[justin w.]

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Do you have a headphone shop nearby that have some Hifimans? Take it there and try a cable to make sure it's just a connection. Then you can decide what you want to do. If you make cables, you might decide not to ship them out.

 
he switched the L/R of the cable, so if the problem did not move to the other channel, the cable isnt the problem

 

[merkil]

he switched the L/R of the cable, so if the problem did not move to the other channel, the cable isnt the problem

Oh I didn't know that or misread it. Never mind then, nothing to see here

 

[FuzzyD]

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You all are so fancy.. $2.49 FOR 2 Oil rubbed bronze door stoppers from wally world. One for my home office and one for my real office. Hey, MacGyver was my hero.

PS - what do you guys use for your gain setting on the e17?
And... What does the e9 dock do for performance? Cleaner sound or just louder?

 
Before I put the wider piece of foam on my stand I hung them for a few minutes on the small piece and it left a noticeable dent in the headband after just a few minutes. I wouldn't want to hang them like that all the time.

 

[Fearless1]

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I always thought the Lyr was a bit V-shaped. The mids were quite recessed compared to all SS amps I have used. That was with two sets of tubes. That's probably why I didn't care for it at all. I liked V-shaped headphones, and paired with a V-shaped amp, it exaggerated what I like of the headphones.

I'm sure there are tubes to offset that, but I didn't care to hunt for some magical tubes. Gladly stay away from that headache.

I remeber reading your journey with the Lyr in the tube rolling thread and honestly you had two of the worst sounding pairs of tubes (to my ears). If you look at it as a headache to tube roll then for sure that was a bad choice in amps for you, but I look at it like an adventure. One thing though, when you get that "right for you" set of tubes it sure does sound like gold.

 

[Hifi Man]

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SIGH!!!!!!!!!
 
I've got the worst luck... so im listening to music on my he-400s e9+e17 as usual, i go to turn up the volume a bit on a bassy song.. then all of a sudden the left driver loses sound completely sounded like someone just unplugged it........ i switched the wires etc, seemed like the drivers dead? no small no nothing, the connection can't be dead either as it looks fine
 
have to send them back to the US all the way from australia.. no headphones for over a month i presume....... sigh, i havent even had these for a week
 
on second thoughts it probably is a connection issue since I've heard the same static "disconnection" sound before in the left driver.. the driver should be fine, nothing DIY solvable though, could anyone suggest how turning the volume up can somehow mess up the connection?
 
headamp "[size=x-small]The customer is responsible for shipping charges if an item is sent in for service.  Products from other manufacturers have their own warranties."[/size]
 
[size=x-small]so i probably will lose like $50 and 2 month[size=x-small]s [size=x-small]without [size=x-small]headphones ju[size=x-small]st because the pair i got decides to be faulty, [size=x-small]nice. [/size][/size][/size][/size][/size][/size]

That happened to me a couple says ago and it turned out to be a problem with this crappy amp I was using.

 

[Hifi Man]

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Don't ya think you should have determined if you like the HifiMAN headphones before selecting the name that you did for the site here?  

My name makes sense anyways... I mean... okay, I'm taking a simple joke too far. Nevermind. 

 

[BearWant]

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It can be because you have got bad recordings. Like 128 kbit/s. But the HE-400 tend to be slightly sibilant IMO.

I have been using 320 kbs tracks streaming from MOG.  This seems to me more than slight; however, there are tracks when it is very minimal.

 

[beaver316]

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It can be because you have got bad recordings. Like 128 kbit/s. But the HE-400 tend to be slightly sibilant IMO.

 
While I agree that sibilant songs tend to be bad recordings, the bitrate doesn't have much if anything to do with it. I have many flac songs that are very sibilant on the HE-400s. That would be imo this headphone's biggest flaw (along with slightly recessed female vocals). Quite disappointing considering Im in love with these headphones.
 
If you want to reduce the sibilance a little, try the jergpads. I finished the mod yesterday and it fleshes out female vocals slightly and trims some of the edge off sibilant sounds, but only some. The mod is awesome, but not for me since pleathers + my naturally oily skin = bad experience.

 

[davidsh]

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While I agree that sibilant songs tend to be bad recordings, the bitrate doesn't have much if anything to do with it. I have many flac songs that are very sibilant on the HE-400s. That would be imo this headphone's biggest flaw (along with slightly recessed female vocals). Quite disappointing considering Im in love with these headphones.
 
If you want to reduce the sibilance a little, try the jergpads. I finished the mod yesterday and it fleshes out female vocals slightly and trims some of the edge off sibilant sounds, but only some. The mod is awesome, but not for me since pleathers + my naturally oily skin = bad experience.

Agreed! The treble is the only thing with the HE-400 I see as a major flaw

 

[wje]

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Agreed! The treble is the only thing with the HE-400 I see as a major flaw

 
As to it being a "major flaw" I think that's debatable.  I don't believe it is major, but some people might have an issue with sibilants due to the type of music they listen to (e.g. female vocals), their equipment driving the HE-400s, as well as their own personal hearing capabilities.  With that said, I don't think a blanket statement can be applied to any headphone product because what one might dis-like, another may love.
 
All too many people start to be quite critical on a product, yet many simply refuse to use a bit of EQ.  Those people will state that they'll keep on swapping headphones in and out, quite possibly for the rest of their life.  The situation may have been remedied on pair #2, with a small bit of EQ adjustment - to limit some certain frequency points, as opposed to boosting others.  Boosting is OK, in moderation.  Cutting, or taking down a frequency is a bit easier.
 
Enjoy!

 

[merkil]

I am curious about this sibilance that you guys are talking about as I have never experienced it with these headphones. Does listening volume play a large roll in this?

 

[beaver316]

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Agreed! The treble is the only thing with the HE-400 I see as a major flaw

 
Actually I wouldn't say the treble is flawed, it just doesn't play nice with bad recordings such as modern pop music and the like. But with good recordings you'd never think there was a flaw.

 

[beaver316]

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I am curious about this sibilance that you guys are talking about as I have never experienced it with these headphones. Does listening volume play a large roll in this?

 
Maybe so, or maybe you don't like pop music. It's largely recording dependent.

 

[TMRaven]

Yes, most of the times I experience sibilance on the HE-400 is with pop music and over-processed vocals.  Usually those tend to be bad recordings too.  The spike is still something I rather not have though.

 

[BearWant]

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Okay, so I've had these for a couple of days and I have pretty much listened to stuff on them continuously for these past days. If there's anything I could say about them, if I were to kind of make up descriptive words as I go along to describe what I'm hearing, I would say that the sounds are kind of dark. Indeed I do hear things very clearly, and different sounds really seem to stand out on their own, where as with my old headphones perhaps they would meld together with all of the sounds, and for lack of better words not creating as immersive an experience. With these headphones I think I am starting to feel a burn in, of my mind if you will. Back peddling to what I said about "Dark sound." It's not a completely lush and colorful sound. If there's a song with guitar and bass, I don't hear how they would otherwise be audible. I kind of feel like I'm almost having to strain myself sometimes to hear these instruments when they are lower in the mix. However I try to be completely honest and open minded, I am still learning and more or less picking up more noticeable differences between these headphones and my old ones. One thing that is more audible than the acoustics are the percussions. I'm wondering if this is because of my lack of an amplifier. I am using nothing but a DAC (I hooked the headphones in through an RCA adapter), and I have been told that when I plug it into an amplifier the sound will "come alive." Yet some have told me it won't make much of a difference at all. I guess I'll have to wait and see. I'd still like some inputs though. Thanks.

 
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I think we have the same experience and i have same feelings.
 
I'm using a Aune T1 Tube DAC/AMP  ( Like RMac http://www.head-fi.org/t/604583/hifiman-he-400-impressions-and-discussion-thread/5700#post_9077560)  and fortunately, it seems I found a tube which does a good job to tame these sibilant , sparkly trebles . IMO the problem is not only with trebles but with recessed mids. A bit lack of mids gives the focus on trebles ant that's hurting me. I tried to EQ my he-400 and the results is +2 for midrange and -2 from  8 KhZ to highest frequencies. Then I change the tube for a 6DJ8 instead of my 6N23p-EB .. and it made a kind of miracle.
 
Forwarder mids and a bit tamed trebles tend to eliminate sibilance in most cases. I listened to very different music yesterday and  I think I could now keep my he-400 . Not sure yet but I think I can 
 
I should be honest and say that it could only be a "brain and ears"  burn but he-400 stays quite hard to listen from another source (my living room gear) 

 
I have noticed that at times I have felt that I was straining to hear the mid frequencies, but this seems to be very recording dependent, as other times I feel the mids are very pronounced. 
 
In terms of EQing, I am wiling to do it to tailor the sound signature.  However, EQing to rectify the sibilance feels to me as though I'm trying to mask an actual issue with these headphones possibly at the expense of losing detail.  I don't know I haven't tried.  I understand EQing to user preference, but to fix a considerable problem I'm not sure.  I have seen a few mention that they have found EQ settings that have improved sibilance, but there does not seem to be a silver bullet for those who are reporting it.  I have no experience with Foobar or other equalization software.  I'm under the assumption that they actually assuming control of the computer's audio properties, so is it correct that I could use with MOG and youtube?
 
The suggestion of a tube amp seems good, but for me I don't have the funds to be purchasing an amp solely for this headphone.  I have an odac/o2 combo on the way, and I am hoping that I don't become completely obsessed with this hobby (though I am completely aware of the likelihood heh) that I'll feel I need to go dac or amp shopping again.  I want it to be my end game amp or at least my rock for quite awhile.  I know that's a big statement having not heard much else, but that's where I am at right now in my life.  I know the odac/o2 will not do my sibilance issue any favors.  My dad does have a vintage NAD receiver that he is going to have repaired for me.  I have heard those can add a little warmth.