Wow, thank you so much. This is an incredible response. For historical reference, I have the 80 ohm.

Thanks for the reply!   So actually - I already have a DAC/AMP I'm very happy with (JDS Labs C5D) which I keep at home/use on the go. I'm just looking for something extremely small and cheap to keep at the office with my Beyers.   Then I realized, I've never actually considered a headphone...

For example, if I buy a Fiio A1 and run my Macbook headphone jack out into the A1, and the A1 into my headphones, is the practical output impedance the output impedance of the Macbook (~10), the output impedance of the A1 (<0.2), or some calculated combination of the two?   I'm debating...

  Super compelling if true - especially if most people are using discrete volume controls (like the volume up/down button on a phone or the output volume on a Mac). Is it easy to show that impedance is legitimately reduced over time in a pair of headphones?

  Wow, talk about dramatic - you'd think if there were 10db differences along certain parts of the spectrum, that not only would this be well-accepted, but manufacturers might even mention it, no?   It really makes you think about the fickleness of measurement on the whole and how subjective...

  Ah yea - playing fast and loose with the vocab. I can be more specific, sorry about that.   Panning/weighting of stereo reverb does seem to show up in the wild, but maybe I'm just being naive about how common it is. It's easy enough to find tutorials and how-to's that use reverb panning...

  Oh man super bummer, I got a terrible price. To be completely transparent about my bias in this conversation - I'm struggling to try and detect some issues in the new 400is I got, and it's been making me anxious. Getting them home, they didn't have the same sparkle I heard when I was...

    Sorry for any confusion. I was giving the example of the wall as something that is in-fact spatial to try and demonstrate to the OP what our brains are trying to "figure out" when we hear various acoustic elements in a recording.   Yes, you are absolutely right that many aspects of our...

  Looked everywhere but the source. Huh. Thanks for that.    Those products are tested and in good condition but do not meet HIFIMAN's standards as "new". - I wonder what their standards are.

  Is the 400i really going for $250 now? I haven't seen it less than $299 used. Hope I didn't get ripped off.   But to your point - no, not saying it's muffled compared to anything in the range. Definitely tried to get across that they put pretty much everything in the range to shame. But in...

  It's funny you say that - I recently got a pair of Hifiman 400is, and the very first day was clamp city. Totally had me panicking. Today I wore them back to back for 6 hours and I feel fine.   Especially with audio gear, it's so easy to accidentally hyper-sensitize yourself to every tiny...

  Just haven't tried them, so I can't vouch for them personally.

My understanding is that part of the illusion has to do with our minds interpreting non-spatial information in a spatial way.   For example - have you ever walked past an extremely well-damped surface on one side, and you can almost "feel" the wall next to you due to the way that it deadens...

Maybe I'm crazy, but shouldn't this be clearly empirically measurable by an enterprising audiophile?   Pre-define some listening parameters. Make measurements. "Burn in." Measure again.   Has truly no one tried this? It may not be definitive, but seems like an easy enough start.

  Curious what you mostly choose to use the 400is for in terms of genre?

  This one specifically (the non-pro version): https://www.amazon.com/HyperX-Gaming-Headset-KHX-H3CL-WR/dp/B00JJNQG98/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1490663779&sr=8-1&keywords=hyperx%2Bcloud&th=1   Yep - the mic pops right off. Also has in-line controls if you're into that sort of thing.

  Just did some aggressive listening between the two yesterday. Amped via JDS Labs C5D running 320kb MP3s off my phone.   The interesting thing that I picked up on - despite both being fantastic headphones, the 650s are strong in perfectly the right area to bring out the 400i's only real...

  +1! Another meet newbie excited to show up 

Sorry to hear that - really thought this would be the magic ticket based on your description. It's tough with a closed-back.   If what's really holding you back is comfort over quality, I would say actually check out a pair of the HyperX Clouds (the original - not any of the sequels). They're...

Hmm, now you're making me re-think how I phrased it. That's not what I meant at all. It's like getting a hug from a feather. Seriously, it's like wearing air. Have you ever worn HyperX Clouds? It's like that.   I'm sensitive to clamp as well (in fact - I even felt the GameOnes were a little...

For anyone reading this thread still hunting down comfort information - Beyerdynamics are like wearing a hug on your head.

Was doing some testing with my new JDS Labs C5D between my Android Nexus 5X and my 2013 Macbook running Sierra.   Much to my shock, the output I was getting from the Macbook sounded noticeably awful compared to the Android. Can't think of any reason why this should be the case - both are doing...

Heh, wow I just noticed this thread - I posted almost the exact same comment as this above in the forum, except about a JDS Labs C5D versus a Scarlett 2i2. The C5D, which I expected to blow me away, sounded totally muffled compared to the "budget" 2i2 audio interface.   I'm really starting to...

  Interesting. So to see if I'm understanding this:   The IEMs are about 16 OHMs impedance. Output impedance of the C5D is <1, so has no problem driving a consistent signal through low-impedance headphones which are in the 10-15x impedance range.   The Scarlett 2i2 has ~10 OHMs output...

Hey, Head-Fi - been reading reviews here for as long as I can remember in a casual capacity, but never had much in the way of my own gear to really start sharpening my listening. Just recently decided to take the plunge into something of my own, firmly in the low-mid range.   I'm doing an...