New Hifiman Headphone HE-400 is out - Page 304

Quote:

Originally Posted by jerg 

 

Relative to the rev2 CSD plot: probably a broadband increase of ~3 dB between 5kHz and 20kHz, with some minor ringing around 11kHz.

Pro info, Jerg. How bad is the ringing? I'm having such a hard time figuring out how HifiMan QA gave the new drivers a GO if it's as bad as it's made out to be.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kjeldsen 

 

HifiMan QA

Que?

Quote:

Originally Posted by pb21cyclist 

Que?

QA: Quality Assurance.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pb21cyclist 

Yeah I know, I was just being a little facetious!

Oh :D I get it now. I wasn't prepared. Sadly.

Just got the HE400s and the velour earpads. I haven't put the velours on yet, I want to compare the way they sound with the pleathers. At the moment the bass hasn't surprised me, but maybe they will loosen up over the next few hours. Driving them with an ODAC+E17.

To clarify, the bass is clearly an improvement over my DT880s, as there's more of it, but the DT880's bass extension/texture is on par with these right now. Will keep listening. And these really aren't too heavy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by yokken 

Just got the HE400s and the velour earpads. I haven't put the velours on yet, I want to compare the way they sound with the pleathers. At the moment the bass hasn't surprised me, but maybe they will loosen up over the next few hours. Driving them with an ODAC+E17.

 

To clarify, the bass is clearly an improvement over my DT880s, as there's more of it, but the DT880's bass extension/texture is on par with these right now. Will keep listening. And these really aren't too heavy.

Did you get the latest revision (r3) ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kjeldsen 

 

Did you get the latest revision (r3) ?

Just took the earcups off, it's a yellowish off-white. So I'd say yes.

--

Call me crazy, call it placebo, but these sound worlds better with the velour earcups. Like, they're almost completely different. Wonderful.

--

But there isn't as much bass. It's still tight, but I think the DT880 almost does better for some songs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kjeldsen 

 

Pro info, Jerg. How bad is the ringing? I'm having such a hard time figuring out how HifiMan QA gave the new drivers a GO if it's as bad as it's made out to be.

Very minor ringing. On a none~severe ringing scale out of 10, I'd say it's a 2. It is enough that if you listen carefully to vocal music, especially those with gravelly voices, you can tell the treble isn't perfectly smooth and has a scratch in it. But on music with smoother vocals (e.g. Neil Young) or on music without vocals, you won't notice anything.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jerg 

 

Very minor ringing. On a none~severe ringing scale out of 10, I'd say it's a 2. It is enough that if you listen carefully to vocal music, especially those with gravelly voices, you can tell the treble isn't perfectly smooth and has a scratch in it. But on music with smoother vocals (e.g. Neil Young) or on music without vocals, you won't notice anything.

Allright. Still a shame. But i'm dying to try these out and so i'll probably pull the trigger soon, especially since a new revision could take a while! But judging from the HifiMan customer service thread, it seems like this forum has/could have alot of influence on future products. That's pretty awesome.

Velours shouldn't have any effect on the bass at all, but you are right that the velours do wonders for their sound.

Hey guys, just received my HE-400 today. Looks like I got the Rev.3 version. First impressions with the velour pads (I have the HE-300 with me as well, testing both to see which one I prefer) is that there's noticeable sibilance compared to the HE-300. Listening was done via a FiiO E7 hooked up to my laptop playing Apple Lossless files on iTunes. The bass on the HE-400 did not wow me either. The HE-300 has over 60 hours of burn in time though, so hopefully the HE-400 will improve after some burning in. 

Pardon my inexperience, newbie here.   

Plugged my ODAC into a powered USB hub (from the original Rock Band), listening to some stuff... the highs are actually a bit fatiguing, sibilant at times. The DT880s have crisp highs but aren't piercing. I'm already feeling a bit apprehensive... I'll be burning these in tomorrow when I'm at work but I'm afraid I might not like their sound. They have good detail retrieval -- in fact, I think I've heard some stuff with these already that I haven't heard even with my DT880s, which I find hard to believe, but maybe they really are that good. I just wish I didn't feel like I have to EQ down the treble to make these enjoyable to listen to for longer than 30 minutes. I might have to stretch out the headband just a tad as well, as I feel they are a little tight. Not nearly as bad as my HD280s though.

@ evowei and yokken,

Please report the treble issue over to the Hifiman customer service thread, we need this recognized so they do something about it.

http://www.head-fi.org/t/629253/head-direct-hifiman-customer-service-team/60#post_8747549

Alright, I made a post. I'm starting to warm up to the sound signature of these now, either they're getting better or I'm just acclimating to their sound. Treble is still a bit hot compared to my DT880s but Infected Mushroom really shines on these.