[q2klepto]

 
 I had the Aune T1 last year pairing with the he 400.... its bad synergy.... The Aune  dac and amp exaggerate the  piercing highs.... I have sold it and i was very happy with  de 50 dollars dac hifimediy + the  100 dollars ocean bravo amp.... better synergy.....for the same price.... Now i have upgraded with Ember amp and bushmaster dac.... No comparison in the two cases with the Aune t 1...
 
Best regards

 
What tube did you use with the T1? Or did it not matter? 

 

[richard51]

   
What tube did you use with the T1? Or did it not matter? 

i have Amperex 6DJ8 / ECC88 Bugle Boy tube with the Aune ... excellent tube by the way.... I have these tube and others with my Ember Amp...... Aune T 1 dont match well with the he 400.....I replace the amp of the Aune t1 with the ocean bravo tube amp.... it was not ideal but better.... and i replace the dac of the Aune t1 with the hifimediy portable dac ( best purchase in audio... The reason why is the price, the sound, and i use it now like optical link ).... My bushmaster dac is very good pairing with the Ember project.... no more problem of synergy with the He 400...i have also try Schiit magni amp with the He 400 and to my ear i was not satisfied....the sound was without life... best regards

 

[richard51]

the great lesson learned for me these years in search of the best sound for the least money is : synergetic relation between the element of the chain....and  now i have for the least money one of the best audio system ( less than one thousand dollars).... the secret is to buy used if possible... and to read alot about the materials.... best regards

 

[Lohb]

 
i have Amperex 6DJ8 / ECC88 Bugle Boy tube with the Aune ... excellent tube by the way.... I have these tube and others with my Ember Amp...... Aune T 1 dont match well with the he 400.....I replace the amp of the Aune t1 with the ocean bravo tube amp.... it was not ideal but better.... and i replace the dac of the Aune t1 with the hifimediy portable dac ( best purchase in audio... The reason why is the price, the sound, and i use it now like optical link ).... My bushmaster dac is very good pairing with the Ember project.... no more problem of synergy with the He 400...i have also try Schiit magni amp with the He 400 and to my ear i was not satisfied....the sound was without life... best regards

How does the tube affect the treble spike if at all on the 400's ? It looks like having a tube in pre-amp/ amp or even dac (Lite Audio 60 etc)  is the way to go with some planars....like some LCD-2 owners saying it was the tube that really made the synergy snap together finally.

 

[richard51]

the tube was great help when i  had replaced the aune with the bravo ocean.... The aune is a tube dac , not a tube amp class A like the bravo (but the gain of the bravo amp is high and not ideal for he 400, but i prefered it to the Aune).... also i have prefered the hifimediy  portable  asynchronus dac , the pairing with the he 400 is better for my ears, no more tizz in the high like with the Aune...But the bushmaster dac is another step beyond that and the Ember amp a big step beyond the bravo...Now i love my he 400.... I dont have urgent upgraditis...best regards
 
p.s. i have tried the bravo ocean with the akg 701, the synergy is extraordinary compared to schiit amp...
in this hobby the synergy is almost all the pleasure and the key.

 

[Lohb]

  the tube was great help when i  had replaced the aune with the bravo ocean.... The aune is a tube dac , not a tube amp class A like the bravo (but the gain of the bravo amp is high and not ideal for he 400, but i prefered it to the Aune).... also i have prefered the hifimediy  portable  asynchronus dac , the pairing with the he 400 is better for my ears, no more tizz in the high like with the Aune...But the bushmaster dac is another step beyond that and the Ember amp a big step beyond the bravo...Now i love my he 400.... I dont have urgent upgraditis...best regards
 
p.s. i have tried the bravo ocean with the akg 701, the synergy is extraordinary compared to schiit amp...
in this hobby the synergy is almost all the pleasure and the key.

Yeah, I have the Sabre DAC and had the Bushmaster MK2 which could be described as natural...vs neutral/warm/analytical.
About to get the Lite Audio DAC 60 tube DAC which has 2x PCM1704 DAC chips found in the $2200 Master 7 8x PCM1704K DAC to feed hopefully 3 sets of planar cans soon.
Actualy one of the best DAC chips in the world is the TDA1541A as I've been told by one DAC design guru. It was designed by Philips around 1985 and is still used in super expensive DAC's but the Chinese TDA DACs are pretty messed up design-wise so PCM1704 is second choice for planars.
 
 
Hope I can find happy ground for HiFiMAN and Audeze cans with a tube upgrade and internal mods on that desktop tube DAC monster !

 

[richard51]

 
Yeah, I have the Sabre DAC and had the Bushmaster MK2 which could be described as natural...vs neutral/warm/analytical.
About to get the Lite Audio DAC 60 tube DAC which has 2x PCM 1704 DAC chips found in the $2200 Master 7 4x PCM1704k DAC to feed hopefully 3 sets of planar cans soon.
Actualy one of the best DAC chips in the world is the TDA1541A as I've been told by one DAC design guru. It was designed by Philips around 1985 and is still used in super expensive DAC's but the Chinese TDA DACs are pretty messed up design-wise so PCM1704 is second choice for planars.
 
 
Hope I can find happy ground for HiFiMAN and Audeze cans with a tube upgrade and internal mods on that desktop tube DAC monster !

Thank you for this very interesting information.... i will remember that ......for now i am interested in the Caiman mkII the last dac conceived by Stanley Beresford, apparently better than the Bushmaster... The price of the Lite audio is higher, but i am curious of your future impression about this dac, i hope to read your posts... best regards

 

[AyeVeeN]

  Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I am running out of my integrated sound chip and this pc is quite old, but I have an audio-gd nfb-15 ordered (they're just burning it in for me at the moment). Good to hear it will supposedly help.
 
What don't you like about the treble?

 
Sorry, forgot about this thread. Basically it's just piercing, though I've EQ'd it down and it sounds much better / the treble is much more tolerable. I'm one who doesn't like treble much though anyways; I prefer balanced if not slightly below balanced treble. E.g. AD700s killed my ears and gave me headaches. Ironically though, the only singer/rapper I can stand (and like) with the excess sibilance (aka no EQ) is Eminem. Sounds surprisingly normal. I can't hear well above 14kHz though.
 
Also, I can't tell if it's placebo or not but it does seem like even the E9 (AQ DragonFly v1.2 > E9 > HE-400) seems to help a bit. Previously retired it because I thought it was a hassle and I felt as if the channels were imbalanced after reading about it's channel imbalance issues with the pot below 9, but now it seems okay. Seems to sound less congested / has better separation/imaging and the bass seems to hit slightly deeper / harder. Female vocals also sound less.. thin when compared to running the 400s straight out of the DF.
 
Regardless, the difference between an integrated soundcard and a dedicated DAC/amp should be tremendous really. Least for me personally it was.

 

[jodgey4]

Just listened to this pretty cranked up in volume, 38 on high gain on my NFB-28 which according to my phone was mid 70's in dB... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HtECfIH_Os... it sounded so killer I might have to get the album this cover was off of. This guy's one of my favorite drummers... if only the snare wasn't recessed a little like it is on these cans.

 

[UprightMan]

got the Vali and E07K/E09K and returning the Vali.  Much prefer the ability to do some EQ and gain adjustments depending on what style of music I am listening too.  Powers the HP's very well too!  

 

[Breaker]

Anyone get a chance to try the hybrid pads on the 400s yet?

 

[utee05]

  Anyone get a chance to try the hybrid pads on the 400s yet?

I ordered mine last week but they got delayed a few days. Hopefully I get the hybrid pads in this week and I will give them a try. Right now I am using the velours.

 

[Mani ATH 87]

For anyone who's tried the hybrid pads with the HE-400 give us some impressions, definitely considering giving them a shot.

 

[Lohb]

The latest pads are getting mixed reviews over on 560 thread. They not only changed the hole opening to be bigger but pad material as well.

 

[PhoenixClaw]

That's unfortunate. I loved the earlier version when I tried out the 560 in one of the stores here.