't say much for the later, sound is an area where these headphone shine.

No offense but I am not buying it.

Wood finish scrapes, boxes w/holes and scratches,pad stitching, cup cracks.... None of that applies to any Hifiman after the he-5.

 

[conquerator2]

People shouldn't forget that these are all, technically, pre-production or maiden production units. The first batch [which is the first batch that will be sent to US dealers as well] has been postponed a few times due to the issues found with the first samples and pre-production models.
I still think that no headphones should have been sold to costumers yet and HFM only really wanted to keep this "pre-batch" for the review testers and samplers.
But some people complained and threatened to even cancel the pre-order possibly, so HFM gave way...
Hence their e-mails saying "if anything is wrong, please let us know", etc.
That's my insight on it at least...
 
We're still waiting for the official release, in a way.

 

[7ryder]

  People shouldn't forget that these are all, technically, pre-production or maiden production units. The first batch [which is the first batch that will be sent to US dealers as well] has been postponed a few times due to the issues found with the first samples and pre-production models.
I still think that no headphones should have been sold to costumers yet and HFM only really wanted to keep this "pre-batch" for the review testers and samplers.
But some people complained and threatened to even cancel the pre-order possibly, so HFM gave way...
Hence their e-mails saying "if anything is wrong, please let us know", etc.
That's my insight on it at least...
 
We're still waiting for the official release, in a way.

While a few people received units with the original pads before the rest of us received our headphones this week, there was no communication to those of us that pre-ordered that we were getting pre-production units or that we'd be beta testers, so these are not prototypes and should be the "final" version . So these quality control issues shouldn't be occurring.
 
That said, these headphones do sound very good...I really don't want to have to send them back due to these quality issues but I might since they shouldn't show wear on the cups out of the box.

 

[conquerator2]

  While a few people received units with the original pads before the rest of us received our headphones this week, there was no communication to those of us that pre-ordered that we were getting pre-production units or that we'd be beta testers, so these are not prototypes and should be the "final" version . So these quality control issues shouldn't be occurring.
 
That said, these headphones do sound very good...I really don't want to have to send them back due to these quality issues but I might since they shouldn't show wear on the cups out of the box.

Mkay :] I am hoping for the best.

 

[.Sup]

Pads have perfect size for me, but I have a rather small ears (5.7mm in length), the only issues I have is that velour is itching my skin a bit if I move them often, and that the surface of material inside the pads is touching my ears. I'm very surprised how soft these pads are, I think these are the most comfortable headphones I have ever worn.

I hope that there is nothing wrong with the sound, and the fix involves only yokes/pads improvement.

Ah its disappointing that velour is still the itching kind. Ive tried many velours with many phones but those from Hifiman are just unusable for me. If anyone wants to trade his pleather pads for my still sealed velour let me know.

 

[tuna47]

They are no longer listed for preorder on the Hifiman web site think we may be in for a longer than expected delay but a better product

 

[Clemmaster]

Ah its disappointing that velour is still the itching kind. Ive tried many velours with many phones but those from Hifiman are just unusable for me. If anyone wants to trade his pleather pads for my still sealed velour let me know.

It is not of the itching kind at all for me.
The previous "hard" velour were, definitely.
 
Those are more like I remember the first plushy velour pads that came with the HE-4 (in its early days).

 

[.Sup]

It is not of the itching kind at all for me.
The previous "hard" velour were, definitely.

Those are more like I remember the first plushy velour pads that came with the HE-4 (in its early days).

I got my HE-4 when they were released and it was hard itching velour. The HE-300 were softer and less itching. Maybe there are more versions for HE-4, I don't know. But the member above said it itches him.

 

[Nankai]

 
Disappointing....with the quality issues, these were priced too high, imo!

 
Hi cute,
 
I am following your posts and I hope I can help you. We apologize that the box you got is not as clean and we will fix this issue ASAP.  The mixed velour and leather design on earpad improve sound quality a lot. However this mixed structure is complicated and can not be mass produced from manufacture line. The holes on the bottom of the packing box is to balance air pressure on both side of the nano-meter grade thickness diaphragm. Listening to a pair of headphones and enjoying music should be full of fun. If HE560 made you feel so uncomfortable, why not return for full refund? We will be happy to help you. If you decide to do so, please email your order info to my email fang@hifiman.com.
 
Best,
Fang