My setup: I removed the stock grill/cloth. Replaced with new wider mesh. Sound opened up with more detail and air. Brainwavz Angled Pleather pads. It is a miracle that it "fit" the stock rings. Bass is thicker and deeper.

I use an HE400S with the grill mod and Brainwavz Angled Pleather Pads. For the most part it can be driven well by my iPhone 6 Plus. For a few low level recordings I use my FlipEars custom iem. I sometimes use an AK100 plus SMSL SAP-5 amp. Analysis Plus silver interconnect. For desktopI use a...

I am having fun with my HE-400S with grill mod and Brainwavz Angled Pads. I have yet to hear a 400i and 560. While I have a Schiit Asgard and SMSL SAP-5 amps, most of the time I listen straight from an iPhone 6 Plus. 

Same with me. At the moment I like how the HE-400S with grill mod sounds with the HM5. There is bass improvement and nothing offensive elsewhere. This means that any changes with the mids and upper bands are negligible to me. There might be differences if I do an A/B comparison. But like I said...

I finally installed the Brainwavz HM5 pads. Boy, that was a strech, literally. It looked impossible to stretch the pads over the donor Hifiman plastic rings. Looked like an extra inch of ring. Installation required quite a bit of faith. For inexplicable reasons, they did mount.  The pads are...

Either you like it or you don't. You guys are lucky. You can return stuff. We are stuck with what we buy. As for my HE-400S, I am still enjoying them since last year.

For grills one can use heavy duty scissors and wire mesh office supplies. It's not that hard to make.

I can understand that mechanical pieces that move will exhibit some wear over time. That may influence sound. I cannot imagine changes with cables and other conductors. Break-in to me is the parts settling into a state where they wear out no more. This to me simply means that there will be no...

My volume control is now jumpy and skips. Anyone know how to fix this?

If the grills are stock, I recommend the Focuspad A. That's the pleather outer skin and velour inner lining. If you will do the grill mod, use Focuspad. That's the pleather outer with perforated pleather inner lining. Velour in between. I've not tried but have read that the Brainwavz HM5...

Does this mean the Apogee still needs to be externally powered to work with the iPhone?

In your iPhone 5 and Apogee hookup, what is the iPhone charger for?

My Fisher Price review will be up soon.

For usb devices reported as using too much power, yes it is a software problem THAT can be tricked by a hardware solution. Some dacs are able to do this on their own. Others need a usb hub as a workaround.

The iPhone Apogee setups I see use a usb hub and a powerbank. I suspect you'll get the "usb device uses too much power error." A workaround is to use a usb hub. It tricks iOS. Jury is out if a powerbank is needed.