[DavidA]

Small update, well first of all i have to say that i was not a believer in breaking-in, well i do believe that after a few minutes the stiffness of a transducer will loose up but an inprovement in sound ..mmmmmm not really.
but i have to say these 400i today after an other 7hrs of constant music playing they surly sound a bit better and the low end in more present, still not to what i would like but pretty them close.
so i decided to try the mod sugested here, i cut a thick folder paper close to what the picture showed and rounded up close to the 400i cups (still needs fine tuninig).. did it work ? i would have to say that indeed it increased the low-end and now the 400i with breaking-in and the mod are very well balaced for my ears , they do not have the sub-bass that some times i prefare for a fun listening, but i am not sure i want them too now. i think they are very very close to a perfect balanced sound for me and for the 90% of music that i listen ( RUSH-SUPERTRAMP ) these are getting great by the hour.
i would like to thank DAVIDA for his mod suggestion.

one more thing , i would like some advice on a very good leather pads , will the ZMF pads fit the 400i or something similarly of good quality.

Try the Dekoni TH900 sheep skin pads, very good quality but they get a bit hot for me here in Hawaii. They are slightly angled and a fairly close match to the Focus pads in sound, some may like it, other might not.

Got them off Massdrop for $39 IIRC

 

[HirschiAUT]

one more thing , i would like some advice on a very good leather pads , will the ZMF pads fit the 400i or something similarly of good quality.

I use the ZMF Ori Pads on the 400i and they fit perfectly.
And they also Sound awesome with them
Can really recommend them!

 

[Slim1970]

Received the Focus-A pads yesterday. I put them on this morning and gave them a go and I must say the bass is a lot more satisfying. I'm playing them out of my iFi Micro iDSD BL which in fact plays very nice the 400i V2's. I turned on the XBass+ and now we're talking bass my friends!

 

[candysound]

Received the Focus-A pads yesterday. I put them on this morning and gave them a go and I must say the bass is a lot more satisfying. I'm playing them out of my iFi Micro iDSD BL which in fact plays very nice the 400i V2's. I turned on the XBass+ and now we're talking bass my friends!

impressive how a small change from the normal focus pads can make, they have the inside made of velour instead of pl-leather.

 

[Slim1970]

impressive how a small change from the normal focus pads can make, they have the inside made of velour instead of pl-leather.

That's right, the inside is all velour instead of the perforated pl-leather. I really didn't expect them to effect the sound as much as they are. But I'm enjoying the different tuning they bring.

 

[pbarach]

With the Focus PadsA, I noticed a less forward upper midrange--I was ready to sell the headphones before switching out the pads, but now I like them.

 

[Slim1970]

With the Focus PadsA, I noticed a less forward upper midrange--I was ready to sell the headphones before switching out the pads, but now I like them.

Same here. I was debating whether to sell them or give them away. The Focus Pads-A improved there sound signature a lot. I'm enjoying them quite a bit now.

 

[393699]

This is my current EQ with the HM5 Angled Memory Foam Pads. This totally blew my friend away when he stopped over for a listen last night. He is thinking about jumping in on the current sale, and wanted to hear before buying. I think this is the perfect EQ set when combined with those pads. It is quite balanced and neutral, but with excellent extension in both the lower bass and upper treble. Be aware that by using the HM5 pads, the lower mids and mids will become very forward. Most people will immediately notice the honky sound, and will be wanting to correct it.

200Hz: - 0.5
250Hz: - 0.5
400Hz: - 1.0
500Hz: - 3.5
650Hz: - 1.0
800Hz: - 1.0
1kHz: - 1.5
10kHz: - 0.5

 

[candysound]

That's right, the inside is all velour instead of the perforated pl-leather. I really didn't expect them to affect the sound as much as they are. But I'm enjoying the different tuning they bring.

i d

That's right, the inside is all velour instead of the perforated pl-leather. I really didn't expect them to affect the sound as much as they are. But I'm enjoying the different tuning they bring.

incredible how much a small change can affect the sound, I was a sceptic when reading a few things here on head-fi (still I am on some), but am also new to headphones next to more experienced head-fiers on here and coming from a 2ch-5.1 speaker world I find it a very different, especially on technical stuff.
at first when I read that some cans needed more than 5-10min of breaking-in I laughed, to be honest, but I can't disregard it now after I experienced the breaking-in my self and the fine tuning a headphone can benefit from.
also, I am really hooked now to headphones cos the quality of sound that I can get from a $300 set is much better than $1000 2ch by a lot! .... so now I understand how can someone have a very populated signature like yours ( very impressive btw).
the only thing I am still a sceptic on are cables and would like to know what is your stand on the matter.
I need to upgrade this hifiman400i cable cos
(1) is too short
(2) cos I do believe getting a good build cable would be 99.9% of the time better than stock. but I don't believe spending as much as the headphones cost on a cable will really have a benefit but I could be wrong here ( on my hi-fi system I could never hear the difference after a certain quality.
really like some recommendations on cables that will cost between $40 -$80 or maybe a DIY schematic (i am decent with solder - iron)

 

[mandrake50]

I believe as you do that the sound contributed by cables is minimal. After a certain point it is more about construction quality and usability in your specific situation. I sort of wish I could try some of these exotics that cost 5 to ten times what the 400i does. But this is just my curious nature rather than having any expectation that there would be any differences that made the cost justified (for me anyway).

It seems that many have found cables in the $125 range form several sellers that they like. A search of the thread will let you find those. I have bought a few sets of cables from Voxata who is a member here. He does a nice job on the construction and will let you customize connectors and wire. He also is pretty darn fast. I have also bought from Bestintheverse (good) and Ebay folks (mixed). Again a quick search will get you several others that people have used and are happy with.

I am pretty sure there is a DIY sort of headphone cable thread on here somewhere. Though for a simple TRS to two TRS 2.5 mm plugs it should be pretty simple. You are only dealing with 4 wires. If you have a VOM you can ohm it out.

 

[DavidA]

@candysound, If you are decent with a soldering iron I would go the DIY route, there is a thread for DIY cables, great info there. Sourcing parts is probably harder than the build, at least for me in Hawaii since everything is shipped here and not many shops to get parts locally. The more you build the better you will get at it.

I've had some $400-500 cables from Forza and Double-Helix, they are works of art and if I had money growing on trees I would get them for all my headphones just for the looks. I haven't noticed any difference is sonics with either the Forza or Double-Helix cables compared to Mogami, Canare and Van Damme cables.

 

[StanD]

I believe as you do that the sound contributed by cables is minimal. After a certain point it is more about construction quality and usability in your specific situation. I sort of wish I could try some of these exotics that cost 5 to ten times what the 400i does. But this is just my curious nature rather than having any expectation that there would be any differences that made the cost justified (for me anyway).

It seems that many have found cables in the $125 range form several sellers that they like. A search of the thread will let you find those. I have bought a few sets of cables from Voxata who is a member here. He does a nice job on the construction and will let you customize connectors and wire. He also is pretty darn fast. I have also bought from Bestintheverse (good) and Ebay folks (mixed). Again a quick search will get you several others that people have used and are happy with.

I am pretty sure there is a DIY sort of headphone cable thread on here somewhere. Though for a simple TRS to two TRS 2.5 mm plugs it should be pretty simple. You are only dealing with 4 wires. If you have a VOM you can ohm it out.

I learned to solder when I was 12, there were no Internet tutorials or videos at the time. I went to the library, read a few pages in a magazine, bought an inexpensive soldering iron, tools and of course solder and went at it. I started out a mess and within an hour or so I got the hang of it. I'l bet that you can find some rather good youtube tutorials......OK, I just looked, there's plenty of tutorials. Below is just one example, it starts out simple and goes on beyond what you would need (resistive soldering) and more complex connectors. It does show what the solder joints should look like. You can probably find many useful tutorials for soldering cables. Spend a couple of hours learning and then head to the DIY cables threads, only try not to get drawn into some of the what I would consider exotic BS.

 

[housekrl]

Don't know about cables, however I just have to put in my 2cents in favor of the he400i's. I bought a pair of Lcd2's back in 2010 and that's pretty much all I listened to for about 6 years. I sold them a year ago and always regretted it. I've tried various other cans such as Beyer T-70, Grado's, ect. But I always missed the dark sound of the planar tech. So I just purchased some 400i's on a whim, mostly due to the sale price. I couldn't be happier. The planars definetely have certain characteristics in sound sig. Paired with my Meier Concerto they sound like they should be way more expensive than they are. Anyone who likes the early Lcd2's should like these as well.

 

[DavidA]

Don't know about cables, however I just have to put in my 2cents in favor of the he400i's. I bought a pair of Lcd2's back in 2010 and that's pretty much all I listened to for about 6 years. I sold them a year ago and always regretted it. I've tried various other cans such as Beyer T-70, Grado's, ect. But I always missed the dark sound of the planar tech. So I just purchased some 400i's on a whim, mostly due to the sale price. I couldn't be happier. The planars definetely have certain characteristics in sound sig. Paired with my Meier Concerto they sound like they should be way more expensive than they are. Anyone who likes the early Lcd2's should like these as well.

While I love my HE400i I wouldn't consider it a warm sound much less a dark sound. The 2 older LCD-2s that I heard (2.1, 2.2) were quite warm sounding compared to my 2014 Fazor version which also sounds a bit different from the 2016 Fazor that I heard a few months ago.

 

[housekrl]

While I love my HE400i I wouldn't consider it a warm sound much less a dark sound. The 2 older LCD-2s that I heard (2.1, 2.2) were quite warm sounding compared to my 2014 Fazor version which also sounds a bit different from the 2016 Fazor that I heard a few months ago.

Maybe I should review the terminology again. In any case, my Lcd2's were among the first production. To my ears, the HE400i's have some of the same characteristics as my "old" Lcd2's. Not exactly, but similar enough that I like them very much.
I will try to get my terminology right next time, my being new to head-fi forum/audiophile lingo