My dad read a great review in Stereophile about the HiFi Man 1000SE headphones, which had dropped in price. I read online and found they were received very well and called a bargain at $2000. So, I bought them for my dad. However, I also noticed a couple of the reviews were done with the reviewer using EQ on the high frequencies and that many people found them to sound "bright" because of a 6dB high freq. peak from 6-8 kHz. My dad and I were in that camp and he and I had quit listening to them. I don't how HiFi Man let these out to market without fixing this problem. The return window had long passed so I decided to fix the problem using a passive shelving filter. While EQ in music server software could fix the peak, it didn't fully satisfy me sound quality wise and my dad is older and can't use a music server.
So, this is what I did and I could not be happier with the results! These really are amazing headphones with the peak fixed. I also prefer a down tilted frequency response, so this may not appeal to those who like a "brighter" sound. However, my dad now says his good classical recordings sound like he is right in the concert hall. Very spacious and musical and by far the best phones I've heard, with this mod. My dad/s amp is an old Headroom Blockhead - a dual mono balanced headphone amplifier.
This is best used with balance headphone amps, but could be used with single ended amps that can swing enough voltage and current. This filter drops voltage sensitivity by 4dB because of the series resistance. This HiFi Man planar headphone has a very flat 35 ohm impedance, so this mod works well here!
See attachments for schematic and pics:
So, this is what I did and I could not be happier with the results! These really are amazing headphones with the peak fixed. I also prefer a down tilted frequency response, so this may not appeal to those who like a "brighter" sound. However, my dad now says his good classical recordings sound like he is right in the concert hall. Very spacious and musical and by far the best phones I've heard, with this mod. My dad/s amp is an old Headroom Blockhead - a dual mono balanced headphone amplifier.
This is best used with balance headphone amps, but could be used with single ended amps that can swing enough voltage and current. This filter drops voltage sensitivity by 4dB because of the series resistance. This HiFi Man planar headphone has a very flat 35 ohm impedance, so this mod works well here!
See attachments for schematic and pics:
Attachments
![Hi_Fi_Man_Filter_Schematic_2024-04-04_LTspice XVII - [Headphone_Filter_2.asc].png](/community/data/attachments/1202/1202981-7afcc93e1bfefba87674cf1a5ddf91a1.jpg)
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