The KRK KNS-8400(and 6400) Appreciation Thread!

You can add me to the list of fans of these headphones. I like the KRKs enough to own both models. Both have slight differences, but the 8400 is worth the extra money.

One good use for the 8400 is for gaming. With gaming at least, it sounds very similar to my well amped Q701! Playing Skyrim with the 8400 is quite the experience. The 8400 compete well with the Q701 when it comes to detail, but the 8400 might have the edge. I haven't compared them much yet. Of course if you like tons of bloated bass with your gaming, then avoid the 8400.

Like the DT-880, with the 8400 you kind of need to weed out a lot of bad tracks. Any harsh, fatiguing and poorly mastered music is basically not going to sound any better. It's really amazing how much Jpop is unlistenable.

I've also found tons of stuff in my tracks that I never heard before. For example, on one track I can hear a dog bark in the background. It's almost impossible to hear, but it's there.

My only complaint about the 8400 is that KRKs seem to be best for those with a giant head. I have a smaller head and they're not as secure as some other headphones. These things could fit King Kong! They'd be especially good for those with a massive head. For me they don't have a lot of clamping force.

BTW it seems many don't appreciate the soundstage of these. I think it's very, very good. Much larger than the SRH-940, M50, DJ100 and V6. I usually hate closed headphones because of the poor soundstage. Now it's not super huge, but acceptable for movies and gaming. About comparable to many semi-open headphones. How does the soundstage compare to the K271 or K272HD? (both have different frequency graphs). Of course it depends mostly on the recording.

I bet fans of the Q701 would like the KNS-8400. Maybe something good for when they can't use a full sized desktop amp.

Also..I think the most impressive thing about the 8400 other than the detail is how crystal clear the sound is. It's got the SRH-940 and other comparable studio monitors beat IMO, even the M50.

Good roundup you've got there.  I've owned the 8400s twice (6400s once), and I like them, but I'm selling my second pair right now to offset the cost of some DT 770s, and also because I prefer my 598s over the 8400s for all-arounder usage.  They're still a great pair of headphones, though.

I have only tried the KRK KNS 6400,and I found it to be a very good headphone,especially for the asking price.

I tested it from an ipod nano 5g without an amp,with apple lossless files mostly,with a variety of music,from old disco,pop,rock,ballads,electro etc. to vocals music,classical music and some house/dance tracks,and the sound was very nice.It has the ability to be somewhat neutral,but enjoyable and fun at the same time.The sound is clear and lively but not harsh,with good timpre for a closed headphone at this price,and with good soundstage imaging.It plays music really well,and it did well with all the genres of music I tested it with.The comfort was also very good.And another + is that it has replaceble pads and cable.

It also performed better to my ears when compared to some other similar headphones,like the sennheiser hd 280pro and 380 pro I had the chance to try out of the same ipod.The hd 280 was  like something in the audio spectrum was completely missing(mid bass?),giving a sound that was not good to my ears,thin,distant and unnatural(maybe impedance dismatch?).The hd380 was a bit better but it had that hollow feeling to it's sound,that coloration in the mids,you usually hear in entry to mid level closed cans,making vocals and some instruments sound unnatural.

I was to buy a pair of these 6400 for myself,but finally I didn't because I'm very satisfied with the srh 840 out of my ipod.But if I was to buy now an easy to drive,comfortable and good sounding closed headphone at a good price,my choice would easily be this headphone.

Here's another link for anyone that's interested:

http://www.head-fi.org/t/540079/five-headphones-compared-kns-8400-dj100-hd-598-sextett-and-mdr-7506

In this I did a comparison of the KNS-8400, Koss Pro DJ 100, HD-598, Sextett and MDR-7506.

It's old and not very good. The only thing I would change is that the soundstage of the KNS-8400 is much higher. The review pair is an older pair that had a very poor soundstage.

Not sure how.

I think this review was one when the KRK KNS-8400 had just come out.

The newer KNS-8400's don't seem to have the fatiguing treble my 1st pair did (before burn-in). Maybe I had a goofy pair.

Does anyone else think they are kind of strong in the 2k area?

Quote:

Originally Posted by bookaboo 

I auditioned both recently and I found a quirky thing occurred with the cables. The shop I was in open 2 new pairs but we used the 6400 cable on both pairs as they didn't want to unravel 2 sets of cables. I found the sound of the 8400 was more smooth and less bright than I'd heard before using it's own cable and so I got them to unravel the 8400 cable and the highs were back in full force. The sound of the 8400 with 6400 cable was more open but much more closer to the 6400 sound. I'm thinking now hat the differences between the 2 models may just be the pads and cable. Maybe if someone has both variations they could do an experiment for the rest of the forum. Anyways I still am gunning for the 8400 and may pick up a pair today as I think they are a q701 done right with a more realistic soundstage.

I have both headphones with stock cables and can compare the differences later today.

One thing I noticed is that my first two 8400 cables would tangle very easily. On my earlier pair (near release date) the cable stayed in the shape it was in for maybe a week! Kind of like a square shape. The cable I have now on the 3rd pair doesn't seem to tangle up as easily.

Both cables look a bit different. You'd think they're were the same though.

To me, there's too much of a difference between the models (not super huge though) for them to have just different cables. I guess I won't know until I compare them. It's possible.

8400 are my Q701 sound very similar, at least with gaming. The 8400 often sounds a bit fuller sounding with it's mids, but could be due to how it's closed.

Mids also sound a bit more forward, but again, probably due to being closed and haven't a smaller soundstage.

Took me about forever to figure out the differences between the 6400 and 8400. This 8400 I have now sounds a tiny bit better than my old (earlier) pairs. Could be more burn-in is done at the factory or simple variations between pairs.

My 6400 definitely has more mid-bass and more forward (sounding) mids for sure. Never figured out why. Could be the more accurate soundstage of the 8400 fooling me or something. It does seem to have a more accurate soundstage than the 6400.

People think I'm crazy, but I really do think high quality wires effect the soundstage accuracy. Never realized this until I tried some cheap Belden wire.

The Q701 (like the 8400) often is just so good at fooling me. Sometimes specific tracks sounds as if the vocals are very distant and recessed, but this is just the recording itself. On other less accurate headphones, it's harder to notice.

Once you get a track that has forward sounding vocals (in the recording), it's that way on the Q701 and 8400 too.

I think the 8400 and Q701 are perhaps the most accurate headphones I've heard yet, but I never went past the $400 price yet.

Newbie response over here.....Just got them last week, my first pair of good headphones (I got them for 60 buck plus shipping on ebay, pretty cheap I think), so far I'm very happy with them, I had no idea of the amount of detail that I was missing from my music. I do find that, with some types of music, they can be a little fatiguing to hear (too much brightness perhaps?).  Also it is very revealing when it comes to bad recordings or bad rips. Isolation could be better I think (though I don't really have any reference to compare with), use them yesterday on the subway and I had to turn the volume way up and still wasn't enough to overcome the subway noise. 

ps: I'm from Chile, I apologise if my english is not so good. 

Picked these up earlier this month after reading all the great reviews. Love the amount of detail and instrument separation on these. Vocals are crystal clear with everything (music,games,movies). They are very revealing as i hear sounds in the distant background clearly. Soundstage is great with a balanced realistic feel giving a sense of being in the environment instead of having batlike sonar hearing things one really shouldnt like the Audio Technica ATH-AD700 which i also own and love. In fact they sound alot like a much more balanced ATH-AD700 with a tweaked soundstage and no grainy sound. Plus the isolation is great thanks to the very comfortable memory foam the ear pads are made of. These were my first headphones with a detachable cable and i was a bit fearful of this being a fragile spot but to my surprise they snapped on with a click and have stayed firmly in place with excellent sound quality.

Playing Skyrim with these is pure immersive joy where all the small and big details come out in a balanced believable manner. From the rustling wind to birds chirping or the crispy sound of a torch burning aswell as sword and shield combat full of impact the KRK KNS-8400 deliever the goodness big time.

These and the VMODA CROSSFADE LP headphones i picked up about a week ago are now my go to headphones with the VMODA having a heavier bass quality yet similar detail in sound aswell as isolating memory foam ear pads. Its been a good month for me audio wise thanks to the Head-fi Forums and some spectacular offerings at Best Buy. 

I find the midrange to upper treble area of the 8400 to be exquisite. Very open and detailed without being grainy and bright. Lovely delicacy in the treble

My only slight beef is with the bass. It's not that there is a muddy hump that clouds detail, the balance actually seems pretty good. It's more of a tight, blobby character, missing upper bass. It's like the bass is enclosed in a tight place and struggling to get out and breathe. Needless to say, bass dynamics are also squashed. 

The 8400s are my first high-quality headphones and I absolutely love them. Amazing detail, clarity, and comfort. I spent 4 hours yesterday watching and analyzing Ben Hur for class with these puppies and they were comfortable the whole time.

The only thing that bothers me is that I can't use them to listen to music on the way to class because of the flying buttress look lol. I'm way too afraid of getting weird looks, but I'll remedy that soon by picking up a cheaper 2nd pair of closed circumaurals (that don't have the flying buttress look) that will be just for portable use.

Count me in for the KRK KNS-8400 appreciation! These are absolutely superb.

They are better than the SRH940 in every category. It's just as detailed. It's more balanced and neutral. It's just as dynamic and musical. It's far more comfortable. The price is only $149. What can I say? For anyone looking for a neutral (yet dynamic and musical) sounding headphone that is comfortable and affordable, look no further.

I am really surprised how this headphone isn't more popular than this, but it's alright. I'm glad the people in here have found and appreciate this gem!

dL