Received my pair today. Got hit with customs but luckily only had to pay 12 euros, thanks to Hifiman marking it low cost. No pictures for now since it's dark and my phone doesn't handle that well, besides we have plenty of those now in this thread
First impressions upon unboxing, they have a very interesting smell
Presentation is top notch, but I had some trouble getting the damn things out the case lol. No biggie though.
About the cable, I love the fabric casing but still hate the screw on method. It took me a good 10 minutes of twisting both connectors in before they both sat comfortably with no curls on the cable. I love the length of it though. Not too long and awkward like the HE-400, just perfect imo. I also love the slight angling of the connectors. I usually listen when I'm on my bed, so my head is bent slightly forward which makes the cables more likely to hit my shoulders on the HE-400, not so on the 400i.
Onto the headphones, wow they are light. I have them right by my HE-400 and you can certainly feel the difference both in hand and on your head. I've had them on for 1 hour now and they are very comfortable. No complaints there. Pads are awesome. Very soft and squishy, the opening also is big enough for my big ears so no problems there. Not quite sure if they're Focus-A or Focus but I don't care, these are just perfect.
As for the sound, I'll be comparing them to the HE-400 and using an M-Stage with an ODAC. Both without any EQ, so im getting the stock
unadulterated HE-400 sound. These are early impressions though so don't take my word as gospel.
Volume wise they are about even on the dial. With volumes matches, I get louder vocals on the HE-400i (more present mids) but louder bass on the HE-400 (more punch). Treble on the 400i is smooth to my ears, unlike the HE-400. I'm really like the more present mids on these, I didn't really feel like I was missing anything on the HE-400 all this time, not anymore. HE-400i's vocals are awesome. On the 400 vocals take a backseat to the bass and treble, but on the 400i it's the opposite. That's not to say the 400i doesn't have a present bass, read on for that.
Treble is also a huge improvement as expected. I'm going through my library on random right now and I'm yet to hear any treble annoyances, even on tracks where undoubtedly the 400 would not handle well.
Now bass, although great on the 400i, imo doesn't match the 400. I can't say for sure, but I think I'm detecting less sub-bass on the 400i. There seems to be less rumble. Slam also seems slightly less. It's still very tight, if not tighter than the HE-400's though.
Soundstage is something I don't really care about so I'll let others discuss that.
Keep in mind these are very very early impressions. Everything seems to be an improvement over the HE-400 apart from the bass. I must admit I'm slightly disappointed the bass doesn't match the HE-400's, if it did then I'd pay for this pair on the spot. I'm hoping that the bass opens up a bit with time, but im not expecting much. It's still great though. The M-Stage seems to drive these perfectly fine, 11 on the dial and plenty of volume.
More to come later on!
