New Hifiman Headphone HE-400 is out - Page 389

Quote:

Originally Posted by preproman 

What's with this driver issue that seems like it's only with the 400s?  Has this happened to the 4s, 500, 5LEs and 6s as well.  I have all except the 400s they're next.  The 4s are on the way.  The other had 0 problems.  Is this just with the 400s?  What gives?

 

Is the burn in process Justing is doing working thus far?

I chalk it up to it being their first headphone to be mass produced rather than being pretty much completely hand made like their other ortho's.

Quote:

Originally Posted by preproman 

What's with this driver issue that seems like it's only with the 400s?  Has this happened to the 4s, 500, 5LEs and 6s as well.  I have all except the 400s they're next.  The 4s are on the way.  The other had 0 problems.  Is this just with the 400s?  What gives?

 

Is the burn in process Justing is doing working thus far?

I can tell you in my case at least, it's not a driver issue, it's a connection problem. On the left side, the little silver tab at the bottom of the driver assembly doesn't make solid contact with the board and when this happens, the sounds distorts, plays at a reduced volume, or cuts out completely. 

I actually removed the entire driver assembly from the casing and a did a little surgery on this part to make sure it was nice and tight, and that fixed things for about a week. I thought it was solved for good, but i guess it started separating again and the problem reoccurred last night. If i push on the bottom of the casing i can get it to start playing again, but i'm done dealing with it. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by preproman 

What's with this driver issue that seems like it's only with the 400s?  Has this happened to the 4s, 500, 5LEs and 6s as well.  I have all except the 400s they're next.  The 4s are on the way.  The other had 0 problems.  Is this just with the 400s?  What gives?

 

Is the burn in process Justing is doing working thus far?

I suspect that we're seeing what we are with the HE-400 because of a few reasons.

1) The HE-400 is probably out-selling the other models, due to its price point.

2) The HE-400 discussions on this forum are getting a lot of attention / action, where owners are all chiming in and sharing their experience.  Again, due to the numbers of participants, posts, etc., it could seem as though it is a bigger issue than it is.

3) The HE-400, has undergone 3(?) revisions.  Actually, I believe # 3 was reverted, so we might be back to two revisions.  # 3 was an apparent driver change with the off-white driver enclosure.

4) Finally, HifiMAN doesn't release their issue / return rate statistics, so we don't know if the HE-400 has more flaws, or is on par with the rest of their line.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scyy 

I chalk it up to it being their first headphone to be mass produced rather than being pretty much completely hand made like their other ortho's.

For clarifycation, the orthodynamic drivers are the component that is mass-produced on the HE-400s.  On their other models (HE-300 excluded) the orthodynamic drivers are assembled by hand.  The rest of the HE-400 build process is probably in line with how their other "HE" series of headphones are assembled.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dragunov-21 


Mmm... Tell me more about crosstalk issues between a signal and ground core of the same channel.
Pretty sure that the thinner is better because it should reduce capacitance (which would attenuate high frequencies, iirc), however marginally.

In an ulitmate use scenario, I'm quite sure the method developed by Sennheiser is quite adequate.  However, we all know that everybody doesn't use their headphones in the same "ultimate use" as we live in various regions of the world.  There are many factors that could create an issue for one buyer on another continent as opposed to what I may or may not experience with mine.  I still believe that in Sennheiser's case with the HD-428, they really used the micro cable with the insulating shellack on the wires to save on costs.  To me, it would have been easy to just use some 26 gauge wire, which would have been much more suitable and more resistant to issues in my opinion.  It does seem the HD-428 headphone return rate is quite high.  The market has been flooded with HD-428 manufacturer refurbished units.  They come packaged in a plastic bag, with a Sennheiser cardboard top, so the headphones can be hung on a pegboard rack in a store. 

Then again, with Sennheiser's strict MSRP guidelines, are they just packaging new HD-428 headphones as "refurbished" so they can reach more buyers in the market with such a designation and it would not violate their MSRP restriction of $79.99 for the retail version of the headphone?  Hmm ...

Quote:

Originally Posted by wje 

 

I suspect that we're seeing what we are with the HE-400 because of a few reasons.

 

1) The HE-400 is probably out-selling the other models, due to its price point.

 

2) The HE-400 discussions on this forum are getting a lot of attention / action, where owners are all chiming in and sharing their experience.  Again, due to the numbers of participants, posts, etc., it could seem as though it is a bigger issue than it is.

 

3) The HE-400, has undergone 3(?) revisions.  Actually, I believe # 3 was reverted, so we might be back to two revisions.  # 3 was an apparent driver change with the off-white driver enclosure.

 

4) Finally, HifiMAN doesn't release their issue / return rate statistics, so we don't know if the HE-400 has more flaws, or is on par with the rest of their line.

Wayne,

I gues your wright, I was just comparing to the ones I got - that had like 0 issues.  

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTRagnarok 

 

The standard 550 paracord is about 4mm and is a snug fit for the Mogami 2893 if you strip it down. I used 2893 for the whole cable - it has 4 conductors so you split it into two going to each cup. Like FuzzyD, I'm also getting that 6mm PET sleeving to go with Canare L-4E5AT to make another cable. The Canare is 5mm so it should be a nice fit.

What do you mean by "strip it down" for the Mogami 2893?  Does the 4mm paracord not fit over the Mogami 2893 as is?

For your earcup leads, do you strip off the Mogami jacket and copper shield and run only the 2 wires per lead to each earcup?

Thanks for the info!

Quote:

Originally Posted by wje 

 

In an ulitmate use scenario, I'm quite sure the method developed by Sennheiser is quite adequate.  However, we all know that everybody doesn't use their headphones in the same "ultimate use" as we live in various regions of the world.  There are many factors that could create an issue for one buyer on another continent as opposed to what I may or may not experience with mine.

Yeah, but the laws of physics aren't region-dependant.  If I'm understanding you correctly, you're talking about the two cores of one channel looping from the cable's attachment point through the headband to the other cup.  You can't get crosstalk, crosstalk-related issues, or indeed any negative effect from having those two cores close together.  You're saying that the non-durable internal wiring must cause SQ issues, but that is not the case.

Quote:

Originally Posted by merkil 


So is there a certain revision I should be looking for when I purchase? I've read this thread and from what I can gather the r2 is the best revision but can some buddy tell me how to tell the revisions apart. Does the r2 have the white grills? And is it for sure that they have scrapped the r3 and are going back to the r2?
Sorry guys, new guy here. I've been a lurker for a while now but signed up to ask because I'm interested in picking these up but want to get the best revision.
Thanks for any replies.

Hifiman has gone back to the r2 and pulled all the old stock from merchants. The r2 is the only one that you can buy new from a retailer now and it's the one you want. 

^^ Be sure to order a pair of velour pads for these as they are a must with this hp. Some retailer are including the velour I believe. This may have only been with the replacements though on the recall. 

About the HiFiman cable...the top of the left connector is firm while the one on the right is loose...is that supposed to be how it is? apparently they sent me another cable without me knowing but it's in the same condition as the last one

EDIT: the "connectors" i'm talking about are these parts

http://i46.tinypic.com/2zf4swp.png

I never A/B'd the velours vs pleathers enough while focusing on the treble section.   I do know that bass is unaffected, but the mids are brought up a good bit.