I seriously listened to the 400S side by side w/ the HE1000 and Audezes and a couple other phones priced above $2k. You can get sturdier construction but you can't get better sound with more money. I stand strongly by that statement. I doubt Tyll disagrees with me either!!!

I purchased my first pair of these in 1981 or 1982, absolutely fantastic sound for the time. The speaker itself is made of titanium. They were sold by Koss as the HV-7, HV/X, and HV-pro. The Koss version was a chocolate brown, and the pro-60 is black. Indeed the pads would always rot, and are no...

I have a pair of the SL 410 still in daily use, my replacement pads are also black. I sometimes have to wiggle the cord as it plugs into the earpiece, but that's the only hint of the age of these headphones. I purchased them in the mid-80s, probably 1984-5.

I had a similar experience to MattTCG, I played the Nighthawk side by side with my then-just-purchased HifiMan HE400S and the Nighthawks sounded less linear and with some minute distortion-grunge between the notes on classical and soundtrack material played from the same source (disc, amp).  ...

I think the Sennheiser 600 sounds a lot more like "hi-fi" and a lot less like "live music" compared to the HE400S.   I think Tyll said the HE400S bumped the Senn 600's off his best phones list.    I got to play both side by side at the Can-Lanta a couple months back and my HE400S beat pretty...

I took my Hifiman HE400S to the Canlanta headphone show a couple months back and now I wish the comparison included these new headphones which did not exist at the time of the 58 Model test.   I actually preferred the 400S to everything in the room, all the Sennheisers, the Audeze...

I brought my HifiMan HE400S to Canlanta and I swear that I liked them every bit as much, in many cases better, than the other phones that were in the room - and some of these headphones cost 10x the price.  I let anyone who wanted to hear them try them out, and for my efforts the OEM cable was...

Matt, I got a kick out of your modded 800's, a nice surprise there at the show.   For me, the Ampsandsound single ended tube amps were THE sonic mind-blowers at the show - and appropriately priced (circa $1600-1900) for their performance and construction. They **really** showed me what my...

I won one of these DAC/Amps in the Canlanta raffle and I am mightily impressed with its ability to reveal the true nature of files you feed it - bad mastering, too much eq, "hashy" sounding transfers from tape to digital - all flaws revealed. The amp is slightly crunchy - like a MOSFET amp -...

I will echo what Tommy Tunes said about the Blue Hawaii amp - it was a REAL TREAT!

Jack, you and your dad and the rest of the staff put on a hell of a demo, it was a great way for Rick and me to end the show as first-time attendees!

I am so much looking forward to attending, I will be bringing my HiFiMan HE400S, which are not available locally at retail - so I'm sure a lot of folks will want a try.   I also plan to bring my $20 pair of Koss UR35's, a grossly underrated headphone that sounds better to me than most...

Yes, and if there's a link here to upgraded earpads that don't require I destroy the old ones in the swap, I would appreciate it!

I don't agree either, they sound pretty balanced to my ears. I got to spend a lot of time with them over several long-ish visits to my friend's hi-fi store.   I do think there are better sounding, if less comfortable  'phones at half the price though.

I got to play my HE-400S' right next to the Audioquest Nighthawk in a side-by-side comparison, using the same phone/cd/amp/software.  I took my time with this test.   The Nighthawk plays only slightly louder, as they are more efficient. They are also lighter weight and could be worn for many...