HD600 vs HE400

HE-400 is definitely more laid-back.  The HD600's mids are borderline aggressive.  If the type of rock you listen to has lots of electric guitar, you might pick the HD600.  I tend to like the HE-400 more for prog rock.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SmettMark 

thats a surprise, from what I've read, the HE-400 seems a lot more aggressive. The hd600 might be what I'm looking for, do you think it's aggressive but smooth? What amp did you use with it?

HE400 is more laid-back but more detailed, much more detailed.

When a certain sound is "aggressive" or "forward", it really means the upper mids and lower treble is elevated. Note however there is not much actual detail in those frequencies, they mainly cause the overall sound to feel more in-your-face or spaced away.

I say it's more forgiving than the HD600.

I have hd-650s and had he-400s.  Also as a disclaimer I have not listened to hd 600s so take my opinion for what its worth comparing the he-400s to the hd 650w.   The 400s have more sparkle on the high end and less bass impact but can go deeper then the 650s. However, I found them to be very fatiguing compared to hd 650s.  This fatigue I experienced may be my sensitivity to something with the he-400s sound signature that  probably others may not be as sensitive to.   Both senn and hifiman performed adequately with poor quality MP3s compared with ultrasone pro 900s smoothing over detail that ultrasones make painfully apparent.  Low quality MP3s can be tolerated with either off these phones.  From my experience I have found the hd 650s to be much more laid back then the he-400s.  

We musta had different HD650s.  Mine was no where near as impactful in the bass as HE-400, and its upper mids made a lot of my recordings kinda painful  at louder volumes.  It did make stuff like Rage Against the Machine a pleasure to listen to though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TMRaven 

HE-400 is definitely more laid-back.  The HD600's mids are borderline aggressive.  If the type of rock you listen to has lots of electric guitar, you might pick the HD600.  I tend to like the HE-400 more for prog rock.

Maybe you're using the wrong deffinition of aggressive here, if one exists that is.

I find the HD600s really laid back, not quite to the extent of the HD650s which are laid-back to the point they're referred too as veiled. THe HD600s are, for me, a good neutral headphone to relax with; classical, classic rock, smooth jazz that sort of thing... If I want a more up-beat sound while remaining neutral I'd consider a DT880; acoustic, rock, indie etc. A more aggressive sound from here would be a SA5000 or perhaps a HD800.

My still for sale HD650 completely lack sub-bass compared to HE-400, D5000/7000 or T1. I heard my HD650 with too many setups and the problem is here with all of them but Maverick Audio TubeMagic D1. After I heard HE-400 bass for just few minutes straight out of the box (their overall sound improved after about 40 hours of burn-in) with my old setup I can't go back to HD650 that's why they are for sale. Never heard HD600 so can't comment

I went from HD600 to HE400 just recently.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Graphicism 

 not quite to the extent of the HD650s which are laid-back to the point they're referred too as veiled.

People are too used to listening to their audiophile oriented treble enhanced headphones with elevated 5-10khz treble.  Even Sennheiser's jumping on that bandwagon now with their HD800 and more importantly HD700, both of which are too thin for me.  Just because HD650 doesn't have a spike at 10khz doesn't mean its veiled-- at least I never thought it was when I listened to it.  

Yes 650 is more laid back than 600, but HE-400 is even more laid back than 650 for the same reason 650 is more laid back than 600-- less forward upper mids.