Upcoming Hifiman IEM's: RE-400 and RE-600 - Page 39

I'm a friend of ljokerl and a huge fan of his work - but I have to say I don't envy his task at all. Rating all these IEMs with specific numbers is hard. And then 2 months down the road when something else comes along that might be worthy of a "9.0" but you prefer it to the "9.0" product of last month.... tricky. 

I highly admire ljokerl's work as well. Have purchased many IEM's based on his reviews. His comments on how something sounds are true to me. Also he usually says "if you like this kind of sound then this probably isn't for you". I think that part is awesome because everyone has a sound signature preference and can make up their mind if it is worthy of a purchase or not. RE-400 is still in the "very good" grade scale and that is what it is... Very good (I regard modded a little higher)

Waiting patiently for the RE-600 now. Hopefully it will be my 'reference' IEM.

can you tell us what kind of sound signature are you aiming for the re-600 ?

bassy / fun/ neutral /trebly ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by hifiman-us 

Regarding availability of RE-600, we are shooting for April but May may be more realistic. Everyone knows how picky Fang can be.

Peter

Quote:

Originally Posted by proedros 

can you tell us what kind of sound signature are you aiming for the re-600 ?

 

bassy / fun/ neutral /trebly ?

Do we know what technology it will use? It will be coming out closely behind and in the same price range as the new Vsonic 7007. The 7007 claims to implementing the same technology and aiming to compete with the K3003. Is the RE-600 aiming to be in this class? 

Someone asked for a chart, here's an initial one.

RE-400 with long RE-272 biflanges and damper removed. Reference at 500 Hz.

This eq could use a slight extra bit of precision.

With this equalization, the sound gets way more refined, 3D and slightly less nasal. 100% flat up to 16.5kHz, disappointingly, but not unexpected - I had only 9 dB boost to play with, as I didn't want to twiddle the knob on the Leckerton.

Maybe I'll enable gain and try again, I have a strong suspicion that the air is equalizable, as it's there, but very faint.

The damper probably acts at the 5.25k peak, but also trims yet more of the highs. Generally the curve is quite similar to RE-ZERO's and old GR07's curves (frequency shifted, narrower peaks), but is total less adjustment area. Peaks/dips are much narrower in general. Subbass capability beats either of the aforementioned IEMs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by redrich2000 

Do we know what technology it will use? It will be coming out closely behind and in the same price range as the new Vsonic 7007. The 7007 claims to implementing the same technology and aiming to compete with the K3003. Is the RE-600 aiming to be in this class? 

RE-600 is a Dynamic Driver IEM

V7007 is a Hybrid Single BA + 2 BA the same as K3003

As for aims, i am sure they inspire for it to be the best, no?

Any AK100 user can you comment if RE400 pairs nicely with this, thanks. 

Well i've got some iPod Nano 6G. I'm really impressed! Superportable really crazy sounding combo. RE400 sounds better with Nano than UM3x (similar instrumental separation and melodical side), really good soundstage (not IE8, but all is not in your head), lot of details (on par with ADDIEMs), not thin sound. Good emotions and good power+volume levels. Really good.
 

I've read that Re600 has an impedance of 150 Ohm, this is good news for me :D

Would you say RE-400 is like Sennheiser HD 650 in its presentation and even quality maybe?

As far as I remember HD650 although very clear sounding they tend to sound sweet in the highs with a good midranage. The Highs are not in your face it makes the sound a bit underwhelming when you compare it to say beyerdynamic sound, or ER4S.

I am thinking of getting a pair for myself.

Not as linear (slightly peaky sound). Much more controlled in bass, but some slow decay in highs smoothing over detailing. Narrow band highs cut in 8-10k doesn't help that. Generally faster decay.

Better subbass extension (rolls at 30 Hz, slower, as opposed to 45 Hz), lesser highs extension (less airy). (16k vs 18.5k of HD6x0)

Balance is comparable, bit more "mid focus" and "forwardness" due to peaks.

Disclaimer: those were not "latest" edition HD650, but slightly old ones borrowed from a friend for a short term listen. I know Sennheiser has done something to the drivers and pads to make them slightly less dark.

The latest version of HD 650 is spiky in the highs and has little better bass and a bit cleaner sounding, also easier to drive from the outputs. It is a more fun headphone also, I would say a more mainstream sound than the older one.  

I was thinking for $100 these headphones are such a good deal.

I also have ER4S, using them since 2003, but not very often anymore since it irritates my ears if I use them as much as I want like everyday. 

The sound of Etymotic ER4S is best  I heard so far, so natural/alive sounding to my ears I can even get over the bass of it, it's all there you can hear it, but it's a bit thin overall. ER4S is like icy cold shower that makes your awareness fresh and sparkling with joy of sound and music.

HD 650 on the other hand has too much midbass in my opinion, so the whole sound has a bassy signature to it. And I didn't like the spiky highs that much. But the headphone is fun, alive and fast much like HD 25-1, but better highs, mids and lows and airness is different since it's open back. 
 

HD650 and spiky highs? Huh, not possible unless you got a manufacturing reject pair - which is known to have happened. Something else must be causing that impression, not the headphones.

Perhaps your (possible lack of) amplifier? I've known some pairs of HD600 exibiting major mismatches in highs, perhaps a rare HD650 can suffer from this too.

RE-400 have a comparable balance to ER-4S with more bass - less forward in the 3kHz sense and reduced at 8-11k (depending on insertion depth) in comparison. They are not as accurate in the highs and are noticeably peakier. Both sound best with very deep fit, but it is harder to achieve with RE-400 thanks to their driver girth and non-angled strain relief.

Here's a new thing: I've managed to find some T-400 S. With a very deep fit (at least to the reference plane if not more) RE-400 is better yet than with the long silicones. Way more accurate (less peaks), slightly more extended/less rolled subbass, speeds up sound like Ts-400 M and does not cut highs nearly as much. Without equalization sounds like a warm & sweet smooth rolloff, beautiful. I will check the equalization for these tips. (of course, without the damper) I should grab some Ts-400 S for comparison purposes.

I'd also like to try some long thin foams, similar to Comply P Slim but with larger, 4mm nozzle diameter. Anything like that around?

HD 650 has spiky highs as comparing them to  the older model. HD 600 has it too. Maybe that's just my perception, but many others see it too. I like how AKG sounds in the highs and ER4S. I don't really find faults in them in the high frequencies.

I am really looking forward to RE-400. For the price it demands to be payed attention to.