Planar Magnetics, are they all overpriced?

You haven't heard the HE-6 to their potential. FWIW crappy bass and hot/tizzy treble might be symptomatic of unmodded or underdriven pairs.

Mods to the stock HE-6 are about as compulsory as mods to the stock HD 800. Since the latter is hardly criticized for its stock deficiencies anymore, I find it disheartening for the former to be misjudged for its unmodded flaws. It's truly a shame that @ohhgourami's HE-6 mods are somewhat involved and cannot be neatly packaged into some kind of SBAF kit so that more people might be acquainted with the wonderfully resolving, neutral, slamming nature of its potential.

Haven't spent enough time with other orthos to fairly judge them, but I think the HE-6 represents a great value in the context of the current personal audio market. Easily stands up to the likes of the HD 800, SR-007, etc. for potentially far lower overall system cost.

 

That maybe the case for a modded HE-6 but a headphone needs to be judged in its stock form because not everyone is interested or comfortable doing mods.

That type of sound seems to be quite popular in the audio community(Boosted treble, slightly lean) so I'm probably in the minority for not being too keen. I used to own the HE-500 and thought they were fantastic for the price I bought them for.

 

I would argue that both the stock and modded characteristics of a headphone should be acknowledged, moreso if the mods are fairly popular (as the HD 800's and HE-6's are). If one or the other is not evaluated it becomes an omission of either the baseline or potential respectively. As an aside unfortunately I haven't modded the HE-6 myself so I'm not sure if the qualities you describe were due to them being unmodded or driven by unsuitable amplification.

I think many of the folks here prefer a neutralish to slightly warm signature. Hot treble is a no-no.

 

I would like to hear a modded HE-6 if it's as good as people say. I've personally always like the musical sound of a large driver planars over most dynamics.

There's a store local to me that still has new HE-6's in stock but they are pretty expensive.

 

I'm assuming you're the one who just bought the LCD-X in the SBAF classifieds. Curious to hear your eventual take on them.

 

Don't mention or try to miss HE6, alright? Something happened within HFM, I dont know much details, all i can say is, the guy who created Jade is kinda removed from the center-group in the HFM, all cans after He6 (ie. from the he560) are all tuned by Fang himself. The Jade guy is kinda embarrassed altou he still is part of HFM, last year a guy in Peking just partnered the Jade guy to make speakers (but this Jade guy now still is a part of HFM), that's another story. The guy in Peking was a hifi reviewer, the Jade guy helps him improving the crossover parts. The Jade guy is also making (DIY) Maggie-like speaker himself. And this Maggie-like stuff will be HFM speaker.

 

Nice to know that Corporate drama is universal.

Anyway, I think that an old beat up pair of LC-2r2s is the best valued planar you can find. Yeah, you roll the planar lottery when you buy, but you can get some damn good cans for a good price that way. HE-6 is great, but, not quite as good of a value proposition. I actually haven't heard the new HE-400 models, so I can't comment on them right now. I might get to hear them at canmania, but I'll probably be too caught up watching over my gear to actually try anyone else's systems.

 

It's kinda sad that Audeze and Hifiman rule the market. They both have absolutely horrible QC and specifically Audeze has inacceptable levels of product variation.
I must take a closer look at Oppo...

 

They rule a market? Let's come back to reality and admit Audeze is a boutique manufacturer in a warehouse and Hifiman is dependent on selling through enthusiast channels. Fostex is the only manufacturer of planar headphones that vaguely compete sales wise with Sony, AKG (Harman), Beyerdynamic, and Sennheiser. Sennheiser also sells way more headphones than the others and is the biggest manufacturer outside of some OEM that mainly makes telephone headsets and low-fi crap like Skullcandy and Beats on the side.

If planar (and electrostatic) technology were all that, then why would every big manufacturer drop it in the 80s for audiophile headphones with the exception of the Orpheus? Much of the Orpheus R&D was housing engineering that led to the HD 580/600/650 and their little brothers. Many companies build great drivers (Fostex, Focal, AT, Sennheiser, even Koss and Sony) but who else really engineers headphone housings like that? Most of these guys just use the same molds and OEM suppliers they've always used and just care if the headphone sounds "decent" to put a semi-competitive product on the shelves. You can go on Alibaba and source the same wooden cups that Fostex uses. AKG and AT headphone housings were always about form over function and the less said about Beyer, the better.

 

Very happy with my modded HEK I got used for a decent hunk of change less than $3K...don't knock it till you try it

 

ZMF headphones (at least the Vibro and Blackwood, haven't heard the others) are great for the money. I really enjoy my Vibro mk2.

 

Talos are pretty damn awesome for the $200 + Shipping I paid for them, not much behind TH-X00s imo

 

I agree with the last 2 posts, the talos represents an extremely good value in the modded fostex group, while the ZMF's are my favorite closed headphones and hold up very very well in dollar to dollar comparisons. The high value to performance ratio ones are out there, just like dynamics, orthos, and even stats. Plus, value is all in the hands of the consumer.

 

Many planars are too expensive, new.

If I'd bought my pair of LCD-2.1's new, they'd been expensive. (Buy used!) But, they are better than my sold pair of HD650's and my HD600's. The latter is maybe flatter and better for music production, but the Senns surely aren't the pair I wear when I want to enjoy music.

 

I was referring to Planars only. Audeze and Hifiman rule the current Planar market.

 

I have yet to like any modern planar except the HE-6, for what its worth, and only after mods...

 

All I know is I'd buy the PMx2 in a heartbeat if it was circumaural and probably sell most/all my other headphones. I loved it when I demoed it, but it hurt my ears after a while, just like my not-at-all-missed Grados.

 

interesting, i thought the pmx2 wasn't on ear. good to know!

 

It's probably circumaural if you have regular or small ears. I do not, so they sat on part of mine and hurt after a while. Not on-ears by any means. Pads are super comfortable too.