Introduction

HIFIMAN is one of the most covered brands on TechPowerUp even outside of just the audio categories, such is the tenacity at which it releases products that leave a strong impression on our review team and audience alike. Indeed, of the 20+ HIFIMAN product reviews done to date, you will note the vast majority of them tend to be for the headphones it is most popular for. There are a few in-ear monitors covered too, including the occasional unique TWS set, but somehow this happens to be the first of HIFIMAN’s closed-back headphones to be covered—unless you count the Edition S from a few years ago that was an open-back set with side-cover accessories that made it “closed-back,” anyway. HIFIMAN makes and sells closed-back headphones in both dynamic and planar magnetic transducer types and they cost anywhere from $149 all the way to a whopping $5499! I have experience with a few of these and today we will talk about one of the newer releases in the form of the HE-R9.

Interested readers might want to first read our reviews of the HIFIMAN Deva as well as the EF400 DAC/amplifier. The original Deva released nearly three years ago and debuted with it a unique Bluemini Bluetooth DAC and amplifier accessory that you could connect to the headphones for a wireless experience. Then came the HIFIMAN HIMALAYA (also spelled as HYMALAYA in some places) R2R DAC chip that the company developed in-house as a scalable platform. We saw two HIMALAYA DACs used in the EF400 and made for a compelling pairing with some of the brand’s headphones. However, it released first in the new Bluemini R2R that came with the Deva Pro that itself was an updated Deva unit. Now that you have some background on how we got to the Bluemini R2R, let’s get on to the HE-R9 closed-back dynamic driver set that is analogous in allowing both wired or wireless connectivity depending on which version you purchase. HIFIMAN was kind enough to provide a sample of the HE-R9 Wireless that includes the Bluemini R2R accessory and we will cover everything in great detail in this review which begins with a look at the headphones specifications in the table below.

Specifications