Hifiman He-4 balanced??

[hks777]

hello
 
have any of you tried Hifiman He-4 balanced ?
 
what do you think of the sound ?
 
is it worth the exstra money? (in cables and dac/amp).
 
 
(sorry about my english)

 

[eltocliousus]

Balancing is almost never worth the money, especially on a mid-fi headphone such as the HE-4, balancing is something done by those who already have high end equipment and want to get every ounce of quality from them.
But for normal headphone enthusiasts, not worth it.

 

[hks777]

Quote:

Balancing is almost never worth the money, especially on a mid-fi headphone such as the HE-4, balancing is something done by those who already have high end equipment and want to get every ounce of quality from them.
But for normal headphone enthusiasts, not worth it.

ok thank you

 

[jerg]

Quote:

Balancing is almost never worth the money, especially on a mid-fi headphone such as the HE-4, balancing is something done by those who already have high end equipment and want to get every ounce of quality from them.
But for normal headphone enthusiasts, not worth it.

Wje tried balancing with HE-400's (successor of HE-4 as mid-fi planar magnetics) here and appear to notice a huge leap in sound quality from that, and also deems it to be worth the cost. Looks like it's only if you have the equipment ready for it though, never mind.

 

[hks777]

Quote:

Wje tried balancing with HE-400's (successor of HE-4 as mid-fi planar magnetics) here and appear to notice a huge leap in sound quality from that, and also deems it to be worth the cost. Looks like it's only if you have the equipment ready for it though, never mind.

my maverick a1 have speaker taps.
 
could you post a picture of how you have done it?

 

[jerg]

Quote:

my maverick a1 have speaker taps.
 
could you post a picture of how you have done it?

I never said I did it, I said Wje (linked in the post you quoted) did it and posted impressions.

 

[hks777]

anyone else have tried it ?

 

[wje]

 
Quote:

anyone else have tried it ?

 
Where I noticed the biggest difference is that with the amplification I am using - which is a new Yamaha A-S500 integrated amplifier.  The standard headphone jack output is just horrible.  I mean real bad.  The headphone jacks used in modern equipment are usually not very optimal and nothing like the headphone jacks that are utilized in vintage receivers and amplifiers.  The modern-day headphone jacks have their own output sections with their own op-amps and usually have nothing to do with the quality of sound in regards to the amp or receiver you are using.  So, since I had a HifiMAN cable that came with my HE-5LE headphones and featured a 4-pin XLR connector, I took advantage of the connection to create an additional 10' Canare extension cable.  It is that extension cable that goes in between my headphone cable and the speaker taps.  The speaker taps are essentially 4 wires that run into my 4-pin female XLR cable.  The other ends of the 4 wires connect to L+, L-, R+ and R-.  These wires are color coded and labeled and match up correctly to the 4-pin XLR pins.
 
Since the HE-400 is an easier to drive headphone, the recommendation from HifiMAN is that one doesn't use the speaker outputs of a receiver or amp to drive them.  However, I'm of the belief that if one is careful enough, then things will be OK.  Also, there is the option for installing 10 watt, 100 Ohm resistors on the positive leads of the speaker taps.  This is essentially a step to prevent damage from occurring to the amplifier.  It also provides a bit of insurance to the headphones, too.  If anyone is driving a pair of $200+ headphones off of the headphone output jack of modern-day receivers or amplifiers, they are not getting the best sound possible.  In fact, they are getting nowhere near even good sound.  Now, I'm not sure how much of a benefit the 4-pin XLR (balanced) connectors are providing for me for my amp vs. something like the Schiit Lyr.  Higher-end headphone amps have a much better output to the TRS connector allowing one to make for a nice listening experience.
 
I've read of issues when one takes the two negative wires from the speaker taps and combines them into one ground connection to use a TRS output connector instead of the 4-pin XLR balanced connector.  If the amplifier wasn't designed for that type of grounding, one will be in trouble when they fry their amp.