I bought the HE-R9 and here is my review and questions...

[SamySquirrel]

PROS:

Crisp sound
Good bass
comfortable
They are absolute show-pieces, they are VERY attractive
Cable versatility
Sound stage is surprisingly good
They leak sound very little (No mood sharing)

CONS:

Light to no clamping force
Lacking isolation rather severely (But ear-pad replacement fixes this)
The highs in the 8k region is a bit to sharp
Position on head dependent.

I made a little review and this is the thumbnail:


I got these for a price of 109.00$ EBAY they were used, but it was someone who bought and immediately sold them so they were practically new. I like the stand they come with.
I don't have an amp, but they sound good with just my mac book pro, they sound horrible with my phone, and better with my Phisintec z6.

They are comfy on the head and the pads are oddly cool. The carmine crimson color is wonderful as well, it has been my dream headphone for a while so Im glad to call her mine.
I'm not sure about the names of: "Muddy, overpowering bass, no brightness, & horrible" the reviewer's have been calling it, but maybe that's cause I have unique ears, or that my laptop can't power the bass enough.

Clamp force is very light and the headphone just shakes off, but I took it and bent the headband mercilessness and it is MUCH better now...

But what ever the case may be, they are perfect for me (except the isolation) if Isolation is important to you this is NOT FOR YOU!!!!!

I may need to break them in a bit, but yeah that's it!!! I will rate it to be 8/10

Ive been listening to my playlists over and over comparing it with Harx-700 (open back modded).

Thank you!

 

[Caveman Carl]

I'm not sure about the names of: "Muddy, overpowering bass, no brightness, & horrible" the reviewer's have been calling it, but maybe that's cause I have unique ears, or that my laptop can't power the bass enough.

IMHO most of the name calling stems from direct comparison with the original Sundara and the 2020 revision of it. Both are open-back. Reviewers were perhaps expecting that HFM would have done more than simply capping an open-back with a non-engineered, empty wooden shell for a cup despite the manufacturer having clearly stated beforehand that the design would be exactly that. I'm sure HFM was expecting the poor reviews, having invested almost nothing in terms of R&D for this model, the exact opposite of what they had done with the original Sundara, which had been a reviewer's darling at launch.

Clamp force is very light and the headphone just shakes off, but I took it and bent the headband mercilessness and it is MUCH better now...

Light clamping force on low to mid-cost closed-backs is often so by design. The gap between pad and scalp serves as an escape route for LF standing waves that get trapped in the cup. On planars those waves can be partially expelled by being pushed through the membrane by the airflow and then be sucked out through the gap using pression differential. This is rather primitive and more the product of wishful thinking than sound engineering, no pun intended. Low frequency standing waves are just what the name implies, they accumulate inside the cups and if not evacuated on time they are detrimental to accurate frequency response, to put it mildly.

 

[SamySquirrel]

IMHO most of the name calling stems from direct comparison with the original Sundara and the 2020 revision of it. Both are open-back. Reviewers were perhaps expecting that HFM would have done more than simply capping an open-back with a non-engineered, empty wooden shell for a cup despite the manufacturer having clearly stated beforehand that the design would be exactly that. I'm sure HFM was expecting the poor reviews, having invested almost nothing in terms of R&D for this model, the exact opposite of what they had done with the original Sundara, which had been a reviewer's darling at launch.

Light clamping force on low to mid-cost closed-backs is often so by design. The gap between pad and scalp serves as an escape route for LF standing waves that get trapped in the cup. On planars those waves can be partially expelled by being pushed through the membrane by the airflow and then be sucked out through the gap using pression differential. This is rather primitive and more the product of wishful thinking than sound engineering, no pun intended. Low frequency standing waves are just what the name implies, they accumulate inside the cups and if not evacuated on time they are detrimental to accurate frequency response, to put it mildly.

WOW! Thank you for this answer I see that, now, Its just that, why make a closed back without isolation? lol. But I see about the gap and stuff it makes sense, Thank you!!! I'm pretty new here.

 

[Caveman Carl]

WOW! Thank you for this answer I see that, now, Its just that, why make a closed back without isolation? lol. But I see about the gap and stuff it makes sense, Thank you!!! I'm pretty new here.

We were all new one day so please just make yourself at home.