Even though I don’t find the shape of the earcups ideal because of their size, I have to say that, at least after my initial skepticism, they don’t bother me as much as I expected.

At over 400 g, the HEKse is still a bit heavy, but it offers a fairly good fit and, in my opinion, is even better than the Arya despite the slightly higher weight. This is helped by improvements to the headband, and for some reason, the pressure I felt on the side of my head with the Arya is no longer as noticeable with the HEKse. At the same time, the design of the headband system still doesn’t quite match what I imagine. However, HiFiMAN has managed to use a double-sided magnet structure without making the headphones uncomfortably heavy, and in my view that’s a big plus.