[Markolav]

They have caught my attention years ago, but i haven't got enough info about them and Im too poor to risk it . Will be waiting for your impressions

There are actually quite a bit of information and impressions about them, mainly in the Msur-thread. Only one review available though (the one on Head-Fi). I will definitely share my findings here after i have done some listening.

The manufacturer changed their earpads at some point so the newer N650´s might have a slightly different sound signature than the old ones, new pads are oval shaped and they dont have that foam ring inside the earhole which looked weird to me. I have read mainly positive feedback about both versions.

 

[Pharmaboy]

I am very new to the hifi, if you can explain me whats the tubes and everything (in pm or here) I would love that. Also from what you posted I understand you recommended me to buy amp+dac, I would love to explain my current gear and what I hear if it will help to determine if I need both/one of them. I also wanted to add, I love bass on some tracks like edm- I like it "heavy bass" I suppose, on some tracks I now just miss the bass from my m50x's and even when I had them I would of liked more bass hehe. Last thing, thanks for the reply!

From your profile it looks like you run music to your headphones either from your cellphone or your PC. In both cases, the source device has digital-to-analog (DAC) circuitry as well as rudimentary headphone amplification circuitry. But as you seek more and more quality/fidelity from headphones & headphone music, you'll find that having a separate/standalone DAC and headphone amp can produce sonic improvements. This becomes especially important if you ever invest in higher cost & quality headphones.

DAC: This topic can get long, tangled, and highly subjective--everyone recommends different DACs. I'll just say 2 things here:

1. Your 1st separate DAC can be a good quality DAP (digital audio player). Especially if you primarily listen to music on the go, a good quality DAP can be not just a storage place for lots of music (more than most cellphones), but also can do the DAC duties for your system, if its architecture/design allows you to take the output of its internal DAC to another device (the headphone amp).
2. There are also some good quality DACs to be had for not a lot of money. Are you aware of Massdrop? Massdrop occasionally has a drop (offers to sell) a very low cost but well reviewed amp by Grace Designs, the SDAC. Here's a review: https://www.headfonia.com/review-massdrop-x-grace-design-sdac/

Headphone amps: There are many to choose from. Many are expensive, but some of the better ones are not expensive. A good example of the not terribly expensive kind is another occasional Massdrop offering, the Cavalli CTH: https://www.massdrop.com/buy/massdrop-x-alex-cavalli-cth-tube-hybrid-amp (this is a tube/solid state hybrid). Another option is a straight solid state headphone amp also by Massdrop/Cavalli, the Liquid Carbon X; https://www.massdrop.com/buy/massdrop-x-alex-cavalli-liquid-carbon-x-amp.

Note that I'm sending you to Massdrop just for convenience purposes. But there are dozens and dozens of potentially good/cheap DACs & headphone amps to be had. You just have to keep reading & asking questions.

Re amp designs. There are 3 types of headphone amps, similar to the amps used for speakers:

1. Solid state: all the power comes from opamps and/or transistors. SS amps come in many sizes/shapes/power ratings. It's probably safe to say that most people in this hobby start out w/SS amps.
2. Tube: all the power in tube amps comes from glowing tubes rather than the opamps and transistors used in solid state. Pure tube amps tend to be somewhat more expensive. Many here love the sound of tubes (I'm one of them). That's a long story, though. Tubes are the oldest/original technology used in sound production. There is something entrancing about the glow of tubes (the sound they make also sorta glows).
3. Hybrid tube+solid state: there are multiple ways that the designers of these amps configure them. The most common is a tube preamp section followed by a SS power section, allowing some sonic "flavor" of tubes to be heard, but plenty of output power from the SS portion.

Both straight tube amps and hybrid amps allow the user some latitude in "tube rolling" (swapping stock tubes for aftermarket ones, new or old, chosen for sound quality). Tube rolling is a bottomless-pit type of topic, way beyond the scope of this post.

There's no right way or wrong way to any of this. If you can hear small differences in sound produced by different headphones, different DACs or amps, then you might do like others here do & "chase the ideal sound" (spending lots of $$ in the process).

Above all, it helps to love music greatly. Otherwise none of this would matter in the least.

 

[Lurk650]

400i and heavy bass do not go together, only slight improvement I found was switching to Sheepskin Brainwavz pads. Eventually sold them off as the lack of extension was too much for my tastes

 

[HungryPanda]

Actually the HiFiMan He-400i is a great entry into the planar magnetic world. It was my first one and I still like it to this day

 

[Cruelhand Luke]

As this is my defacto main thread I use, I am letting yall know I updated my personal profile details a tiny bit. I got some new chi-fi in, got some new coming, and got a bunch of other things. To note this is the run down of the newer things:

Coming Soon:
Audeze Mobius (from Indiegogo)
Advanced GT-R
Hifiman HE-560 v2
OKCSC M2 (on-ear grado clones)

Recently came and awaiting my review comments:
Monoprice m1060C
1More Triple H1707 over ear gold version
Sennheiser 58x Jubilee
Advanced Alphas
Corsair H60
Grado SR80
Bluedio T5
Hyper-X Cloud Alphas
KZ ZS6
AudioLUX WDX (strange audio technica knock offs I found on Amazon)
Mitchell & Johnson MJ2 (while sold by a British company these are made in Asia)

Also I have some new sources to play with including my Audio-gd NFB 29.38, Woo Audio WA7d, and Little Dot Mk III.

Hope to get through listening to everything Lots of good times ahead.

I recently got 3 new over ears:
Aiwa Arc-1 (pre-production review set)
Fostex T 20RP V2 (the earlier version, with the round drivers)
and Lasmex L85....
and I feel kind of overwhelmed because in addition to listening to the new 'phones, I still listen to my old headphones for comparison.
I can't imagine having that many new headphones lying around wanting my attention.
However I DO NOT feel sorry for you

 

[Humblepie]

From your profile it looks like you run music to your headphones either from your cellphone or your PC. In both cases, the source device has digital-to-analog (DAC) circuitry as well as rudimentary headphone amplification circuitry. But as you seek more and more quality/fidelity from headphones & headphone music, you'll find that having a separate/standalone DAC and headphone amp can produce sonic improvements. This becomes especially important if you ever invest in higher cost & quality headphones.

DAC: This topic can get long, tangled, and highly subjective--everyone recommends different DACs. I'll just say 2 things here:

1. Your 1st separate DAC can be a good quality DAP (digital audio player). Especially if you primarily listen to music on the go, a good quality DAP can be not just a storage place for lots of music (more than most cellphones), but also can do the DAC duties for your system, if its architecture/design allows you to take the output of its internal DAC to another device (the headphone amp).
2. There are also some good quality DACs to be had for not a lot of money. Are you aware of Massdrop? Massdrop occasionally has a drop (offers to sell) a very low cost but well reviewed amp by Grace Designs, the SDAC. Here's a review: https://www.headfonia.com/review-massdrop-x-grace-design-sdac/

Headphone amps: There are many to choose from. Many are expensive, but some of the better ones are not expensive. A good example of the not terribly expensive kind is another occasional Massdrop offering, the Cavalli CTH: https://www.massdrop.com/buy/massdrop-x-alex-cavalli-cth-tube-hybrid-amp (this is a tube/solid state hybrid). Another option is a straight solid state headphone amp also by Massdrop/Cavalli, the Liquid Carbon X; https://www.massdrop.com/buy/massdrop-x-alex-cavalli-liquid-carbon-x-amp.

Note that I'm sending you to Massdrop just for convenience purposes. But there are dozens and dozens of potentially good/cheap DACs & headphone amps to be had. You just have to keep reading & asking questions.

Re amp designs. There are 3 types of headphone amps, similar to the amps used for speakers:

1. Solid state: all the power comes from opamps and/or transistors. SS amps come in many sizes/shapes/power ratings. It's probably safe to say that most people in this hobby start out w/SS amps.
2. Tube: all the power in tube amps comes from glowing tubes rather than the opamps and transistors used in solid state. Pure tube amps tend to be somewhat more expensive. Many here love the sound of tubes (I'm one of them). That's a long story, though. Tubes are the oldest/original technology used in sound production. There is something entrancing about the glow of tubes (the sound they make also sorta glows).
3. Hybrid tube+solid state: there are multiple ways that the designers of these amps configure them. The most common is a tube preamp section followed by a SS power section, allowing some sonic "flavor" of tubes to be heard, but plenty of output power from the SS portion.

Both straight tube amps and hybrid amps allow the user some latitude in "tube rolling" (swapping stock tubes for aftermarket ones, new or old, chosen for sound quality). Tube rolling is a bottomless-pit type of topic, way beyond the scope of this post.

There's no right way or wrong way to any of this. If you can hear small differences in sound produced by different headphones, different DACs or amps, then you might do like others here do & "chase the ideal sound" (spending lots of $$ in the process).

Above all, it helps to love music greatly. Otherwise none of this would matter in the least.

Basically all he says is true. I just want to expand upon this.

Solid State amps attempt to deliver the cleanest and un-distorted sound possible. Unless there is a specific attempt to cause distortion (like the bass boost switch on some solid state amps). Typically, unless you are really trying to listen for it, you won't hear the minor differences between the sound signal coming out of a solid state amp.

Tube amps, or tube+ss hybrids are used to cause distortion. They are not made for as clean as signal as possible. Typically they smooth out the bass, elevate it a little, and can cause a broader sense of space (for the pure tube amps and less so for the hybrids). If you are looking to use a pure tube amp, they typically do much better with high impedance headphones. The 400i is sort of high, and would work with most tube amps.

Personally I use a few different dac/amp setups depending on where I am. At work I use my Syba Sonic dac/amp combo. It is fantastic and only costs $35. One of the cheapest dac/amp combos out there so I wouldn't care all that much if it got swiped by the office cleaning people or something like that. As far as the sound goes, it's really not that much different than anything else I own that is solid state. At least if I am casually listening. If I really try to A/B it with several tracks and headphones I can pick out the almost imperceptible differences. There are differences, but they really are very minor usually. Seriously, most people aren't going to be able to hear the difference between 0.01% and 0.001% THD or whatever the equipment is claiming. For reference THD is total harmonic distortion. I won't try to use the Syba Sonic though to power my Beyerdynamics DT 990 600ohms. It just doesn't really have enough juice for it to turn it up all that loud.

 

[larry piencenaves]

Check out the Topping NX4s portable DAC/amp. I have recently received this unit from Massdrop.com and I love it ! Has a Gain switch and a bass boost switch which is most welcome if you have the HE400i's. I have the HE4XX among other headphones. If you listen to anything other than classical music you will appreciate the option to boost the bass. Price around 149 USD.

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...sd-dac-and-portable-headphone-amplifier.3507/

ive seen reviews about topping products goes dead after a few months of use, hows your unit going?

 

[UnicornGr]

After seeing all of these excellent headphones, I'm wondering which one I should go for as a donor shell. I owned pair of SoundMAGIC HP100 whose hangers and pads deteriorated. All I have left are the cups and drivers which I'd like to transplant. My list is made up of the:

• Freeboss MDH9000
• MSUR N350 or N550
• BossHiFi B7S or B8

What would make the best donor?

MSUR 350 is excessively bassy, BOSS HIFI are bassy and bloomy with a bass leaking into the mids without been neither too deep or punchy! The worst possible!

 

[UnicornGr]

I was looking into the Fostex TH610 but the Bosshifi B8 is tempting for the very low price. Some reviews are very enthusiast and some says the sound is very bad (taste or clones maybe).

What is the top 5 ChiFi? Still hesitating with the N350 according to a review.

Away from Boss HIFI! Bassy and messy!

 

[Markolav]

MSUR 350 is excessively bassy, BOSS HIFI are bassy and bloomy with a bass leaking into the mids without been neither too deep or punchy! The worst possible!

I own N350 (going to sell them though) and they can indeed be quite bass heavy but to my ears they also have excessive amounts of lower midrange which sometimes clutters the sound. But thats really my only grip about them.

N650 and N550 should be more balanced sounding headphones, if im lucky i will receive my N650 in following days.

Friend of mine who owned B8 said that they need some modifications to be listenable and also mentioned that without them they sound a bit muddy and sloppy. Many chi-fi-headphones seem to require things to happen to them before they are "maxed out".

 

[Roderick]

Away from Boss HIFI! Bassy and messy!

Without something to compare your opinion is just a fart in the wind. What headphones that you have experience with perform better than bosshifi?

 

[Omega17TheTrue]

Yes its bassy and messy but not that bad for the price. I also enjoy the wood and very high sensibility.

 

[Roderick]

I wonder if the drivers on bosshifi are more different compared to msur n350/n550/n650 than was previously assumed.

Sensitivity on bosshifi b7&b8 is 106dB. On msur it is 105dB. Bosshifis also have lower impedance, 16Ω vs 32Ω.

Bosshifi b6 which looks like msur n550 has 32Ω but the paper behind the magnet is inside the plastic cover like it is on b7 and b8. On n550 the paper is on top.

Thing is I don't find n550 muddy at all. V-shaped and slightly recessed mids but not muddy. B7 on other hand is a bassy mess. I tried all sort of mods but even with cup fully closed and velour earpads it can't reach the sound quality of n550. With less airflow the bass decreased and clarity improved but not to the extent I assumed it would.

So if there is a major difference between n550 and b7 drivers...I guess b8 might be too bassy since it has same drivers as B7. Confusing?

Point is that when talking about this line of beryllium driver woodies it is very important to know which version were talking about. Msur, bosshifi, sivga, kinden etc? being so subjective hobby manufacturers releasing identical looking headphones with different drivers doesn't make it easier.

 

[UnicornGr]

Actually the B7s is the closed revision of the B7. I was just checking it out on aliexpress. Anyone have any thoughts on the B7s? It looks like the B7s was released recently.

Here is a link to the B7s, and here is a link to the B7 (via Aliexpress).

I've heard from several folks here that the B8 is superior to the B7.

Also, I thought these were dynamic driver headphones with a Balanced Armature?

On amazon they list these w/ a Dynamic Driver & BA, but on Aliexpress they are listed w/ Ndfeb driver only.

Without something to compare your opinion is just a fart in the wind. What headphones that you have experience with perform better than bosshifi?

Without something to compare your opinion is just a fart in the wind. What headphones that you have experience with perform better than bosshifi?

I wonde If the drivers on bosshifi are more different compared to msur n350/n550/n650 than was previously assumed.

Sensitivity on bosshifi b7&b8 is 106dB. On msur it is 105dB. Bosshifis also have lower impedance, 16Ω vs 32Ω.

Bosshifi b6 which looks like msur n550 has 32Ω but the paper behind the magnet is inside the plastic cover like it is on b7 and b8. On n550 the paper is on top.

Thing is I don't find n550 muddy at all. V-shaped and slightly recessed mids but not muddy. B7 on other hand is a bassy mess. I tried all sort of mods but even with cup fully closed and velour earpads it can't reach the sound quality of n550. With less airflow the bass decreased and clarity improved but not to the extent I assumed it would.

So if there is a major difference between n550 and b7 drivers...I guess b8 might be too bassy since it has same drivers as B7. Confusing?

Point is that when talking about this line of beryllium driver woodies it is very important to know which version were talking about. Msur, bosshifi, sivga, kinden etc? being so subjective hobby manufacturers releasing identical looking headphones with different drivers doesn't make it easier.

Without something to compare your opinion is just a fart in the wind. What headphones that you have experience with perform better than bosshifi?

My reference headphones are the Sennheiser HD800S but above all is real music! Go to a concert hall and compare!

 

[Roderick]

My reference headphones are the Sennheiser HD800S

I was hoping you could compare b8 to something more in it's price range. Hd800 earpads alone cost more than b8 so it should not be a surprise that sennheisers are superior.