I own these, along with the Edition XS, the HE1000se and and HE1000 Stealth. I traded in my Arya Stealths for the latter utilizing Hifiman’s ridiculously reasonable trade in policy—they’ll accept any lower-priced option for the higher-priced item of your choice for just the cost of outbound shipment plus a fraction of the list price delta.
They’ve retrofitted all of their major sellers with their Stealth magnet, and have managed to forge a suite of features that have become a proper “signature” for them—the oval pad design here, the Stealth magnet, the nanothin diaphragm and neodymium coils and the window shade grilles—these are common amongst the Edition XS, the Aryas, Anandas, HE1000se/Stealths and the Audivina. I think it’s an extraordinary feat to innovate a set of proprietary technological designs such as these and create a brand identity around them—so much so that I don’t mind their rather haphazard way of evolving their product line to include them.
The Stealth magnet by apparent design is going to give you a bright headphone. I think their most recent iterations—the Ananda Nano, Arya Organic and HE1000 Stealth—have managed to tame the highs sufficiently to obviate fatigue, but they’re still on the bright side. For a guy with 54 year old ears such as myself, I find it a welcome signature, but admittedly some may find it excessive. Certainly Hifiman is not alone in this category—I’m looking at you Sennheiser, although Hifiman’s offerings trounce them in the low end.
In my experience the Edition XS outperforms these Nanos in every category except the more utilitarian design of the former. The XS has fewer swivel options and lacks the mesh headband, but I find it equally comfortable, with smoother highs and significantly more oomph in the sub and mid bass, and a wider soundstage. For $200 less than these, I think they’re the best headphones you can get under $500.
I also own the DCA E3s, Meze Elites, Sony Z1Rs and 2020 Utopias, and by a wide margin the HE1000 Stealth remains my all-time favorite headphone. For me it has it all—the best out-of-box tuning I’ve yet encountered, with an unusual amount of physicality in the low end, and just enough openness in the highs to complement their extraordinary speed and detail.
They also have an enormous soundstage, a very natural-sounding timbre, a dazzlingly premium build, and a lovely presentation in their imaging—with their large cups enveloping your ears without touching them, they offer a terrific seal and leave me feeling cozily nestled up amidst the instruments without having to fuss with placement.
That’s just my experience. But at $1,399, given the absurd, what-was-I-thinking prices I paid for my others, it’s one of the rare deals/steals I’ve ever gotten paying full price for a “flagship”-tier headphone. I feel the same sense of satisfaction having found these as I did buying my Topping d90se, based on this site’s review and measurements.
Out of all the HFM’s that I own, I think these Nanos are the least capable of demonstrating what they’re capable of. As such I hope folks who read this review will keep an open mind about this brand, because I think they represent the same cost-benefit advantages that the other Chinese manufacturers we champion offer, and (other than their eight-year old Susvara), they’re unusually honest and fair in their pricing.
(Not the preamps but the business.)
