[beaver316]

Quote:

 
Eh I auditioned LCD2s and LCD3 at a meet and their adjustment freedoms do not produce a good fit on my head.

 
 
How did you find the LCD2/3 soundstage in comparison to the HE-400 if I may ask?
 
Ah and detail retrieval? 

 

[jerg]

Quote:

 
The ratio can well be 70/30 depending on your sound signature preference
 
I just got the HE-400 yesterday so it's a quick first impression with fews hours of burn-in. I did not feel the HE-400 bass was much better or prominent than that of the HE-500 (when properly driven).
What I did feel, however, is a recess in the mids, especially in the vocals range which make it sound more "heavy" . By comparison, the HE-500s do sound more open and fuller in this area. The 400s don't quite have the magic mids of the 500s.
The treble quantity is a bit more that adequate for me (I'm used to the smooth treble of the 500s), I hope it will tame up a bit with burn-in.
 
The interesting point, however, is that it does not require a powerfull headphone amp to show its true potential. I really (REALLY) enjoyed it on my Fostex HA-A3! The sound signature reminded me of that of the HE-500 when driven with the (slightly) warm SA-31 amp. 
 
For $800, this is a Killer combo!
 
I will still give it time to burn-in and try to adjust to the change in sound signature and give a proper feedback.
 
Note: the pleathers were replaced with velours, of course . The pads that came with it are a bit flabby, more so than the pleathers that came with my HE-500...

Yeah, having only recently acquired the HE500s, I've been addicted to it. Something like 95:5 listening time of it versus my HE400s for the past week. Even out of my E17 the HE500s are magical, maybe a bit underpowering with some dynamic concert tracks but otherwise just perfect, no flaws. The transparency is astonishing.

 

[cssarrow]

The ratio can well be 70/30 depending on your sound signature preference

I just got the HE-400 yesterday so it's a quick first impression with fews hours of burn-in. I did not feel the HE-400 bass was much better or prominent than that of the HE-500 (when properly driven).
What I did feel, however, is a recess in the mids, especially in the vocals range which make it sound more "heavy" . By comparison, the HE-500s do sound more open and fuller in this area. The 400s don't quite have the magic mids of the 500s.
The treble quantity is a bit more that adequate for me (I'm used to the smooth treble of the 500s), I hope it will tame up a bit with burn-in.

The interesting point, however, is that it does not require a powerfull headphone amp to show its true potential. I really (REALLY) enjoyed it on my Fostex HA-A3! The sound signature reminded me of that of the HE-500 when driven with the (slightly) warm SA-31 amp. 

For $800, this is a Killer combo!

I will still give it time to burn-in and try to adjust to the change in sound signature and give a proper feedback.

Note: the pleathers were replaced with velours, of course . The pads that came with it are a bit flabby, more so than the pleathers that came with my HE-500...

Makes me want to grab a HE-500 right now. The only thing pushing me back is my Icon HDP Amp. It might not do so well.

Everything you have said regarding the HE-400, i agree fully. Especially the recessed mids sounding more heavy.
If bass is not to far from one another, like you have stated, then i'll be looking at the HE-500 for my next pair.
Either that or grab a Audeze LCD-2.

However, in my opinion, the HIFIMAN Aesthetics look rather appealing so im leaning more towards them.

I'd love to hear that open, full, smooth sound from the HE-500. The Sennheiser are like of the same, however i don't believe they're anywhere as near to being open as the HE-500's are.

- TIM

 

[MattTCG]

Quote:

Yeah, having only recently acquired the HE500s, I've been addicted to it. Something like 95:5 listening time of it versus my HE400s for the past week. Even out of my E17 the HE500s are magical, maybe a bit underpowering with some dynamic concert tracks but otherwise just perfect, no flaws. The transparency is astonishing.

 
You're running the he500 from an e17? 

 

 

[jerg]

Quote:

 
You're running the he500 from an e17? 

 

 
Ooh yeah. Just because I can 

 
It's quite a surprise that they can be driven loud enough in the first place, maybe 5 volume ticks apart from HE400 to get to the same loudness.
 
Totally debunked everyones' misconception that these can only be driven out of big ass table-top amps. I know they will scale but this is a fantastic start point already, as it handily outperforms HE400s out of such an entry-level thing.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Drive =/= volume.

But oh well.

 

[MattTCG]

It's cool to think of how much better than could sound for you out of the right amp now that you've started with the e17. I think I know what you want for Christmas!! 

 

[Clemmaster]

Quote:

Makes me want to grab a HE-500 right now. The only thing pushing me back is my Icon HDP Amp. It might not do so well.
Everything you have said regarding the HE-400, i agree fully. Especially the recessed mids sounding more heavy.
If bass is not to far from one another, like you have stated, then i'll be looking at the HE-500 for my next pair.
Either that or grab a Audeze LCD-2.
However, in my opinion, the HIFIMAN Aesthetics look rather appealing so im leaning more towards them.
I'd love to hear that open, full, smooth sound from the HE-500. The Sennheiser are like of the same, however i don't believe they're anywhere as near to being open as the HE-500's are.
- TIM

 
The HE-500 has a really good bass but it requires quite a powerfull amp to truely shine. The Fostex HP-A3 is a bit too weak for that ("Hey, what did you expect?" it's USB-powered, so... ), so is the M-Stage.
 
The SA-31 is a 10Wpc amp, so power it definitely has! I'm not saying you MUST have such powerfull amp though, (the HE-6 are a better candidate for such allegation ), I think starting from ~0.5-1Wpc you're good to go.
 
I think the best match for the 400s would be a nice tube amp with forward mids and smooth treble ("change nothing on the bass, thank you!"). I don't expect the magic mids to come out, I think it's the 500s department, but that might open up the vocals a bit.
 
Again, it had only few hours on it yet so I'm saving the final comment for later.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Glad to see another SA-31 owner.

I just really miss my A-GD volume knob.

 

[beaver316]

Just wanted to let you know, the M-stage is not USB powered Clemmaster.

 

[Clemmaster]

Quote:

Just wanted to let you know, the M-stage is not USB powered Clemmaster.

 
This is not what I said
The Fostex is USB-Powered, but both the M-stage and the Fostex are a bit too weak for the HE-500.

 

[beaver316]

Quote:

 
This is not what I said
The Fostex is USB-Powered, but both the M-stage and the Fostex are a bit too weak for the HE-500.

 
Ah right 

 

[jerg]

Quote:

It's cool to think of how much better than could sound for you out of the right amp now that you've started with the e17. I think I know what you want for Christmas!! 

Maybe they just sound that good already, but I actually don't have the itch to upgrade any more at the moment. I do recall the HE500s sounding a bit more coherent and dynamic back when I was at my local head-fi meet, and the HE500s at the meet were driven out of a lot of different high-end amps there; but this is actually not too far off. 
 
So these HE500s may stay underpowered for a while longer yet!
 
 
Edit: I guess what I'm trying to say is, even out of an E17, the HE500s sound more than $300 better than HE400s. It's not immediately apparent, but it became pretty obvious after a little while.

 

[catspaw]

Quote:

Maybe they just sound that good already, but I actually don't have the itch to upgrade any more at the moment. I do recall the HE500s sounding a bit more coherent and dynamic back when I was at my local head-fi meet, and the HE500s at the meet were driven out of a lot of different high-end amps there; but this is actually not too far off. 
 
So these HE500s may stay underpowered for a while longer yet!
 
 
Edit: I guess what I'm trying to say is, even out of an E17, the HE500s sound more than $300 better than HE400s. It's not immediately apparent, but it became pretty obvious after a little while.

Interesting. Im going to a store this friday to test HE-400 vs HE-500 vs Senn 600 (assuming they get them, im suppoed to call today to confirm, and i will after work).
Since i am going to be testing them on a E17 off my mp3 (and probably thir laptop if they allow it), ill be able to give oyu guys som feedback as well.
Do note that my mp3, compared to my laptop, is quite weak.
If i use the setup Cowon i9, E17 (gain 6 i think) and then my sennheiser hd380 i listen at 45-55 volume. From the Laptop, i listen under 40 or i blow my ears out .
 
Anyhow, ill try to confirm or smash the previous statement after i get to test the headphones .

 

[smcgov]

Quote:

What I did feel, however, is a recess in the mids, especially in the vocals range which make it sound more "heavy" . By comparison, the HE-500s do sound more open and fuller in this area. The 400s don't quite have the magic mids of the 500s.
The treble quantity is a bit more that adequate for me (I'm used to the smooth treble of the 500s), I hope it will tame up a bit with burn-in.
 

 
I noticed the same thing and just returned my HE400's, I listen primarily to rock and noticed during several songs that the vocals in the track seemed to be recessed while the high hat was overpowering.  I think turning them up to hear the vocals caused the highs to give me tinnitus which I now have and won't go away.  I've never had tinnitus from a hp before and don't listen at excessive volumes.  I would love to see a real frequency graph to get a visual on what I am hearing to confirm it.  I bought some HD600's based on a recommendation and to my ears they have better balance across the frequency spectrum.  Interestingly I play bass guitar and I feel that the HD600 more accurately portrays what I hear coming out of my bass amp than the HE400 but then again I'm not a dubstep or hip hop guy and am not fond of synth bass.  I had rev. 2's btw.