**Hifiman HE-400 Impressions and Discussion Thread** - Page 139

Originally Posted by yokken 

Well guys, I sent off my HE400s today. Got a tracking number and all that so I know when they get there.

 

I really wanted to love these cans as much as you guys, I really really did... but I just couldn't. I'm happy with my HD650s. Now, to get me one of those Q cables with some earring adapters...

Originally Posted by TMRaven 

It's come to my understanding that amps can still sound vastly different, even when all of them measure perfectly flat from 20-20k on a frequency response chart, and all have similar distortion characteristics.  Don't ask me why, but there's other factors involved.

 

This isn't the first time I've heard someone say the O2's bass is rolled off or sounded too thin for them.  Yet at the same time, the epitome of subjective reviewers at Headfonia loved the HE-400 with O2, despite disliking the O2's sound in general.  I'm sure 90% of it boils down to personal preference, MLE giving his own perfect example.  Whitecrow has also said he didn't think the Lyr did anything better on the HE-400 compared to a LDMKII, the likes of which I had and ever so slightly preferred the O2 over.

 

As for the HE-400 sounding better over time, 100% it's brain burn-in.  It can be such a dramatically different signature than most other headphones, and if you'e coming off something with the slightest hint of brightness or thin-ness, the HE-400 can easily sound muffled upon first listen.  It definitely did for me, and I was coming from an HD650!  It only took me an hour or two to adjust, and the HE-400 quickly became my neutral again.

Originally Posted by TwinQY 


Do you know if Double Helix Cables are willing to terminate the OCC to banana plugs? They seem to have reasonable (well, apart from that Spore) prices, and seem to be a good contender between BTG's cables. I know they had some there at the last meet, but honestly, I tried not to pay too much attention to the cables there. They look to be a bit more flexible than the BTGs, that's for sure.

Planning to step up to the HE-6, I only got to hear them once, but they seem to be the logical place to upgrade too. That HE-500 treble, though...can see why you're ditching the 400's. 

Originally Posted by MrMateoHead 

I am lost myself. I think my original comment went to IEMCrazy and somehow, getting mixed into the conversation, I went after you when I meant IEMCrazy. So I guess I am the crazy one. Sorry for the confusion, and sorry to IEM if I was way off base. I just made the mistake of thinking I could convince someone that it makes more sense to focus on phones' than other equipment, other things being equal.

 

BTW great post - I really appreciate and respect your perspective on audio. To the problem of eliminating variables in a double-blind test, that is what stat regression is for - presumably you can estimate the impact of one factor against "all other known factors". Then again you might want to "test" people's bias by showing them 4 amps with 4 different cases, ranging from plain to super-high-quality. With the exact same internals, you then ask them which sound they like best. You've polluted the test, because people are now "forced" to rank, so perhaps they all go with the best looking one. I would be surprised if many responded "they all sound the same." But you also let them in on a little secret afterward - you really will pay more for a look sometimes. It would be hard to do double-blind tests with headphones because they have different shapes / sizes / weight / comfort, and a respondent has a good chance of being familiar with the look and feel of a given model. I think the HE's would've flunked my ears in a blind test - primarily because I am used to a "sennheiser" presentation. How would we account for that? The basic point is that people (consumers in this case), are conditioned to look for, and identify differences constantly. We are also given s*** information. Those of us here, that obviously love music to the point of investing $1,000s in equipment / phones, should get the best information as well as the best products! It is frustrating (to me) that so much is left to subjective impression - because I don't trust myself to always "know with my ears".

 

 

Originally Posted by Madmollusk 

What surprised me the most about the HE-400 though has to be its holographic presentation: with the right recordings, music can become downright ethereal.

Originally Posted by Madmollusk 

 

No worries! These kind of misunderstandings and minor dust-ups are inevitable. I'm not familiar with Regression  analysis, but I see that Wikipedia has lots of juicy and dense info on the subject. Time to bone up on something new. Thanks.  

Originally Posted by musicinmymind 

 

Feel the lushness of music with bass slam, soundstage, imaging, layers, speed. In short feel....true to recording sound from HE-400

Originally Posted by Madmollusk 

 

Very nice song to stress just what the he-400 can do, but man, I gotta say, that video was a little distracting; who could possible concentrate on headphone audio with super-sexy models in nurses uniforms dancing all over the place. 

Originally Posted by richierich 

^^^^

Wrong thread?

Originally Posted by DigitalFreak 

Nahhh right thread, I'm just being my freaky self. Excuse my demented humor.

 

Since I'm here I have a serious question concerning the HE-400. I did some quick nosing around on the thread but couldn't find the answer to my question so please pardon me if this question has been asked to death on the thread. From what I understand there have been some revisions to this headphone. Which revision is the best sounding so far? I remember one fellow on another thread mentioning in passing conversation the latest revision on the HE-400 was actually a step back and was wondering if that was true.