[thug behram]

My primary music is hip-hop and my primary headphone is the DT770 pro LE. i'm debating whether i should add this. I'm just worried that the bass won't be strong enough and that having an open can won't give me as much as an advantage as it would to classical listeners, etc. The Beyer already has a big soundstage and kind of airy sound.

edit: also I wear glasses and many fullsize headphones are uncomfortable.

 

[TMRaven]

You definitely won't get the same type of bass response.  It will be very extended bass, but not so murky sounding, and not as emphasized.

 

[nicholars]

  My primary music is hip-hop and my primary headphone is the DT770 pro LE. i'm debating whether i should add this. I'm just worried that the bass won't be strong enough and that having an open can won't give me as much as an advantage as it would to classical listeners, etc. The Beyer already has a big soundstage and kind of airy sound.

edit: also I wear glasses and many fullsize headphones are uncomfortable.

 
You can get some pretty big bass out of them with EQ, stock EQ they are not very bassy but they can do it.

 

[nicholars]

Difference between closed dynamics and ortho bass is that there is a lot less decay and a bit less impact (although still more impact than open dynamics), this means the bass is technically better on ortho but may or may not be to your liking. When I first got them I found that they did not have enough impact and actually were almost too fast / not enough decay, I still think they could do with a bit more decay / impact but overall they are probably the best bass I have heard (with EQ). Denon D2000, Momentum also have very nice bass which has more decay due to the dynamic drivers, But the HE400 are NOT lacking in bass quantity at all by any standards, I like big bass and with EQ they certainly can do that, although a tiny bit more decay and impact would be nice. Compared to the Beyers the beyers sound like a flabby fart cannon.
 
I have not listened to these headphones hardly at all for about 2 months, last few days I have been using them a lot and I am really enjoying them again, they are extremely good for electronic music and decent for everything else, for electronic only there is not a better headphone under £300, for other genres you can get slightly better although the HE400 are far from bad.... I must emphasise as I have multiple times in this thread, you need to EQ them and mod the pads!!! You want 1 EQ for electronic which is not difficult to get right, but for vocals and instruments you want to get the old Sinegen out and properly sort everything out from about 700hz upwards, it is possible to get the vocals sounding good with some effort.

 

[Nimzerz]

  Difference between closed dynamics and ortho bass is that there is a lot less decay and a bit less impact (although still more impact than open dynamics), this means the bass is technically better on ortho but may or may not be to your liking. When I first got them I found that they did not have enough impact and actually were almost too fast / not enough decay, I still think they could do with a bit more decay / impact but overall they are probably the best bass I have heard (with EQ). Denon D2000, Momentum also have very nice bass which has more decay due to the dynamic drivers, But the HE400 are NOT lacking in bass quantity at all by any standards, I like big bass and with EQ they certainly can do that, although a tiny bit more decay and impact would be nice. Compared to the Beyers the beyers sound like a flabby fart cannon.
 
Its funny because I have not listened to these headphones hardly at all for about 2 months, last few days I have been using them a lot and I am really enjoying them again, they are extremely good for electronic music and decent for everything else, for electronic only there is not a better headphone under £300, for other genres you can get slightly better although the HE400 are far from bad.... I must emphasise as I have multiple times in this thread, you need to EQ them and mod the pads!!! You want 1 EQ for electronic which is not difficult to get right, but for vocals and instruments you want to get the old Sinegen out and properly sort everything out from about 700hz upwards, it is possible to get the vocals sounding good with some effort.

NOOOOOOOO at least with the HE500 I wish it had a slight less amount of decay

 

[MrMateoHead]

   
I am not really dissatisfied with them, they are good headphones, just the treble annoys me on them and I would like to try some other headphones. But with EQ and filters it is not so bad. At around £200 I am not sure there is much better than HE400 with EQ but I would like to the the new NAD headphones.

Go to Innerfidelity and read about the focal / NAD phones, they are all very similar.
 
I have no desire to get rid of the HE-400s myself, its just I don't want 6 pairs of headphones lying around when I decide I want to try something new. But the price cut and new model announcements have basically taken re-sale value to well under $300 (UNLESS the 400i end up basically being a sucky phone and it makes people want to go back to the 400s). Its a lot easier to buy audio equipment than to get rid of it.

 
Same with speakers, I want to go all in on Pioneer right now, but I have 3 JBL's and $150 would get me 2 more to complete the set I started building years ago. I've tried selling the speakers before, usually get no bites at all. I don't need 2 5.1 setups, but I WANT THEM lol  . . . .
 
One thing is certain, however, the planar "sound" belongs to planars! I'll probably never get rid of my HE-400s because whenever I put them back on, they just sound "liquid" compared to my dynamic speakers (warm, punchy, a tad loose). Hard to find that realism and energy anywhere else.

 

[nicholars]

  NOOOOOOOO at least with the HE500 I wish it had a slight less amount of decay

 
Reverb then... some subwoofers or closed headphones I think the reverb can sound good. Technically it is distortion, but if done well then it can sound good, for example Denon D2000.

 

[nicholars]

  Go to Innerfidelity and read about the focal / NAD phones, they are all very similar.
 
I have no desire to get rid of the HE-400s myself, its just I don't want 6 pairs of headphones lying around when I decide I want to try something new. But the price cut and new model announcements have basically taken re-sale value to well under $300 (UNLESS the 400i end up basically being a sucky phone and it makes people want to go back to the 400s). Its a lot easier to buy audio equipment than to get rid of it.

 
Same with speakers, I want to go all in on Pioneer right now, but I have 3 JBL's and $150 would get me 2 more to complete the set I started building years ago. I've tried selling the speakers before, usually get no bites at all. I don't need 2 5.1 setups, but I WANT THEM lol  . . . .
 
One thing is certain, however, the planar "sound" belongs to planars! I'll probably never get rid of my HE-400s because whenever I put them back on, they just sound "liquid" compared to my dynamic speakers (warm, punchy, a tad loose). Hard to find that realism and energy anywhere else.

 
I do like the HE400 in almost every way, except the treble. If they had better treble they would be perfect, but with my recent tweakidge with the EQ and filters the treble sounds alright now. Did anyone try the filters on ElectriQ they do seem to make the treble sound more natural, I am sure I am not imagining it!

 

[TMRaven]

I used to like the D2000's low bass distortion but not after I switched over to HE-400.  It's a very sloppy bass presentation.

 

[Nimzerz]

   
Reverb then... some subwoofers or closed headphones I think the reverb can sound good. Technically it is distortion, but if done well then it can sound good, for example Denon D2000.

Well the thing is, if music has good DR and the passages aren't too complicated, the decay of the HE500 makes it sound godly. But it also can be bad for some poor recorded material and very complicated passages as IMO it tends to make things feel too closed in, and keeps it from feeling nice and open.

 

[MrMateoHead]

   
I do like the HE400 in almost every way, except the treble. If they had better treble they would be perfect, but with my recent tweakidge with the EQ and filters the treble sounds alright now. Did anyone try the filters on ElectriQ they do seem to make the treble sound more natural, I am sure I am not imagining it!

Which pads are you using right now, with that EQ BTW?
 
I figured out how to justify new phones also. I've never had a good pair of closed headphones before . . .

 

[nicholars]

 
Which pads are you using right now, with that EQ BTW?
 
I figured out how to justify new phones also. I've never had a good pair of closed headphones before . . .

 
I am using my DIY modded jergpads, but one pad has a split in it, although for some reason this does not make that much difference to the SQ. Need to get some new pads for them really and a new cable but I do not want to spend any more money on them so I will have to live with a split pad and adjusting the cable until I can afford something else, it seems nobody wants to buy my HE400 at a price I am happy with, anything under £199 delivered is not worth it for me. Are there new hifiman pads out now for the H400i? Might try some of those..

 

[TMRaven]

Have you tried 70% of the retail value shipped?  That's the rule of thumb I go by for well-used products and it's worked out good.  Things get sold within a couple of hours.

 

[MrMateoHead]

   
I am using my DIY modded jergpads, but one pad has a split in it, although for some reason this does not make that much difference to the SQ. Need to get some new pads for them really and a new cable but I do not want to spend any more money on them so I will have to live with a split pad and adjusting the cable until I can afford something else, it seems nobody wants to buy my HE400 at a price I am happy with, anything under £199 delivered is not worth it for me. Are there new hifiman pads out now for the H400i? Might try some of those..

You really should try switching to the velours after fussing with the pleathers so long. For $10, EQ or not, they are the most balanced, the least "ringy", and the treble is less "peaky". You lose that touch of "warmth" that the pleathers seem to give, but its worth it, IMO. I'm done with the pleathers modded or not - they are just sub-optimal.
 
199 pounds is what, $260 USD? That's pushing it considering brand new is now $300. I'd think it'd be lucky to see $200. I'm not sinking any more into mine either (though I would go for a new cable). But if I could sell them + my Senns for about $200-$300 I suppose that would be good enough despite the heavy losses I'd be taking. It isn't clear I could stick with Hifiman at this point - they've sketched me out with the short warranty and somewhat obvious shortcomings (cables coming apart, and lousy SMC connectors that are an unnecessary PITA). Unclear if any of that is going away with the new generation.

 

[MattTCG]

  I used to like the D2000's low bass distortion but not after I switched over to HE-400.  It's a very sloppy bass presentation.

 
I got a chance to pick up the d7k for a nice price several months ago. It was a big letdown for me especially with regard to the bass presentation after spending so much time with planar magnetics.