New Hifiman Headphone HE-400 is out - Page 156

After reading both of the large HE-400-related threads, they sound very close to my sonic ideal and I having a feeling that they'd be the headphone to end all of my audio ambitions.  My biggest concern is: do you think they'd hold up for several years with good care?  And how well does Hifiman respect ownership transfer when it comes down to warranty (assuming that I buy a used pair?)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bop 

After reading both of the large HE-400-related threads, they sound very close to my sonic ideal and I having a feeling that they'd be the headphone to end all of my audio ambitions.  My biggest concern is: do you think they'd hold up for several years with good care?  And how well does Hifiman respect ownership transfer when it comes down to warranty (assuming that I buy a used pair?)

If you are talking about driver longevity, then no one knows, rev 2 HE400s have only been out since March this year, so the oldest pairs are only 4 or 5 months old. Haven't seen much if any complaints of Hifiman's other cans failing though, correct me if I'm wrong.

As for general build quality, they are robust, there is structurally no weak point, period.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mad Lust Envy 

Question about planars... is it possible for them to blow out like regular dynamic drivers?

Anything's possible, but in practical terms, no; these drivers are designed to handle power much better than ring coil dynamic drivers.

I just ordered a pair of these too. It's just my luck that they are shipped from the other side of the country.

Yes, it is possible damage planars, but i suppose the weak links would depend on the planar implementation. Admittedly i haven't really done any research on how these cans are built.

I have Magnepan speakers and i've had a couple issues over the years that i've had to fix, but nothing that i couldn't do myself. One speaker's mylar stretched somehow so there was a wrinkled area that resulted in a flappy sound with lower frequencies so i had to re-tension it. Other speaker had some wire delaminating from the mylar. The speakers are totally worth the trouble though. 

I would think that hifiman's are much lower maintenance and less susceptible to similar issues based on size alone.

Sort of already asked this in the HE-300 thread, but how do the HE-400 compare overall, most specifically in terms of midrange forwardness/lack thereof? Most comparisons between the two completely gloss over this detail, and just flat out claim the HE-400s to be better, without giving any details or reasons as to why. I'd also like to know how the mids sound in general, perhaps compared to something I've actually had, like the hd650. These, along with the HE-300, have been described as more focused on the bass, with a dark sig overall, or at least that's what I've gathered. This concerns me as no one's really gushed over the mids yet, which I find to be probably the most important aspect for me in a headphone. I'd like to try out new sound sigs, so if the mids are decent enough, I won't complain, and probably get them on the spot. But if the difference in mids between the HE-300/400 aren't too significant, I'll go for the cheaper route (tried the HE-500, and man were they heavy, I'd imagine most other orthos to be as well). I'll get the chance to hear both of them soon, though.

I got the Hifiman HE-400 and I bought the Ipod Classic 7th generation shortly after. They all work fine except for one thing; the ipod classic randomly pauzes songs. This occurs even while the iPod is locked/on hold. It happens when I slightly tilt my iPod, but also when everything is laying completely still and nothing is moving.

I'm trying to figure out which one is faulty =/ I've read on the internet that this phenomenon does occur with the iPod, but after testing it with my HD25 1-II, it didn't and I'm baffled. Listening the HE-400 whilst it's connected to the Fiio E11 and my phone, this doesn't occur at all. I've slightly been rotating the 3.5mm jack (left/right) and slightly bending it (not breaking, just finding the room-tolerance (?) in the headphone jack) and when I do this, the pauzes are still random, which makes me believe that I'm not causing the error by moving the cable.

I think I've narrowed it down to the headphone jack in the iPod is faulty or the harddisk or cache, since the headphones dont disconnect from the Fiio/my phone causing the music the pauze.

Could anyone try/confirm that their iPod + HE-400 works fine? I'm pretty sure that it's not due to the iPod not giving enough juice to power them, they advertise that they can be used by them. =/

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mad Lust Envy 

Question about planars... is it possible for them to blow out like regular dynamic drivers?

They can take a ton of power. I found this out when I was demoing them for a friend and he decided to turn the gain all the way up on the Lyr before the relay kicked on....

Never had the iPod pausing issue.  I use a 4th gen touch.

As for mids and comparison to HE-300, I can't describe that.  I can describe a little bit vs the HD650 (silver screened newer version).

HE-400's mids aren't as snappy feeling transient wise, I assume this is due to the slightly higher noise floor because of its high 3rd order harmonics.  In other words, I think HD650 has a black background.  Both don't really have that large of a soundstage, but both have very good layering in their soundstages.  HD650 has more uppermidrange energy than HE-400, almost too much at times, thus resulting in a brighter experience for me.  Velours smooth the midrange out a bit, but I still found the HD650s to have a slightly smoother midrange in terms of frequency response.  The HE-400s have better instrument separation, and I also just assume that they're plain faster than the HD650.  I'm not too  big on using the term detail, but at times it seems like the HE-400 is more detailed of the two and can give better texture.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mad Lust Envy 

Damn, doesn't look like the He400 has shipped yet, so it seems I do have to wait until someone comes back from vacation. Should've used the cheapest shipping since I'm gonna have to wait until next week anyways...

Yeah, I was afraid of that.  Drew should've posted it on the site under the events....he did email everyone on the newsletter, but I managed to find out early since I went to place a custom order as he was packing up for the week.  Which sucked because I was ordering a week ahead of when I intended to to make sure something arrived by today only to find out he was out all week

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mad Lust Envy 

That's the one weakness the DT990s have for me. That treble is quite punishing at times.

The 8.5kHz of doom?  yeah.  It's really from about 6.5-10kHz.  But that 8.5kHz peak on that huge spike is something that has made me always question why anyone could tolerate Beyer.  DT990 makes DT880 look tolerable in that regard   It's useful as a studio tool, but it would be painful for anything else.  Though my MDR7506 is very Beyer-like in that regard and I like those, that peak is also what made me get HD650 years ago

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mad Lust Envy 

Question about planars... is it possible for them to blow out like regular dynamic drivers?

Quote:

Originally Posted by jerg 

 

Anything's possible, but in practical terms, no; these drivers are designed to handle power much better than ring coil dynamic drivers.

You'd basically have to drive them so hard so as to slap the diaphragm against the magnet retainers or at least jar/snap/wear at the electrical joints and "rails" they move along.  Unlike a "cone" in a dynamic you can't invert them or separate them from their coil since the coils are static and the diaphragm gets passed back and forth between two sets of "coils".

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fearless1 

They can take a ton of power. I found this out when I was demoing them for a friend and he decided to turn the gain all the way up on the Lyr before the relay kicked on....

WHOA.  Tell me you did not have music playing into the Lyr when that happened.  At max gain with stock tubes and music incoming that would be a full 6-10W being pumped in.  I'm not sure they could take that without SOME effect.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TMRaven 

Never had the iPod pausing issue.  I use a 4th gen touch.

 

As for mids and comparison to HE-300, I can't describe that.  I can describe a little bit vs the HD650 (silver screened newer version).

 

HE-400's mids aren't as snappy feeling transient wise, I assume this is due to the slightly higher noise floor because of its high 3rd order harmonics.  In other words, I think HD650 has a black background.  Both don't really have that large of a soundstage, but both have very good layering in their soundstages.  HD650 has more uppermidrange energy than HE-400, almost too much at times, thus resulting in a brighter experience for me.  Velours smooth the midrange out a bit, but I still found the HD650s to have a slightly smoother midrange in terms of frequency response.  The HE-400s have better instrument separation, and I also just assume that they're plain faster than the HD650.  I'm not too  big on using the term detail, but at times it seems like the HE-400 is more detailed of the two and can give better texture.

You may have a better revision of your comparison once your O2 arrives.  You'll be surprised how detailed HD650 can get if you still have them.  In my mind HD650 actually presents slightly more detail (disclaimer: silver cable.)  I agree that they're brighter as well, and with a smoother midrange.  I also agree that HE-400 has better instrument separation, however HD650 has a better center image and sometimes can be more "holographic", however with my Matsu tubes the HE-400 becomes wickedly holographic.  I haven't tried HD650 on those tubes yet, I have my Tungsrams in at the moment which I love with HD650.   I would say HD650 can be the more detailed one, both are quite fast, and texture....it kind of varies on the recording.  Tie.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hakone 

 

Like butter instead of yoghurt.

That is reassuring, cause that is exactly the sound signature I was looking for, a DT990 without the harsh trebble sound like a step closer to heaven :)

My finger is now itching to push the buy button...