[thendawg]

So when taking the grills off my HE-400S I noticed a couple weird what looks like wrinkles in the diaphragm. Im not sure if this is normal or could possibly be causing an issue. Overall the headphones sound amazing - Ive had them about 6 months now and have never really had an issue with them. With the focus pads, they really do have the sound signature I love, Im just concerned this could cause an issue in the future or possibly is causing an issue now that just isnt very noticeable. Occasionally I do notice some slight distortion on certain lower frequencies and Ive wondered, could this be causing that? I really think its likely just the quality of the track Im listening to but I just want to see if anyone else has seen anything like this. Ive added a red circle to the pic to point out what Im talking about. Any feedback appreciated
 
http://i.imgur.com/TBhfLlz.jpg
 
Thanks!

 

[thendawg]

So I decided to take a look at the other side with the earpad removed - this looks much worse than I originally though. Currently in contact with Hifiman support - well see what they say. Check out this pic -
 
http://i.imgur.com/k7EiDTt.jpg

 

[serman005]

  So when taking the grills off my HE-400S I noticed a couple weird what looks like wrinkles in the diaphragm. Im not sure if this is normal or could possibly be causing an issue. Overall the headphones sound amazing - Ive had them about 6 months now and have never really had an issue with them. With the focus pads, they really do have the sound signature I love, Im just concerned this could cause an issue in the future or possibly is causing an issue now that just isnt very noticeable. Occasionally I do notice some slight distortion on certain lower frequencies and Ive wondered, could this be causing that? I really think its likely just the quality of the track Im listening to but I just want to see if anyone else has seen anything like this. Ive added a red circle to the pic to point out what Im talking about. Any feedback appreciated
 
http://i.imgur.com/TBhfLlz.jpg
 
Thanks!

I examined my 400S. I didn't see anything like what is in your photo. It looks to me like a very small part of the diaphragm became non-adherent to its base. I'm not sure if those are glued in place or just how they are held in position.If I were you, I would email that photo to HiFiMAN and see what they recommend. They may say it's harmless and nothing other than what I've just described. Or they may say it needs to be repaired. Whatever happened, I am glad that you cannot hear any sound quality degradation. Let us know what they say, please.  ---)
 
customerservice@hifiman.com

 

[thendawg]

Thanks for the response - the adhesion coming apart def makes the most sense.(If that's in fact how the diaphragms are built) The first pic I sent to Hifiman yesterday and they claimed they couldnt spot anything wrong :/ (Ill admit the pic wasnt the greatest) but if they dont notice it in this one - they need a vision check haha. Ill definitely update the thread with any resolution I get from them.

 

[buke9]

Thanks for the response - the adhesion coming apart def makes the most sense.(If that's in fact how the diaphragms are built) The first pic I sent to Hifiman yesterday and they claimed they couldnt spot anything wrong :/ (Ill admit the pic wasnt the greatest) but if they dont notice it in this one - they need a vision check haha. Ill definitely update the thread with any resolution I get from them.

Just got home from work and popped the backs off and I see the same thing as yours. I have had mine for well over a year and don't find that it effects the sound at all. It appears on the outside edges of mine . Mr Speakers actually v shape crimps their drivers so I don't think it is a problem at all. They are not coming unglued or anything like that. That part is what moves so if it was glued down not very good for making sound. Fagetta bout it. They are fine.

 

[thendawg]

Just wanted to jump in and post an update. I meant to post this last night but fell asleep a bit early. After conferring with HifiMan - they advised although not completely normal, they have seen this deformity of the diaphragm on some of the HE-400 series and it should not cause an issue. They were more than helpful though offering to RMA them if I felt it was in fact impacting performance. After reading the last poster's comment that his looked the same I decided to test the tracks where I thought I was noticing some small distortion using my Aune T1/Magni 2U "Stack" and switching between my ATH-M50X and the HE-400S - sure enough I heard the same thing on both cans (it also reminded me how many million percent better the HE-400S is vs the M50's lol). Finally I wanted to make sure it wasnt the T1's tube DAC introducing distortion so I checked the same 4 tracks I used as examples playing to the M50's directly from my iPhone - guess what - same thing. End result - its all in the tracks and my HE-400S seem to be perfectly fine Thanks for everyone's input. Hopefully this will help anyone else who sees this

 

[serman005]

  Just wanted to jump in and post an update. I meant to post this last night but fell asleep a bit early. After conferring with HifiMan - they advised although not completely normal, they have seen this deformity of the diaphragm on some of the HE-400 series and it should not cause an issue. They were more than helpful though offering to RMA them if I felt it was in fact impacting performance. After reading the last poster's comment that his looked the same I decided to test the tracks where I thought I was noticing some small distortion using my Aune T1/Magni 2U "Stack" and switching between my ATH-M50X and the HE-400S - sure enough I heard the same thing on both cans (it also reminded me how many million percent better the HE-400S is vs the M50's lol). Finally I wanted to make sure it wasnt the T1's tube DAC introducing distortion so I checked the same 4 tracks I used as examples playing to the M50's directly from my iPhone - guess what - same thing. End result - its all in the tracks and my HE-400S seem to be perfectly fine Thanks for everyone's input. Hopefully this will help anyone else who sees this

Thanks for the update. Glad everything worked out well for you.  ---)

 

[Restatic]

I did have the same issue with wrinkles in the diaphragm. Now the channels are a lot out of balance. Also the frequency response is not acurate anymore. (Cheap Sennheisers sound much better). So for my 400s of two years old I need new drivers. (I did buy them in april 2016.)

So I think this is also what you can expect on yours.

I'm in contact with Hifiman about my situation and I'm curious about what they will offer me. (Warrenty period is over... ofcourse...)

 

[thendawg]

Just noticed your post, crossing my fingers, but so far I havent noticed any change in audio output (distortion or channel imbalance) I mean I guess I have no way of really knowing if they are sounding "correct" as I dont have another pair to compare to, however, I do have ATH-M50's and HD600's, and I still prefer my 400S with focus A pads all around. My only issue is one of the focus A pads started coming apart at the edge, resolved with superglue, but the pleather around the cup edges is getting pretty worn, so I dont know how long these pads will make it. Not sure what normal pad life is but I bought these at the same time as the HE-400S in mid '16. I do use them for at least an hour or so a day though.

Let me know how things go with HifiMan, not sure if I mentioned it in the first post, but I did bring this up with them and sent pics, they said it was "fine"