An easy-to-drive open-back planar that sources rate among the most resolving headphones they have heard, with a very large, tall soundstage, precise imaging, fast and well-extended bass and comfortable, light-for-its-size fit. The arguments are about tuning. Measurements agree it is brighter than the Harman target above 10 kHz and dipped around 2 kHz, and a majority of weighted sources hear it as bright-leaning; some find that airy and never harsh, others fatiguing or sibilant without EQ, and the same split runs through the midrange. Build draws praise from reviewers but a trail of channel failures and QC complaints from owners, and value depends heavily on which of its three price eras a source was writing in.
About this product
The HE1000se of 2018 — the third HE1000, after the 2015 original and the 2016 V2, and the second HIFIMAN headphone with stealth magnets after the Susvara. It is not the HE1000 Stealth (the V2 given stealth magnets in 2022-23, reviewed separately), nor the grille-less HE1000 Unveiled. Launched at $3,499-3,500, it was cut to about $1,999 by 2023 and sells for $1,699 direct as of September 2026. HIFIMAN has announced no revision, but owners describe running changes: the driver's protective mesh moved from the pad to the driver, the clear-tube stock cable gave way to a fabric-sleeved one, a black finish is sold alongside the original silver, and the cables in the box have varied by year and retailer.
HIFIMAN's HE1000se arrived in 2018 as the third and most efficient HE1000: the same huge teardrop cups and window-shade grilles, with the nanometre-thin diaphragm and 'stealth' magnets first used in the Susvara. At $3,500 it was the company's second-most-expensive planar, and it became the 'baby Susvara' of forum shorthand.
Eight years on it is still in the catalogue, now at less than half its launch price, and still one of the most argued-about headphones of its class — praised almost everywhere for resolution and space, and split down the middle over whether its bright top end is air or a problem.
