Introduction

HIFIMAN is one of the most covered brands on TechPowerUp even outside of just the audio categories, such is the tenacity at which it releases products that leave a strong impression on our review team and audience alike. Indeed, of the 20+ HIFIMAN product reviews done to date, you will note the vast majority of them tend to be for the headphones it is most popular for. There are a few in-ear monitors covered too, including the occasional unique TWS set, but somehow this happens to be the first of HIFIMAN's closed-back headphones to be covered—unless you count the Edition S from a few years ago that was an open-back set with side-cover accessories that made it "closed-back," anyway. HIFIMAN makes and sells closed-back headphones in both dynamic and planar magnetic transducer types and they cost anywhere from $149 all the way to a whopping $5499! I have experience with a few of these and today we will talk about one of the newer releases in the form of the HE-R9.


Interested readers might want to first read our reviews of the HIFIMAN Deva as well as the EF400 DAC/amplifier. The original Deva released nearly three years ago and debuted with it a unique Bluemini Bluetooth DAC and amplifier accessory that you could connect to the headphones for a wireless experience. Then came the HIFIMAN HIMALAYA (also spelled as HYMALAYA in some places) R2R DAC chip that the company developed in-house as a scalable platform. We saw two HIMALAYA DACs used in the EF400 and made for a compelling pairing with some of the brand's headphones. However, it released first in the new Bluemini R2R that came with the Deva Pro that itself was an updated Deva unit. Now that you have some background on how we got to the Bluemini R2R, let's get on to the HE-R9 closed-back dynamic driver set that is analogous in allowing both wired or wireless connectivity depending on which version you purchase. HIFIMAN was kind enough to provide a sample of the HE-R9 Wireless that includes the Bluemini R2R accessory and we will cover everything in great detail in this review which begins with a look at the headphones specifications in the table below.

Specifications

Packaging and Accessories

HIFIMAN operates a web shop, and this sample shipped directly from the company, so we begin with the shipping packaging since this is how paying customers would receive the HE-R9. The shipping box is appropriately sized, although with HIFIMAN stickers on multiple sides and one mentioning the contents inside. I would rather see a stealthier approach, especially knowing these are expensive headphones. Inside is the product box, which comes in a shaped-to-fit bubble wrap with foam sheets on all sides for further protection from overzealous couriers.


We saw recently how HIFIMAN has changed its product packaging for most headphones in that they no longer get a two-piece thicker cardboard box with a banderole for aesthetics. Instead, the HE-R9 now gets a bare cardboard box with sticker labels which is ultimately an aesthetic downgrade, but thankfully remains functionally no different in still protecting the headphones inside. On the front is the company logo and product name with a sticker confirming this uses HIFIMAN's topology diaphragm, which we will talk more about soon, as well as a small render of the headphones. Product specifications are on the side with the back taken up by another view of the headphones and their salient marketing features. Seals on the sides keep the contents inside in place, and opening the box reveals an accessory box at the top that has QR codes for warranty, registration, and general product support, in addition to social media pages for the company. We do not get a printed headphones manual now, with the product serial numbers now located on the side of the accessory box. You can still access an online copy of the manual for the headphones here if you are interested.


Inside the accessory box is the expected headphones cable itself and the wired-only version of the HE-R9 will stop here. The wireless version comes with more goodies in the form of the Bluemini R2R add-on, a USB Type-C to Type-A cable for both charging the Bluemini and using it as a wired USB DAC/amp unit, as well as a printed manual for the accessory! I highly recommend going through this given you will need to know how to use the single button on the underside to power it on/off as well as to set it in pairing mode for Bluetooth connectivity. The Bluemini R2R adopts the same form factor and footprint as the original Bluemini so you can use it with all headphones that were originally compatible with the older Bluemini too. It's primarily composed on plastic and and has a truncated HIFIMAN logo on an extension piece along with R2R on the front to help distinguish it from the older unit. There's an indicator LED and a Type-C port on the underside and it connects to the headphones via a male 3.5 mm TRRS plug.


The headphones no longer come with a cloth-wrapped foam/plastic container and instead we get machined foam throughout as previously seen. This comes to good use because HIFIMAN has made one of the foam pieces removable and it just so happens to be shaped like a headphone stand. Indeed, it's a janky solution but one that works enough to where you can now go from having the headphones inside the box to outside on your desk quite easily. The bottom of this foam piece has anti-slip rubber too.