**Hifiman HE-400 Impressions and Discussion Thread** - Page 203

Quote:

Originally Posted by chewy4 

Um... Am I missing something here or does that have better specs and more wattage than an Asgard?

Awesome specs, awesome price. Where was this when I was picking out an O2? Lol. Nice to see them publishing specs that actually make sense to a consumer.

But I am not sure it is more powerful than the Asgard - it has a +- 15V power supply. SNR and THD are rated at 1V RMS, so it remains to be seen how the amp behaves at its limits.

Did anyone notice the Modi:

http://schiit.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=0&products_id=14

That is a $100 DAC. So now someone has to test the $200 dollar combo and get back to us. Its cheaper than an ODAC setup. But is it better?

Huh?  Schiit thinks either flavor of SPDIF is better than USB.  The Mjolnir is a pretty good amp as far as resolution and it's very hard to hear any difference between SPDIF (optical or coax) and the USB implementation on the Gungnir.  Have you compared SPDIF vs USB on either the Bifrost or Gungnir?

Quote:

Originally Posted by kstuart 

If they can't hear a difference between Asynchronous USB and Optical, then the Asynchronous USB implementation is really bad.   More likely they don't know what to listen for.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barry S 

Huh?  Schiit thinks either flavor of SPDIF is better than USB.  The Mjolnir is a pretty good amp as far as resolution and it's very hard to hear any difference between SPDIF (optical or coax) and the USB implementation on the Gungnir.  Have you compared SPDIF vs USB on either the Bifrost or Gungnir?

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by kstuart 

If they can't hear a difference between Asynchronous USB and Optical, then the Asynchronous USB implementation is really bad.   More likely they don't know what to listen for.

First, I defer to any equipment designer's recommendations for their own products.

Having said that, in my system, the biggest ever improvement in digital audio sound quality was changing from optical to Asynchronous USB.   The likely reason is the reclocking of the audio stream, largely eliminating jitter.   To my ear, this is essentially the difference between analog audio and digital audio - the "hard cold" sound is due to jitter.   Similar comments are made on Amazon about the V-LINK which does the same thing.

Again, I don't know any technical details about the Schiit products, so I won't make any further comments.

http://schiit.com/schiit-faq/about-magni/

says:

I ordered one and will report back on how well it works with HE400.

Ahh, I got ya. Schiit reclocks the input regardless of whether it comes from  USB or SPDIF.  Usually people around here either can't hear a difference or prefer SPDIF, but I've seen some preference for USB.  And that's on the same equipment. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by kstuart 

First, I defer to any equipment designer's recommendations for their own products.

 

Having said that, in my system, the biggest ever improvement in digital audio sound quality was changing from optical to Asynchronous USB.   The likely reason is the reclocking of the audio stream, largely eliminating jitter.   To my ear, this is essentially the difference between analog audio and digital audio - the "hard cold" sound is due to jitter.   Similar comments are made on Amazon about the V-LINK which does the same thing.

 

Again, I don't know any technical details about the Schiit products, so I won't make any further comments.

I have an odd request: does anyone own both the DT990 and the HE-400? If so, I was wondering if you could try to put the velour pads from the DT990 on the HE-400. I don't want to spend 34 dollars on the DT990 pads just to realize there is no way I'll get them to fit. The reason why I want to switch them is because I'm quite disappointed with the quality of the earpads on the HE-400. They aren't very comfortable and become bothersome after an hour or so of listening. I've tried many things to make them more comfortable but nothing is working as of now. I'm slightly disappointed in the quality of materials used in this headphone considering its $400; I may have to go back to the DT990!

Quote:

Originally Posted by MattTCG 

You're not the first person to have this same experience and realization about the pads. The beyer pads will not fit. There is a third party company working on new pads for the he400. You'll have to wait it out like the rest of us. 

That implies that, in general, all HiFiMan pads are not as good as some other high-end headphone pads - not just the HE400 (since HiFiMan doesn't specify model compatibility on replacement pads, implying that all models use the same).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barry S 

Ahh, I got ya. Schiit reclocks the input regardless of whether it comes from  USB or SPDIF.  Usually people around here either can't hear a difference or prefer SPDIF, but I've seen some preference for USB.  And that's on the same equipment. 

In the process of ordering the Magni, I looked at their FAQs, and it seems clear that they do reclock, and, of course, that they are familiar with all these issues.

It's interesting that both Schiit and HRT consist of:

* Electronic designers previously from high-end companies making expensive audio gear

* Now trying to make the best audio gear per dollar for customers on a budget

* In Southern California

* Using wireless assembly techniques allowing them assemble in-house instead of in Asia

Despite that similarity, one group emphasizes the dubious aspects of USB, but then has circuitry to eliminate the problems introducted by the supported toslink connection, while the other group emphasizes the dubious aspects of toslink, but then has circuitry to eliminate the problems introducted by the supported USB connection.

And then you have Benchmark which says it doesn't matter which one you use, because we are going to reclock it anyway.