New Hifiman Headphone HE-400 is out - Page 391

I've had the HE-400s for a few weeks now and Im completely satisfied, but Im already thinking about future upgrades lol. 

Any word on how these perform up against something like an LCD3? 

Quote:

Originally Posted by beaver316 

I've had the HE-400s for a few weeks now and Im completely satisfied, but Im already thinking about future upgrades lol. 

 

Any word on how these perform up against something like an LCD3? 

Ya know, this is a really good question.  How does the bass comapre to bot the LCD-2 and the LCD-3?

According to a few to others: he-400 has more of it, lcd-2 has more impact.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TMRaven 

According to a few to others: he-400 has more of it, lcd-2 has more impact.

More of it?  

Extends deeper?

More accurate?

Tighter?

More Impact?  (you say LCD-2)

More rumble?

When it comes to HE400 vs LCD2/3 discussions, im not too interested in bass comparisons. They all very good, and that's all that matters. I was hoping on comparisons on other aspects such as mids, highs, soundstage, etc. And more importantly, how much better one headphone is at said aspect than the other. If I spend $2000 on an LCD3, will it obliterate the HE400? The price difference suggests it should, but then again the HE400 is awesome value and the LCD3 is known not to be the best value.

Quote:

Originally Posted by preproman 

 

 

More of it?  

 

Extends deeper?

More accurate?

Tighter?

More Impact?  (you say LCD-2)

More rumble?

I asked mattTCG about the extension in particular, and according to him, the LCD-2 should be more along the lines of a Denon, in which it's very strong down to the upper 20hz region, around 30hz.  HE-400 starts a gradual decline at 40hz, and its 30hz isn't as strong in comparison, if I'm getting that right.  Because there is less of it quantity wise, I assume it's more accurate.  HE-400 is a bit bass enhanced as it stands.  Square waves of LCD-2's bass show that it is very tight down low, thus will provide more authority there.

A lot of people have said LCD-2s bass is more impactful despite having less quantity, including Purrin.  I know it may be witchcraft to MadLustEnvy, but that's just the popular consensus on the LCD's bass.  HE-500 for instance, also has more bass quantity than LCD2 according to others.

Rumble I can't comment on.  I vaguely know what people mean by it, but it's a word that I rather not describe with music, as it's rather ambiguous.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pp312 

 

BTW: Does anyone else find the earpads really hard to get on these phones? Someone said to bend them slightly, but I don't have the strength. Takes me ages.

Something is wrong there.  There's only a little, flimsy plastic ring inside the earpads.  Should be easily malleable. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by TMRaven 

 

Rumble I can't comment on.  I vaguely know what people mean by it, but it's a word that I rather not describe with music, as it's rather ambiguous.

Yea, maybe more of a movie thing...

Quote:

Originally Posted by beaver316 

When it comes to HE400 vs LCD2/3 discussions, im not too interested in bass comparisons. They all very good, and that's all that matters. I was hoping on comparisons on other aspects such as mids, highs, soundstage, etc. And more importantly, how much better one headphone is at said aspect than the other. If I spend $2000 on an LCD3, will it obliterate the HE400? The price difference suggests it should, but then again the HE400 is awesome value and the LCD3 is known not to be the best value.

IMO the only thing that can be compared is the bass.  Well maybe soundstage because the LCDs don't really excel in that area.  Imaging, smooth highs, (mids?? as long as the bass doen't bleed in - that I don't know about the 400s It doesn't on the LCDs) all will lean towards the LCDs IMO....

Yes.  And frankly, people usually associate rumble with low, low bass.  But that's not all the times true.  Looking at energy spectrums over at AVS from time to time, you realize movies use full spectrum bass that's cleverly mixed to sound low.  So in reality it could just be more of a raw quantity thing. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by preproman 

 

 

IMO the only thing that can be compared is the bass.  Well maybe soundstage because the LCDs don't really excel in that area.  Imaging, smooth highs, (mids?? as long as the bass doen't bleed in - that I don't know about the 400s It doesn't on the LCDs) all will lean towards the LCDs IMO....

LCD2s sound pretty claustrophobic compared to HE6 and HE400s. HE500s are halfway between them. LCD3s are between LCD2 and HE500 in that regard. IMO openness is a pretty important criteria, although it doesn't necessarily correlate with soundstage/imaging, but has some relation to it, as well as to airiness and damping.

Quote:

Originally Posted by beaver316 

When it comes to HE400 vs LCD2/3 discussions, im not too interested in bass comparisons. They all very good, and that's all that matters. I was hoping on comparisons on other aspects such as mids, highs, soundstage, etc. And more importantly, how much better one headphone is at said aspect than the other. If I spend $2000 on an LCD3, will it obliterate the HE400? The price difference suggests it should, but then again the HE400 is awesome value and the LCD3 is known not to be the best value.

 

Yes. From my audition impressions, LCD3s are like an uber HE400 with much smoother (and a touch darker) treble, more liquid mids, and a more extended/textured bass. The only thing HE400s have over LCD3s are, again, openness of sound. In that regard though HE6 crushes both of these. Actually HE6 is comparable with LCD3 in all other categories as well, it just has a touch more overall treble quantity than what I'd consider as perfectly realistic.

Nice impressions jerg, thanks for that. I feel like the LCD3 would be the perfect upgrade from the HE400 for me. I like a dark headphone and some call the LCD3 the king of darkness.

Something else i found, the HE400 weighs 440 grams, the LCD2/3 weigh 550 grams. A lot of people mention how heavy the audeze phones are, but in all honesty if it's only 110 grams heavier than the HE400 then that would be fine for me. 

Anyway, sorry for the slight off topic, I just can't help but think..