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**Hifiman HE-400 Impressions and Discussion Thread**
Apr 15, 2013 at 7:11 PM Post #9,797 of 22,116
Quote:
spiderman said:
Does anyone here have a westone 4? One of the things I really liked about the he-400 was the clarity I was thinking about buying another one but I am spending more time on the go as oppose to my house, I was just wondering if anyone can compare it to one of those detailed Iems such as the 535's and westone 4's.
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Well I own the TDK BA200, it's also a dual BA monitor it should be on par with those IEMs regarding clarity. With the shure soft flex tips I find the clarity of these IEMs very good, vocals actually sound extremely clear on these. The BA200 is fairly neutral sounding with a slight treble roll-off and a hint of warmness. The shure SE535s should have a bit too much of a treble roll-off for the money, i think you can get a better price/performance in other models. The tdk BA200 and vsonic GR07 should both be really good, but the BA200 does not have the treble peak.
When I'm directly comparing the BA200 to the HE-400 the latter win obviously, the HE400 just has that sweet sweet sound. But for on the go, I think the BA200s sound extremely good. You can definitely get a piece of audio nirvana with current IEMs for less than €200.
 
Apr 15, 2013 at 9:15 PM Post #9,800 of 22,116
OK, I just did an embarrassingly simple mod after all I've been reading here... jergpads and all. I have to say that this was done as a complete skeptic. More like an easily reversible proof of concept.
 
 

 

 
All I did was cut the tip off round toothpicks and used them as wedges on the back of each pad. As you'll notice, my quickie version here took 2 wedges on one cup and 3 on the other. The reason for the difference is that one bowed out and the other sagged in when I put in the first two wedges. One thing you have to pay attention to is where the clip on the pad is. The way I oriented them is to put the pad clip right at the swivel. Then the toothpicks are about 1 1/2" to either side of the swivel.
 
So what does it do? Pretty much what I wanted. I didn't feel like the 400s were very "airy" and it opened them up them up a little bit. Seems to have broadened the soundstage a little too... as I'm listening right now, pretty significantly at times. I think it's made the 400 a little more comfortable too but I haven't listened to them this way long enough yet to be sure.
 
Now none of this is life changing the way I hear many mods described. But it's something to try. I'll be curious to hear others opinions if they give it a try.
 
Apr 15, 2013 at 9:34 PM Post #9,801 of 22,116
Quote:
bigcabdaddy said:
OK, I just did an embarrassingly simple mod after all I've been reading here... jergpads and all. I have to say that this was done as a complete skeptic. More like an easily reversible proof of concept.
 
 

 

 
All I did was cut the tip off round toothpicks and used them as wedges on the back of each pad. As you'll notice, my quickie version here took 2 wedges on one cup and 3 on the other. The reason for the difference is that one bowed out and the other sagged in when I put in the first two wedges. One thing you have to pay attention to is where the clip on the pad is. The way I oriented them is to put the pad clip right at the swivel. Then the toothpicks are about 1 1/2" to either side of the swivel.
 
So what does it do? Pretty much what I wanted. I didn't feel like the 400s were very "airy" and it opened them up them up a little bit. Seems to have broadened the soundstage a little too... as I'm listening right now, pretty significantly at times. I think it's made the 400 a little more comfortable too but I haven't listened to them this way long enough yet to be sure.
 
Now none of this is life changing the way I hear many mods described. But it's something to try. I'll be curious to hear others opinions if they give it a try.
Click to expand...

You know the actual 'mini-vents' part of the jergpad mod is 100% reversible (easily) too right? 
rolleyes.gif
 I'd imaging what you did there is functionally quite similar, it just lifts the back part of the pads up a little, giving the headphones a bit of angling and more open-air.
 
Be aware that doing anything like this does indeed improve the openness and staging of the sound, but it will also kill the sub-bass extension (the sub-bass of Hifiman cans are dictated by how well the mounting ring flat surface at the undersides of the pads contact the flat sides of the cups).
 
That's why it really should be done in conjunction with the 'sub-bass' part of my mod so that the disadvantage here is corrected.
 
Apr 15, 2013 at 9:53 PM Post #9,802 of 22,116
Quote:
jerg said:
You know the actual 'mini-vents' part of the jergpad mod is 100% reversible (easily) too right? 
rolleyes.gif
 I'd imaging what you did there is functionally quite similar, it just lifts the back part of the pads up a little, giving the headphones a bit of angling and more open-air.
 
Be aware that doing anything like this does indeed improve the openness and staging of the sound, but it will also kill the sub-bass extension (the sub-bass of Hifiman cans are dictated by how well the mounting ring flat surface at the undersides of the pads contact the flat sides of the cups).
 
That's why it really should be done in conjunction with the 'sub-bass' part of my mod so that the disadvantage here is corrected.
Click to expand...

 
I might well do your mod as a more permanent (though reversable) approach. This was just a down and dirty way to prove the same thing. Not sure I'm missing the "sub-bass" but as long as I'm getting into it, I may try that as well. Alpha pads would fit too, right? I may have to make that switch eventually too... as a carnivore, the use of pleather offends me. But was does a switch from away from velour do sonically?
 
Apr 15, 2013 at 10:11 PM Post #9,803 of 22,116
Quote:
bigcabdaddy said:
 
I might well do your mod as a more permanent (though reversable) approach. This was just a down and dirty way to prove the same thing. Not sure I'm missing the "sub-bass" but as long as I'm getting into it, I may try that as well. Alpha pads would fit too, right? I may have to make that switch eventually too... as a carnivore, the use of pleather offends me. But was does a switch from away from velour do sonically?
Click to expand...

Pleathers have some inherent midrange glare issues (ringing) compared to velours, that is mostly fixed by the main part of my mod. On the other hand, pleathers tune down the treble quite a bit which is IMO a big boon to the HE400 with its overly-shiny treble. Lots of people can tolerate the midrange ringing of the unmodified pleathers actually, and enjoy its dark lounge-y tonality. 
 
The specific pleather that Hifiman uses is pretty advanced, it's a protein-infused pleather with (AFAIK) eggshell protein, and fairs quite well in the long run, doesn't harden or crack or anything unlike the vast majority of other pleather earpad materials.
 
Apr 15, 2013 at 10:21 PM Post #9,806 of 22,116
Quote:
jerg said:
Pleathers have some inherent midrange glare issues (ringing) compared to velours, that is mostly fixed by the main part of my mod. On the other hand, pleathers tune down the treble quite a bit which is IMO a big boon to the HE400 with its overly-shiny treble. Lots of people can tolerate the midrange ringing of the unmodified pleathers actually, and enjoy its dark lounge-y tonality. 
 
The specific pleather that Hifiman uses is pretty advanced, it's a protein-infused pleather with (AFAIK) eggshell protein, and fairs quite well in the long run, doesn't harden or crack or anything unlike the vast majority of other pleather earpad materials.
Click to expand...

 
Thanks so much Jerg. Gonna try the pleather then. The "dark, lounge-y" thing is still something short of LCD2s though, right? I've always thought they might be might endgame if I ever got enough amplifier for them.
 
Apr 15, 2013 at 10:28 PM Post #9,808 of 22,116
Quote:
bigcabdaddy said:
 
Thanks so much Jerg. Gonna try the pleather then. The "dark, lounge-y" thing is still something short of LCD2s though, right? I've always thought they might be might endgame if I ever got enough amplifier for them.
Click to expand...

The sound characteristics I describe are inherent to the earpads, meaning they impart those changes onto the base sound signatures of the headphone drivers. "Dark, lounge-y" would be relative to the velour pads. The HE400s will still sound like HE400s, but noticeably darker and lounge-ier. It'd be still uniquely different from how HE500s, or LCD2, sound.
 
You can think of the sound signature of each headphone as a unique squiggle line, and changing earpads causes parts of the squiggle line to be bumped up or down or more rounded or less rounded, but in the end, one squiggle will look completely different from another squiggle.
 
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