I am having FOMO of not buying the HE1000 Stealth while they are on such a good sale right now. Currently my everyday end game pair was the Meze Empyreans as everything sounds amazing on them and they are so easy to drive that even on my Asgard 3/Modius stack they sound pretty good. While they are good as a daily driver since even bad quality audio like from a zoom meeting will be pleasant (or as pleasant as it could be). They are not wow headphones. When I first listened to the HE1K v1 it was magical hearing how something could have such a large sound stage, positioning, separation, layering, while sounding both vast and intimate at the same time. I wanted to get something like that to compliment my everyday pair when I game, watch movies/TV, and even just listening to music. I listen to wide variety but mostly stick to todays pop, hip-hop, and EDM. Would it be worth getting the HE1000 Stealth now and just using it with my current stack until I can afford to upgrade maybe a year down the road to something like the Bifrost 2/ Liquid platinum. Would it sound that bad on what I’m using now? Or should I really just wait another year when I can go to a convention and hope that they go back on such as good sale again? I bought Elegia on sale for $400 based on reviews and hype but they had like no bass and were dry and sibilant. After hooking them up to my Qudilex 5K and throwing an EQ on them they were pretty good as a mobile and office pair. I don’t like really harsh or sibilant sounding headphones, but for things that would have good audio like gaming or movies I want something that will wow me more than the Empyreans. I want something that could be my end game wow pair to compliment my daily driver pair. Let me know your thoughts on what I should do?
Honestly I grab my empy and HE1K stealth pretty equally. They complement each other very well. HE1K being a bit brighter and wider stage makes it really nice for content consumption.
If I can make a suggestion on your stack upgrade I’d definitely look at a CMA12 or 15 as it plays beautifully with bothe the empy and HE1K.
I appreciate the input. Good to know something that it sounds good on considering how amp picky people say the HE can be. Do you think it would be worth it to keep the DAC I have and spend all my money on that amp and the headphones? Or do you think I’m really going to need to upgrade my DAC to something like the bifrost 2 too in order to make them sound good?
I would definitely start with headphones and amp first. Your DAC will make the least amount of change in comparison.
@mclovinallthetime For what it’s worth, that is exactly what I did. I grabbed an HE1000 V2 Stealth as a first move toward endgame. I am a Bifrost 2 / Liquid Platinum owner, and I gotta tell you, the HEK pairs really well with them. I’m very happy with the BF2. If it were to go out tomorrow, I would probably just get another one. I don’t know that I need anything else DAC wise.
However, I think I want to make one more move with the amp. Don’t get me wrong, the LP has been fantastic. But I want to take one more step up, knowing that the HEK will be ready to shine even brighter if/when that happens.
I still keep going back and forth between the Arya Organic and HE1K Stealth. I like casual gaming and listen to a wide variety of music but my favorite is EDM/dance and people say the organic is better in the bass region. Every reviewer online has pretty much raved and said how much they like the organic, it’s cheaper, less amp picky (so I don’t have upgrade that right away), and has a wider sounds stage. The HE1K is less bright, can be more resolving, and has better positioning, but is amp picky and can be more analytical than the organic which is more fun. My idea is to get the bifrost 2/64 and maybe a soloist 3XP to be my final amp and DAC upgrade. One reviewer said the higher you go in amp the better it handles the brightness and that the G111MK2 at like $600 does a pretty good job at it most the time. But most of the reviews I see for the soloist say that it pairs well with the Arya and does a good job reigning in it’s brightness and that it also pairs well with the bifrost 2. Reviews also say it’s much bigger upgrade compared to the to liquid platinum and A90D.