HiFiMan Shangri-La Electrostatic Headphone Impressions - not fair to call it a review!

Thanks to HiFiMan for sending the Shangri-La!
Buy Shangri-La from Apos Audio (affiliate link, but seriously, if you're gonna buy it do it here so I get a commission. This reviewing thing is a job! And it's expensive! ok, link: ) apos.audio/products/hifiman-s...
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My Shangri-La Jr Review: • HiFiMan Shangri-La Jr ...
My Susvara review: • HiFiMan Susvara - Summ...
My Audeze CRBN reviews: 1) • Audeze CRBN Electrosta... 2) • Audeze CRBN Take 2 - a...
Reviewer Roundtable Podcast: • Reviewer Roundtable 2 ...
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Timestamps...
00:00 Intro, Pricing, Disclaimers
01:58 Shameless Self Promotion
02:25 Yeah It's $18000...That Means???
08:05 Build & Comfort
12:32 Test Gear
13:37 I Gush About the Sound for Awhile
27:20 Shang vs Susvara
29:03 Concluding Thoughts

[@Nephilim-81]

Holy crap, Brian. What an honor. Glad you got your hands on this rare item. :)

[@shkermanshahi]

Thanks for the review. I have been always interested in how far headphones can go. However on the the side I realized how eager we are to hear more details, do we enjoy music or just more interested in the attributes of the sound carried and I found it is not always at the same level. Steve guttenberg says you have good system when you do not want to stop listening. For me the test is if I want to switch to another test track I have after 30 seconds or the gear asks me not to switch😆

[@MarylandDevin]

Awesome video man. Id love to give that one a listen.

[@mcfIy]

Really enjoyed this one! Especially since you have heard almost all of the top can's so far to have a great understanding where to place it and how to really appreciate it. You've done a great job! Shout out to Hifiman as well. Hands down my favorite headphone related channel. Keep going Brian

[@mopnem]

Agreed, really liked that he listed his “best heard” that many say but without listing it, that statement isn’t very informative. He generally does a solid job.

[@macleodmacauleygriffiths1771]

Looking forward to the eventual hekv2 stealth/hekv3 review!!

[@jamesbush2720]

Great review!! 👍

[@BrianJoergens]

What an interesting review and a peek behind the curtain at what is possible. Thank you

[@Michael_mki233]

Seems like one of those things that it might be a bad idea to hear. That's a lot of money. 😨

[@sumeetagarwal6561]

Yes. I had to get rid of utopia after the Shang ri la. 1266, 009, mysphere, crbn gets no listening time. Susvara is the only other thing that I bother to listen to sometimes

[@ronbackal]

That looks amazing ! You have a dedicated listening room, or you stream from the Pc ?

[@iamtesting3824]

Hi. I've been watching your channel time to time. My question is what's your opinion over headphones by comparison to the tv resolution (4, 6, 8k etc). Do you think the high end headphones reached 8k ? If so , do you think there's a room to improve ?

[@wavetheorysound]

That's a fun question and I've been trying to come up with a video analogy like that too. I haven't gotten to one I'm comfortable with yet.

[@ConvinceMeAudio]

Currently reviewing the Warwick Aperio At least for that system, you can say everything is in place and you’re buying into an all in one at this category and level and forgetting about it but with the Shang SR I think even beyond this is a bit more niche , and superb electrostatic headphones. Hopefully I’ll be able to do a comparison between the two very shortly hoping to chat to these boys at Munich. At the Warwick system is utterly outstanding specially, when you take it out of his comfort zone and throw a wave dream into the mix for good measure 🐅

[@accsu6488]

Do you know the impedance? Of Shangri-La SR? I can’t find any information on this anywhere. I need this to use iFi pro iESL with conventional amp. iFi PRO iESL has adjustment for both impedance and bias voltage for specific electroststs…. Thank you🙏🏻

[@ConvinceMeAudio]

@@accsu6488 550v

[@xthebumpx]

I'm beginning to suspect my Koss Porta Pros aren't end game after all.

[@ecstasy5317]

Trust me have a good footing in music enjoyment than many casual listeners. My so-called audiophile friends have sound quality battles with Grados of various price ranges and others brands on multi-thousand-dollar headphone amps (tube and solid state) and I often take a step back and watch them sweat lol. These guys listen far more to the headphone differences as opposed to enjoying the music.✌️

[@hdsarma]

Nice review 👍, but out of my budget, I may try a Stax L700 mk2 in the future if budget allows, can you please also review the new He1000 stealth, initial impressions is its exactly same as He1000 SE less the premium box etc while others are saying it's a Arya Stealth driver in HekV2 housing lots of confusion.

[@wavetheorysound]

I hear you. If you must use the word "budget" then you probably shouldn't be looking at Shang. I'm right there with you. As far as the new hekv2, I imagine they will send me one soon.

[@sjqideez6626]

Thanks for this, I heard this off the BHSE but I preferred the SR-X9000 to it

[@sumeetagarwal6561]

I heard the bhse is terrible with Shangri la. I like the 3es elite but haven’t heard many energizers.

[@sjqideez6626]

@@sumeetagarwal6561 I also heard both off the Carbon CC & Aeras, I still preferred the SR-X9000.

[@sumeetagarwal6561]

@@sjqideez6626 x9000 is very good. Personally I didn’t use it much at all because I always wanted to listen to the Shangri la but depending on what you value, I suppose it’s possible to prefer the x9000. What did you like more about it?

[@Justin-xk7yj]

How does the Shangri la Jr compare?

[@catcrusher3033]

I wish that they would let you keep it after seeing the review

[@johnrus7661]

Pier Sprey from Maple Shade mastered with Stax headphones. But he was an uncompromising obsessive when it came to sound quality and mixing a natural live sound and a true audiophile. But his recordings do sound good.

[@johnrus7661]

Now I would be incredibly curious how it works with their dedicated energizer. I wonder if you could put a bug in their ear about it.🙃

[@MMRSean]

Now that you’ve reviewed some other electrostatics, any chances you’ll be listening to the Bravura any time soon?

[@wavetheorysound]

Would love to. Unfortunately no opportunity has availed itself yet.

[@IgorPetruk1989]

What about STAX?

[@saarxee19]

More natural and resolving than Sus? by a large margin?

[@Hichamvanborm]

Awesome review. Hope you can do the comparison one day to the other 'showcase' models. Are they really thinking of letting you keep it🤤? Or they want you to keep for comparison with other Hifi-Mans

[@wavetheorysound]

Dunno if I'll be able to hang on to this one. Currently it's on its way to CanJam NYC to be a demo piece. It may come back, it may not. HiFiMan has been awesome at letting me keep some of their pieces to use as references, though (Sus, Hekse, EF400 as examples). And that's great because I truly believe those ARE great reference pieces to measure other gear with. But, the Shang has a scarcity to it that may not make that possible this time.

[@sumeetagarwal6561]

The best. This headphone ended the headphone part of the hobby for me. Just chain upgrades now and each one made me feel the previous chain did not do this Shangri la justice.

[@wavetheorysound]

It's amazing. I'm also sure my signal chain pushed it nowhere near its ceiling either.

[@findingabby]

Is this still true? Any thoughts on Aperio or HE-1 versus Shang?

[@sumeetagarwal6561]

@@findingabby unfortunately have not heard those :(

[@heliopijpe]

My problem is, for that price, you can have a full set of Quad Electrostatics :-) but it's nice ...

[@pokrog]

I think this settles it for me. I think I'm going to just hold off on all purchases until I can budget for this. Was going to aim for the Susvara and maybe a Mysphere, but I own the HE1000se and a heavily modded HE6se v2 (which in my opinion is quite a bit better to my ears than an unmodded 4 or 6 screw HE6 for my tastes) so I have the dynamics king and the staging king of planars as far as I'm concerned (I did have a chance to compare my modded pair of HE6se v2 against a 1266 TC and I honestly don't know how anyone could prefer the 1266 over these modded HE6, the slam on the HE6 with the mods I've done is just significantly harder hitting and more controlled than the 1266 TC) and the Susvara seems to be a happy medium between the two so I don't know that I care that much to lose the dynamics of the HE6 for a little more stage or sacrifice the stage of the HEKse for more dynamics and wind up with a Susvara. I think I just want raw detail like nothing else can accomplish at this point and staging pinpoint accuracy and scale is something I'm a sucker for so long as it doesn't come off as exaggerated like the HD800s. Fantastic review as always, definitely looking forward to more thoughts on the Shang Sr if you end up putting them somewhere. Thank you for what you do.

[@sjqideez6626]

The Shangri La Sr, 1266 Phi TC, Susvara, Orpheus HE1, SR-X9000, Aperio, etc cannot do what the MySphere 3.2 can do. No headphone can, it is an earspeaker after all. The MySphere 3.2 (when powered properly, I use speaker amps) is unique amongst transducers in it’s sonic presentation, the way it projects sounds to you is utterly remarkable. The most natural & realistic sound I’ve heard in 15 years in this hobby, I will say no more.

[@wavetheorysound]

Not a bad plan. I would still advise keeping a fun bass slammer around as your switch up tho. As utterly amazing as Shang is it's not going to hit or rumble like the HE6 series or a Fostex. So I'd keep something around that can bump. That also will help the Shang sound stay fresh.

[@pokrog]

​@@wavetheorysound Yeah, I'm pretty heavily invested into the HE6se v2 at this point. I've spent literally hundreds of hours modifying them with trial and error and I'm not going to be getting rid of my 3 pairs anytime soon lol. @sjqideez6626 yeah, I have heard that quite a few times. Will probably end up with a pair of Mysphere as well.

[@sjqideez6626]

@@wavetheorysound I listen to all sorts of music but I do like my bass. Hence why I have a modded TH900 for that kind of music, the king of bass for me. I also have a HE-500, which is a sub bass monster. The sonic weakness of all 3 earspeakers is the low frequency performance, the Raal SR1A/B performing the weakest of the bunch in that region.

[@sjqideez6626]

@@pokrog Other headphones: listening to music. MySphere 3.2 (when powered properly): experiencing music, like it’s a live performance just for you. Sometimes the juice is worth the squeeze.

[@mtocful]

title should add Sr?

[@dynamic-audio]

I need to hear that headphone now!!!! 😢

[@allansh828]

it it even more resolving than the latest Stax flagship?

[@wavetheorysound]

Can't say for sure, but probably. Hoping to get a SR-X9000 in for review soon. Fingers crossed!

[@sumeetagarwal6561]

in my experience, yes.

[@saucywings]

I used the shangri la (I’m luckily pretty rich, thanks dad) for music and movies and games and my main headset for all my competitive shooters. For movies it was great just your average audio and totally fun. For music it has all the tones I suppose lacking in base but ever so barely. But video games wow let me tell you. It can’t keep up at all. This headset is so bad for games it’s crazy. The tones that games have is so different than high fidelity audio and what we prioritize. If this headset was marketed as a gaming headset it would be 2/10 and I’m not joking. Just does t fit the bill

[@JMAudioEditions]

three thumbs up

[@adamgreenhill110]

When you say an electrostatic "Shocked you", it gives the wrong idea 😆

[@wavetheorysound]

That feels like a highly charged comment! 😛😆

[@topalofff]

Hi. Was I banned? My comment gone. I just want to say, that I tried USB isolator board and I got more clarity with my cheap DAC. It is good topic for review in my opinion. Maybe, only few people reviewed this.

[@wavetheorysound]

I didn't ban anyone that I know of. Which usb board?

[@topalofff]

Huh, I can't leave a comment with the link or even a title of the article.

[@topalofff]

Article: USB isolators for audio - my hifi journey.

[@topalofff]

Board isousb211 evm from TI.

[@sig4974]

Funny you mention concept cars...you never see a new Bugatti or Koenigsegg model that hasn’t sold out long before it ever goes into production, so I'm guess if you buy cars like that and you’re also an audiophile $50k on a set of cans is small change 🤷‍♂

[@krisrudecki9477]

15k for the set alone, pocket change :>

[@wavetheorysound]

Was the best analogy I could come up with. I hope it worked.

[@UntakenNick]

Had it for a while, ended up selling it and getting the HE-1, which is almost endgame stuff.

[@johnrus7661]

Pics or it never happened. Lol.

[@nonchalantd]

looks like alien technology

[@kajetan9550]

Top of the top of the top of the line… and they still carry he400i headband😂

[@wavetheorysound]

Lol, yep. HiFiMan has also been very utilitarian on the build.

[@kentbergstrom3020]

The technical aspects seems to be top notch, but who in their right mind buys an $18,000 headphone that look like it cost $500 at max? Hifiman's build quality is nothing to write home about for sure.

[@09876username]

I recommend sticking with the Stax SR-X9000 energized by the LTA Z10e. You can reach a similar level of performance for 1/5 the price.

[@ConvinceMeAudio]

Yes, I agree, without a doubt, it’s one of the top free in the world I currently have this and the Aperio on the desk. Comparing Aperio and he-1 side-by-side, Shangri-La senior is more resolving more spacious with the largest stage of any headphones I have ever heard But, by no means, is it a complete headphone, the other two are far more cohesive, and complete, the Shang is more conducive to a specific set of genres, and its tuning is very strange You will not be playing hip-hop, pop and rap on this apart from the occasional track. It’s not designed for that But my goodness, classical live music rock it’s the most resolving headphone on the planet, currently running with the wavedream fromRockna and z10e also using the DAC from the Aperio and the pre-so you can very simply do ab side-by-side If you are ever considering buying one, talk to dealers, you will never need to pay 18,000 😎

[@jack4321able]

How does the Shang Jr compare to Susvara when properly amped?

[@ConvinceMeAudio]

@@jack4321able that’s a very good question. I spent a very little amount of time with it, honestly I’m not confident enough to say and give a full in-depth analysis for the junior It was literally 10 minutes at Munich I can write you a novel for the senior though LOL Working on the review now

[@Smood47]

Tells us to not call this a review... 1:30 calls it a review himself. o_0

[@frederf69]

68k$! 🤣🤣 could get a pretty good car for that 😂😂

[@nitraM321]

throwing away my Susvara's ! rubbish !

[@sash1ell]

dt990 Beyer dynamic and buy a house for the same price

[@ChrisStoneinator]

Lmao sure if tinnitus and a drywall shack is what you aspire to in life. You wanna be careful being so salty, that corrugated iron roof is gonna start rusting

[@VerloKz]

No one will buy this... Warwick Aperio is better in all way. Better Build, DAC, PreAmp, Amp in One Unit. Sound equal or better. AND Less Money. I use Hifiman since 4 years, 1,5 years the SUSVARA.

[@x32i77]

Susvara on Mytek Empire is better than Aperio