[jthew]

Hi All! There are HUGE threads on this forum discussing these headphones, but I'm too much of a newb to make much sense of any of it.

I just ordered these, my first headphones. The current price seems amazing. Of course, if my current means of amplification won't drive them properly, they could end up being pretty expensive. I understand that there is a difference between merely being able to play the things loud enough (I'm a low volume listener), and really making them sound good.

My current options will be an iPod classic 5.5, the headphone jack of my NAD 7175PE, or some kind of rig that will allow me to use the speaker terminals of the NAD. I can't find any headphone out specs for the NAD.

Will any of these work well? Thanks.

 

[cossix]

The 400i are reportedly hard to drive and I doubt an iPod Classic would put out enough power to do them justice. The stereo amp you listed probably also has sub-par headphone outs unfortunately. If you can't cancel the order and instead get the 400s, which is much easier to drive from your iPod, then I'd strongly advise getting an amp/dac like the Fulla 2. One step up from there would be the Magni 3/Modi 2 combo at $200. Like you said, playing music loudly and getting a good sound are two different things, but you won't need to spend hundreds to get a good sound. I'd venture to say that the Schiit Stack I mentioned at $200 probably gets you to about 85% as good as the 400i will ever sound. Diminishing returns kicks in noticeably after that point.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

I just ordered these, my first headphones. The current price seems amazing. Of course, if my current means of amplification won't drive them properly, they could end up being pretty expensive. I understand that there is a difference between merely being able to play the things loud enough (I'm a low volume listener), and really making them sound good.

My current options will be an iPod classic 5.5, the headphone jack of my NAD 7175PE, or some kind of rig that will allow me to use the speaker terminals of the NAD. I can't find any headphone out specs for the NAD.

Will any of these work well? Thanks.

If you don't expect them to have very dynamic feel to the sound at very low volume, ie, the most boring kind of sound, no problem. Crank it up a little bit and that iPod will start screwing up. Even on the 97dB at 1mW sensitivity HD600 was really distorted on my old iPod. And I'd be wary about the 7175PE - Grados are in theory not as severely affected by high output impedance but my SR225 and SR80 sounded like tin cans out my 304.

 

[jthew]

So much for the Hifiman website and reviews that say the HE-400i can easily be driven by a smartphone.....

The NAD 7175PE has tons of power and is stable down to 2 ohms. I can't find any specs on the headphone section. Anybody?

 

[cossix]

So much for the Hifiman website and reviews that say the HE-400i can easily be driven by a smartphone.....

The NAD 7175PE has tons of power and is stable down to 2 ohms. I can't find any specs on the headphone section. Anybody?

You sure you weren't reading specs for the 400S model, not the 400i model? The 400i has a sensitivity of 93dB which is extremely inefficient. It wouldn't sound good at all from a smartphone. That's why the S exists too, easier to drive

 

[jthew]

Here's one (section 7) https://www.lifewire.com/hifiman-he-400i-review-3134556, and another here http://store.hifiman.com/index.php/he-400i.html

But if y'all's experience with HE-400i and iPod Classic 5.5 = not so good, I'll go with that. So how about that NAD's jack?

 

[cossix]

It's not just 400i and iPod isn't a great pairing, it's 400i and any underpowered source isn't great. Feel free to use either pieces of gear with it, it just won't sound it's price tag without a decent amp and DAC

 

[ProtegeManiac]

So much for the Hifiman website and reviews that say the HE-400i can easily be driven by a smartphone.....

I'll put it this way. Audi sells an A6 version with the 1.8T engine in some markets. It works well enough as a cab...doesn't mean you can have fun in the Nurburgring in it unlike if you took the S6 with the 4.2L V8 or RS6 with the 4.2L Biturbo V8.

The NAD 7175PE has tons of power and is stable down to 2 ohms. I can't find any specs on the headphone section. Anybody?

When it comes to speaker amps with headphone outputs, assume that at minimum the output impedance is really high, unless you can find the actual specs that says otherwise.