[Soundsgoodtome]

   
Hey, hemi -- did you do your HE-4 grill removal/replacement and felt removal changes separately to notice the different effects with the Mini-X?
 
 
And with the felt removal, I also don't get how one would easily add it back in - in addition to having to 'peel' it off (some type of adhesive?), it also seems to tuck in out of sight at the outer edge, so I don't see how one would get it back underneath there...

To remove the felt star you'll need to take split the driver from the cup. The screws that hold the driver on the cup are underneath the earpads. You can not remove the felt start without doing this unless you apply excessive force that will eventually tear the felt.

 

[hemipowered007]

^^^ what that guy said.
And I had listened to the emotiva prior to doing the mods. I like/dislike the emotiva. Either I need a to swap dacs, or get a project ember. I completly have faith in thujone due to his thoughts on the 4 v 400 are the same as my own findings, and with the emotiva as well. Since the emotiva barely set me back anything, due to amazon gift card, I'm going to keep it until after I upgrade my dac. But, I just bought the wife a new camera, so it'll be a few weeks/months before that. All in all, removing the felt and grill just opened the sound up a little, evened it out, less treble attack. Which is good and bad to me. I like the more balanced sound and its a keeper to me, keep in mind, its subtle changes. Not going to night and day change the hp. But honestly this is my favorite hp, it'll never leave me, it may gain companions, but this thing is special. I'm also willing to bet the new hfm he560 sounds a lot like the 4,for A LOT more money and you get a hideous headnband rig.

 

[Thujone]

^^^ what that guy said.
And I had listened to the emotiva prior to doing the mods. I like/dislike the emotiva. Either I need a to swap dacs, or get a project ember. I completly have faith in thujone due to his thoughts on the 4 v 400 are the same as my own findings, and with the emotiva as well. Since the emotiva barely set me back anything, due to amazon gift card, I'm going to keep it until after I upgrade my dac. But, I just bought the wife a new camera, so it'll be a few weeks/months before that. All in all, removing the felt and grill just opened the sound up a little, evened it out, less treble attack. Which is good and bad to me. I like the more balanced sound and its a keeper to me, keep in mind, its subtle changes. Not going to night and day change the hp. But honestly this is my favorite hp, it'll never leave me, it may gain companions, but this thing is special. I'm also willing to bet the new hfm he560 sounds a lot like the 4,for A LOT more money and you get a hideous headnband rig.

 
One thing is for sure, I'm definitely enjoying the hell out of my headphone rig. It is funny though, aside from the Bifrost I'm working with equipment that is way under the radar. The HE-4 is only somewhat known now and Project Ember is not even a year old and from a company that does no advertising. In my opinion, they don't need to.
 
I completely agree with you on the new HFM cans. It's insane how many people make comments on the HE-400i like "if HiFiMan can make a headphone like the HE-400 but improve on the treble, reduce the mid recession, and also make the headphone lighter and more airy, I'll be happy." Uh... they already make that headphone. It's called the HE-4.

 

[jerg]

   
One thing is for sure, I'm definitely enjoying the hell out of my headphone rig. It is funny though, aside from the Bifrost I'm working with equipment that is way under the radar. The HE-4 is only somewhat known now and Project Ember is not even a year old and from a company that does no advertising. In my opinion, they don't need to.
 
I completely agree with you on the new HFM cans. It's insane how many people make comments on the HE-400i like "if HiFiMan can make a headphone like the HE-400 but improve on the treble, reduce the mid recession, and also make the headphone lighter and more airy, I'll be happy." Uh... they already make that headphone. It's called the HE-4.

I think the biggest innovation with the upcoming line though is that they are able to get em single-ended yet have such high sensitivity still (at or better than HE400/500's sensitivities). It seems that they are actively trying to defeat the stigma around large-driver planars being either heavy with more magnets or inefficient with less magnets.

 

[Soundsgoodtome]

  I think the biggest innovation with the upcoming line though is that they are able to get em single-ended yet have such high sensitivity still (at or better than HE400/500's sensitivities). It seems that they are actively trying to defeat the stigma around large-driver planars being either heavy with more magnets or inefficient with less magnets.

It will definitely be innovative should they pull it off with good results. 350-400grams with needing about 800-1500mw of power would be excellent progress for Orthos.
 

  I completely agree with you on the new HFM cans. It's insane how many people make comments on the HE-400i like "if HiFiMan can make a headphone like the HE-400 but improve on the treble, reduce the mid recession, and also make the headphone lighter and more airy, I'll be happy." Uh... they already make that headphone. It's called the HE-4.

I must've said this 4x on that CES thread Lol. As for tube amps, I got a good deal on a Tubemagic A1 coming in which I'll test the speaker outputs with the HE4. Should be interesting as it uses mostly solid state with a tube pre-amp (on the speaker tap side). With the given numbers it should be pumping about 4W into 37ohms. If it doesn't work out, I'll probably keep it to run bookshelf speakers.

I'm holding out on the Ember until I see impressions on the HE560 or try one in a meet. For $275 I'm still tempted to build an Ember however.

 

[hemipowered007]

I would rather buy a new amp ans dac for the 4 than buy into the initial hype train the 400i and 560 will have. No way there's going to be actual honest reviews at first. Only ones ill truly trust will come from the holy trinity.

 

[Thujone]

  I think the biggest innovation with the upcoming line though is that they are able to get em single-ended yet have such high sensitivity still (at or better than HE400/500's sensitivities). It seems that they are actively trying to defeat the stigma around large-driver planars being either heavy with more magnets or inefficient with less magnets.

Agreed. My guess is that the distortion off planar drivers is already so low that they aren't too concerned with probable extra distortion they will receive from going single ended. In this sense, the benefits from weight and cost outweigh the risks from distortion. Though, the Abyss performs very well with low distortion. I'm just tickled that HFM has put quite a bit of R&D into the ideas/comments made by all their customers, from the "jorg" pads to the weight and efficiency issues.
 

  I must've said this 4x on that CES thread Lol. As for tube amps, I got a good deal on a Tubemagic A1 coming in which I'll test the speaker outputs with the HE4. Should be interesting as it uses mostly solid state with a tube pre-amp (on the speaker tap side). With the given numbers it should be pumping about 4W into 37ohms. If it doesn't work out, I'll probably keep it to run bookshelf speakers.

I'm holding out on the Ember until I see impressions on the HE560 or try one in a meet. For $275 I'm still tempted to build an Ember however.

Do you have to go balanced or does the A1 have a common ground? Either way, the A1 is a nice thing to have around for sure.

 

[Thujone]

I would rather buy a new amp ans dac for the 4 than buy into the initial hype train the 400i and 560 will have. No way there's going to be actual honest reviews at first. Only ones ill truly trust will come from the holy trinity.

But, but, but, they are supposed to be more "transparent" than all the other HFM cans!

 

[Soundsgoodtome]

Agreed. My guess is that the distortion off planar drivers is already so low that they aren't too concerned with probable extra distortion they will receive from going single ended. In this sense, the benefits from weight and cost outweigh the risks from distortion. Though, the Abyss performs very well with low distortion. I'm just tickled that HFM has put quite a bit of R&D into the ideas/comments made by all their customers, from the "jorg" pads to the weight and efficiency issues.

Do you have to go balanced or does the A1 have a common ground? Either way, the A1 is a nice thing to have around for sure.

I'm just going to salvage one of my cables and cut the xlr off. I'll run the bare cables directly into the speaker taps. I was going to make a female 4 pin xlr connect but got lazy.

 

[Rinx7]

  But, but, but, they are supposed to be more "transparent" than all the other HFM cans!

Well the HE-4s are total detail monsters, and people at shows tend to over-exaggerate I'm sure they are transparent, but they still aren't electrostats. Remember what happened with the Alpha Dog when everyone said it was like listening to an open headphones. I think that might be happening again. 

 

[hemipowered007]

Single ended hfm that never needed improvement has been right in front of everyone for a long time. Everytime the 4 gets mentioned in that thread, people dismiss it. "But its less efficient" "But it doesn't have this giant extremely cheap looking plastic headband". I'm hoping all these people buy the new series only to go back to the 4 500 and 6 in the end.

 

[Soundsgoodtome]

What if... HE400i = HE4 with a different magnet. LoL

 

[priler]

  are you sure there's absolutely no audible distortion or compression,...or are you simply incorporating what you hear as what you perceive as the correct or sound it's supposed to have?
 
  there is a mid bass hump,..no? that seams uncharacteristic to the other HFMs with their linear mid through bass lows.
 
  it has a more V shaped SS,..no?,..instead of the lower "shelf" that the others(except the HE-6) have from upper mids through highs in relation the bass,...no?
 
 
  do you notice any attenuation or gain on any particular notes on an instrument or parts of whatever you listen to?
 
  what about other aspects of the sound qualities?
 
 
 
  just here to learn.

 

[Thujone]

To my ears, the HE-4's are flat, certainly not v-shaped. I may be used to the HFM upper mid recession though.

Hope to see some measurements on them soon. I'll likely send mine in to get measured in the near future.

 

[Rinx7]

To my ears, the HE-4's are flat, certainly not v-shaped. I may be used to the HFM upper mid recession though.

Hope to see some measurements on them soon. I'll likely send mine in to get measured in the near future.

I want measurements so bad. I hear definite mid recession with these though, it is only slight, but it is definitely there. However they are very transparent headphones so the main problem that mid-recession poses, vocal veil, isn't really there. The V-Shape isn't really a tradition V either. it is more of a wider V with the focus on air treble and sub-bass rather than 7000-8000Hz treble and mid-bass. Let's see if I'm right when we get measures.
 
I really think that HiFiMAN NAILED V-Shaped tuning with these though, and from what I have heard the HE-400i is more mid-focused (a lot of people called it lush), while the HE-560 is closer to dead neutral.