[TMRaven]

Or better yet, an HE-500 for cheap.  From what I gather, it's essentially a more flat HE-400.
 
I have no idea what boxy mids mean, but I rather like the HE-400's coloration, even next to things like the LCD2.  The HE-400's upper treble can be easily tamed with a a rolloff via EQ.

 

[amigomatt]

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Try Jergpads it might fix it up to your liking 

 
I might just do that, thank you.
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Or better yet, an HE-500 for cheap.  From what I gather, it's essentially a more flat HE-400.
 
I have no idea what boxy mids mean, but I rather like the HE-400's coloration, even next to things like the LCD2.  The HE-400's upper treble can be easily tamed with a a rolloff via EQ.

I'm not sure how I'll get a pair of HE-500s for cheap, but considering the HE-400s were out of my original budget anyway, I don't really want to save another £2/300 to go for them, especially if I need to upgrade my amping too..  Sorry about the term boxy, maybe that isn't helpful.  I mean there is a colouration to the mids that sound artifical, as if something is missing, as if they are closed in and a bit nasal.  I'll keep listening this week and hopefully my brain will 'burn in' to them a bit more.  I just didn't expect theses cans to sound so artificial in the mids and uppers with acoustic instruments.

 

[Sniping]

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I might just do that, thank you.
I'm not sure how I'll get a pair of HE-500s for cheap

Just be quick on the FS threads. I recall that jerg got his HE-500s for $500, but you'll have to ask him. 

 

[wje]

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I might just do that, thank you.
I'm not sure how I'll get a pair of HE-500s for cheap, but considering the HE-400s were out of my original budget anyway, I don't really want to save another £2/300 to go for them, especially if I need to upgrade my amping too..  Sorry about the term boxy, maybe that isn't helpful.  I mean there is a colouration to the mids that sound artifical, as if something is missing, as if they are closed in and a bit nasal.  I'll keep listening this week and hopefully my brain will 'burn in' to them a bit more.  I just didn't expect theses cans to sound so artificial in the mids and uppers with acoustic instruments.
 

 
There are times when most of us can't always afford to make that slight reach to the next level.  However, that is when the upgrade bug hits and we end up spending more money to make the next move to the other headphone that we should have just dropped a few more bucks in the beginning and bought what we wanted all along.  Just speaking from experience.  

 
 
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Just be quick on the FS threads. I recall that jerg got his HE-500s for $500, but you'll have to ask him. 

 
There was a pair listed yesterday, in excellent condition for $550  + PayPal fees, but included free shipping in the U.S. and the buyer could choose whether they wanted the larger, square pleather HifiMAN flight case, or the portable clamshell HifiMAN travel case.
 
I'm not affiliated with the seller, but the offer appears to still be open: http://www.head-fi.org/t/654376/he-500-last-price-drop-includes-shipping-reopened

 

[attika89]

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I might just do that, thank you.
I'm not sure how I'll get a pair of HE-500s for cheap, but considering the HE-400s were out of my original budget anyway, I don't really want to save another £2/300 to go for them, especially if I need to upgrade my amping too..  Sorry about the term boxy, maybe that isn't helpful.  I mean there is a colouration to the mids that sound artifical, as if something is missing, as if they are closed in and a bit nasal.  I'll keep listening this week and hopefully my brain will 'burn in' to them a bit more.  I just didn't expect theses cans to sound so artificial in the mids and uppers with acoustic instruments.

Give it some time. As for me it took about a week or so to adjust to the sound. As I see the HE-400 is not the phone what impresses you immediately.
The Jergpad mod helped a lot to really like these, but I don"t even have a proper amp right now.

 

[amigomatt]

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Give it some time. As for me it took about a week or so to adjust to the sound. As I see the HE-400 is not the phone what impresses you immediately.
The Jergpad mod helped a lot to really like these, but I don"t even have a proper amp right now.

Thanks for the advice, attika89, I really want to love these cans after doing so much research and waiting 3 weeks for delivery!  It's not that I hate them, I'm listening to them right now and they sound very nice.  Maybe my expectations were too high, but given that I just bought a pair of old AKG K240DFs from ebay last week for £70 and the mids and uppers are far more transparent and detailed to my ears, I just feel let down.  I realise that my ears need to realign to the HE-400s unique signature as well, so we'll just see.  I'm going to try the Jergpad mod (I have 1 spare set of velours and the stock leather pads).

 

[earphiler]

Give it some time too.
 
When I was A/Bing He-400 and HD650 the He-400 blew me away.
 
When I had the He-400 in my house, I was like eh I dunno. Not sure if brain burn in, physical burn in, a bit of both, but between that and modding my pads I haven't been happier.
 
Didn't want to go He-500 either due to He-400 already being beyond the comfort zone in terms of $$$.
 
The He-400 are more bass substantial and lighter, too. 

 

[korzena]

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Give it some time. As for me it took about a week or so to adjust to the sound. As I see the HE-400 is not the phone what impresses you immediately.
The Jergpad mod helped a lot to really like these, but I don"t even have a proper amp right now.

+1
I was also having 'troubles' liking HE-400 at the beginning. Now I've got to like them very much and I listen to them as much as to my LCD-2s.
Give it a chance!

 

[soundeffect]

So is the verdict still Velour pads over stock pleather? I'm waiting for my order to ship.

 

[InCreD1Ble]

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You have a SS amp with a tube buffer DAC...

 
On the box it says "high quality tube headphone AMP"

 

[beaver316]

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So is the verdict still Velour pads over stock pleather? I'm waiting for my order to ship.

 
Pretty much yeah. If I had to rank the pads from worst to best, it would be pleathers last, followed by velour, followed by J$ beyers, and lastly jergpads. Last two may be subjective though. 
 
I really don't know what Hifiman was thinking with their pleather pads, I listened to them unmodded for about 3 minutes, I couldn't stand to listen more because something was so off.

 

[InCreD1Ble]

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Pretty much yeah. If I had to rank the pads from worst to best, it would be pleathers last, followed by velour, followed by J$ beyers, and lastly jergpads. Last two may be subjective though. 
 
I really don't know what Hifiman was thinking with their pleather pads, I listened to them unmodded for about 3 minutes, I couldn't stand to listen more because something was so off.

Haha, I haven't tried J$ beyers, but I totally agree with your choices. Jergpads are just so sweet, and I haven't even applied the velour mod yet 

 

[Okamoto]

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Huh? The connector on the cup to connect the cable? They are all gold. 

No, the connectors on the cable. One of them is now silver colored. I though they were gold, that's why I didn't understand how could this be possible.

 

[Okamoto]

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Well, I received my HE-400s on Friday and have given them a good few hours listening, with about 5-10 burn-in on top and I am disappointed.  Yes, they have clout in the bass and have a vivid overall presentation of music, but the mids are boxy and honky, with the highs tarnished by something in the very upper ranges being exaggerated.  This leads to a totally unrealistic presentation of timbres of strings, brass and other orchestral instruments.  They sound like they are totally EQ'd.  I'm pretty gutted at the moment, as spending this sort of money and reading such great reviews, I expected much more from them.
 
These conclusions are coming from running them through a variety of setups, including an Arcam Alpha 8 integrated amp, my Asus Xonar Essence STX soundcard and a Fiio E11.  I am using the velours too, which did improve the sound greatly from being quite a dull and muddy mess at first.  These headphones are in serious need of opening up in the upper mid/treble department.  I can see why any fans of electronically produced or manipulated music might love these, as a realistic recreation of timbre is not relevant.  For anything acoustic or using live instruments though, I'm disappointed.  I mean, even listening to spoken voices, one can hear the colouration affecting the whole range of frequencies.  I do hope these start to grow on me and that I'm maybe just too used to the generally brighter signatures of my other headphones

 
I think VERY differently than you here. To me, brass instruments are simply stellar with this headphone. That's one of the reasons I found them to be perfect for Jazz.
 
Actually, regarding instrumental music I have no complaints at all. Only thing they don't do very well is vocals.

 

[amigomatt]

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I think VERY differently than you here. To me, brass instruments are simply stellar with this headphone. That's one of the reasons I found them to be perfect for Jazz.
 
Actually, regarding instrumental music I have no complaints at all. Only thing they don't do very well is vocals.

Being a professional trumpet player who's played the instrument for 25 years and plays regularly in orchestras, big bands, studios and other brass sections, I can confirm that the HE-400s add an unnatural emphasis to the very top end of brass sounds that is not realistic.  They may sound nice and bright, but not necessarily accurate and realistic.  In fact, listening to the end of Bernstein conducting the end of Shostakovich's Leningrad Symphony with the mighty Chicago Symphony brass section, the added sizzle gave the impression of tiny little trumpet and trombone players shooting out lazer-beam type brass sounds from the back of the hall, not in fact the big, broad, open and round sound that should really respresent them on that recording.