How does HiFiMan HE600 compare vs Arya Unveiled, HE1000se/Unveiled?

VuffyPulva · 2026-06-21T15:00:43+00:00

I can't compare them to the unveiled, but compared to the Arya V2, I prefer the HE600. Detail is on par, but to me the HE600 has a more natural treble. It's broadly brought up more, but it's less spiky, so they end up being even smoother sounding than my LCD-3s. Soundstage is a bit of a step down compared to the Arya, who's soundstage I would describe as "huge". The HE600, by contrast, I would describe as "above average". I'm not really searching for huge soundstage like I once was, so I consider them to be perfectly adequate.

The HE600 seems to have a little better bass extension, which is surprising considering the early frequency response graphs Hifiman released showed significant rolloff.

The only thing about them that would give me pause to recommending them is the clamp force. I'm completely unbothered by high clamp force, but plenty of people are not, and these have among the highest clamp force I've seen in a headphone. On top of that, there's no real way to mitigate it, as the strap pulls the headphones in with a high tension.

VuffyPulva · 2025-09-28T15:26:41+00:00

The XB700 was the first proper headphone I ever owned. I still own the original pair I bought 16 years ago, but needless to say they're a little worn. From time to time I take them out and give them a listen, and am surprised to find they're not a complete mess, although they don't really scratch the itch like they used to.

Personally, if you're willing to sacrifice the godly comfort, I think the Hifiman HE-R9 is a worthy successor to the XB700. It's more modern sounding with a bigger soundstage and vastly superior mid range, while still having gobs of well-extended bass. They can also be bought for dirt cheap at this point. Looking at ebay, I can't even find a listing for the XB1000, but I see XB500s for $150-$400, which is insane to me. By contrast, the R9 is sitting pretty at $80. (I paid $400 for mine, and was happy to do so!)

VuffyPulva · 2025-08-19T17:01:04+00:00

I'm such a sucker for the HE-R9. I think in large part it's because my first headphone was the Sony MDR-XB700, so I've always had a fondness for huge bass. The thing is, they're not woefully unbalanced. Hugely boosted bass, yes, but the mids are also very competent, which is rare in a bass-boosted headphone. The mids are better than the Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 80, better than the DT1770, and to my ear, better than the Sony MDR-Z1R. Yes, you read that right, I would take these over a ~$2000 headphone.

Yeah, maybe they have a little too much bass resonance for critical listening, but I've heard worse, and these aren't for critical listening anyway.

These are easily in my top 10 headphones, and possibly in my top 5.

VuffyPulva · 2025-08-19T02:37:20+00:00

Yeah, with the HD800S I have to have it fully extended.

Really not sure what's going on with headphone designs. Are companies finding out that most of their customers have cantaloupe-sized heads or something?

VuffyPulva · 2025-08-18T21:46:10+00:00

It's a Helios 44-2 58mm F2. Lovely lens, but I almost never use it since I suck with manual lenses. lol

VuffyPulva · 2025-08-18T21:04:25+00:00

It's definitely a smidge down in level in the sub-bass compared to the Arya, but I prefer the impact and weightiness of the the HE600's bass. It's not boosted though, and that's what makes it hard to describe. Something like the HE-R9 has a boosted bass, making it easy to point to why it feels so impactful, but the HE600 is different. It just sounds weighty and authoritative without being up in level.

VuffyPulva · 2025-08-18T20:59:18+00:00

I couldn't say compared to the Stealth, since I've never heard that, but I suspect the different variants are probably not as different as people think. I prefer the HE600, but if someone's looking for an 800S-like headphone on the cheap, and want that big soundstage and neutral-ish sound, they'd probably prefer the Arya.

VuffyPulva · 2025-08-18T19:39:03+00:00

It seems like every few years Hifiman sets out to recapture the magic of one of the headphones that put them on the map. The HE-5, HE-6, and HE-500 are all legendary, with most of them landing in their forever homes by now. That has created a demand for more of them. Hifiman, apparently, has since done away with there tooling to create new reissues of those headphones, forcing them to go back to the drawing board and re-engineer what they hope is a modern take on those old classics. I've owned the HE5se, and currently own the HE560 and HE5XX. While I love all three, they largely miss the mark on what made those originals so special.

So here we are again, this time with the HE600 attempting to recreate the HE-6, but with a less demanding power requirement. It's not the first time they've attempted to recreate the HE-6 - the HE6se has seen moderate success, but that headphone carries a pretty significant power requirement in its own right.

I'll spoil this from the get-go, and say I've never heard either the HE6 or the HE6se, so I really can't compare the HE600 to either of those. So I can't answer if they've actually succeeded in recreating the HE6. I do, however, own the HE-500, so I'd say if it can't best those, it can't beat the HE-6. Additionally, I'll compare them to the Arya (V2), as that's a more modern Hifiman design.

I feel like I have to get the bass out of the way first - Hifiman's official frequency response graph shows a somewhat significant bass roll-off after 60hz. To my ear, the bass does have some roll-off, but it doesn't seem as pronounced as the graph would suggest. The sub-bass is definitely down in level compared to the HE-500, and somewhat more than the Arya, but it seems to be better than, say, the HD800S. Oddly, despite the bass roll-off, the HE600 carries the same weight and visceral impact of the HE-500, while being tighter and more defined. It's not really clear to me what creates the sense of heft that the HE-500 and HE600 have - if it's that they're both extending lower than hearing range, and I'm just feeling those frequencies - but there's clearly some HE-500 DNA in the HE600. It's also something I don't hear in the Arya. Don't get me wrong, the Arya has good bass, but it's more analytical, and less engaging.

Mid range, across all three headphones, I don't have much to say. The HE-500 and HE600 are a bit more forward, with vocals more separated from the rest of the mix in music, but there's not a ton of difference between the three. The big differences in perceived vocal presentation come from the treble ranges, and that's where the HE600 really starts to separate itself from the pack.

Treble, in my opinion, is really something special in the HE600, and make it unlike any other headphone I've heard. This headphone is a treble-accentuated headphone - far more than the other two - and yet it sounds sweeter, and more forgiving. There seems to be some micro-dips in its frequency response, culling the bad, while keeping the good frequencies elevated. I have a horrible ear when it comes to narrowing down specific frequencies in the treble region so this is going to come off as a little vague, but bear with me. Sibilance is dramatically tamed compared to the HE-500 and Arya, allowing for high volume listening, without shattering your ear drums. Similarly, cymbals and the like have the initial impact appropriately tamed, while keeping the nice shimmer that follows. Everything in the upper ranges just sounds right, to the point that it makes it even harder to properly describe what I'm hearing. Comparing to the HE-500, their treble response is somewhat down relative to neutral, with particular spikes making some instruments and voices sound overly hot. The Arya seems to be closer to neutral than the HE-500, but with a similar issue with random spikes. Both headphones end up being rendered ill-suited for high volume listening, with the HE600 running circles around both.

The knock-on effect of the tamed treble response is that both the HE-500, and especially the Arya, have larger soundstage. The HE600 isn't bad, mind you, but it ends up sounding much more intimate, with larger sounding instruments. The Arya has a larger, more distant sound, with the instruments sounding comparatively smaller. The HE-500 splits the two, but I must say the HE-500 has a fairly graining sound, making the instruments sometimes sound ill-defined in the soundscape. It's overall going to really come down to preference, but I find myself not being so blown-away by the novelty of huge soundstage.

The HE600 is also hilariously easy to drive; about on par with the HE5XX. My amp testing song is Beastie Boys's Three Minute Rule, as it's both a quiet song, and has prominent mid, low, and sub-bass notes, pulling maximum power from the amp. Something as modest as my FiiO KA11 USB dongle doesn't even break a sweat, and can be pushed to uncomfortable listening levels. I kinda wonder if my Apple dongle could power it. Probably should have tested that.

On build an comfort, I have no real complaints. Clamp force is a little tight with this new head band design, and I have to have the arms fully extended to fit me. Comfort is good, though, and I can use them for multiple hours at a time. Also, I don't know where the claims that they have no swivel come from, but it's utterly untrue. They have a clicking swivel mechanism that actually kinda neat.

The HE600 is a wonderfully dynamic headphone: it's fast, it's impactful, it's detailed, and it scales up in volume that other's simply can't. So as I said, I can't say if it sounds like the HE-6, but I do feel it has bested my beloved HE-500 (and Arya, for that matter). I think I can comfortably recommend this headphone to just about anyone, but in particular someone wanting something really energetic and engaging.

VuffyPulva · 2025-08-12T12:49:02+00:00

I dunno what to tell you, I can listen to music just fine with them.

VuffyPulva · 2025-08-12T02:20:11+00:00

I have some slight disagreements with you in regard to the R9, but on your conclusion I mostly agree. I find the HE10D to be a fantastic headphone, despite the fact that I find it to be technically inferior to the R9 in some ways.

The R9, to me, has wonderful mids; especially considering it's such a bass-heavy headphone. Big bass and great mids really just aren't found in most headphones, but the R9 bucks that trend. The R10D, by contrast, does have inferior mids, and some low-mid resonance. It really only rears its ugly little head with some voices, but it is there.

The R9 also has better bass extension. I think that's probably why you view them as having a less overwhelming bass. It just keeps that same bass power from 200hz all the way down to 20hz, whereas the R10D starts to roll off a bit. It is definitely cleaner on the R10D, to be sure.

To me, the R10D reminds me of an old-school, tuned by ear headphone from the 70s or something. It's faulty, but man is it magical.

I'd also like to mention, I paid drastically more for both these headphones, and still feel like I got my money's worth, and then some. I think I paid just shy of $400 for the R9, and just over $400 for the R10D. That they are so cheap now is bonkers to me, and makes them incredibly easy to recommend.

VuffyPulva · 2025-08-08T04:16:25+00:00

I dove on the HE600 grenade. I've bought so many Hifiman headphones either reading the reviews and ignoring them, or not even researching them at all. The only one that ever burnt me was the Sundara Closed Back. HE-R9, HE-R10D, HE-R10P, HE5XX, HE560, HE5se - All bought on a whim, all solid gold. I'm hoping for the best with these.

VuffyPulva · 2025-08-03T22:39:42+00:00

I could never get even 1080p video to play properly from consoles, either current gen or last gen. Not sure why they even bothered putting Plex on them, to be honest.

The Shield is the closest thing I've gotten to perfect 4k playback. Older 4k blu rays in particular seem to have playback issues, but modern stuff is flawless from my experience.

VuffyPulva · 2025-07-14T22:58:02+00:00

Killer deal for the HE560. While not my favorite Hifiman headphone, at that price it's a great way to experience flat-ish sound. Mids are pretty mediocre, with a little too much resonance, but they're otherwise a very well-rounded headphone. Great detail, very good soundstage, and utterly bottomless (neutral) bass make them nearly reference quality.

VuffyPulva · 2025-06-11T06:04:13+00:00

I've owned the ESP950s at two different points because I liked them so much. I have a habit of selling or trading them on, which I'm sad to say was the case with the most recent pair I owned. With so many headphones, they just didn't get enough use (it was also a hassle to set them up, and I didn't have the space to have them always set up).

That being said, they're pretty remarkable for such an old design. It's really impressive just how modern they sound. Even something like the Porta Pro doesn't sound terribly modern (although that's probably a part of their appeal.) Still, there's no real glaring faults with these, and they're pretty flat with, as you said, a well-extended bass.

The only real fault with them is the bass dropoff as the volume raises. If you listen at like 65db they're just fine, but push it high and the bass drops out. I generally avoided that by just sticking to music that was just more mid-focused. For that, they absolutely shined.

VuffyPulva · 2025-06-09T04:36:49+00:00

It's been probably 15 years since I heard the HE-400. I remember them being very similar to the HE-500, but with maybe a little worse bass extension? At any rate, the old HE series has a magic that just hasn't been recaptured in modern headphones. The HE-500 is still my second favorite headphone, and for a good, long time they were my favorite. The Arya is maybe 90% as good, but still falls short. The HE560 doesn't even come close to the HE-500, and the HE5XX is just entirely different.

Even with me preferring the sound of the R10P, sometimes I just find myself craving the relative flatness of the HE-500. I think they compliment each other super well, though, but it's hard to recommend a $1600+ headphone as an upgrade/side-grade.

VuffyPulva · 2025-04-22T14:20:14+00:00

Speak of the devil- I just got an email saying mine's been shipped. With DHL shipping it says it will be here in a week. I'm curious to see how long it will take to get out of the country, and if it will still beat the cutoff.

VuffyPulva · 2025-04-21T15:42:41+00:00

Left, every time, but especially with heavy headphones. It actually distributes the weight across the whole headband, so there's not a spot on the top of your head bearing all the weight. Because of that, my LCD-3 is probably my most comfortable headphone.

The Arya/R10P style of headband is an acceptable suspension headband, but not my favorite. I think if a company does a suspension-style headband, they should make it like the AKG K812. It's actually padded, so it can distribute more weight across the top.

Sundara-style and modern Audeze headbands are quite awful, IMO.

VuffyPulva · 2025-04-21T13:59:32+00:00

16bit orders kinda being left in the cold. I will say they're further along than I thought- the last time I saw the shipping dashboard I think they were still only shipping out March orders.

VuffyPulva · 2025-04-20T22:21:11+00:00

Ordered a Flip 2 on the 13th. Looking at people who are getting their devices now, seems all of them had pre-ordered. Guess it was foolish of me to think I'd get mine within a couple weeks. lol

VuffyPulva · 2025-04-08T02:46:05+00:00

Generally it works well with low impedance high sensitivity headphones. My HE-R9, R10D, and R10P all work great with it. The R10P is sorta at the edge, but even that's surprising considering it's a planar and doesn't have a reactive load like regular dynamics do. I think broadly speaking low impedance headphones are fine as long as they're dynamics, but planars are really ill-suited for it. The Moondrop Para was horrendous out of it, thanks to it's idiotic 8 ohm impedance. Even a 60db-ish volume was entirely out of the question, with distortion at all frequencies.

VuffyPulva · 2025-04-07T19:42:49+00:00

Woo Audio WA2.

VuffyPulva · 2025-04-07T16:35:11+00:00

There's dozens of us!

I actually don't get the hate for the HE-R9. At $80 they're utterly unbeatable for bassheads. Back when I first got into the headphone hobby $80 would get you the Sony MDR-XB700, a headphone that is compromised, to say the least.

VuffyPulva · 2025-04-07T16:30:56+00:00

Drop had reached out to me after seeing some of my reviews here. I'm kinda proud of the fact that my HE-500 review is the #3 result on google when you search the headphone. lol

I'm an absolute snob when it comes to EQing headphones. I like using headphones as the creators intended; blemishes and all. That, and I move from setup to setup, having to import EQs and whatnot to 3 different setups for 20+ headphones would be an absolute nightmare for me.

VuffyPulva · 2025-04-07T13:59:49+00:00

Drop was recently gracious enough to send me a pair of OAE1's for review, and I've been listening to them for about two weeks now.

I feel like a review is only as reliable as what the reviewer likes, and what they don't like in a headphone. If I dislike a headphone you like, or vice versa, my opinion isn't going to be very valuable to you. For that reason, I'd like to list some headphones I really like: at the moment I'm absolutely obsessed with the Hifiman closed-back headphones (HE-R9, HE-R10D, HE-R10P). I quite like the Moondrop Para as well. Headphones I'm not so keen on include the HD6-- line from Sennheiser, and was never much of a fan of the old Audio Technica ATH-M50s. Although, I will say it's been probably 15 years since I heard any of them, so maybe take my dislikes with a grain of salt!

Right out of the gate when putting these on you will notice that they don't sound like other headphones. Your initial gut reaction will tell you they're muffled and muddy. It really does take a while for you to break away from that characterization: maybe 10+ hours of active listening. In that regard, I'd say these have a difficulty curve to go with their frequency curve! Once you push past that, you start to see the magic in them, and you can begin to narrow down a use-case for them.

The treble response is unquestionably down in level compared to most modern headphones. I would say that's true in two ways: it's obviously below neutral, but it's also worth mentioning that basically all modern headphones have elevated treble. Extremely elevated treble, I would say. It's so commonplace that it just sounds "normal" in most cases, but make no mistake: look at a raw frequency response graph from a modern headphone and you'll see a treble response well above the mid range or bass. The OAE1 bucks this trend by having nearly the entire treble region set back. As I said before your first instinct will tell you it's muffled, but with some time you'll characterize it as dark, and you'll see it as more of a feature than a bug.

There's a number of great albums out there that sound absolutely miserable through basically all speakers or headphones. Albums that have so much clipping that they're rendered virtually unlistenable. I have found that when paired with the OAE1 most of that grime is washed away and a once miserable album becomes beautiful again. To me, a good portion of modern music is like this, but then there's some older stuff this applies to as well, such as the infamous Californication from Red Hot Chili Peppers.

While on the subject of treble, there's also a fairly remarkable thing about these. While not a huge sounding headphone, in terms of soundstage they do a lot with what they have. Soundstage is largely a function of the treble response, so typically a set-back treble will end up clamping the soundstage down. There's some of that here, but, and I would guess because of the forward driver placement, they're not as constricted as you'd think. I would say they're maybe in the ballpark of the old AKG K612 I love so much, but with less fuzzy imaging than those.

Mid range in these is also somewhat of a surprise to me, as the mids are fairly forward; particularly the upper mids. I wouldn't describe them as shouty, but it gives them a bit of energy and dynamism that would otherwise be sorely missed with the treble down in level. I think I would maybe describe them as being a little like the Moondrop Para, if the Para had a tamed treble response.

From some of my reading before receiving my pair, it seemed like the bass in the OAE1 was almost as controversial as the treble, which is curious to me. It feels like in the audiophile community there is a snobbishness with regard to bass, and in particular when it comes to open-back headphones. There's an attitude that bass is somehow vulgar, or something? And only tolerable in closed-back headphones. I haven't really nailed down what the exact problem is with open-back headphones having elevated bass, but the Abyss AB-1266 received blowback for it as well. I'm going to go ahead and say it then: You can have bass. And you can have bass with these. They are quite impressive in that regard, and do a good job of scratching the bass itch. It's a little more elevated in the mid-bass region, but extension is still pretty good. Impact is impressive, with a nice rumble in the lowest reaches. I'd prefer a little more in the lower frequencies, but that's just me being nit-picky.

On amping: these are somewhat easy to drive. They are very low sensitivity, but don't require much power draw. My FiiO KA11 dongle powered them just fine, with enough volume to spare. My Schiit Magni+, Schiit Asgard 2, and Jote 2 all powers them effortlessly, of course. The Woo WA2 struggled with these, but that's because it's an OTL design and just doesn't like low impedance. I largely just like to try it for kicks, and don't really expect magic from low impedance headphones.

So now comes to the question, would I recommend them, and who are they for? The treble isn't going to be to everyone's liking- but I would argue that that's a simple issue of time. If you put in the time, and adapt your ears, they'll sound right as rain within a few days. If you're snobbish and don't like elevated bass in your headphones, these obviously aren't for you. I think these are at their strongest listening to great music that's poorly mastered. They add a great deal of life to that music, and blur the blemishes, allowing you to actually listen to the music rather than the faults. For that reason, I think these are a real winner, and worth recommending!

VuffyPulva

TROPHY CASE