[Thujone]

 

 
 
If the FR plots weren't the same color as the bg grid I could move them up easily enough, but as it stands I'd have to make a custom mask to move them, which is just too troublesome for what I think it's worth.  Based on these graphs I'd choose the closed backvents over the open backvents.

 
I think you accidentally snipped the open vent graph at the yellow line instead of at 20Hz on the original plot.

 

[Thujone]

  Does Purrin have the HE-400 with stock velours using his new measuring scheme?  I think it would be worthwhile to have the stock pleather vs stock velour vs closed Jerg pads for the readers of the thread.

 
You're right, I should have asked him to do the velour measurements when he had my HE-400's. Hindsight.

 

[beaver316]

   
I see, anyway thanks. And yeah HE400's low bass goes a bit weird with the open vents. It's actually completely different with HE500, where opening/closing the vents don't do anything significant (you probably saw it if you went through that thread on CS).
 
But HE400 with closed Jergpads is probably a welcoming improvement to most, it's pretty apparent from the measurements.

 
It's more than a welcoming improvement imo..

 

[TMRaven]

   
I think you accidentally snipped the open vent graph at the yellow line instead of at 20Hz on the original plot.

 
 
You're right, I had no idea why Purrin put the yellow line at 20hz then at like 12hz lol.
 

 

[Thujone]

That makes the open vent look a little better but I'm with you. Sealed is the way to go. This is at least proof that modulor's pads are indeed "bassier" by a decent margin. Very quick roll-off at 40Hz though.

 

[jerg]

It's partly my fault, I started messing with the earpads because I didn't like how my HE500 sounded, and so all the modification steps are actually HE500-specific (as it is quite apparent in the measurements, how everything lines up); I spent maybe 1/20th the time testing the individual steps and their effects on sound with HE400, more of an after-thought than anything.
 
At any rate, I still quite dig the open vents for HE400, again, the open vents' main addition to the sound is not anything bass-related (that's only an artifact), but rather they make the imaging project more openly width-wise. With the vents closed, they are nothing more than slight angling for the pads. At least for my preference, I think the messiness it leaves with HE400 below 50 Hz is far less significant than the more open imaging/staging it provides.

 

[Thujone]

  It's partly my fault, I started messing with the earpads because I didn't like how my HE500 sounded, and so all the modification steps are actually HE500-specific (as it is quite apparent in the measurements, how everything lines up); I spent maybe 1/20th the time testing the individual steps and their effects on sound with HE400, more of an after-thought than anything.
 
At any rate, I still quite dig the open vents for HE400, again, the open vents' main addition to the sound is not anything bass-related (that's only an artifact), but rather they make the imaging project more openly width-wise. With the vents closed, they are nothing more than slight angling for the pads. At least for my preference, I think the messiness it leaves with HE400 below 50 Hz is far less significant than the more open imaging/staging it provides.

 
For me, it's just a matter of the kind of music I'm listening to with the HE-400: EDM. The roll-off is somewhat troublesome but more importantly the adjacent mids sound significantly recessed to me. When listening to tunes with a lot of bass quantity, the mids definitely suffer. Also, given the genre choice, I can't really comment on the airiness with the vent. Again though, the issues I have with the vent can be more easily subdued by changing its size. I bet there is a certain vent size at which all the bass is nearly gone but I'm guessing there is a "sweet spot" where you can obtain the largest 50Hz bump (I'm thinking of this as a quadratic equation -- could be wrong though).

 

[jerg]

   
For me, it's just a matter of the kind of music I'm listening to with the HE-400: EDM. The roll-off is somewhat troublesome but more importantly the adjacent mids sound significantly recessed to me. When listening to tunes with a lot of bass quantity, the mids definitely suffer. Also, given the genre choice, I can't really comment on the airiness with the vent. Again though, the issues I have with the vent can be more easily subdued by changing its size. I bet there is a certain vent size at which all the bass is nearly gone but I'm guessing there is a "sweet spot" where you can obtain the largest 50Hz bump (I'm thinking of this as a quadratic equation -- could be wrong though).

 
Yeah I listen to more recorded music (instrumental/rock/vocal/the whole shebang) and in those cases the "openness" of sound is really important because they help define the exact 3D imaging of things, as well as plain ol' "how real ___ sounds" in terms of imaging. The difference between hearing a very realistic rendition of something 10 ft away from you, vs hearing an obviously re-produced attempt at imaging something 10 ft away from you, is huge to me.
 
With the vast majority of synthetic music, that trait is negligible I suppose, because there is no "realism" reference point for you to compare the reproduced music against.

 

[Thujone]

   
Yeah I listen to more recorded music (instrumental/rock/vocal/the whole shebang) and in those cases the "openness" of sound is really important because they help define the exact 3D imaging of things, as well as plain ol' "how real ___ sounds" in terms of imaging. The difference between hearing a very realistic rendition of something 10 ft away from you, vs hearing an obviously re-produced attempt at imaging something 10 ft away from you, is huge to me.
 
With the vast majority of synthetic music, that trait is negligible I suppose, because there is no "realism" reference point for you to compare the reproduced music against.

 
Exactly. The timbre on the HE-400 is definitely unnatural sounding to my ears, but the speed and detail (not to mention the drool-worthy bass distortion) is huge for these headphones. Like you said, synthetic sounds are, well, synthetic. That said, the HE-400 becomes the number 1 contender for EDM under $400 IMO/IME. Though, all this recent HE-4 talk has really sparked my interest...

 

[TMRaven]

I don't really think openness has anything to do with timbre though.

 

[Thujone]

  I don't really think openness has anything to do with timbre though.

 
No, I agree. The openness doesn't matter to me because of my genre choice, then jerg pointed out that if you aren't listening to recorded music, there isn't a reference for the openness or realism of the sound. I only brought up timbre to further emphasize how great these headphones are for my specific genres. Sorry, re-reading that is somewhat confusing.

 

[jerg]

  I don't really think openness has anything to do with timbre though.

 
Not timbre, just sheer openness. An analogy is having your ears completely open to air, vs having cupped hands over them (though open vents vs not is obviously much smaller of an effect, it's the similar effect).

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Exactly. The timbre on the HE-400 is definitely unnatural sounding to my ears, but the speed and detail (not to mention the drool-worthy bass distortion) is huge for these headphones. Like you said, synthetic sounds are, well, synthetic. That said, the HE-400 becomes the number 1 contender for EDM under $400 IMO/IME. Though, all this recent HE-4 talk has really sparked my interest... :mad:

I don't find the HE-4 to do EDM better than the HE-400, but it does everything else better, since it's more balanced and airy. The HE-400 has a deepness/rawness to it's bass that the HE-4 doesn't touch (though it has fantastic bass extension)

 

[Makiah S]

I don't find the HE-4 to do EDM better than the HE-400, but it does everything else better, since it's more balanced and airy. The HE-400 has a deepness/rawness to it's bass that the HE-4 doesn't touch (though it has fantastic bass extension)

 
Good to hear, although I'm  having mixed feelings about the possibility of having to sell my HE 400 for a He 500 with JergPads, xD that means more money I'll have to spend in the future. But man those graphs look awesome... although... does the HE 500 with JergPads sound as THICK as the HE 400 with Pleathers? I might opt for Open Vented Pads
 
Or... I enjoy the J$money He 400... might as well stick with that, till I hear how the LCD X sounds, let's hope it has LCD 3 bass and some treble finally! [or I'll save up for an LCD 3]

 

[jerg]

   
Good to hear, although I'm  having mixed feelings about the possibility of having to sell my HE 400 for a He 500 with JergPads, xD that means more money I'll have to spend in the future. But man those graphs look awesome... although... does the HE 500 with JergPads sound as THICK as the HE 400 with Pleathers? I might opt for Open Vented Pads
 
Or... I enjoy the J$money He 400... might as well stick with that, till I hear how the LCD X sounds, let's hope it has LCD 3 bass and some treble finally! [or I'll save up for an LCD 3]

HE500 sounds thicker/lusher than HE400 by default (just a difference in the driver tuning). HE400 has a leaner bass, leaner midrange, leaner treble. HE500 with the full Jergpads (including the outer port holes and open vents) still sounds a fair bit lusher and more at-ease than HE400 with stock pleathers. 
 
HE500 + velours though gets a bit too bright and thin IMO. It becomes as fatiguing as HE400s (quite bright up top), but with a thinner bottom end than HE400; as you might imagine, not great.