[Mr Trev]

  Focus Pads
 
i have had 400i cans for about six months. What do the Focus Pads sold by Hifiman do to the sound quality? Also, how hard is it to replace the original equipment pads with these and not damage the headphones?

 
 

I'm pretty sure that the stock pads are the focus pads.....

 
Isn't there 2 different types of focus pads? I though I read somewhere the 560 has different ones than the 400i

 

[DavidA]

 
 
Quote:

  Focus Pads
 
i have had 400i cans for about six months. What do the Focus Pads sold by Hifiman do to the sound quality? Also, how hard is it to replace the original equipment pads with these and not damage the headphones?

If you bought the HE400i new then they came with Focus Pads as @peter123 noted.
 
​To remove the pads just pull up on 3, 6, 9, or 12 position since this is where the mounting tabs are, see the picture below for what the tabs look like and the mounting ring.  Getting it back on is easiest with a credit card or other similar thin object to help clip the tab to the mounting ring on the headphone.

Isn't there 2 different types of focus pads? I though I read somewhere the 560 has different ones than the 400i

The first few HE560's came with Focus-A pads but after the initial release they were changed to Focus pads

 

[pbarach]

OK, I understand that the Focus Pads currently sold on the Hifiman website are the same ones that come on the 400i cans from the factory. So what about those Focus Pads-a that they sold in the past, or these Brainwavz pads that people have mentioned on this forum. How do either of the alternative pads affect the sound?

 

[DavidA]

  OK, I understand that the Focus Pads currently sold on the Hifiman website are the same ones that come on the 400i cans from the factory. So what about those Focus Pads-a that they sold in the past, or these Brainwavz pads that people have mentioned on this forum. How do either of the alternative pads affect the sound?

If you do a search in this thread there was quite a bit of conversation on different pads.  For me the Focus is the best compromise for the sound that I like while for others they might prefer the various Brainwavz,, Audeze, Foxtex, Shure and ZMF that I've seen mentioned.

 

[Deoee]

I just bought these from someone over here and I'm really really excited to give them a listen.

I recently compared many headphones in the entry-mid level and decided to surprisingly keep the Sennheiser HD 8 DJ which I really dig.
 
The Hifiman will be my first planar magnetic headphones, my first Hifiman and my first considered High-End cans.
 

 

[wigglepuff]

  OK, I understand that the Focus Pads currently sold on the Hifiman website are the same ones that come on the 400i cans from the factory. So what about those Focus Pads-a that they sold in the past, or these Brainwavz pads that people have mentioned on this forum. How do either of the alternative pads affect the sound?

the focus A uses velour on the inner walls of the pad while the focus uses pleather like the outer walls, its similar to the brainwavz hybrid pad but no idea how hifiman desinged the rear portion or what fabric they used for the bass response.
 
focus a probably tames the highs a bit since velour doesn't reflect sound that much compared to solid surface pleather.

 

[pbarach]

 
the focus A uses velour on the inner walls of the pad while the focus uses pleather like the outer walls, its similar to the brainwavz hybrid pad but no idea how hifiman desinged the rear portion or what fabric they used for the bass response.
 
focus a probably tames the highs a bit since velour doesn't reflect sound that much compared to solid surface pleather.

Can people who have tried both pads tell us how differently their 400i's sounded with the original versus focus a pads?

 

[nepomuk66]

So far, I read that m9xx and chord mojo should pair well with the he-400i. However, is one preferable over another when looking at bass (quantity and quality) and soundstage (xyz-dimensions, retrieval, etc.)? Related to this: as the he-400i is more or less designed to work with portable devices, how much will a m9xx/mojo improve the headphone's SQ compared to powering it with an iPhone 6s or newer MacBook? Am I already getting the Hifiman character without dac/amp and perhaps, say, 80% of the headphone's capabilities?

 

[DavidA]

  So far, I read that m9xx and chord mojo should pair well with the he-400i. However, is one preferable over another when looking at bass (quantity and quality) and soundstage (xyz-dimensions, retrieval, etc.)? Related to this: as the he-400i is more or less designed to work with portable devices, how much will a m9xx/mojo improve the headphone's SQ compared to powering it with an iPhone 6s or newer MacBook? Am I already getting the Hifiman character without dac/amp and perhaps, say, 80% of the headphone's capabilities?

going from my memory of the m9xx and mojo, both will be a improvement over the iPhone, but how much of an improvement is an individual thing, for me I'd say its a 5% improvement and your iPhone drives the HE400i at 85-90% of the headphone's capabilities.
 
If I had to choose between the m9xx and mojo I would go with the Mojo only because of my preference to form factor.

 

[wigglepuff]

the he400i is very easy to drive, you dont need a powerfull amp for it. I use the e10k or e07k just fine with it.

 

[KepinCemit]

I'm using 400i on a desktop setup with the m9xx (not gonna go portable with the 400i anyway, lol)
 
Using them around 65 - 73 ish on the volume of m9xx, depending on songs/moods, sounds great to my ear
 
Oh, I've also installed/using Peace GUI for Equalizer APO on this desktop setup, bumping up 3db on freq lower than 100hz, but that's pretty much it
 
 
Btw, I'm pretty much the opposite of @DavidA , i chose m9xx instead of mojo because i'm just gonna use the 400i on a desktop setup, so m9xx suits me better. But either one should be great

 

[DavidA]

  I'm using 400i on a desktop setup with the m9xx (not gonna go portable with the 400i anyway, lol)
 
Using them around 65 - 73 ish on the volume of m9xx, depending on songs/moods, sounds great to my ear
 
Oh, I've also installed/using Peace GUI for Equalizer APO on this desktop setup, bumping up 3db on freq lower than 100hz, but that's pretty much it
 
 
Btw, I'm pretty much the opposite of @DavidA , i chose m9xx instead of mojo because i'm just gonna use the 400i on a desktop setup, so m9xx suits me better. But either one should be great

makes perfect sense and I agree with your reasoning.

 

[peter123]

In my experience the HE400i is about as hard to drive than the HD650 so pretty much any amp with decent power should perform better than a average phone. I'm still surprised that people seem to think that the HE400i is made for portable devices, its sensitivity is 93dB which is quite low. Not many phones will be able to output enough power to give them their best performance.

 

[nepomuk66]

I guess portability is a relative concept. Having the ability to listen to music in different rooms and perhaps on a couch instead in front of a desk provides some value. But actually I'm still much more interested in 'subjective' assessments about the SQ or experience improvements that come with m9xx/mojo. @KepinCemit do you have a similar impression to what @DavidA mentioned? Something like a 5% improvement..

 

[peter123]

I guess portability is a relative concept. Having the ability to listen to music in different rooms and perhaps on a couch instead in front of a desk provides some value. But actually I'm still much more interested in 'subjective' assessments about the SQ or experience improvements that come with m9xx/mojo. @KepinCemit
 do you have a similar impression to what @DavidA
 mentioned? Something like a 5% improvement..

What's 100% ?