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**Hifiman HE-400 Impressions and Discussion Thread**
Dec 7, 2013 at 1:37 PM Post #15,020 of 22,116
tmraven said:
  Isn't head-direct just the name of the site?
Click to expand...

 
Could be. Either way, they are one and the same.
 
Here's what the website says: Head-Direct is a subsidiary of HiFiMAN, the highly acclaimed designer/manufacturer of high-performance headphones whose products are also available on the site.
 
So maybe I had it backwards.
 
Dec 7, 2013 at 1:47 PM Post #15,022 of 22,116
Got my HE-400 yesterday from the black Friday sale and here's my impressions so far. Keep in mind that I might be coming at this from a different angle than most - I rely heavily on EQ to shape all of my headphones to remove unnatural peaks and neutralize the sound as best as I can.
 
Coming from a DT-990, I don't think I'll be keeping the HE-400. I am noticing some things I also had a problem with when I tried the LCD-2... I wonder if it's a planar thing. With all EQ turned off, the DT-990 still has the edge mainly because the sound is consistent regardless of small adjustments I make in physical placement on my head. For starters, the HE-400 is too big even on the smallest notch and my ears rest against the top of the ear pads instead of being centered. When I manually center the headphones so they feel good and even pull them a little bit away from my head, they sound much better. So step one in keeping these would be replacing the ear pads with something thicker and finding a thicker headband to put more room between the top of my head and the headphones.
 
The other problem crept up when doing a frequency sweep. There are points around 2 khz (and others across the range but this one stood out to me) where there are very sharp drops in volume. The thing with equalization, and this holds true for a lot of things, is that it's much easier to remove what's there than to add what's not. People find the DT-990 to be too bright or have peaky treble -  I don't care, I can easily remove that. When there's a strong "valley" or drop in response, even if you try and boost the frequency it usually doesn't help, or it only boosts the volume of the harmonics surrounding it. To me this is a big deal. The only dynamic driver headphones I've heard this from are the HD-600 which had a ton of missing response at 8 khz that I just couldn't recover. So I don't want to blame this on planars, I think it just might be the design. The LCD-2 were much more sensitive about how they were placed on my head - dead frequencies could be restored just by moving it slightly. This is still a problem though, because who puts headphones on in the exact same position every time?
 
My headphones aren't perfect obviously or I wouldn't have bothered trying these, and I was dying to try out another pair of planars (the bass response is awesome) but the sharp up/down changes in the mids kill it for me. The size/comfort issues definitely don't help. :frowning2: I'll give it some extra time and see what I can do with it, though.
 
Dec 7, 2013 at 3:21 PM Post #15,024 of 22,116
A week ago, I received my first ever pair of audiophile headphones, purchased from fellow Head-Fier mvrk10256. (Thanks, mvrk!) They are, of course, the HiFiMAN HE-400.

I suppose it's strangely appropriate that I am running the HE-400 (a comparatively inexpensive planar magnetic) from a very budget-oriented setup. I'm all about bang-for-buck. An old portable CD player, the Panasonic SL-SX469V that I've had since I was, oh, ten years old, feeds via line out a JDS Labs Objective2 "portable" amplifier I picked up below MSRP on eBay. Into this amp plugs our succulent HiFiMAN orthodynamic.

The first thing one notices about the HE-400 is its physical character. The HE-400 looks and feels high-end in just about every way. From the robust 3-meter cord to the leather-ensconced headband, to the tight, sturdy hinges and the big navy blue-accented earcups, everything is constructed of the sturdiest materials and to the finest tolerances to create a beautiful whole. These are headphones that feel like they could take a beating, but due to their subtle class, beg not to. They are the first cans I've owned that cry out for a stand; to be an object of decor, and not just a tool. Add a pair of velours, and these are real stunners.

All that said, the first thing I did upon receiving the headphones was plug them into a hole and listen to "Varúð" by Sigur Rós. Listening to "Varúð" on the HE-400, one feels Jónsi's unearthly falsetto float out from a short distance ahead, and one can't help but quiver with the force of its beauty. Not because the voice is different than before, but because it's as if it finally exists somewhere in this world, like an hallucination becoming material. And in the crescendoing final passage, when the song can seem busy and muddled within my Shure SRH-750DJ, the HE-400 renders each detail, instrumental and vocal (including the grungy noise of the severely distorted guitar) with ease, thus translating the power of the moment. The Shures, by comparison, allow the sheer number of coinciding sounds to overwhelm the music.

Having bawled at Jónsi's genius, I decided next to throw on one of my favorite albums of the past year, Mumford and Sons' Babel. From the eponymous opening track, it was apparent that I was in the big leagues with these headphones. It was as if I hadn't really heard Marcus Mumford wax vaguely poetic before. His raw rasp hit me almost as if he were personally serenading me, so present and lifelike he was rendered. But where I was really taken aback was with the authenticity of all those throatily twanging strings. The acoustic bass in particular is a joy to hear through the HE-400.

The XX is not a band one would reckon should benefit greatly from an audiophile headphone and its easy detail or precise soundstaging. The soul of the music is in the intimate, whisper-quiet, minimalistic musicianship. So it should come as no surprise that the HE-400 does precisely nothing for this music. Coexist sounded almost flat. This is one example of where a much less resolving headphone, provided it has the right sound signature (preferably punchy) can sound every bit as good as the HE-400.

Arcade Fire is another story. Funeral was my next listen, and... wow! A great big, shuddering wo-o-o-o-ow! This album comes alive! It shimmers, it sparkles, it dances, it makes itself dizzy, it pukes up glitter and rainbows! Holy wow, unicorn horn! Yay!

Perhaps I'm not doing justice to the tasteful subtlety with which these cans operate. They don't seize on the bass, for instance, and crank it up to 11. They don't spike the treble for the illusion of resolution. They do, however, open up a whole new world within well-layered recordings.

Listening to Funeral, cliché though it may be, I actually did hear things I hadn't heard before. Minor details popped in a new way compared to the Shure SRH-750DJ. Mostly, though, everything just sounded... better. From the crunch of the bass guitar on "Neighborhood 3" to the fuzz of the opening seconds of "Une Année Sans Lumière", to the sound of fingers sliding over guitar strings from note to note on "Neighborhood 4", to the growling bass lines in "Wake Up", the sounds were simply layed out before me, crystalline in their clarity.

Listening by the HiFiMAN HE-400, music is liquid smooth, just there to float about in, picking out the little details or taking in the whole as one chooses. And there's nary a false moment to be found. It's delightful.

*****
 
Dec 7, 2013 at 4:07 PM Post #15,025 of 22,116
Great impressions, applaudio! Glad you enjoy them, and now that you've had a taste of high quality headphones there's no turning back!
beerchug.gif

 
Dec 7, 2013 at 7:42 PM Post #15,028 of 22,116
Dec 7, 2013 at 10:02 PM Post #15,030 of 22,116
Just got my Black Friday pair today. It's the most expensive pair I've owned, and the best. I'm having no trouble with sibilance or harsh treble spikes. I'm sourcing both digital and vinyl through a Little Dot 1+, with the stock pleathers. I've been on a buying jag recently, but these are going to keep me happy for a while.
 
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