**Hifiman HE-400 Impressions and Discussion Thread** - Page 137

I've received the HE-400 today, and I would say that my first impressions were not as great as yours. Something was wrong with them. To my ears the mids seemed veiled compared to the rest of the spectra, I heard voices like behind a thin wall. They were here but not clear and had no impact (especially vs the HD650).

After few hours (burned-in the whole afternoon), this feeling went off and it's a relief to be honest. :)

 

Imo, quality wise, the HE-400 are on par with my D7000 (except the bass) and I find them better than the HD650 overall (maybe the HD650 are smoother and more fun-sounding). That's only my point of view after few hours of listening.

The details are amazing, I've recognised instruments in a song that I've not been aware off before... (too bad I didn't find a link on youtube.)

Oh, and I'm amping them with the Burson HA-160D.

I hope I will have time to do a better review, and It will be a good training for my English ! :).

 

There is a bit of a burn-in change at least on many pairs.  Some folks haven't experience this though.  In the broader sense though, are you using the velour pads or the pleather pads that came with them?  The pleather tends to underdamp the sound which can lead to that "thin wall" sound in the mids, or "sucked in" mids as they have been called.  IF you haven't yet, I think most of us here would strongly suggest ordering a pair of the velour pads (which are actually cheaper than the pleather), and even if you've adapted to like the sound of the HE-400, you'll probably like them even more with the velour.  They become much more linear!

 

HD650 and HE-400 are very good complements to each other.  HE-400 is the bassier and technically more "fun" (which usually means a more v or u-shaped curve), HD650 being the warmer, smoother one.  Where HD650 excells with a coherent center soundstage, HE-400 excells in excellent instrument separation, as you're already discovering!

Thanks for the answer !

I'm using the pleather pads but I'm already looking for web-store where I can buy the velour pads. I don't really want to buy a $10 from Head-direct (I live in France), I will cost more in shipping fee than the item itself.
 

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Head-Direct have an EU distribution channel? I'm sure any HiFiMan dealer has or can order the pads for you, so it's probably a non-issue, but I thought they had regional distribution for accessories in the EU like they do in the US?  If so shipping shouldn't be so bad, but if not, I'm sure any of the area dealers should have them!

Not official Hifiman-EU but there are some dealers yes, the only one in France doesn't have the velour yet, I can ask them though.

Even with the shipping cost factored in, it will still be the most cost-effective sound quality upgrade you can buy.

I just did a simulation on Head-direct and It's $20 which means around 15€. I think my finger will slip on "Check out". Oopsy already done.

 

 

I keep telling people (who are going to, or have just ordered HE400s off HeadDirect) that they could probably just email the customer service to swap out velours before shipping them, but no one tried it yet. When I had to go through the replacement process I always asked for the replacements to have velour pads, and now I have 4 pairs of free velour pads (disregarding the whole replacement fuss of course).

Hey, now, be fair!  I've never made an explicit statement about the O2, nor did I ever imply that I disliked it. I have no opinion about that amp whatsoever: you see, I've never heard it, so how could I have an opinion about it. You posted the o2's specs, and the specs look good to me, so I'm not sure where any of this is coming from. So if that's true, I obviously never said, or implied, that my Kenwood was superior to your amp. But my kenwood is better than my little dot though and that's what I compared it to. So again where is this coming from?  Be fair with me now. With regard to your general premise about a/b testing and amps, I agree with you--more than you can possibly know (I'm sort of a general science enthusiast), but you do realize that those famous a/b tests (floating around on the web) are highly highly flawed, as are most so-called blind audio tests. Let me rephrase that: those tests (again the ones I've seen) are scientifically disgraceful. Especially the ones I've seen on you tube and other online places. in fact, they are conducted so poorly I can hardly believe it sometimes. My goodness, where are the controls people! Scientific testing requires robust controls to filter out extraneous influences. Ever hear of "audio steering?" No test, I've ever seen controls for that. Peer pressure? Again no test, I've seen, controls for that either. In fact most of the test I've seen don't even have controls for room acoustics, listening location, and hearing variation with their test subjects. Come-on now, you have to control for that kind of stuff, big time! What about expectation bias--do these blind test control for that?  (Many of them really don't!)  I'm just saying, I love the double blind test as much as you do, but most of these so-called audio test are not even double blind!!  That really kills me. What about stress induced by limited time for evaluations? (This really could be a factor!) So I agree with you: double blind testing is the only way to falsify much of the audio voodoo out there, but these tests need to be conducted properly, and then they need to be peer reviewed and that cycle needs to be repeated as many times as required. I'm not sore here. I sure hope I don't sound sore. if I do, I sincerely apologize. 

Edited by Madmollusk - 11/7/12 at 2:33pm

I somewhat agree with Mateo. SS amps tend to sound very same-y. You can get an E9 vs something likd the SA-31, and the differences are slight. Its when you test SS vs. Tube or hybrid amps that the difference is more noticeable due to the coloration of the tubes. Easy to spot the difference there.

These people who are comparing the O2 to an amp with tubes shouldnt be comparing performance. Youre just biased to the tube sound.

So don't knock the O2 if youre not comparing it to another SS amp.

I actually preferred both the E9 and NFB5 over the Lyr. Im an SS guy. The Lyr bolded the sound a bit, but I didnt like it that much woth two sets of tubes, which I felt werent that different anyways.

Went home last night and cranked up this baby on my HE-400s (the whole album really, but this track is good).

 

 

God damn I was so impressed by this headphone.  The bass is just superb, and they still maintain the speed, accuracy and detail in the highs that I have loved other headphones for in the past.  But yeah, this is the reason I wanted these headphones.

For my hundredth post, I just want to say something simple and positive. I absolutely love the HE-400! They are my favorite headphones right now by far. Thanks for starting this thread Matt. I'm not sure I would have discovered these bad boys were it not for you. Much obliged!