[nmatheis]

I know the place. Did they measure with the sorbothane mod?

 

[money4me247]

I know the place. Did they measure with the sorbothane mod?

I don't believe so unfortunately.

 

[MrMateoHead]

  Just a joke. Many people mod their headphones and all of a sudden a $70 pair of headphones suddenly can compete with a $500 pair. I would like to see actual measurements rather than going by someone's speculation.
 
ex.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/595120/the-sennheiser-hd518-it-just-needs-to-gain-some-weight
 
Puts clay around the drivers, suddenly the headphone is much better and closer to a HD 650. Not trying to call anyone out as I've done similar stuff in the past, just would be nice to see some backing to their claims.

Skepticism is healthy. I am typically a skeptic, too. But one needs only to drag a speaker around a house and listen to know, easily, that the "room" is a critical factor in sound reproduction and some rooms are dead, some are "live", etc. My current room is actually pretty great, except the windows are old and cheap and rattle bad when the subwoofer really does its thing. Whatevs.
 
Why are headphones different? The Room is the earcup / human ear. We don't usually live in round / oval-shaped plastic rooms, and if we did, what would that sound like (Hmm, your car is metal, plastic, and glass - sounds like s*** too!)? I think it is common sense to assume that damping is an issue with many headphones, and the materials commonly deployed are problematic for different reasons. For one thing, they are mainly reflective.

Anyway there are only 4 things that I have found that made a difference in the quality of listening with the HE-400 (and I am no fanboy at this point - I bought other headphones recently and last night was just sure they are superior in virtually every way):
 
1) Get an amp (I got an O2, never going back love that little beast)
2) Get Velour Earpads (modded Pleathers ARE better, but not better than the basic velours SQ-wise) - this has in fact been measured before to "show" a difference, though what is shown and what I hear seem like different things (mainly, slightly less midrange/treble congestion, presumably better "balance" top to bottom)
3) Use EQ (parabolic if possible - then again I would EQ ANY speaker in ANY room, since every manufacturer under the sun uses EQ/DSP these days to compensate for SOME speaker/room interaction and shortcomings - beats building a new house). EQ is only as good as the measurements / ear used to do the tweaking, however. But I have lately just set the Harmon curve as my target and had a pretty good result though the headroom needed for the HE-400s is pretty huge (5 dB or more depending on how I do it).
4) Apply Sorbathane to the outer ear cups. (*edit actually I mean the inside of the outer part of the ear cup - you can do it on the outside, apparently, but only if you love looking at it!)
 
Sorbathane is the "wild card" untested by anything but my ears and tablet RTA app. BUT, like the Velour earpads, I heard an obvious and immediate difference. I do not think the change showed up in the Freq response insofar as I could see it (very hard to tell as the range was too great leaving room for large swings in amplitude), but it definitely cut out some glare and resonance that ruins the midrange/treble of these things. It "deadened" the room and focused the sound in a very positive way, IMHO. My guess would be a slight change in freq response but a big change in the waterfall plot. Who knows - maybe it also sucks out mostly inaudible bass and treble extension but all I can say is I wouldn't go back to an un-sorbed HE-400. I would simply look for a better balance between a "dead" phone and the old "live" one. The PSB M4Us are telling me that I can have a little bit more lively sound and not ruin things.

 

[BrettMatthews]

Skepticism is healthy. I am typically a skeptic, too. But one needs only to drag a speaker around a house and listen to know, easily, that the "room" is a critical factor in sound reproduction and some rooms are dead, some are "live", etc. My current room is actually pretty great, except the windows are old and cheap and rattle bad when the subwoofer really does its thing. Whatevs.

Why are headphones different? The Room is the earcup / human ear. We don't usually live in round / oval-shaped plastic rooms, and if we did, what would that sound like (Hmm, your car is metal, plastic, and glass - sounds like s*** too!)? I think it is common sense to assume that damping is an issue with many headphones, and the materials commonly deployed are problematic for different reasons. For one thing, they are mainly reflective.


Anyway there are only 4 things that I have found that made a difference in the quality of listening with the HE-400 (and I am no fanboy at this point - I bought other headphones recently and last night was just sure they are superior in virtually every way):

1) Get an amp (I got an O2, never going back love that little beast)
2) Get Velour Earpads (modded Pleathers ARE better, but not better than the basic velours SQ-wise) - this has in fact been measured before to "show" a difference, though what is shown and what I hear seem like different things (mainly, slightly less midrange/treble congestion, presumably better "balance" top to bottom)
3) Use EQ (parabolic if possible - then again I would EQ ANY speaker in ANY room, since every manufacturer under the sun uses EQ/DSP these days to compensate for SOME speaker/room interaction and shortcomings - beats building a new house). EQ is only as good as the measurements / ear used to do the tweaking, however. But I have lately just set the Harmon curve as my target and had a pretty good result though the headroom needed for the HE-400s is pretty huge (5 dB or more depending on how I do it).
4) Apply Sorbathane to the outer ear cups.

Sorbathane is the "wild card" untested by anything but my ears and tablet RTA app. BUT, like the Velour earpads, I heard an obvious and immediate difference. I do not think the change showed up in the Freq response insofar as I could see it (very hard to tell as the range was too great leaving room for large swings in amplitude), but it definitely cut out some glare and resonance that ruins the midrange/treble of these things. It "deadened" the room and focused the sound in a very positive way, IMHO. My guess would be a slight change in freq response but a big change in the waterfall plot. Who knows - maybe it also sucks out mostly inaudible bass and treble extension but all I can say is I wouldn't go back to an un-sorbed HE-400. I would simply look for a better balance between a "dead" phone and the old "live" one. The PSB M4Us are telling me that I can have a little bit more lively sound and not ruin things.

Have you tried the focus pads with your HE-400's? I found they didn't make too much of a difference in sound (at least to me) but a big one in comfort.

 

[MrMateoHead]

Have you tried the focus pads with your HE-400's? I found they didn't make too much of a difference in sound (at least to me) but a big one in comfort.

For $40, I'm not really going to bother - if they were cheaper I might. But the velours have been comfy enough once I figured out how to "angle" the earcups to conform to my head.

 

[nmatheis]

Angle the ear pads?

 

[jackharm]

Probably stuffing/reinforcing the pads to make them thicker and more rigid.
 
That or he is referring to how the earcups twist.

 

[nmatheis]

  Probably stuffing/reinforcing the pads to make them thicker and more rigid.
 
That or he is referring to how the earcups twist.

 
Yeah, I was wondering if it was how the cups twist, but the HE400S made me realize how much better the fit was with angled pads.

 

[dauhak]

Can anyone tell me the best Pads for he400,
 
I want to feel more lower end frequency(Sub Bass) , and want to smooth the treble, as its kind of harsh in some tracks.  Any pads is ok, as comfort is not an issue for me and please tell me how I can buy them, as I live in Hong Kong. Unfortunately my E12a doesn't allow me to change treble on X3 connected, So I don't have the option to eq.
 
Thanks A lot for the help.

 

[MrMateoHead]

  Probably stuffing/reinforcing the pads to make them thicker and more rigid.
 
That or he is referring to how the earcups twist.

I am referring to twisting the earcups - that achieves almost the same thing as an angled earpad. Make sure you pinch the Hifiman logo and headband tightly as you twist gently - the assembly is glued and you wouldn't want that coming apart on you.

 

[Oregonian]

  Can anyone tell me the best Pads for he400,
 
I want to feel more lower end frequency(Sub Bass) , and want to smooth the treble, as its kind of harsh in some tracks.  Any pads is ok, as comfort is not an issue for me and please tell me how I can buy them, as I live in Hong Kong. Unfortunately my E12a doesn't allow me to change treble on X3 connected, So I don't have the option to eq.
 
Thanks A lot for the help.

 
I've tried almost 8 pad combos and like the Audeze Vegan best, followed by the Audeze Lambskin.  Didn't like the Focus pads (either variant). 

 

[amigomatt]

  Can anyone tell me the best Pads for he400,
 
I want to feel more lower end frequency(Sub Bass) , and want to smooth the treble, as its kind of harsh in some tracks.  Any pads is ok, as comfort is not an issue for me and please tell me how I can buy them, as I live in Hong Kong. Unfortunately my E12a doesn't allow me to change treble on X3 connected, So I don't have the option to eq.
 
Thanks A lot for the help.

My favourite pads are the Jerg-modded pads (info to be found way back in this thread and on its own thread too).  The Jergpads alleviate the treble issues nearly entirely for me. I also have the sub bass mod installed..  They are are their best I've heard them.  I'm going to do the sorbothane mod next and maybe experiment with custom grills when I get time.
 

 

[MarcelE]

Thank god I'm happy with my stock HE-400.
(though I like reading those mod stories).
No comfort issues with the pads and also don't want the sound to change.
I'm afraid different pads will change the bass sound and thats exactly that I don't want.
No issues as well with the treble as my hearing isn't what it was 20 years ago
And right now I'm again A/B'ing low and high gain on my Asgard 2 and when on high, no recessed
mids. I can most definitely hear mids going to the background when on low.
The only thing I would likely change is the headband, but I only feel it a little after 3 hours or so.
If I move it a mm I can listen to another 3 hours.
I'm sure there are changes to the sound when doing mods, but how much of that is the
feeling of the person doing the mods and being 'proud' of doing the mods and want to
hear a difference. (again I'm not saying it's not changing the sound).

 

[MermaidMan]

Sorbothane mod is done. I have seven patches in each cup on the outer facing side. To put it simply, the sound has been "cleaned up". Bass is perfectly tight and punchy, and the treble glare is gone. I wouldn't say this is a miracle mod like some others have noted, but I can tell a difference for the better. The cups now vibrate very little, and I'm getting more sound from just the driver. Before I got the sorbothane I made sure to listen and touch the cups as music played. They vibrated a ton, but now almost not at all. I must say, the HE400 driver is incredibly capable. Plenty detailed with excellent bass, and the dip in the midrange doesn't bother me anymore. I've also got HM5 angled velours (poor man's vegans). i don't think I ever want to sell these....

 

[iamxLn]

Thank god I'm happy with my stock HE-400.
(though I like reading those mod stories).
No comfort issues with the pads and also don't want the sound to change.
I'm afraid different pads will change the bass sound and thats exactly that I don't want.
No issues as well with the treble as my hearing isn't what it was 20 years ago
And right now I'm again A/B'ing low and high gain on my Asgard 2 and when on high, no recessed
mids. I can most definitely hear mids going to the background when on low.
The only thing I would likely change is the headband, but I only feel it a little after 3 hours or so.
If I move it a mm I can listen to another 3 hours.
I'm sure there are changes to the sound when doing mods, but how much of that is the
feeling of the person doing the mods and being 'proud' of doing the mods and want to
hear a difference. (again I'm not saying it's not changing the sound).

I hear you. I don't want to deviate from the sound that made me love these. That's what other headphones are for. I may get the velours because it's only 10 bucks and reversible.