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**Hifiman HE-400 Impressions and Discussion Thread** - Page 172

post #2566 of 10748
11/21/12 at 5:12am
Hmm, so I'm back home. After having swapped the pads and letting it play all night, I can't hear the imbalance. The bass is coming from directly in the center. Dunno what happened, but the imbalance seems to be gone.

Thank god. The bass on these are POTENT. I didn't wanna risk getting another HE400 with less bass. Seriously, the bass is stronger than my last ones. If they had this bass, I would have definitely kept those.

I would say it's the ODAC+SA-31, but even of the E17 alone, the bass is pretty potent.
Edited by Mad Lust Envy - 11/21/12 at 5:20am
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post #2567 of 10748
11/21/12 at 5:54am
Thread Starter 

Did you have the odac and SA31 before with the he400? Or did you have the nfb5?

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post #2568 of 10748
11/21/12 at 6:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mad Lust Envy View Post

To me, it's like I'm not wearing headphones (at least compared to other headphones). The sound is very enveloping, and projects around you more than something more typical out of other cans. There is a sense of space around instruments, and presented in more layers and from different locations around you. It ain't exactly virtual surround, but it's still very atypical of headphones.
It's not something as simple as having a large soundstage or imaging. Not easily defined. I've had headphones with huge soundstages (considerably larger than the HE400s), but they still sounded like headphones.
 

 

Thank you for explaining, i understand it now. 

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post #2569 of 10748
11/21/12 at 7:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marleybob217 View Post

I know there is some evidence of burn in, that thing tyll did with the akgs a while back.

There is evidence of brain burn in (to a degree) the brain adjusts itself constantly. When someone's ear get damaged, and can only hear about 50%, a couple of weeks later that individual will regain 90% of his hearing capabilities. This is not because the ear heals itself, but because the brain adjusts for the damaged ear. I think this is a pretty extreme case of brain burn in. 

 

Also the 'proven' burn in of the akgs tyll did, were not severe at all looking at the before and after frequency response. The difference could even be caused by a slight misplacing of the headphone on the dummy head. As a scientist I would not call it proven. IF there aren't any other actual experiments.


I think you misunderstand me; I'm not a proponent of driver burn-in per say, or of brain-burn in either ( I'm an agnostic on this issue until real evidence rolls in, but note: I do favor the brain-burn in theory). With that said, please understand: folks who make the brain burn-in claim tend to think that they can make such claims with impunity and without the aid of the scientific method, while ridiculing the driver burn-in crowd for lack of evidence; that is the very definition of unfair, friend. The example you use above (in bold) is an example of brain plasticity, which is not really an example of brain-burn in at all, if we are going to adhere strictly to the term as we use it on head-fi. I know this subject is becoming verboden (I apologize for bringing it up again), but I think the point needs to be made. The so-called evidence for brain burn-in is all anecdotal (the same for drive burn-in too, mostly); that's to say, no one has attempted under strict scientific conditions to test this claim. If you know of a journal or scientific study that has tested brain burn-in as it strictly relates to our perception of audio, near-field audio in particular, please send that article to me--I would absolutely love to read it. (And I mean this in earnest too.) So once again, I think we should all keep an open mind on the subject or at least maintain an agnostic attitude. That's all I'm saying. Nothing controversial. Now back to the originally scheduled program: He-400 Love. 

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post #2570 of 10748
11/21/12 at 8:15am
Are the HE-400 worth selling/trading my AKG K550's for? I really like my 550's, but I've never been able to spend a prolonged amount of time with a open back design and I've been interested for a while now. Plus, I don't have the cash for them, so the only way I could afford a pair is if I sold my AKG's. Any help in the area would be greatly appreciated!
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post #2571 of 10748
11/21/12 at 9:59am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tim Maestas View Post

Are the HE-400 worth selling/trading my AKG K550's for? I really like my 550's, but I've never been able to spend a prolonged amount of time with a open back design and I've been interested for a while now. Plus, I don't have the cash for them, so the only way I could afford a pair is if I sold my AKG's. Any help in the area would be greatly appreciated!

It'd be a very significant overall sonic upgrade, yes.

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post #2572 of 10748
11/21/12 at 10:27am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mad Lust Envy View Post

Driver burn in. That laughable topic of discussion.
Always positive. Burn in adds bass to bass light headphones.
Burn in reduces bass bloat of bassy headphones.
Burn in lifts veils of treble deficient headphones.
Burn in smooths headphones with sharp treble.
In short, it always adds whatever is missing, and takes away whatever is abundant and negative.
This is why this burn in nonsense needs to go away. Yes, drivers do change with use, but those thinking that the change is consistent and always positive needs a reality check.
It is absolute bullsh*t that needs to disappear. There is no magical or even minute change that magically makes a certain headphone better. You hear a difference because you WANT to hear a difference.
Enjoy your damn headphones, and let your ears adjust to them.

Can't agree more. For big equipment like book shelf speakers, burn-in might be true and yet it's still debatable. For small drivers in headphones, burn-in is just placebo bullcrap and pseudo-science. The change of physical measurement before and after "burn-in" is almost very very minimal, if not at all. People claim the sound changes more like because they get used to the new sound.

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post #2573 of 10748
11/21/12 at 1:22pm
Can we please not turn this thread into a burn in exists vs. burn in doesnt exist debate please, thank you.
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post #2574 of 10748
11/21/12 at 2:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by zachchen1996 View Post

Can we please not turn this thread into a burn in exists vs. burn in doesnt exist debate please, thank you.

 

Agreed. 

 

If y'all get a chance to preview the new Hobbit "An Unexpected Journey" soundtrack, it is really - and, I do mean really great sounding on the HE-400s.  The soundtrack does not officially get released until December 11th.  However, it really takes the HE-400s into a completely different dimension.  While most of us in this thread realize how capable the HE-400s are with our favorite music being played through them, I felt like when I listened to the Hobbit soundtrack, the sound was very multi-dimensional.  While I've had 5.1 home theaters set up in the past, I grew bored with those configurations and swapped back to 2-channel, 2.1 systems and the headphone rigs.  The LOTR soundtrack on the HE-400s presents itself with a likeness of being in a theater with true surround sound of intense bass, mids and highs working through the various sections of the tracks.

 

I thought I had some previous "ahhhh" moments with my HE-400s, but nothing in the past compared to this recent experience with the soundtrack.  I'm still amazed.  Whew!


Edited by wje - 11/21/12 at 6:02pm
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post #2575 of 10748
11/21/12 at 3:02pm

Anyone know if there are going to be any black friday sales on this?

Oh, and how are velour pads with the he-400? And how do you put them on, anyway?

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post #2576 of 10748
11/21/12 at 3:04pm

Are we talking about the upcoming Hobbit soundtrack?

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post #2577 of 10748
11/21/12 at 3:06pm
Thread Starter 

The velour pads are a must. The pads have four tabs and pop on and off fairly easily once you get the hang of it.

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post #2578 of 10748
11/21/12 at 5:49pm
Alrighty, thanks a ton!
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post #2579 of 10748
11/21/12 at 6:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by TMRaven View Post

Are we talking about the upcoming Hobbit soundtrack?

 

Oh yeah.  Thanks for the correction.  I'm not sure what I was thinking of when I put down LOTR.  The new Hobbit soundtrack is the one that will be released on Dec.11th.  My confusion came about because I had been researching the composer, Howard Shore, which was involved with both.

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post #2580 of 10748
11/21/12 at 10:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mad Lust Envy View Post

Driver burn in. That laughable topic of discussion.
Always positive. Burn in adds bass to bass light headphones.
Burn in reduces bass bloat of bassy headphones.
Burn in lifts veils of treble deficient headphones.
Burn in smooths headphones with sharp treble.
In short, it always adds whatever is missing, and takes away whatever is abundant and negative.
This is why this burn in nonsense needs to go away. Yes, drivers do change with use, but those thinking that the change is consistent and always positive needs a reality check.
It is absolute bullsh*t that needs to disappear. There is no magical or even minute change that magically makes a certain headphone better. You hear a difference because you WANT to hear a difference.
Enjoy your damn headphones, and let your ears adjust to them.

THIS I +1

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