**Hifiman HE-400 Impressions and Discussion Thread** - Page 372

Quote:

Originally Posted by jerg 

So you'll do the optional step of regluing the dust screen onto the mounting ring?

 

If you are planning to do everything else without even at least cutting out the dust screen temporarily, it's gonna be nearly impossible to pull off a neat mod job. The dust screen is right in the middle of everything, and you'll need it out of the way to work on e.g. creating all the holes.

Hey jerg, something that would make me feel a lot more secure about trying this mod is if you could put the dust screen on one of your pairs and report as to whether it sounds the same as without it. I may try this but the dust screen is a must.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jabse 

although jergrills sounds quite cool, similar to bear grylls

 

also.. J$ beyer pads vs jergpad

 

can you please quickly note the main difference?

J$ beyers are really dynamic with HE400 (possibly the most dynamic out of all earpads I've tried, but the jergpad is quite a close second), but the tonality just doesn't seem to synergize well with HE400.

Too much of HE400's treble is brought out with the J$'s, the midrange is very clean-sounding but again, the tonality doesn't synergize. Overall the resulting sound is very detailed, dynamic, with terrific bass, but bright and U-shaped.

IMO the jergpads fix the HE400's upper midrange dip and treble peak by a lot. The resulting sound is still HE400 (laid-back and sparkle treble) but not nearly as exaggerated as with other pads. That is why I kept stressing that vocals and rock actually sound nice on HE400 now, because the perceived tonal balance became a lot closer to neutral in the upper end of the frequency spectrum with the jergpads, so voices and string instruments are brought out and bloom much more.

In terms of comfort, jergpad is identical to stock pleathers sans the dust screen; flat, low clamp, and relatively pliable memory foam. J$ is softer but thicker - so if you don't mind the clamp it would be more comfortable, otherwise it might be less comfortable.

Quote:

Originally Posted by beaver316 

 

Hey jerg, something that would make me feel a lot more secure about trying this mod is if you could put the dust screen on one of your pairs and report as to whether it sounds the same as without it. I may try this but the dust screen is a must.

I will try down the line but I'm quite familiar with how the pleather dust screen modifies the sound so I can speculate with some confidence.

The pleather dust screen would do 1 main thing: subdue the whole of upper midrange ~ treble and roll off the extremes of treble. Now that might be ideal sonically to some, but I feel that the jergpad without screen is already sufficiently balanced-sounding with regards to mids vs treble levels, and further lowering of the treble might be detrimental.

One recommendation I would heartily recommend is the dust screens from velour pads. Those are I'd say close to 100% acoustically transparent, so the resulting sound would be practically identical to the sound of the screen-less jergpads. However that means you have to sacrifice a pair of velours ($10+shipping).

I think everyone should at least try the screen-less jergpads first, and then decide what to do with the dust screen situation. Really all you need is some sort of stretchy fairly transparent nylon fabric, plus some superglue, and just glue dat thang onto the mounting ring's flat side.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jerg 

So you'll do the optional step of regluing the dust screen onto the mounting ring?

 

If you are planning to do everything else without even at least cutting out the dust screen temporarily, it's gonna be nearly impossible to pull off a neat mod job. The dust screen is right in the middle of everything, and you'll need it out of the way to work on e.g. creating all the holes.

I'll probably use a different dust screen, actually. But yeah, I will be cutting it out temporarily. Will never, ever run without it though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ninjames 

I'll probably use a different dust screen, actually. But yeah, I will be cutting it out temporarily. Will never, ever run without it though.

I understand. These are like a baby to you at the moment. Don't blame ya for trying to mitigate all potential hazards to the drivers.

By the way, will you be following the guide protocol very closely, or are you planning to do a spinoff mod with some changes? I'm wondering because I need to know if someone says they tried the mod and it sounded great / terrible, if they ended up doing things differently.

Hey jerg, i noticed that the volume is lower with the modded pleather.

Is that normal?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Okamoto 

Hey jerg, i noticed that the volume is lower with the modded pleather.

 

Is that normal?

Yes. It is intended.

2 reasons why unmodded pleathers sound louder:

1) it is a more sealed system, where the sides are wrapped around the mounting ring.

2) it has no effective internal damping, so there would be a lot of excess energy in the form of resonance and ringing, that you would perceive as extra loudness. Really it is just distortion.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jerg 

I understand. These are like a baby to you at the moment. Don't blame ya for trying to mitigate all potential hazards to the drivers.

 

By the way, will you be following the guide protocol very closely, or are you planning to do a spinoff mod with some changes? I'm wondering because I need to know if someone says they tried the mod and it sounded great / terrible, if they ended up doing things differently.

Hah, I'm complaining a lot and being skeptical but you know what you're talking about and I'll give it a shot word for word and even test it without putting my new dust screen on it for some good feedback.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jerg 

Yes. It is intended.

 

2 reasons why unmodded pleathers sound louder:

 

1) it is a more sealed system, where the sides are wrapped around the mounting ring.

 

2) it has no effective internal damping, so there would be a lot of excess energy in the form of resonance and ringing, that you would perceive as extra loudness. Really it is just distortion.

Did you see my modded pleather?

Is there any problem in attaching the tape to the side of the pleather?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Okamoto 

Did you see my modded pleather?

 

Is there any problem in attaching the tape to the side of the pleather?

Does the cloth tape you use "breath"? As in, is it sealing or does it allow air to move through freely? If it is a breathable tape then I don't see what would be wrong using it. If it is sealing, however, you might want to reconsider.

Also, how many holes did you cut out in the end? Is it 3 circles of holes similar to the diagram I showed (about 40 holes per earpad)? If your tools available aren't fine enough to cut small holes, then try to at least cover the whole backside with as many medium-sized holes as you can. The pattern of holes doesn't matter, as long as a good 1/4~1/5 of the backside surface area is open to the foam inside.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jerg 

Does the cloth tape you use "breath"? As in, is it sealing or does it allow air to move through freely? If it is a breathable tape then I don't see what would be wrong using it. If it is sealing, however, you might want to reconsider.

 

Also, how many holes did you cut out in the end? Is it 3 circles of holes similar to the diagram I showed (about 40 holes per earpad)? If your tools available aren't fine enough to cut small holes, then try to at least cover the whole backside with as many medium-sized holes as you can. The pattern of holes doesn't matter, as long as a good 1/4~1/5 of the backside surface area is open to the foam inside.

Well, i didn't count the number of holes, but i did 3 circles. Not very symmetrically, as i've mentioned before.

and the tape does have some little holes on it, but it's kinda thick. There were some big spaces between the pad and the body of the phone, and i thought it wasn't desirable (looked too fragile), so i used the cloth tape to attach the ring to the pleather, to give it more consistence.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Okamoto 

Well, i didn't count the number of holes, but i did 3 circles. Not very symmetrically, as i've mentioned before.

 

and the tape does have some little holes on it, but it's kinda thick. There were some big spaces between the pad and the body of the phone, and i thought it wasn't desirable (looked too fragile), so i used the cloth tape to attach the ring to the pleather, to give it more consistence.

Perhaps just tape 4 corners on the outer rim, instead of going all around with the tape, so that you allow the pads to be maximally open.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jerg 

J$ beyers are really dynamic with HE400 (possibly the most dynamic out of all earpads I've tried, but the jergpad is quite a close second), but the tonality just doesn't seem to synergize well with HE400.

 

Too much of HE400's treble is brought out with the J$'s, the midrange is very clean-sounding but again, the tonality doesn't synergize. Overall the resulting sound is very detailed, dynamic, with terrific bass, but bright and U-shaped.

 

IMO the jergpads fix the HE400's upper midrange dip and treble peak by a lot. The resulting sound is still HE400 (laid-back and sparkle treble) but not nearly as exaggerated as with other pads. That is why I kept stressing that vocals and rock actually sound nice on HE400 now, because the perceived tonal balance became a lot closer to neutral in the upper end of the frequency spectrum with the jergpads, so voices and string instruments are brought out and bloom much more.

 

In terms of comfort, jergpad is identical to stock pleathers sans the dust screen; flat, low clamp, and relatively pliable memory foam. J$ is softer but thicker - so if you don't mind the clamp it would be more comfortable, otherwise it might be less comfortable.

 

 

See for me, the J$ beyers with a very transparent nylon screen don't sound all that U shaped and overly bright. The bass is nice and detailed and so is the treble. The mids are right up there not really recessed, at least for me. Everything sounds like it blends well. I guess it is all open to interpretation, right? lol maybe my ears also aren't the greatest either lol

I am interested in listening to pads that have the jergpad mod but I am not willing to do it to my only pleather pads, and especially since i am loving the J$ pad setup I've got.

Quote:

Originally Posted by merkil 

 

See for me, the J$ beyers with a very transparent nylon screen don't sound all that U shaped and overly bright. The bass is nice and detailed and so is the treble. The mids are right up there not really recessed, at least for me. Everything sounds like it blends well. I guess it is all open to interpretation, right? lol maybe my ears also aren't the greatest either lol

 

I am interested in listening to pads that have the jergpad mod but I am not willing to do it to my only pleather pads, and especially since i am loving the J$ pad setup I've got.

See, all terms are relative, that is the nature of this hobby.

My reference is the HE500. HE400 will always be tonally more U-shaped than HE500, but every bit of flattening of that U (without any side effect like extension rolloff, or wonkiness, or ringing, etc) is an improvement in my books.

So far the jergpads are the only earpads that was able to get HE400's tonality to a point that is halfway comparable to how HE500s sound with velour pads (minus the smoothness or transparency of HE500, but with more openness and clarity), as shown with vocal and rock music I tested. That in my opinion is huge, as the bane of HE400 has always been that its colouration prevented many owners from fully appreciating vocal/classic rock music.

Of course, HE500 + jergpads are just sublime. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by jerg 

See, all terms are relative, that is the nature of this hobby.

 

My reference is the HE500. HE400 will always be tonally more U-shaped than HE500, but every bit of flattening of that U (without any side effect like extension rolloff, or wonkiness, or ringing, etc) is an improvement in my books.

 

So far the jergpads are the only earpads that was able to get HE400's tonality to a point that is halfway comparable to how HE500s sound with velour pads (minus the smoothness or transparency of HE500, but with more openness and clarity), as shown with vocal and rock music I tested. That in my opinion is huge, as the bane of HE400 has always been that its colouration prevented many owners from fully appreciating vocal/classic rock music.

 

Of course, HE500 + jergpads are just sublime. 

Agreed! As long as you are enjoying your music on your set of cans is all that matters!

Quote:

Originally Posted by merkil 

Agreed! As long as you are enjoying your music on your set of cans is all that matters!

That's one good philosophy. It probably saves a lot of money and paranoia.

Unfortunately myself, like many others in this hobby, cannot deny the temptation to endlessly try to improve, get better stuff, mod to boost performance, etc etc. There's always the question at the back of the head "could it get better?"