**Hifiman HE-400 Impressions and Discussion Thread** - Page 158

Quote:

Originally Posted by hifimanrookie 


I hear u..and i agree with u until a certain point..having owned the he300, the he400 and now the he500.. I must say the he500 is the more complete headphone of the three..yeah ur right..its not a better sound quality difference of 300 euros compared to the he400..but..listening on my amp and my cables i do prefer the sound signature of the he500..but as u say..its personal..and no ..am not a headphone fetishist..i use my headphones to listen to music when i come home from work all tired..i found out it relaxes me..and with the he400 i couldnt listen to it relaxed..was strange actualy..because with the he300 i didnt have that experience..with the he500 and the he300 i sometimes even fell alseep because of the sweet sounds..on the he400 it was more active..more in ur face..cant really put it into words really..don get me wrong..for the price the he400 is a bargain..as is his little brother .but for listening experience..its the he500 thats wins..always..even how small the better quality of sound it may have over the he400.

The HE- 500 does sound better then the 400 paired with the DV (smooth), but I prefer the 400 with the Lyr over that combo by a long shot, much more energetic and engaging to my ears.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hifimanrookie 


As i stated..everyone has its preferences...and all ears are different..there are people who prefer sennheiser or beyerdynamics or grado's over hifiman's..just to show how people has different preferences.. And are very happy with it...

Indeed; the difference between HE400 and 500 is so miniscule compared to say between any Hifiman vs Grados, yet it's still a big difference.

For my tastes, HE500s are a touch too warm / lush, while HE400s are a bit too laidback / sparkly. Something in between would be perfect for me, alas nothing like that exists (Audezes are too dim in treble and too "closed-in" sounding, HE6 are too bright).

Quote:

Originally Posted by hifimanrookie 


U have a point here...maybe we have to pm mr fang from hifiman? And we all sign that pm as a petition to urge him to make that 'all in one' headphone? And that for 500 euros/dollars? As he always have surprises on his sleeve..
My god he would become even richer then mr microsoft himself within two years then..hahaha
Wait a second..there is one..the stax top phone..but then again..for that amount of money u can buy a good second hand car

Electrostats have a totally different presentation compared to orthos though (there is some magic with the tactility that planar drivers can pump out with music), not to mention the costs / different requirements of amping etc. I'll never bother delving into that mess until I get old and sit at home all day lol.

I had done a search for the he-400 on innerfidelity and it looks like from some of the comment results Tyll had tried he-400's and didn't want to do a review on them, these were messages from feb of this year though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jerg 

For my tastes, HE500s are a touch too warm / lush, while HE400s are a bit too laidback / sparkly. Something in between would be perfect for me, alas nothing like that exists 

HE-5LEs

Tyll put off the LCD2/3 review for quite a while, waiting for Audeze to sort themselves out.  He's only just now doing an HD600/650 review, and that's like-- what.  A whole 10 years later?

I'm not really anxiously awaiting any HE-400 review from him in the near future.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TMRaven 

Tyll put off the LCD2/3 review for quite a while, waiting for Audeze to sort themselves out.  He's only just now doing an HD600/650 review, and that's like-- what.  A whole 10 years later?

 

I'm not really anxiously awaiting any HE-400 review from him in the near future.

Not quite the same. The LCD-2 Rev 1 got a (very positive) review quite early on in his Comparing World Class Headphones guide and he was gushing about the LCD-3, veiled or not, from day 1 (See here).

The difference with the HE-400 is that Tyll has openly admitted to it sounding a bit off to him and generally he tries to avoid making negative reviews. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Madmollusk 

 

Hmmmm. I may just do that. Though a lowly peon should approach a celebrated headphone guru with all due respect--so I hope I haven't inadvertently soured an opportunity to make an honest inquiry. I'm sure Tyll is a relaxed guy, so, on second thought, I'll PM him (when I'm finished with my workday that is.) Thanks for the suggestion, Jerg.

Who approaches Tyll with reverence? A simple "review this!" while throwing an HE-400 at him will do just fine

Quote:

Originally Posted by DigitalFreak 

Meh, whatever, I've heard it all before. No more corporate welfare make the bums pay their taxes like everyone else. If they can spend millions on white collar perks they can afford to pay their rightful share of the taxation pie.

Could, should, would, is irrelevant.  The simple matter in terms of product costs is there's no such thing as corporate taxes.  Taxing HFM $5 more for each HE-400 sold means the cost of HE-400 goes up by $5.  It just gets put into the cost of the product, and the consumer pays for it.  It's just a convenient way of referring to it so politicos can save face and pretend "someone else" is paying for it because they get to make the retailer into the tax collector and look like the bad guy.   When talking about the cost of a small pad maker...that's certainly a factor in it, and the smaller the shop, the more of that needs to be rolled into the product cost because it can't be shifted around and deducted elsewhere.  $80+ for pads seems crazy, and at Sennheiser's volume perhaps it is, but smaller shops like Audeze and the independents, costs like that add up really fast.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Madmollusk 

Apropos of nothing: 

 

You know, I respect Tyll from Innerfedilty  immensely, but I just don't understand why he hasn't reviewed the he400 yet. I know he's one guy and can't possibly review every new headphone that happens to roll down the pike, but C'mon, dude!

I would suspect that a few of the headphone reviews are being held off a bit as he's working to properly set up the ability to test out amplifiers on his site, too.  If you read his blog, you'll realize that he ran into some configuration issues with the testing protocol a few weeks back.  I'm sure we'll see the HE-400 review in a few weeks.  But, for me, Tyll's comments and graphs will mean very little.  The HE-400 headphones are perfect for me in many ways.

Even if someone is holding off until his review is released to spend the money, there is also a good chance that what you hear yourself may not always equal what Tyll hears and writes about.  After all, it is just a review.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wje 

 

I would suspect that a few of the headphone reviews are being held off a bit as he's working to properly set up the ability to test out amplifiers on his site, too.  If you read his blog, you'll realize that he ran into some configuration issues with the testing protocol a few weeks back.  I'm sure we'll see the HE-400 review in a few weeks.  But, for me, Tyll's comments and graphs will mean very little.  The HE-400 headphones are perfect for me in many ways.

 

Even if someone is holding off until his review is released to spend the money, there is also a good chance that what you hear yourself may not always equal what Tyll hears and writes about.  After all, it is just a review.

Preach my brother.  Let your own ears do the talking.  If at all possible.  You can return most things within a certain amount of time.