“Pretty much one of the worst headphones I have ever heard”

Pretty much one of the worst headphones I have ever heard

A Review On:

HiFiMAN HE-400

Rated # 38 in Over-Ear

See all 14 reviews

Recent Pricing:

$399.00

Review Details:

Audio Quality

Comfort

Design

Value

By BK201

Posted 3/8/13 · 1573 Views · 18 Comments

Pros: Perhaps the bass extension

Cons: everything else

I really expected to like this as it seemed to be an audiophile favorite here. I listened to it for a few days to ensure that burn-in could occur, whether it be my brain of the headphones themselves.

The problem with this headphone is that it's super harsh, harsher than the DT990. And interestingly it sounds dark.

I don't know how they pulled that one off. At least the bass is fantastic, typical of orthos, but at this point, that bass extension and slam is pretty much useless due to that massive treble spike I'm hearing around the 10K+ region.

18 Comments

yokken 3/8/13 at 4:35pm

Wow. I thought the treble was hot too, but really, a half star? I thought they were pretty uncomfortable and did not like the tizzy treble at all, but even I would have given them 3.5 stars... Ouch, dude. Way to ruin the average.

Tus-Chan 3/8/13 at 4:58pm

Your review is harsher than the headphone could ever be.

yokken 3/8/13 at 5:09pm

Yeah... I think HD280s score lower than the HE400 in every department, and I would still give them 2.5-3 stars. I don't think even Beats deserve half a star. Seriously man...

Sound Quest 3/8/13 at 6:01pm

You say it has great bass (which is a positive), but you still give it the lowest possible score.
You say the highs are harsh (which may very well be true), but you give no information at all on the midrange.
Your review is really quite vague and hard to take anything from.

MadMolly 3/8/13 at 8:47pm

Wow (and lol) what amp did you use with it?

silversurfer616 3/8/13 at 10:53pm

Obviously,.....NO amp!

MadMolly 3/8/13 at 11:20pm

lol, thats what I was thinking

soundstige 3/8/13 at 11:32pm

You even call the bass fantastic, yet give the headphone overall just 1/10...

Magick Man 3/9/13 at 1:31am

1/2 star? Seriously, people need to learn how to rate products, this review is appalling.

teofilrocks 3/9/13 at 5:17am

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but your rating doesn't even match your own review. Your Comfort and Design ratings would bring the overall rating to more than 1/2 a star on their own. The only complaint you mention is a "harsh" treble spike at around 10K+? Please, if you're going to bother posting a "review", at least give it the time and attention it deserves. A headphone you've spent $400 on but you think should get the lowest rating deserves a better explanation. At least for the sake of the community.

ninjikiran 3/9/13 at 7:09am

I find the rating to be worthy of his review, comfort and design are nice features but at the end of the day its about the sound quality and if a headphone is unlistenable to a user than it has failed that user. The in between scores belong to those that can stomach the headphones. Its like giving a positive score to a car that's comfortable but you can only push the engine to 10mph.
Not saying I agree with his assertation.

streetdragon 3/9/13 at 7:58am

gonna hope the headphone researchers are taking the reviews (like this one) with a hunk of salt.

TheKillerPiglet 3/9/13 at 2:52pm

First post, and it's this gem.. zzzzzz
KP

cheuh 3/9/13 at 3:47pm

Haha, are you guys going to take this review seriously? He has 1 post on this forum and doesn't even respond to any of the comments left on here. Obvious troll is obvious.