CES 2012

HiFiMAN invited numerous journalists to a press conference this morning, fed them a standard hotel buffet breakfast, and then explained why the company uses planar drivers in their over-the-ear headphones. EiC Rob Sabin shows why he will never be able to have a second career as a fashion model in the picture above - but the smile on his face does indicate the fact that the HE-400 over-the-ear headphones ($399) sounded pretty darn good. One benefit of the planar driver is that it does not require high voltages as an electrostatic driver would, which means its easier to drive with portable audio devices.