If the HPM 100s were a clear winner over the NS-1000s, it probably says more about the gear you had behind them, or possibly the set-up of the space/environment or the method of testing, than it does about the speakers. I have both of these, with hundreds of hours of listening to each of them, and while it's possible to make HPM-100s sound better in some respects, overall the NS-1000 is a clear winner in most respects.