[jerg]

Quote:

They didn't blow me away either. But when I started the A-B listening session with my other phones, I became aware of what they seemed to be offering. Texture, Resolution, and very smooth. Live music recordings are amazing. But the very tame bass and lack of aggressive "thumping" made them sound like headphones that were going to be too subdued to be any fun . . . at first.

I think the "issue" here is most people who get HE400s have not heard any planar headphones extensively prior, so they are not familiar with the planar bass response, which is extremely neutral, extended, and textured. Instead there is a pre-disposition to the dynamic headphone bass sound, which even in the best headphones is (almost) always a slight hump centered around the mid-bass with a gradual rolloff all across low/sub-bass.
 
Also mechanically speaking the two types of bass response are quite different - planar bass is emanating from all points of the huge diaphragm in equal amounts allowing for an omnipotent presence through moving of air between the diaphragm and your ears, while dynamic bass is coming from the outskirts of the dome diaphragms and sort of pass along the inner rims of the earpads and conduct to your ears in an uneven manner.

 

[rawrster]

The HE400 didn't blow me away but few things do these days
 
I do agree about orthos however. The ones I have tried have good extension in the bass region although the impact typically isn't huge.

 

[Spiderman]

Quote:

Give them a little time. When I first got them, coming from hd650 and d2000, they never gave me a wow feeling, but I could tell they were super detailed. Give yourself a day or two to adjust to sound, their dark sound takes time to grow on you.

Yeah that pretty much sums up how I feel about them. I mean they sound super detailed and the bass is great, but I haven't had that wow moment I was expecting. I might just send them back and buy some fun headphones or the 650's.

 

[TMRaven]

650s will probably wow you even less, lol.  Refined headphones aren't supposed to wow you unless you'er specifically after a neutral and refined sound.

 

[Spiderman]

Yeah, you are probably right, I'll probably try out some other headphones and see how those fit me. I'm probably gonna start looking into Grado's, this experience made me realize that I want fun sounding headphones probably some where the bass and highs accentuated.

 

[jerg]

Quote:

Yeah, you are probably right, I'll probably try out some other headphones and see how those fit me. I'm probably gonna start looking into Grado's, this experience made me realize that I want fun sounding headphones probably some where the bass and highs accentuated.

All part of the journey in finding the personal audio nirvana, good luck brah.

 

[yokken]

See, I really wasn't wowed by the HE400s either. I still haven't really been wowed, except for when I turned on a sine wave generator, cranked my Lyr to 12 o'clock and played a 30Hz wave. That made my head vibrate. But I would never ever listen to music that loud. They have a balanced response, that's for sure. It's kind of unfortunate though, as I really want to be wowed by something. For $400, you deserve to have more than a few moments where you can just close your eyes and disappear into the music because it sounds so good. The sad thing is even $1000 headphones don't offer that. There are a few songs I've heard, different for each headphone, that really shine. I've had very few moments where I played a song, it sounded great, turned it up a bit, and just sat back in amazement. You know, the one where you conduct the song as it's playing? Where you feel like you're really there?
 
Planar technology is cool, but it doesn't wow me. The instrument separation though.............. that has surprised me a few times.

 

[TMRaven]

The upper midrange recession around 5khz can definitely mess with their wow/energetic factor, since 5khz is the area that adds the leading attack to a lot of things, but a simple EQ can fix that.

 

[MrMateoHead]

I tried emailed JDS labs for spec confirmation. Interestingly they gave a different one:
 
<534 @ 33 Ohms
 
NwAvGuy Data allows a simple graph to be made:
 

 
The O2 probably hits a voltage ceiling of about 5.2Vrms and is optimized for 33 Ohm loads. All the points on the graph are actual measures. My best guess, based on a worse looking graph, is that it can put ~442 mWs into a 50 Ohm load. This would, in theory, take them to a max of between 117 and 120 dBs.
 
Just in terms of meeting power needs on the cheap then, this the the clear winner at the moment.

 

[yokken]

Just, in case you hadn't considered it... power is not everything.

 

[MrMateoHead]

Quote:

See, I really wasn't wowed by the HE400s either. I still haven't really been wowed, except for when I turned on a sine wave generator, cranked my Lyr to 12 o'clock and played a 30Hz wave. That made my head vibrate. But I would never ever listen to music that loud. They have a balanced response, that's for sure. It's kind of unfortunate though, as I really want to be wowed by something. For $400, you deserve to have more than a few moments where you can just close your eyes and disappear into the music because it sounds so good. The sad thing is even $1000 headphones don't offer that. There are a few songs I've heard, different for each headphone, that really shine. I've had very few moments where I played a song, it sounded great, turned it up a bit, and just sat back in amazement. You know, the one where you conduct the song as it's playing? Where you feel like you're really there?
 
Planar technology is cool, but it doesn't wow me. The instrument separation though.............. that has surprised me a few times.

Try the Bose Tri-Ports or maybe some Monster Beats.
 
You'll be back!
 
Seriously though - I went after a different sound deliberately and took a chance on these too. Audio gear has always followed the "law of diminishing returns". The first $100 dollar set it 50x better than the $10 dollar set. The $200 dollar set is 25x better than the $100, the $400 dollar set is 5X better, the $1000 dollar set is 2X better, the $10,000 dollar set is worse than the $1000.
 
I was scared to find out what happens when shifting from a $250 dollar Sennheiser to a $500 dollar Sennheiser - because it probably would be twice as good overall. But find a better sound in a regular speaker anywhere in the world, I dare you. Headphones are not perfect, but you can't find a more affordable high-end sound. Unlike a home theater however, you cannot pick and choose your bass, midrange, and treble response by picking up a new sub, new mains, or a better receiver. Good luck with your search!

 

[yokken]

I would say $500 headphones are maybe twice as good as $250 headphones, but no more. $1000 headphones are maybe 20% better. I agree, it's a very marginal increase in sound quality for an exponential increase in price. Finding the right signature that works for your music, your ears, and your wallet is the toughest part.

 

[chewy4]

I'm wowed quite a bit by these, but they're my first headphones in the price range.

 

[TheMaestro335]

Yeah, you are probably right, I'll probably try out some other headphones and see how those fit me. I'm probably gonna start looking into Grado's, this experience made me realize that I want fun sounding headphones probably some where the bass and highs accentuated.

I am glad everybody is comming out all of a sudden. When I first listened to these phones I thought what is the big deal? I have Hd600s, and K701s. The 701s deffinitely have better imaging and layering than the 400s. The 600s, are warm as hell! But there is something about the 400s that makes me keep comming back to them. I am using them with A Matrix M Stage and a Little Dot Mk III. I just realized the other night that the 400s have a very deep soundstage with a much narrower width. But like everybody is saying there is something alluring about them?
FYI I am also using a AQ dragonfly.

 

[yokken]

I definitely feel spoiled and underappreciative, having 3 pairs of headphones each costing over $300 and still finding ways to complain about them. I just really like hearing different kinds of sound and hoping one really feels right for me. I doubt I'll ever find that day. I just wish I could find headphones that complemented each other really well without having to sacrifice a desired quality like mids. The DT880s were great, if a little short on bass, but I loved their sound except for the shallow mids. Sometimes it just felt like the singer was far away. The HD600s have great mids with a balanced bass and treble presentation, and are honestly the best all-rounder I can think of. The HD650s have an addictive bass punch to them that the HD600s fall short on, as well as being a bit smoother. They're definitely very colored though. The HE400 has fantastic imaging and instrument separation with great detail resolution and textured sub bass, with no real fault to the mids given the other great qualities. They're just not as exciting as they could be.
 
Best qualities of all that I've tried in the past month and a half, excluding the Momentum:
 
DT880: COMFORT, clarity/detail resolution, textured bass
HD600: Comfort, natural sound, forward mids
HD650: Punchy bass, liquid smooth sound
HE400: Accurate & textured sub bass, instrument separation, detail resolution
 
Best all-rounder: HD600
Most fun: HD650
 
But to be entirely honest, I think my brain is extremely bipolar with headphones day-to-day. I haven't been able to figure out why I favor different sounds on different days. What bothers me the most is when I'm actually unimpressed, almost turned off by a pair of headphones. I listened to my HD650s for over an hour tonight and wasn't impressed at all. It just sounded warm and boring to me. Then I decided to pull out the HD600s and A/B some music with cellos and pianos in it, and I'm having a fun time picking out the differences. The HD600 sounds so good for some things. I'm almost liking them more than the HD650, save for music with punchy bass.
 
So I don't want to get rid of all my pairs for fear of missing the sound of one of them, and buying another pair and feeling like an idiot, only to get them and realize I hyped them up way too much in my head. Sort of what I did while waiting for my replacement HE400s. I just want to be happy with my purchase, you know? Personally, I think if you spend $400 on anything and you don't love it, you should return it. The problem is, I love them all depending on the day. 

 What is wrong with me?
 
/longasspost