The Hifiman HE-1000 are Open-back Planar Magnetic Headphones originally launched at around 3000€ price point so they
are certainly not considered to be cheap or budget friendly headphones instead they should be considered as high-end
or even a flagship level headphones.

But lets start first with the unboxing of the product. These come in a basic cardboard box with two long rubber-like cables of average
quality (one 6.35mm single ended and one 4-pin XLR balanced cable) & a relatively cheap looking foam stand. So nothing
to get crazy about.

The built quality of the headphones themselves is absolutely fantastic, there is nothing to complain about here. They feel very robust to
the touch but not to heavy which clearly helps with fit & comfort. Aluminium and Leather is the material of choice for these headphones
which make it clear that this is a high-quality product. The wood-look ring on the side give it an additional touch and underlining
statement. Considering the hugh oval cups & in general the "monstrous" size of these headphones they fit extremely well and the stock earpads
are very comfortable too making the HE-1000 a great companion for long listening sessions.

On the technical side the drivers used in the HE-1000 are advanced nanometer-thickness planar diaphragm and a unique magnet structure
with closely spaced stealth magnets. With an Impedance of 32 Ω at 93 dB/mW these headphones are not so easy drive they need some
juice to come alive and show their full potential, so the choice of amplification is very important. It's not a question of getting them
to adequate volume but more on a level of sound quality you can get out of them. Although they can sound good on simpler sources they
will scale by quiet some margin with high-end amplifiers.

Once paired with the right amplifier the performance of the HE-1000 is absolutely stunning, the amount of detail coming out of these
cans is absolutely mind-blowing, also the sound stage is so wide and spatial it's really so immersive, the bass is fantastic too
it's not exaggerated at all but it's there when called upon and sometimes you can literally feel the drivers vibrating.
Overall it's a top notch technical and musical performance.

Coming back to pairings, i found that the Aune S17 is a really good fit for the HE-1000 as it's a very powerful class a
amplifier and it will add a touch of warmth to overall presentation. On the portable side the only capable unit to drive
it was the Astell & Kern Kann Ultra DAP reaching higher standards but not quiet to the levels of the Aune S17.

Comparisons: very quickly on this one, actually non of the open-back headphones i have in my possession can come close to the performance of
the HE-1000, the closest competition comes inhouse from the HE-6 SE V2, it goes in the same direction in a lot of
aspects but it's outperformed in every single category, sound quality, built & comfort is noticeably better on the
HE-1000.

Final Verdict: The Hifiman HE-1000 V3 is a very high-end headphone, probably even an endgame headphone for a lot of people. There is not
much to dislike regarding the overall package, maybe the stock cables are the only criticism i have but i personally didn't use them
anyway as there a lot of quality aftermarket cables out there. Finally there is also some good news about the price as you can acquire
these headphones for well under 1500€ now which makes them even a bargain these days. So maybe it would be a great idea to get one as long
as the stock lasts as the successor the HE-1000 Unveiled is already available....