[swspiers]

Whew!

I was afraid I would be ridiculed for my choice of words. Here's a little more specifically what I want. My favorite CD is The Trinity Session by the Cowboy Junkies.

I want Margo Timmons to be wrapped up in my arms and singing this album, uh, CD, in my ear. (It sucks getting old!).

I have this with my speaker setup. I'm trying to recreate it with phones, since I'm in an apartment now. My Magneplanar 1.6's (finally replaced by the 1.7's) are exceptional at this.

I'm hoping the same technology translates down to the 400i's.

Again, ditto.  The first thing I listen to with new headphones is always "Mining for Gold".

 

[swspiers]

Bill, haven't heard about "Trinity Revisited", I will look that up stat! Thanks, also love the original album, thanks !

Make sure you get the version with the DVD.  The whole recording was beautiful documented.

 

[money4me247]

Something has been bothering me about the consistency of the impressions offered.  From what I have read, the HE400i is on par with the HE500 in many ways.  Nevertheless, it has also been described as a "side-grade" from the HD650.  I was under the impression that the HE500 was CLEARLY superior to the HD650 and only a half-step behind the best of the best (HE-6, LCD2.2, etc).

What am I missing here? 

Too funny. Most impressions of what is 'better' is just people's personal preference. Honestly, as you scale up in price, the actually technical sound quality improvements get a lot smaller. Unless someone is direct A-Bing two pairs, I wouldnt rly trust what they think is better. People usually just notice the sound signature & base off that, and audio performance memory is pretty unreliable.

 

[Klipsch]

I'm also wondering the same thing....I'm coming from the DT990 Premium cans. This will be my first planar headphone so I'm a bit uncertain over which headphone to choose. I'm satisfied with the bass in the DT990 (maybe slightly more sub-bass would be nice). What I love about them though is the wide soundstage! Would the HE-400i be an upgrade in thouse regards?

I have the DT770 and 990, both pro version. Got the 400i last week and wasn't disappointed at all.

 

[Rudiger]

Your missing that there are a range of opinions and preferences. And that things aren't perfectly linear. If I think A is better than B and you think B is better than C, my friend Brian won't necessarily agree that A is better than C.

 


 

 
Haha I have a problem though with my Dac. I find that A = B and C> B. However I also find that A> C.
Who said that the appreciation of the sound was partly subjective

 

[conquerator2]

So... turns out I was compensating a bit for the 400i. 560 was running at 35/100, 400i was at 31/35 but should have been at 27... Ooops 

Can't believe my ears failed me there... Lesson learnt though. I knew why I haven't posted impressions yet 

 

[thug behram]

what is your experience with headphones? I mean what is your main point of comparison? 
For instance if you tell me lack of bass vs. Denon D7000 or Audeze, then I would understand, if you are coming from DT880 (just an example) then I'm in trouble as I've just placed my order for HE-400i.
Thanks

I've owned and auditioned many pairs of headphones. I'll admit I like things on the bassier side. However, I'm comparing these to the original he-400. Which I think is fair.

 

[cocolinho]

well.. this is.
Tx again

 

[conquerator2]

Hmm. The 400i now seems more quiet. I've measured the dB lvl at the driver point ((removed the pads) and they measured equally but audibly to my ears they don't seem matched...
I'll listen further to see if it's just down to quite different sound signatures but right now, this seems strange...

 

[TMRaven]

What are you using to measure the db level?

 

[beaver316]

I think I'm starting to regret signing up for this tour. There's no way I'm going to be able to live with the HE-400's vocals after I return the 400i! It just sounds so wrong now. For 499$ this headphone is a steal.

 

[conquerator2]

What are you using to measure the db level?

A mic coupled with some dB measuring software.
Not the most accurate solution by far, I know.
However, it did measure consistently the same values. I tested multiple times and the readings remained the same. It does seem kinda accurate down to 1-2 db of deviation. Though it does steady completely eventually.

 

[TMRaven]

Is the mic calibrated with EQ?  Lots of mics have bass rolloff.

 

[MattTCG]

  I think I'm starting to regret signing up for this tour. There's no way I'm going to be able to live with the HE-400's vocals after I return the 400i! It just sounds so wrong now. For 499$ this headphone is a steal.

 
True. This hp will ruin the original version for sure with most material except possibly EDM and such. 

 

[conquerator2]

Is the mic calibrated with EQ?  Lots of mics have bass rolloff.

It's not... However, I used pink noise to match the headphones and as I said, I got pretty consistent readings with both.