It kinda makes sense that the HE-1000 would be simply an improvement over something like the higher end hifimans. After all, its the same technology, the same sound signature house.
The HE-400 are for sure not perfect, in fact in some cases they have a distortion I can clearly point out now, but they are no way near as low end as some of the other headphones I used over the years.
When I jumped from a sennheiser HD380 Pro ro the HE-400 I thought I just found a portal to another dimension (Wish this would happen in other parts of my life as well, you know).
But when I was listening to the HE-560, I was simply thinking: Id like to test some other things with this, to see if it still does more things better or if its just my imagination that im hearing things better.
Thats an insanely huge gap in performance improvement.
I dont expect the stax to be that sort of a jump, but Id expect it to get me something that would open my view on music and games again (especially games, I will never understand how gamers can use weak audio gear, its just 5 times more realistic to have awesome sound).
I actually like dark headphones, but I cant say that the HE-400 is dark. In most cases it will be but it has some peaks in the treble that can make it rather annoying (in fact I eq'd my PC to get a little smoother treble for it).
That being said, there is no point in buying a HP that is "like the one I have", so if the stax is Neutral (thats actually what I search for now).
However, if its actually bright, It might not be for me.
I like to listen to games and music at loud volumes sometimes (one song per day at most, rest at lower volumes).
I cant specify in dB, but I consider loud anything that is slightly over your comfort zone for relaxing, sleeping, etc.
If the Stax are bright, that means volume cant be turned up, since the highs will simply not allow it
.
Thx LCD-2 were my favorite in this department. They also sounded very well on very low volumes (that surprised me a lot), but they sound so similar to the HE-400, that I would get them after i sell the HE-400, and Ill go for stax first
.