[cyberdynet800]

thx for the review, the price of the he400's is very tempting, but I heard they are more darker than the hd650's, if this is true then I will save up for the he6's, if not then I could buy the he400's & still have plenty of cash left over for an amp or something else.

 

[MattTCG]

I personally don't get the "dark" moniker. Maybe if you are comparing them to a pair of Beyer's. To me, they are just not a ultra bright hp. I don't think that you'd be disappointed at all. What would you be hoping for with the he6?

 

[willmax]

Quote:

 
I understand completely.  Actually, I didn't look at it from a power demand standpoint.  Initially, it was done due to the questionable quality of output using the headphone stages of current receivers and amps, so that is why I built my first set of taps in the first place.   I also had a pair of HE-5LEs, too, which was another reason to build my first set of taps.

Pardon my ignorance but how do you build a speaker tap for old receivers? What exactly is a speaker tap?

 

[MattTCG]

Forgive me if I get this wrong, but I think basically the "speaker tap" is a retermination of the headphone cable where it is now balanced and able to directly connect to the left and right speaker out channel of a receiver.

 

[jerg]

Quote:

thx for the review, the price of the he400's is very tempting, but I heard they are more darker than the hd650's, if this is true then I will save up for the he6's, if not then I could buy the he400's & still have plenty of cash left over for an amp or something else.

 
Nope it's not dark at all. The reviewers just got an early prototype of HE400s that were darker. The newest revision has a treble level that's just right.

 

[tonyli3]

Just wanted to say thanks for starting this thread and the review,also thanks for people's helpful comments concerning the he-400,have mine here in the uk now,and think there great,more expensive than cans like hd650's over here(of which I've had two pairs lol) but to be honest if these hifiman's had cost a good deal more I'd have still picked them up!
Only problem now is I'd managed to keep headphone related spending down last few years lol
but can feel an idac and new amp urge approaching :rolleyes:

 

[Maverickmonk]

Just jumped up to the HE-400's from the Grado SR-60's and a pair of AKG sextetts.... WOW

, Detailed, and the soundstage is...incredible. Granted, I'm jumping from entry level (and vintage) cans to "upper mid-fi" or whatever the cool name for it now is, but even out of the headphone out on my M-Audio M30's they sound great! I even like the frequency response so far, even if it's a little darker than I'm used to.
 
Interested to see how it sounds with the Marantz, I hope it's not too warm. Maybe it's an excuse for me to build a solid state amp...dynalo?

 

[MattTCG]

Welcome to the club!! One great thing about the he400 is that it will amp decently out of about anything all the way down to the fiio e10, but then scales up so very nicely. 

 

[wje]

Quote:

Pardon my ignorance but how do you build a speaker tap for old receivers? What exactly is a speaker tap?

 
Here you go.  I made a diagram of the process of building a speaker tap with a balanced cable: http://home.comcast.net/~wayne.ernst/taps.pdf

 

[wje]

Quote:

I personally don't get the "dark" moniker. Maybe if you are comparing them to a pair of Beyer's. To me, they are just not a ultra bright hp. I don't think that you'd be disappointed at all. What would you be hoping for with the he6?

 
Exactly.  I'm not sure if the people who are using the term have just heard them briefly, or are passing along what they heard from someone else.  Granted, the HE-400s are not a bright or detailed or "sparkly" headphone like a Grado, but they're far from being dark.

 

[project86]

I do find them a little "dark" at times, and the measurements show the same thing. This is for the latest version. Not that it is overly veiled, or dull, but compared directly to the HE-500 it does seem to lack a bit of presence. But then the slight peak around 9kHz can help add a sense of shimmer so it really is a fairly well rounded sound overall. 

 

[TMRaven]

Typically the head-fi jargon of bright usually refers to treble peaks in particular, which the he400 certainly has. I think the he400 is certainly the exception to the popular definition, though. Overall they're less bright to my ears than a silver screened hd650. Whereas every other headphone has either overly aggressive upper mids and treble, or no upper mids at all, the he400 come closest to matching the voicing of my psb setup in my treated room. That's not overly dark in my book, just warm.

 

[tonyli3]

Just a few thoughts after no more than 8 hrs listening.
I'm not hearing what I'd call an overly dark headphone,warm to me,I found 650's a little darker,but given a few days and praps I'll change my mind?dark headphones for me were my old 80's 600ohm beyerdynamic 990's,dark as in sonically being in a 50ft square room holding a candle lol
The 400's have very slightly forward mids,not so much to unbalance the sound,but just enough to make music exciting when needed.
Soundstage is not huge,but plenty big enough for me,width,height and depth are fine,not going into detail yet,grown wiser with age to develop opinions on sound over a little more time,suffice to say I love these so far tho.
I find the black canare cable ok,not really annoying me in use.The 400's feel pretty comfortable,well made far as I can tell and I like the blue!
I find the weight of these fine,but wouldn't be crazy bout anything heavier.

 

[Maverickmonk]

Quote:

Welcome to the club!! One great thing about the he400 is that it will amp decently out of about anything all the way down to the fiio e10, but then scales up so very nicely. 

 
So I've heard, I just want a DIY project a bit more challenging than a cmoy that would make a nice desktop amp, but is clean/neutral (or maybe a little sparkly even), and isn't too expensive

 

[wje]

Quote:

 
So I've heard, I just want a DIY project a bit more challenging than a cmoy that would make a nice desktop amp, but is clean/neutral (or maybe a little sparkly even), and isn't too expensive

 
How about a Bottlehead tube amp?  That probably seems like a better logical step - but, then, one has to want to venture into the tube world.