Drop x Hifiman HE-35X

Discussion in 'Headphones' started by ChaChaRealSmooth, Aug 5, 2019.

  1. ChaChaRealSmooth

    ChaChaRealSmooth SBAF's Mr. Bean

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    I'll admit; I used to have a stigma against buying anything Hifiman. I shied away due to anecdotes of terrible build quality and terrible customer service, and also didn't think that what I was reading about their sound was something I'd enjoy. But I'm a terribly curious individual, so when Drop featured the HE-35X at its introduction price of $90, I kind of thought "why the frick not?" (coincidentally I also picked up a HE-560 as part of a trade, which I'll touch on here in comparisons and also update the relevant thread at a later date).

    There's no getting around it; the HE-35X is just about the cheapest feeling audiophile headphone I've ever felt, but at least feels reasonably solidly constructed. I think the only metal part of the construction is the spring steel of the headband, and everything else is pleather and plastic (even the grills on the back of the cups are plastic). Granted, it's meant to be super inexpensive, so I'm willing to let a lot of this slide; after all, what did I really expect (especially coming from a ZMF...). As stated before, it at least feels reasonably solid and definitely far away from "falling apart in hands at any second."

    In the box, it comes with a cable that's terminated in a right-angle 3.5 mm. It does include an adapter for 1/4 inch. I'm assuming that this was designed this way for use with portable players, but for desktop amp use this design sucks. Granted, it's a tradeoff, and I don't hold this against the headphone. The connectors look a bit like 3.5 mm stereo plugs (one per ear; my Focal Clear cables don't fit).

    Soundwise, it's actually not bad. Being a dynamic driver, it doesn't exhibit any of the planar weirdness, and I actually think it has better timbre than the HE-560, which to me sounds somewhat dry. It's far, far from neutral, and actually reminds me a bit of the Thinksound On2 in terms of tonality, but open-backed. A v-shaped signature that's fun and pleasing, but can be kind of harsh with some recordings, and also loses out on some resolve and details.

    In the bass, the midbass is boosted somewhat similarly to the HD 650, but does sound reasonably clean. It kind of has one texture, but does a decent job differentiating pitch. This actually makes it play nice with some of the crappy modern music out there. Extension is alright; perhaps extends just a touch more than the HD 650 (for the record though, the HD 650 has much better bass in terms of quality; I'm just using it here as a reference point).

    Mids are a bit recessed in comparison to the midbass and treble. I think the midbass bleeds some ways into the mids, more than even stock HD 650, making it actually take on some amount of warmth and "thickness" in the sound (not thick by timbre though). It does have a bit of a high mid/low treble dip, making voices and most instruments sound far away. However, the dip doesn't seem to make vocals sound completely like trash (it seems like female vocals in particular suffer because they're missing the higher harmonics associated with female voices, and this carries over to violins).

    Trebles are sparkly a la Hifiman, but the mid treble at least doesn't sound really harsh, grating, or peaky. Or if the peaks are there, they either don't seem to be in areas that bother me, or are more like the Auteur where the peak is more like a large hill that's broad (look at the Auteur measurements thread if you don't know what I'm talking about). The treble is the area I think where the HE-35X shows the least amount of resolve; the percussion hits just kind of seem there without much definition.

    In terms of cohesiveness, the mids and bass, despite the bass bleed, does seem to at least fit in with each other. The treble seems a bit disjointed. I can't really think of any other way to describe it.

    However, overall this isn't a bad headphone. I know some Hifiman headphones are the darling of some modders and I've at least had a taste of what some of the mods can do, and at its super low price I'd be curious to see some of the wizards can do with the HE-35X. Granted, its a dynamic driver Hifiman, so not sure how popular it'll be in that respect. The only problem is that the price (if they drop it again) is going to be $120, and when you have the HE-4XX at $180, I'm not sure exactly why you wouldn't just save a few more bucks if you really wanted to try a Hifiman (and a planar to boot, which I think is one of the "appeals" that Hifiman would have).

    *note: I'll add pics later. Lighting sucks and I'm feeling ridiculously lazy.
     
  2. Lyander

    Lyander Official SBAF Equitable Empathizer

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    Sounds like they did a lot to fix the trainwreck that was the HE-350 from years back. I consider myself relatively treble-tolerant but that one was lean and offensive. It honestly felt like I was getting shivved in the ears with an icepick listening to anything remotely bright with those, though the imaging was the best of anything I'd heard up to that point and I nearly kept them solely for that.

    How's the positional cues and attack on these? Will they work for Fortnite? My dad's been getting into PUBG mobile which is kinda funny, he might need the aural edge :p

    Wasn't there already a MassDrop HE-35x thread here somewhere? Vaguely recall seeing one, and maybe measurements besides? EDIT: Nope, cursory search turned up empty. Brain must've mixed up the HE-4XX and HE-350 threads, my bad!
     
    Last edited: Aug 6, 2019
  3. ChaChaRealSmooth

    ChaChaRealSmooth SBAF's Mr. Bean

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    From what I've read on the Drop website (I hate the new name), this is meant to be a bit different, aka less grating on the ears. I find the HE-35X listenable, but not for long periods of time. Honestly, going back to the HD 6XX or the Auteur is a relief. Coupled with the HE-560, not entirely certain what I think of the Hifiman sound. Not something I instantly liked for sure.

    There was one on the HE-350 here. I both used Google and the SBAF search before posting (didn't see one).
     

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