**Hifiman HE-400 Impressions and Discussion Thread** - Page 473

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mad Lust Envy 

The ODAC is more dimensional and smoother sounding than the Modi to me. The Modi had a slight twinge to the treble. Very subtle differences, just as I have found with all the DACs I have used. I highly doubt the Bifrost would impress me next to the ODAC.

it wouldnt.  the bifrost is only slightly better, if at all

does my he400 have a driver imbalance problem?

as I slowly turn the volume up from 0, I notice the right driver is slightly louder than the left.  I can actually only hear the right driver at first.  then as I turn it up slightly the left driver comes on but the right driver is still a little louder.  By 7:30-8 on the volume knob they sound equal but I cant tell if that's because its the left driver equalizing with the right at that point or if its just too loud for me to discern any imbalance

I was able to get the Fiio D03K DAC with the gold RCA connectors.  Originally, from what I had read, this was the version that should have had the Cirrus chip in it for DAC processing.  However, after removing the covers, the Wolfson chip was present.  I think this might have been one of those produced as they are transferring production from the silver plated connectors to the gold, but the insides are the same.  So, unfortunately, I don't have anything new to report in regards to the sound signature.

However, the D03K with the Wolfson chip is a tad more "sparkly" than the Schiit Modi DAC was.  However, nothing is nearly as warm - or, rather close to neutral as the Muse Mini that I have at the moment with the Burr-Brown chip in it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MattTCG 

^^ Anything is possible. And any headphone can have channel imbalance. What are you amping with? Do you have another pair of hp's that you can check to see if you get the same results?

Happens on both of my amps.  same driver. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by mac336 

does my he400 have a driver imbalance problem?

 

as I slowly turn the volume up from 0, I notice the right driver is slightly louder than the left.  I can actually only hear the right driver at first.  then as I turn it up slightly the left driver comes on but the right driver is still a little louder.  By 7:30-8 on the volume knob they sound equal but I cant tell if that's because its the left driver equalizing with the right at that point or if its just too loud for me to discern any imbalance

That's not your HE-400's imbalance, that's whatever amp you're using's imbalance at lower volumes-- and to be quite frank, almost all of the amps out there have some imbalance at the lowest of volumes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mac336 

Happens on both of my amps.  same driver. 

Are the cable connectors somewhat tight at the cup level?  Also, if you were to bump up the volume level on your amp, but then use the built-in volume control in Foobar for example, do you notice any changes?   What if you slightly pull out the 1/4" jack from your amp a bit, then re-insert it?

Quote:

Originally Posted by TMRaven 

 

 

That's not your HE-400's imbalance, that's whatever amp you're using's imbalance at lower volumes-- and to be quite frank, almost all of the amps out there have some imbalance at the lowest of volumes.

Yup.  This was why I was suggesting that he bump up the volume control on the physical amp, then use the level control within Foobar or similar music utility to have the ultimate control over the level.

I don't really see how the Modi can be the weak link in the Schiit stack. Or what "weak" actually is supposed to mean in that case, rather.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TMRaven 

 

 

That's not your HE-400's imbalance, that's whatever amp you're using's imbalance at lower volumes-- and to be quite frank, almost all of the amps out there have some imbalance at the lowest of volumes.

thanks. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by ninjames 

I don't really see how the Modi can be the weak link in the Schiit stack. Or what "weak" actually is supposed to mean in that case, rather.

To put it frankly, I'm not too fond of setups that link to computers.  In general, these smaller amps and their offerings are good, but not great.  The headphone stage in my integrated Yamaha amps and 2-channel receivers is of a very good quality.  I'm feeding high bit-rate MP3s and FLAC files through my Squeezebox and into the Yamaha.  The sound, to my ears is a fair bit better.  Again, I think the amps / DACs for those purposes are good, but I'm just not completely getting the "wow" factor like I am with the Yammy.  I suspect if more people were to hear such an offering, it might cut down on the swapping in and out of amps and possibly headphones, too.

Again, just my .02.

Quote:

Originally Posted by preproman 

Not all the time and not in every case.  Take LCD-2 vs. LCD-3 comparison above IMO.

 

I don't know the prices of Stax headphones.  So the SR-202 and the SR-203 cost 2X more than the SR Lambda?  

Well, comparing the prices in this case is a bit difficult, for a number of reasons.

-The SR-Lambda is a vintage 1979 design, out of production for over a decade. The only way to get them now is to buy used. I got mine with an SRD-7/SB here for just $250, but eBay prices have shot as high as $500 for that same combination!

-By comparison, the SR-202 and SR-303 are much more recent designs, only having been recently displaced by the SR-207 and SR-307, which are basically the same thing with minor modifications. Given how expensive those are on Yama's/STAX USA by themselves, I could easily have paid about twice as much, especially if you take the value of the SRD-7/SB out of what I paid.

-The original SR-Lambda is the only model to run on the old 230V Normal bias; all following models from the SR-Lambda Pro onward use 580V Pro bias. And of course, electrostatics don't run straight out of most sources; you need a transformer box like the SRD-7 with a speaker amp, or a specialized amp dedicated to powering electrostatic headphones like these, like the SRM-212 I had with the SR-202. Normal bias equipment tends to be a bit cheaper due to being unsuited for the newer Pro bias sets, but still crazy expensive when looking at eBay pricing.

If nothing else, it does show that newer designs aren't always better-sounding...

I didn't address the Audez'e LCD-2 vs. LCD-3 example because I've never heard either, and with those price tags, probably never will unless there's a Head-Fi meet in my state. I'm already fortunate enough to have auditioned the HE-400 with velours for two weeks without having to buy the whole thing first.