HIFIMAN HE1000 Stealth Review: Flagship Planar at a Lower Price

Pick #9 of 11 in our Best Planar Magnetic Headphones guide.

There's a HIFIMAN flagship that almost nobody mentions anymore - and I think that's a mistake. Years after it launched, the HE1000 Stealth is cheaper than it's ever been, which leaves one question - did it quietly fade out for a reason?

Comfortable and well made, but very large

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The first word that comes to my mind is big. The HE1000 Stealth is a large headphone - large cups, a tall, almost preposterous headband - and there's no way around it. On the scale it lands at around 458 grams, which for a planar magnetic isn't unusual, but it does sit on the heavier side. Here's the thing, though - you don't really feel those 458 grams. The weight distribution is genuinely good thanks to that wide suspension band, which spreads it across the top of your head. The strap that actually touches you is soft genuine leather, wide enough to feel cushioned, even though there's no padding inside it. Height is set by two aluminum slides secured with a clicking mechanism, with plenty of stops to adjust the fit - and luckily there are no squeaks or creaks when you swivel the cups around.

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Now, I want to be straight with you, because this matters before you spend the money. This is a genuinely large headphone, and if you've got a smaller head, it might not fit perfectly even at its tightest setting. The earcups are big enough that on some people the bottom edge can press against the jaw. So if you're on the petite side, that's the one thing to be honest with yourself about. But if you do fit it - and most people will - the comfort is excellent. The clamping force is medium, never too much. The pads are truly spacious and deep, so your entire ear sits inside without ever getting close to the driver, and I'm talking hours and hours of listening with no hot spots creeping in. They even stay comfortable for long stretches in the summer because the hybrid design - fabric on the inside with synthetic leather around the rim - actually breathes. And the pads are user-replaceable, clipping on and off, though I'll warn you - don't do it if you don't have to.

On build, this is about as good as old school HIFIMAN gets. The headband frame, the attachment yokes, and the grilles on the cups are all hand-polished, CNC-machined aluminum - real metal and real leather, not plastic pretending to be either. Owners of the previous HE1000 report it still looking basically new, and the newer adjustment arms resist the scratching better - which is something that plagued older models. HIFIMAN had a reputation for shaky quality control years ago, but in practice that's behind them now. The cable that comes with the headphone connects with a common dual 3.5-millimeter jack, which makes swapping cables easy. That's my favorite connector to have on a headphone, plus it comes with an extra balanced cable - which is going to come in handy considering the power needs of the HE1000 Stealth.

And the look? It's a HIFIMAN, you can't mistake it for anything else. That signature egg-shaped cup that's been the face of this lineup for years. But the detail that really sells it, for me, is the wood. Each cup is finished with a wooden accent all around. Whether it's real, or just a veneer, I'm not sure. That warm wooden band gives you a lovely color break that makes the whole headphone look more elegant - and, to my eye, far more expensive than it really is. On top of that, the tan leather headband instead of the usual black, makes the whole thing just click.

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Stealth Magnets and a nanometer-thin diaphragm

So what's actually going on inside these things? Because the HE1000 Stealth isn't expensive just for the sake of it - you're paying for a stack of driver technology HIFIMAN spent years developing. It starts with the diaphragm - the film part that actually moves to create the sound. HIFIMAN made theirs extremely thin. They market it as the world's first diaphragm measured in nanometers, and to be fair, it's almost impossibly thin and light. And the lighter that film is, the more precisely it can react to the music. That's the whole idea.

Then there's the technology the headphone is actually named after - the Stealth Magnets. In most planar headphones, the magnets sit right in the path of the sound, and the waves have to squeeze past them, which introduces a kind of turbulence that smears the detail. HIFIMAN reshaped those magnets to be, in their words, "as acoustically transparent, or invisible as possible," so the sound waves pass through far more cleanly. Then, there's something they call an Advanced Asymmetrical Magnetic Circuit - basically an uneven arrangement of magnets on either side of that film, the payoff of around seven years of research, all aimed at driving the diaphragm more evenly and accurately. And finally, that distinctive metal grille on the cups. That's the patented "Window Shade" system. It's not just a styling choice - but probably that too. It's engineered to shield the very delicate driver while keeping the back of the headphone as open as possible.

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Easy-to-drive specs, better with a proper amp

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On paper, the frequency response stretches from 8 hertz all the way up to 65 kilohertz - far wider than anything you or I can actually hear, but that kind of headroom at the extremes is exactly what you'd expect from a flagship, and it has many hidden benefits. The two figures that matter most day to day are impedance and sensitivity: 32 ohms and 93 decibels. And here's what that actually means - the HE1000 Stealth is somewhat easy to drive, so you can plug it into just about anything and get enough volume, though it does perform much, much better with a proper amplifier behind it. For a high-end planar, that's to be expected. It simply has enough resolution to tell you with a straight face that you're cheaping out on the source.

A bright, open sound with peaky treble

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What stands out about these as soon as you start listening is how clean everything sounds. The tuning is neutral with a bright tilt, very much a reference sound, and the detail you get out of them is seriously high-end. Play something well recorded and you can hear right into the mix, catching little things in a track you'd usually miss. That clarity has a flip side, though. The HE1000 Stealth is revealing, and it won't do you any favors with a poor recording or a cheap source. It shows you what's there, the good and the bad. If what you want is something warm and easy to leave running in the background, this isn't really built for that.

The bass is very good. It's tight, well textured, and with more weight than most other HIFIMANs. What it isn't is a basshead headphone. Switching from a big dynamic driver you might find it a little reserved, because it gives you the bass the recording asks for rather than piling bloat on top of it.

The midrange follows the usual HIFIMAN recipe. There's a small lift in the upper mids and a dip below that - it's the ear-gain dip the egg-shaped HIFIMANs are known for. In everyday listening, vocals come through clean, present and very natural, with some of the most believable timbre I've heard from a planar. That dip won't suit everyone, but it does suit me. If you like your vocals thick and pushed right up front, the presentation here sits a touch further back.

Then there's the treble, which is what everyone asks about. Yes, it's bright. But the part that matters is the shape of that brightness. The top end is a little peaky and uneven, with some sharp spots, rather than one smooth rise, and that's what gives the Stealth its sparkle and its bite. On the right track it's exciting. On a hot recording it can be too much.

The soundstage is the part I enjoy most. It's wide and open, with that out-of-your-head quality the big planars do so well. Imaging is strong too. It may not be the most pinpoint I've heard, but it lays everything out convincingly in a large, believable space.

Now - the comparison you've probably been waiting for. How does it stack up against its pricier, newer sibling, the HE1000se? And this is fascinating, because the two go bright in completely different ways. You'd assume the cheaper Stealth is the brighter one. It isn't, exactly. The SE actually has more treble overall - it's the more elevated, more airy headphone up top - but here's the twist: on the SE it's smoother and more even, a lift across the whole region rather than those sharp little spikes. So the Stealth pokes at you, while the SE lifts everything more gracefully. The SE is also the more transparent, more detailed, wider-staged of the two. The trade-off is bass and body. The Stealth gives you more low-end weight and a fuller, richer sound, where the SE runs leaner and more clinical. And to my ears, the Stealth is just the more fun, while the SE is more technically superior. The difference isn't all that huge though - I'd say it mostly boils down to what kind of tuning you prefer, and that's the whole reason for the HE1000 Stealth's existence.