[MrMateoHead]

  2 years ago I got myself Hifiman HE400, and Aune T1 MK2 DAC, Ive been using the 2 ever since, right now finally I have some spare money to spend.
 
Recently I wonder if a new amp can benefit my headphone to be used alongside the T1, like is it already fully driven?  Actually I have no issue with the volume at all, loud enough to not even go halfway the knob in the lowest gain, but after some reading, people said having another amp for the T1 would add more the bass and all that, I wonder if its really true? Because having a little more to that bass would be perfect.
 
Im not looking to upgrade or replace these 2, because even with these, Im fully satisfied with the details and resolution even the soundstage these 2 bring that spending more into upgrading these 2 would be pointless,
 
- There will be no substantial sonic difference but just different sound signature.
- No difference between 24bits/96kHz and 32bits/384kHz
- There is no headphone that can make me teleport into the recording studio
 
I would probably buy a set of HD600 and maybe some new tubes along the way, and then just call it a day unless one of them broke down.
With that said Im probably thinking to get the Schiit Magni 2, I just want somebody to assure me that it will make a difference, that it will fully drive my HE400

 
Frankly, the Schit Magni 2 would be plenty powerful for the HE-400s and your Senn 600s.
 
I'd consider the O2 by JDS labs as well - quite customizeable at this point and drives even the HE-400s like a champ - punchy, clear, and a super "black background". Just add your favorite DAC and enjoy the tunes.

 

[richard51]

I rediscover my he 400 after 3 years of listening to them , and after demoting them for a Stax, very good stax headphone indeed, the  SR-5 gold....If you want an headphone cheap,a used one, buy the he 400, take sorbothane duro 70  1/4 inches thick , glued  near and around  the driver, try the grill mod also...With this 2 mods, the he 400 beat for me the Stax SR-5 gold, one of the good stax headphone... Before that i have  dream to upgrade to many thousands dollars headphone, now i am afraid to buy one because of this law of diminishing return and the TRANSFORMATION of the HE 400, how they will justify themselves to my ears after the he 400, the best headphone in the world quality/price ratio for me....When something sound better than good, you hear it, and after that dreaming to  upgrade instill fear more than  frustration....
 
 

 
In my version of the grill mod, i cut a big  hole in this  relatively  square tigh  plastic mesh in the center(1/3 of the diameter) and i glued some silk paper, with many mini holes punctured with a needle, under this void center and VOILA! the superiority of this grill mod compared to a completely open cup without grill or compared to  the  ordinary grill mod with a more open  square or hexagonal mesh is for me evident...More precise highs and bass, more forward organic  mids and the human voice are way better...But beware! Any grill mod. is way less spectacular,  if implemented without the sorbothane mod before it ... thanks to all 

 

 

[Mani ATH 87]

  I rediscover my he 400 after 3 years of listening to them , and after demoting them for a Stax, very good stax headphone indeed, the  SR-5 gold....If you want an headphone cheap,a used one, buy the he 400, take sorbothane duro 70  1/4 inches thick , glued  near and around  the driver, try the grill mod also...With this 2 mods, the he 400 beat for me the Stax SR-5 gold, one of the good stax headphone... Before that i have  dream to upgrade to many thousands dollars headphone, now i am afraid to buy one because of this law of diminishing return and the TRANSFORMATION of the HE 400, how they will justify themselves to my ears after the he 400, the best headphone in the world quality/price ratio for me....When something sound better than good, you hear it, and after that dreaming to  upgrade instill fear more than  frustration....
 
 

 
In my version of the grill mod, i cut a big  hole in this  relatively  square tigh  plastic mesh in the center(1/3 of the diameter) and i glued some silk paper with many mini holes under this void center and VOILA! the superiority of this grill mod compared to a completely open cup without grill or compared to  the  ordinary grill mod with a more open  square or hexagonal mesh is for me evident...More precise highs and bass, more forward organic  mids and the human voice are way better...But beware! Any grill mod. is way less spectacular,  if implemented without the sorbothane mod before it ... thanks to all 

 

 
Wow, that looks horrible.

 

[richard51]

   
Wow, that looks horrible.

 i know that the photo zoom in the horrible details lol 

 
But in real they are mostly red without possiblity to detect the imperfection with the naked eye...
 
And most important they sound way more good than the conventional grill mod .... so good i dont listen to my Stax...

 But remember that the Sorbothane duro 70 near the driver  is a pre requisite necessary to listen great improvement 
 
and the zoom in is there for you to make sense of my description easily...

 

[jschlarb]

So, I found the Sorbothane on Amazon. But I can't tell from the picture above exactly what you did. 

 

[DavidA]

Quote:

  So, I found the Sorbothane on Amazon. But I can't tell from the picture above exactly what you did. 

Go to the pictures in this thread and you will find a few examples of how some installed the sorbothane, this in one of the better ones:

could use a little more IMO but it will help.

 

[richard51]

  Go to the pictures in this thread and you will find a few examples of how some installed the sorbothane, this in one of the better ones:

could use a little more IMO but it will
 
 

 
 
It will be better to use the 1/4 inches sorbothane duro 70, because it is  possible to fit it perfectly in the groove near the driver with a little stick or needle... in this photo the sorb. is too thin to fit and is not compressed under the groove's wall... There is a void between it and the wall of the groove....And if it is not duro 70 it will be less good for ultimate results....

 
 
And if you try my grill mod with a hole covered  with silk paper  punctured with a needle you will listen to a truly  astounding sound, the ordinary grill mod. is less spectacular for me...  

 

[richard51]

  So, I found the Sorbothane on Amazon. But I can't tell from the picture above exactly what you did. 

DavidA, thanks to him give the photo that says all, except you must buy pre-glued sorb. duro 70 1/4 inches thick and insert it in the same place  that you see in the photo....For the grill mod my photo says all...

 

 

[The Third]

I found my HE-400 suddenly sounding like being stuck in a tin can. I then noticed my stock pleather pads had flattened over time, so I swapped out them for new stock pleather pads. I am fully in love with the sound again. Is there a way to prevent this flattening of the pads or is it a necessity to swap them out every year? Do the vegan pads flatten over time?

 

[DavidA]

  I found my HE-400 suddenly sounding like being stuck in a tin can. I then noticed my stock pleather pads had flattened over time, so I swapped out them for new stock pleather pads. I am fully in love with the sound again. Is there a way to prevent this flattening of the pads or is it a necessity to swap them out every year? Do the vegan pads flatten over time?

Are the pads always compressed when not in use?  I bent the headband out a bit so that the pads are not always compressed, did this with my HE-400i and HE-560 also.  Another reason not to use omega style headphone stands like this:
 

or a bottle of wine like this:

 

[chrismini]

Try swapping the out for the velour pads. They're only $10, they're a lot
more comfortable and you'll notice a tighter bass response.

 

[DavidA]

  Try swapping the out for the velour pads. They're only $10, they're a lot
more comfortable and you'll notice a tighter bass response.

Tried the velour and while more comfortable they killed the slam of the bass to me and made the mids become even more recessed.  Some on the HE-560 thread also noticed this and actually like the pleathers best for the bass slam.  I think because the pleather seals better the bass is enhanced, I've tried some other pads but found the Focus the best compromise between bass/mids/treble but this is just my preference so not all will agree with this.

 

[chrismini]

 
I don't know man. There's on online shop I've been doing business with for years (HeadRoom) and when I picked up the HE-400's, $299 as they were in the process of being discontinued, the head technician I've been sorta "online friends" with implored me to fork out the extra 10 bucks for the velours as, not only would they be more comfortable, they would really resolve some bass issues. So when I got them and let 'em burn in with about 100 hours of pink and brown noise and Zappa's G-Spot Tornado from The Yellow Shark I tried 'em out with the stock pleather pads and switched to the velours. The pleather pads are sitting in a box in my basement. To be fair I also ordered a pair of custom "Panorama" cables from CablePros for $160. I know, seems like a lot of $$ for $300 HPs, but I am a firm believer in quality cables.(also bought some small needle nose pliers) Anyway I've never looked back after installing the velours. Gotta use one of those stick rolls used for getting dust and in my case cat hair off of shirts and coats on them every couple of weeks. What are you using for an amp?

 

[DavidA]

@chrismini
, its likely that you and I just hear differently so what I think is an improvement you might think is not.  Only thing that matters is if it sounds good to you then don't change anything based on what I or anyone else says.
 
As for cables, haven't been able tell any difference with a blind test so far, I had 2 very good cables, one from Forza and the other from Double-Helix, about $400-500 each, great build quality and super nice to look at but they made no changes in the sound to my GF and me during blind testing.  To be fair the cables they were tested against where a Mogami and Canare cables that I built, not the stock ones and not with the HE-400 but with a HD-800 for the Forza and HD-650 for the Double-Helix.
 
My HE-400 is also modded with new aluminum ear pad mounting rings from HE-400i/560 and is sealed to the cup/driver housing, grill mod and sorbothane, also have modded the headband with extra padding:

 
 

This is what it currently looks like

 

[Rhenoware]

Thinking of modding my HE-400 to tame the treble and improving a few other areas. Has anyone here experimented with the fuzzor mod? Also reading up on sorbothane and ohrougami's blue tac