[MDR30]

Second report on the K400: this headphone is a pure joy to listen to, especially orchestral music. The sound stage is wide and deep, detail retrieval good, dynamics amazing and frequency response quite even. I haven't enjoyed a pair of headphones this much for quite some time.
 
However, I have one major problem. At certain loud moments - full orchestra with heavy bass - there is a loud rattling noise in the right channel. I've checked the driver for hairs etc but the surface is clean. I've also opened the back and couldn't find anything visually or mechanically wrong with the driver assembly. This is the driver type with the blue "blob" fixing the voice coil wire to the inside of the diaphragm - could this be resonating against the membrane? I have a vague memory of reading about this somewhere.
 
Any light shed on the matter would be appreciated.
 
Still, when the rattle is non-present the music presents itself in a most persuasive manner...

 

[MDR30]

Seems I got rid of the crackle by carefully forcing the diaphragm to its maximum positions. This probably realigned the voice coil in the magnetic gap.
 
I took some pics on the infamous blue blob anyway, should this be the devious culprit. You should be able to see it clearly here, fixing the thin, winding voice coil wire to the underside of the diaphragm.
 

 

[tdogzthmn]

I am really having fun with this can paird with my HD600.  They are great compliments for a wide variety of music.  

 

[Gusgus]

I tried to replace the elastics, and while doing it, 2 of the wires came undone, the white wire and I assume the other one is the earth (it is black or brown). But the bigger problem is, that the white wire isnt connected to both sides any more, and the wire is now too short 

 . Can I replace that white wire with any wire, even if this new wire would be thicker than the original one? 

 

[MDR30]

Any decent wire will do. On my pair the wires have simle clamping contacts.

 

[Tiemen]

Sorry to hear this. You're not alone. It happened to me also when I changed elastics. Luckily I could find someone to repair it for me. Hope you can fix it.
 
Quote:

I tried to replace the elastics, and while doing it, 2 of the wires came undone, the white wire and I assume the other one is the earth (it is black or brown). But the bigger problem is, that the white wire isnt connected to both sides any more, and the wire is now too short 

 . Can I replace that white wire with any wire, even if this new wire would be thicker than the original one? 

 
 

 

[rhythmdevils]

Might as well use this as an excuse to have them recabled.  There are a lot of capable people on this forum who could do it for you.

 

[Gusgus]

Thanx for the replies guys, I'll have a try to fix them myself, although I am not really good with these things and soldering. 
Wow it happened to you top Tieman, good to know I am not the only one.

 

[tdogzthmn]

Has anyone here recabled their K400 and had good results?  Im having a a great time listening right now and these cans still do something "magical" that my other cans fail to capture, especially with acoustic music.

 

[MDR30]

I'm not a believer of "cable magic", but I'd like to share my experiences anyway. From the main cable there are smaller wires with mechanical connections to the driver, and for the right channel connections to and from the spring steel rods that make the head band. I had intermittent contact problems here and it took me some time to solve the problem. A multimeter showed that the resistance varied when I moved the headphone, and it didn't help if I removed and put the small contacts back. Only when I carefully sanded the steel rods with a fine grade paper and put the contacts back did the problem disappear. Now it's working fine.
 
So, from my point of view it's much more important to make sure these contacts inside the cups are clean and tight. Left and right channel were also out of phase on my pair. Strangely enough, out of phase headphones are not so obvious as out phase loudspeakers. If your K400 has a very wide sound stage and a vague stereo picture it might be worthwhile to check the phase. I discovered it listening to Donald Fagen's The Nightfly.
 
I agree with you about the sound quality - it's alwas nice to listen to acoustic music through the K400.

 

[tdogzthmn]

All the connections are good and I've never had a problem. I might just keep it stock to maintain the original integrity of the headphone.

 

[burgunder]

You can always track down a cheap pair of K40x at german ebay where I have seen them go for 45$ and recable them to see if there's any difference, I do believe that some people have reported good results in the past, at least with the K50x, but I don't remember where I read that any longer.

 

[tdockweiler]

Since I'm bored and just got these in, I'll give some early impressions.
Man if you think the K501 was under-appreciated, it seems that the K400 has it even worse! Up until recently I really didn't even know the K400 even existed. Seriously.
 
First thing I noticed right away is how clear they sounded compared to my K501. I couldn't compare them side by side, but that's what my ears heard. Acoustic music was so good that I didn't want to switch songs.
They're certainly no detail monster and subtle background detail is not as easy to hear compared to the K501. Some of it is gone.
 
They seem far more engaging and fun than the K501 EP. Despite this, the bass on this pair is especially pathetic with the K501 pads. If I thought the K501 was bass light, the K400 is even worse. I put on the K601 pads and it's a little better. Actually quite a lot. I tried using the K601 foam, but don't like the results. Seemed a little less clear. This pair is the EP with plastic headband.
 
Soundstage of the K400 is a little smaller than the K501, but I prefer this. K400 seem to be far better for female vocals. With very poorly mastered/bright recordings, the K400 seems a little more fatiguing than the K501. Mostly a lot of annoying Jpop/harsh tracks. K501 is much smoother sounding it seems. K501 also seems to have less treble. K400 mids definitely seem more forward to me. Not enough to be a problem...yet.
 
Does anyone else own the K400? Do you know when it was released? Probably around the same time as the K501 I imagine. Any idea when it was discontinued? What was the original retail? About $200?
 
What's funny is that I was listening to one of my favorite reference tracks and it sounded like an open DJ100 (my favorite headphone), but without the extra bass.
 
My new Q701 now has some competition. Going to try these out with gaming next. K501 wasn't so great with gaming, but the K400 might be due to it's mids and smaller soundstage. Gaming with the K501 just felt a bit abnormal for some reason.
 
Any other headphones out there that have a similar signature to the K400?
 
Quite amazing how different the K400 sounds compared to the K702 and even the Q701..
 
Another interesting fact I noticed is that many on here seem to prefer the K400 to the K501!
 
 
 
 

 

[Deep Funk]

The K400 is the more engaging headphone compared to the K500. I prefer the K500 but just like other vintage headphones the amplification is crucial. 
 
If you can appreciate and drive the K400, it is all you need to enjoy your music in a very pleasant and open manner. Its midrange comes close to the DT48E, it is that good. 

 

[tdockweiler]

Quote:

The K400 is the more engaging headphone compared to the K500. I prefer the K500 but just like other vintage headphones the amplification is crucial. 
 
If you can appreciate and drive the K400, it is all you need to enjoy your music in a very pleasant and open manner. Its midrange comes close to the DT48E, it is that good. 

The DT-48E has been on my list to try for about a year. I need to track a pair down used somewhere. Honestly, all the frequency graphs just scare me. I just need to ignore them. Hard to believe the DT-48E still retails for $399 new! Looks like its built extremely well.
 
K400 is too addicting. Hasn't been off my head since opening the box. I'm sure I'll find a lot to complain about soon, but I do that with most all my headphones.
 
If the DT-48E is great for female vocals, then it will be worth buying. I'm sure I will either love it or hate it

 
It'll be nice to compare to my KRK too.