[scizzro]

I don't do trance, house, or hip-hop but if you can give me some suggestions I'd be more than happy to listen to some stuff with both and tell you what I think.

Adult language (and gory video), but I think the HE400 does this song perfectly. Anything along these lines... dubstep, drum&bass... hard to beat the HE400 for the price.
 
 
 
Trance... it's a toss-up. A lot of trance has female vocals, which the nice midrange of the X2 will probably be more enjoyable. But without vocals, my guess is the HE400 would be the preferred listen. I could be wrong.
 

 

[teofilrocks]

I don't do trance, house, or hip-hop but if you can give me some suggestions I'd be more than happy to listen to some stuff with both and tell you what I think.

If you could listen to The Last Resort album by Trentmøller, tracks 3&4 in particular, for bass comparisons, and the first few tracks of the Vapor album by Yosi Horikawa for bass and soundstage, that would be very helpful. Both are on Spotify.

 

[ArmAndHammer]

Trentmøller The Last Resort tracks 3 (Evil Dub) & 4 (Always something better)......X2 > HE-400 in the bass department. Easily. The X2 you can feel the bass. Lots of impact and goes down low but doesn't get sloppy.
 
Yosi Horikawa Vapor tracks 1(Intro), 2 (Bump, and 3 (Maki).....X2 > HE-400 for sure. I also listened to Pink Floyd Speak to me, Time, On the run, and Money just for added bonus. Still, the X2 was the clear winner in soundstage.

 

[teofilrocks]

  Trentmøller The Last Resort tracks 3 (Evil Dub) & 4 (Always something better)......X2 > HE-400 in the bass department. Easily. The X2 you can feel the bass. Lots of impact and goes down low but doesn't get sloppy.
 
Yosi Horikawa Vapor tracks 1(Intro), 2 (Bump, and 3 (Maki).....X2 > HE-400 for sure. I also listened to Pink Floyd Speak to me, Time, On the run, and Money just for added bonus. Still, the X2 was the clear winner in soundstage.

Very interesting. Thank you very much for making those comparisons~~ Hmm, I just ordered the TH600 for $480 on sale yesterday, looking for a replacement for my HE-400 I'm selling. Looking for more bass and mids, less treble, and less physical weight. If I can't mesh with the TH600 sound or comfort, I definitely look into the X2 (I'm always a sucker for velours). My guess is that the Fostex will have better sub-bass than the X2, but that's only one part of the graph and a smaller part of the whole puzzle.

 

[ArmAndHammer]

Yeah...I was expecting the opposite honestly. I listened to the HE-400's first and I was like...ok...this is good. Threw on the X2's and it was like WOW....this is impressive. The HE-400 feels so open (because they are) so I expected awesome soundstage. When you put the X2's on they give you a very closed can feel IMO. Maybe because they are not nearly as open as the HE-400 but also because the cups are smaller and when your ears are inside the earpads they are kinda snuggled in there and the sound leakage coming in is much much less....but when things start playing, there's no mistake they are open. If you are looking for more bass, the X2's will have you covered for sure. 
 
I'd love to see your thoughts on the HE-400 vs. TH600. I think that they might be out of my price range even if they are much better. I'd definitely have to loose the 400 and X2 before I could even think about picking up a nearly $500 headphone.

 

[ArmAndHammer]

  Trance... it's a toss-up. A lot of trance has female vocals, which the nice midrange of the X2 will probably be more enjoyable. But without vocals, my guess is the HE400 would be the preferred listen. I could be wrong.
 
 

 
Listening to this right now....not sure if it's good examples of the genre but I'm enjoying it. The X2's are doing great. Haven't tried the HE-400's yet. However I did compare them with the two tracks you linked and the HE-400 > X2 with the first one. Second one was a tossup.
 

 

[teofilrocks]

  Yeah...I was expecting the opposite honestly. I listened to the HE-400's first and I was like...ok...this is good. Threw on the X2's and it was like WOW....this is impressive. The HE-400 feels so open (because they are) so I expected awesome soundstage. When you put the X2's on they give you a very closed can feel IMO. Maybe because they are not nearly as open as the HE-400 but also because the cups are smaller and when your ears are inside the earpads they are kinda snuggled in there and the sound leakage coming in is much much less....but when things start playing, there's no mistake they are open. If you are looking for more bass, the X2's will have you covered for sure. 
 
I'd love to see your thoughts on the HE-400 vs. TH600. I think that they might be out of my price range even if they are much better. I'd definitely have to loose the 400 and X2 before I could even think about picking up a nearly $500 headphone.

The money I spent on the TH600 was supposed to be for a dac/amp to replace the Modi/Magni stack I just sold, lol. But I always get suckered in with headphones. So I'll have to figure something out  before I can do an HE-400 / TH600 comparison for you. Unless you want me to give you impressions unamped 

 
From the InnerFidelity graphs, the X2 has a sharper bass hump, peaking around 60Hz but dropping off quicker from 50Hz down. The TH600 is more gradual, but extends from 10Hz to 400Hz. So I would expect the bass, especially sub-bass to be more prominent. In fact I'd be really surprised if they were close. And even though the the HE-400 bass is nice and flat, I think the treble peaks will keep form being able to turn the volume up loud enough the get similar sub-bass. Again, just guesses until I can actually try it.

 

[Ryman86]

ArmAndHammer, would you mind comparing a few tracks for me using the HE-400s and X2s?  These tracks are available on Spotify
 
A Tribe Called Quest--Jazz (We've Got)
Bobina ft. Ana Criado--For Who I Am (Extended Mix)
Tiesto--Adagio for Strings
 
That should be a decent sampling of the type of music I listen to.

 

[endallchaos]

I sincerely can't hear that harsh treble that everyone talks about, in the HE400... Maybe I'm not listening to the right songs? lol
 
Also, the mid's don't feel that recessed to me... Could it be because the best headphones that I've heard are only the HE-400 and HD598's? 

 

[KewlMunky]

  I sincerely can't hear that harsh treble that everyone talks about, in the HE400... Maybe I'm not listening to the right songs? lol
 
Also, the mid's don't feel that recessed to me... Could it be because the best headphones that I've heard are only the HE-400 and HD598's? 

You can only compare a headphone to others that you have heard. If you haven't heard a headphone with more forward mids than the 400, you wouldn't have an idea of what fuller mids sound like. I have heard both the 400 and 500, so I can attest that the 400 has recessed mids comparatively to the 500. However, there may be a headphone out there that has the mids more recessed to the 400, so one might think coming from such a headphone that the 400 has more forward mids.

It's basically the idea of ignorance is bliss. If you keep eating baloney sandwiches, you'll be perfectly content with them. But if you explore further up and have a steak sandwich, well then you may no longer be content with a baloney sandwich.

 

[teofilrocks]

You can only compare a headphone to others that you have heard. If you haven't heard a headphone with more forward mids than the 400, you wouldn't have an idea of what fuller mids sound like. I have heard both the 400 and 500, so I can attest that the 400 has recessed mids comparatively to the 500. However, there may be a headphone out there that has the mids more recessed to the 400, so one might think coming from such a headphone that the 400 has more forward mids.

It's basically the idea of ignorance is bliss. If you keep eating baloney sandwiches, you'll be perfectly content with them. But if you explore further up and have a steak sandwich, well then you may no longer be content with a baloney sandwich.

I came to the HE-400 from the DT990 Pro. So I didn't find anything wrong with the mids and the treble didn't seem that bothersome. Then I tried the HD558 and heard a more balanced sound. Now with the HD650, it makes parts of the HE-400 really stand out (or seem lacking). Vocals just don't seem right on anything else but the HD650.

I have to disagree about the bologna though. If you keep eating bologna sandwiches, it just makes you sick of bologna sandwiches. This I know first hand.

 

[endallchaos]

 
You can only compare a headphone to others that you have heard. If you haven't heard a headphone with more forward mids than the 400, you wouldn't have an idea of what fuller mids sound like. I have heard both the 400 and 500, so I can attest that the 400 has recessed mids comparatively to the 500. However, there may be a headphone out there that has the mids more recessed to the 400, so one might think coming from such a headphone that the 400 has more forward mids.

It's basically the idea of ignorance is bliss. If you keep eating baloney sandwiches, you'll be perfectly content with them. But if you explore further up and have a steak sandwich, well then you may no longer be content with a baloney sandwich.

Doesn't the HD598 have more forward mids, though? I mean, I feel like they do have better mids, but the HE-400 are very close to them... It could also be that I don't know anything about headphones, after all. My life has been a lie! lol 

 

[TMRaven]

Their lower mids are less forward compared to 400, upper mids more forward.  

 

[ArmAndHammer]

I'm not discerning enough to tell lower mids and upper mids...to me it's just mids. Coming from Grados I can definitely tell that the mids of the HE-400 are recessed but the highs are a bit forward. They do get a little bright at times but majority of the time they are good. I just wish they had mids that where more in line with them. The lack of mids to me leaves a pretty big hole in the listening experience. But so does recessed highs like the X2 has. So it comes down to which I can live with and enjoy with the most music, lack of highs or lack of mids. It's a tough call. Of course I could get rid of both and start all over and try something totally different. Who knows what I'll do. I still have sometime with the HE-400's before I need to decide or it's too late to send them back. But I'm sure I wouldn't have too much trouble selling them here for very close to what I paid either. 

 

[ArmAndHammer]

  ArmAndHammer, would you mind comparing a few tracks for me using the HE-400s and X2s?  These tracks are available on Spotify
 
A Tribe Called Quest--Jazz (We've Got)
Bobina ft. Ana Criado--For Who I Am (Extended Mix)
Tiesto--Adagio for Strings
 
That should be a decent sampling of the type of music I listen to.

Sure will.