Introduction

When I think of planar magnetic headphones, the first brand that now comes to my mind happens to be HIFIMAN. This isn't too surprising given the number of HIFIMAN headphones we've reviewed here to date, but also because the brand now has headphones at pretty much every price point you can think of. The likes of the HE400se and the Edition XS no doubt are bestsellers, although what gets them to that stage is newly developed technology from flagship sets trickling down the product line. Take HIFIMAN's stealth magnets, for example, which were first properly used in the $6000 Susvara, before entering the HE1000 series with the HE1000se and then again with the HE1000 Stealth. These two sets went for $3500 and $2000 before being discounted to their current prices of $1700 and $1200, respectively. This meant there was a large gap between the $1700 HE1000se and the $6000 Susvara to fit in a new product, and there was also new tech ready to trickle down too.


HIFIMAN surprised everyone earlier this year with the Susvara Unveiled, not only because it seemed nothing could ever replace the original Susvara—which ended up being true, that set continues to be manufactured and sold—but also with the drivers being exposed on the outside, or "unveiled" as the brand prefers to market them as. It's the most nervous I've ever been for any review and the months since revealed those drivers were less fragile than I originally thought, thankfully. Unveiling the drivers means you now have a fully open-back set which should not have any sound wave reflections off the grille that can otherwise detract from your listening experience. Memes were made about HIFIMAN unveiling other headphones, including the budget HE400se. I laughed at them, until I heard about the HE1000 Unveiled while I was in Shenzhen. You can think of this as effectively the HE1000se Unveiled thus, and we see once again the drivers are exposed on the outside. However, these feel a lot safer to handle owing to the larger "bezels" around, and the diaphragm is not very exposed either. This is promising in more ways than one then, given what we saw with the Susvara Unveiled on the sound signature side. Thanks to HIFIMAN for providing a review sample to TechPowerUp, as we begin this review with a look at the product specifications in the table below.

Specifications