[barid]

  HD600 is ALMIGHTY...
a MUST OWN, at least once in your Headfi-Journey.
 
but  u can skip the He400 and go to the He500, 
and u wont feel like u have missed a milestone.
 
Now hit the BUY button Now.

 
I'd agree, HD600 is hard to beat for the price you can grab a used (basically new) one on the FS forums here ($250).
 
I spent a short bit of time (an hour?) with the HE400 and it struck me as a very fun phone; in the same vein as the old Denon D5000.  If you were into like dubstep, hip hop, or basically any bass centered genre.  They seemed to have some real punch and sparkle to the sound. 
 
I also spent a weekend with the HE500 and I disliked it very much.  So much so I instantly sold it.  I know this is contrary to popular opinion and it's a highly regarded headphone here but I'd pick the HD600 over it any day (regardless of price; of which the HD600 can be had for about half the cost).  Perhaps the HE500 needed more than the ~1 watt my DACmini PX can put out to really sing, I never did try it off the speaker taps.
 
....but anyways, I like the HD600 more.  Though I think all 3 headphones are competent, it comes down to preference.

 

[parbaked]

  HD600 is ALMIGHTY...
a MUST OWN, at least once in your Headfi-Journey.
 
but  u can skip the He400 and go to the He500, 
and u wont feel like u have missed a milestone.
 
Now hit the BUY button Now.

Yeah...what he said^^^
 
...besides hasn't the He400 already been replaced.
 
HD600 is a classic reference that is worth owning and understanding even if you then choose to move on...
 
Buy the 400 and you may always want more.
Buy the 600 and you may never need more...

 

[Keithpgdrb]

  I am about to pull the trigger,
 
Please guys, explain why

 
HE400 owners are bombarding that He400's are fantastic and are compared to Audeze LCD2 etc
 
and saying HE400 are only rival to the almighty HD600

Get the 600.  the upper mids and treble are all wrong on the current orthodynamics.  Vocals come across honkey, and there is no airy sparkle.  I don't even love the LCD line.  The bass and mid performance is what brings people back IMHO.  Get the 600's already.  everyone should own them once, if not forever.

 

[cswann1]

  everyone should own them once, if not forever.

 
Agreed.   Any headphone audio enthusiast should get to know the HD600 well.

 

[roguegeek]

  Guys,
 
I recently had made up my mind on HD600, but waiting for the Chinese new year festival to end to buy them,
 
mean while I came up across HE400's and read maximum information about them
 
HD600 VS HE400 how do they go?
 
I have an entry level tube amp and an entry level dac, cannot afford better setup for atleast an year.
 
for me the price difference will be of 30$ between the two.
 
1) which of the two offer better clarity and details?
 
 
2) are the HE400 as durable as the HD600's?
 
3) are HE400's modular like the HD600's?
 
4) are orthodynamic drivers better than dynamic? if so, then in what terms.
 
5) which of the two will be more suited for my longer ears and my amp setup.
 
and I am not fan of bass or electronic music.
 
 
Thanks!

HE-400 owner here (or was one up until 2 weeks ago), so I'm speaking through personal experience.
 

• HD 600. HE-400 is deceiving because it is a brighter can, but once you start listening to those highs, you'll find it's retrieving almost nothing.
• No. No. No. Read the HE-400 threads and you'll find they're littered with failed cables, headband separation, cracked cups, worn printing, etc...
• Kinda. The cups can be easily disassembled. The headband, no. Once that thing is broke (and it breaks a lot), it's done.
• Depends. This is a personal preference thing. What orthos are known for are their clean and extended low frequencies, but are they better than a dynamic driver? That's for you and your ears to determine. For me, I prefer the HD 600 driver over the HE-400 driver in almost all areas.
• The cups on the HE-400 are larger than the cups on the HD 600, so your larger ears may work better with the HE-400. Still, there are other comfort factors to take into account and the HE-400 was, by far, one of the most uncomfortable cans I'd experienced for extended home use. The weight, balance, and fit were just bad.

 
The only thing I could recommend the HE-400 for over the HD 600 is if you are really in need for a bassy signature to work with bassy music, but I'd probably still recommend an HD 600 in those cases.
 
Hope this helps!

 

[madwolfa]

Originally Posted by Ophiel /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
Even when A/Bing with my previous aune T1's integrated amp, I could barely hear a difference besides wider soundstage(which might even be my imagination).
The asgard 2 costs double or more than the aune T1, is an integrated dac+amp. For the HD600, you can get the same thing with much cheaper and less fancy
standalone amps. I'm not anti-Schitt or anything - their products are great, but overpriced imo. I can say that of many other products that I have tried too. 

 
Well, yeah. It makes sense...
 
To be honest, I can't hear any difference between headphone output of my Rotel RC-1090 preamp and X-CAN V3 either.
So I guess I'll just settle on what I have and save some $$$.
 
It looks like in the end the most important aspect is the quality of the recording. And then the headphones (or speakers).
Source and amplification play much less role nowadays (if they're decent enough).
 

 

[roguegeek]

  I am about to pull the trigger,
 
Please guys, explain why

 
HE400 owners are bombarding that He400's are fantastic and are compared to Audeze LCD2 etc
 
and saying HE400 are only rival to the almighty HD600

HE-400 owners are kinda funny to me. Of course, if you go into that thread, everyone is going to talk about how it is the best thing in the whole wide world. It will be like that in any can specific thread (including this one). I can only give you my own experience with it. Owned one for a year. I thought they were amazing at first, but upon deeper listening, there were just far too many flaws to overcome. Honestly, I think the HE-400 (and really all of Hifiman's current cans) owners know this. Want proof? Take a look at the HE-400i/HE-560 announcement thread. It's only 3 weeks old and is and is already at 85 pages(!) filled with current owners just frothing at the mouth to upgrade. Just littered with, "Lighter weight?! Count me in!" or "Looks way more comfortable!" I don't think that's hype as much as it is a group of consumers collectively saying here is a good product, but there is so much room for improvement.
 
Here's another thing. Everyone should own or have real good experience with the HD 600. Everyone knows what it sounds like and is practically used as a measuring stick in this hobby. It's good to understand the baseline that everyone compares against.

 

[perhapss]

  Get the 600.  the upper mids and treble are all wrong on the current orthodynamics.  Vocals come across honkey, and there is no airy sparkle.  I don't even love the LCD line.  The bass and mid performance is what brings people back IMHO.  Get the 600's already.  everyone should own them once, if not forever.

 

 

[perhapss]

  HE-400 owner here (or was one up until 2 weeks ago), so I'm speaking through personal experience.
 

• HD 600. HE-400 is deceiving because it is a brighter can, but once you start listening to those highs, you'll find it's retrieving almost nothing.
• No. No. No. Read the HE-400 threads and you'll find they're littered with failed cables, headband separation, cracked cups, worn printing, etc...
• Kinda. The cups can be easily disassembled. The headband, no. Once that thing is broke (and it breaks a lot), it's done.
• Depends. This is a personal preference thing. What orthos are known for are their clean and extended low frequencies, but are they better than a dynamic driver? That's for you and your ears to determine. For me, I prefer the HD 600 driver over the HE-400 driver in almost all areas.
• The cups on the HE-400 are larger than the cups on the HD 600, so your larger ears may work better with the HE-400. Still, there are other comfort factors to take into account and the HE-400 was, by far, one of the most uncomfortable cans I'd experienced for extended home use. The weight, balance, and fit were just bad.

 
The only thing I could recommend the HE-400 for over the HD 600 is if you are really in need for a bassy signature to work with bassy music, but I'd probably still recommend an HD 600 in those cases.
 
Hope this helps!

 
I agree.
 
Then again I'm a big fan of tried and true German design....

 

[parbaked]

  Here's another thing. Everyone should own or have real good experience with the HD 600. Everyone knows what it sounds like and is practically used as a measuring stick in this hobby. It's good to understand the baseline that everyone compares against.

This is very true!

 

[StanD]

  HD600 is ALMIGHTY...
a MUST OWN, at least once in your Headfi-Journey.
 
but  u can skip the He400 and go to the He500, 
and u wont feel like u have missed a milestone.
 
Now hit the BUY button Now.

+1
I own an HD600 as well as an HE-500. I agree, skip the HE-400 and go onto the HE-500, my ears prevented an HE-400 purchase, they are different animals. I really enjoy my HE-500 as well as HD600 which is easier to drive. The HD600 has a more neutral treble, just right. The HE-500 has better bass. If a gun was put to me and I was forced to make a choice, I'd go with the HD600. There must be a reason why Sennheiser just can't discontinue the HD600, even though its so called successor, the HD650, has been out for some time.
1) The HD600 sounds too damned good and they'd piss off to many customers.
2) You can't argue with success, especially about 16 years worth.

 

[moriez]

 

  Could no longer resist and jumped onto a €180 E-Bay pair of 600's for the final(?) death-match versus the 650. Looking forward!
 
Quote:

Looking forward to hearing your opinion on the two! 

Same here. I purposely stayed away from the HD 600 for a while because I thought it would be too warm for me until an opportunity I couldn't pass on came up. Now I have the same feelings about the HD 650, but am probably looking to get a pair anyway because Senn has built up a little bit of my faith in them. Will I be pleasantly surprised again? Who knows.

 
Received the 600 yesterday and it feels like I have become overnight fan. They are just so nice. Not saying they are better or worse than the 650. What I am finding is that they do certain music better than the 650. And that's true also the other way around. My prob with the 650 is that it's a bit too bassy at times but worse, it lacks brightness and sparkle which can make them sound.. well, veiled and unengaging(?) At the same time, to me, the 600 does have that notch of brightness and sparkle but can lack that tiny last bit of bass that I like to get from it. Darn! Didn't see this coming. Expected to be sure to sell one of them again but they just complement one another. 600's for jazzy and stringy affairs and bassy recordings. The 650's for the brighter, bass-light and shabbier recordings. Something like that..

 

[cerealbox760]

Hello there fellow Head-fi'ers!
 
I recently purchased a pair of these. They sound great with a Fiio E17.  However, I cant help but wonder how much would these headphones sound if I buy proper amp? Specifically the Fiio E9 or the O2? Would the extra $100 be worth the SQ boost?  
 
Im trying to transition from IEMs to headphones (fear of going deaf, really) but I just cant get enough of the IE80s. I suspect im not amplifying my headphones right, and thus giving an unfair advantage to my IEMs. Anyone want to chime in on this? IE80s vs HD600 (which do you prefer)

 

[James-uk]

Received the 600 yesterday and it feels like I have become overnight fan. They are just so nice. Not saying they are better or worse than the 650. What I am finding is that they do certain music better than the 650. And that's true also the other way around. My prob with the 650 is that it's a bit too bassy at times but worse, it lacks brightness and sparkle which can make them sound.. well, veiled and unengaging(?) At the same time, to me, the 600 does have that notch of brightness and sparkle but can lack that tiny last bit of bass that I like to get from it. Darn! Didn't see this coming. Expected to be sure to sell one of them again but they just complement one another. 600's for jazzy and stringy affairs and bassy recordings. The 650's for the brighter, bass-light and shabbier recordings. Something like that..

Sounds like you need the hd800 to have the best of both worlds

 

[Lorspeaker]

   
Received the 600 yesterday and it feels like I have become overnight fan. They are just so nice. Not saying they are better or worse than the 650. What I am finding is that they do certain music better than the 650. And that's true also the other way around. My prob with the 650 is that it's a bit too bassy at times but worse, it lacks brightness and sparkle which can make them sound.. well, veiled and unengaging(?) At the same time, to me, the 600 does have that notch of brightness and sparkle but can lack that tiny last bit of bass that I like to get from it. Darn! Didn't see this coming. Expected to be sure to sell one of them again but they just complement one another. 600's for jazzy and stringy affairs and bassy recordings. The 650's for the brighter, bass-light and shabbier recordings. Something like that..

 
i found my peace in a hd650  + SPC cable  .....it is my "hd600 on steroids"