[ninjames]

Any more Magni + HE-400 impressions would be greatly appreciated. Closing a deal to sell my UE-900 right now so I can buy the HE-400 and then Magni + Modi at paycheck time (keeping my Little Dot MKIII for now)

 

[wje]

Quote:

Please don't use analogies if they make little sense. 

 
Burn-in should be treated with hostility at times, because it's tossed around like a plague on head-fi, but so are amps, dacs.. cables *shivers*.... cable burn-in *kill me now*, tube rolling.  It's just one of the hyperboles among many other hyperboles that might make people lose their money.  I know, I fell victim to that.
 
As a side note, I got my schiit stack today.  Those guys only gave me one set of feet though, so I gotta head to home-depot sometime and get some more rubber feet.
I still don't have my objective combo and he-400 with me, so I'm only comparing the schiit stack to the imac's onboard sound using an EQ'd AD700, but it does seem as though the schiit stack has a lower midrange and bass warmth that the imac doesn't have.  I don't remember the objective combo having this.  I'll see soon enough though.

 
Yeah, but when someone spends in excess of $500 on a cable for a $400 headphone, they are entitled to describe the burn-in process ... that would be the burning sensation in their wallet.  

 

[Raskolnnikov]

Quote:

 
Yeah, but when someone spends in excess of $500 on a cable for a $400 headphone, they are entitled to describe the burn-in process ... that would be the burning sensation in their wallet.  

 
This I never understood either!

 

[Daemos]

Quote:

 
 
I read your review of the HE-6 compared to the modded fostex T50RPs.  What I may have missed is what amp/dac you used during the comparison.  The only thing I saw was a transportable amp of some kind.  
 
The HE-6 probably picked it's teeth with that amp.  That's why they sounded bright with sibliance.  The HE-6 is none of that.  But your choice of amp will play a very important part of what you hear with the HE-6.

 
I used a 125W speaker amp...it's a warmer amp as well SS Yamaha. I'm sensitive to Sibilance though. I mean the HE-6 had a very full sound, very amazing, but the sibliance was too much, and it was still a little too bright.

 

[wje]

I was able to get the Inquz EQ plug in running in my Squeezebox a short bit ago.  I can set it up as anything from a 2-band to a 15-band EQ.  With my first run, I used the 15-band setting due to a few more bands available for a potential more precise level of adjustment on the frequencies.  Needless to say, I have Norah Jones playing at the moment, just as I did when I applied the settings.  New life has been applied to my HE-400s.  With that said, I wonder how many more adjustments would it take to the HE-500 signature?  Not that that is my mission at the moment, because of where I applied the adjustments, it really cleaned things up in an amazing way.
 
As to my "Plan B" I also picked up a 10-Band ADC EQ from the mid-1980s from a guy off of Craigslist.  I paid only $10.00 for that little beast.  Before setting up the software EQ, I did go ahead with the analog one by placing it in my chain between the Squeezebox and my amp.  It, too, did a great job  by essentially tweaking the adjustments on the same frequency bands.
 
Anywho, here is the graphic of where my "sweet spot" is for my HE-400 rig at the moment.
 
 

 

[TMRaven]

Interesting that you chose to recess an area that was already objectively recessed.

 

[wje]

Quote:

Interesting that you chose to recess an area that was already objectively recessed.

 
Good point.  Those were my initial settings as I went through the frequencies over the bands reflected in graph.  I'll need to pull up some more female artists tomorrow evening and run them through a test to see where further adjustments are needed.

 

[kstuart]

Quote:

Again, burn in is more people adjusting to the sound of a headphone, as well as believing something would change so much for the better that their brain tricks them into thinking it's true.

Similar to the other poster, I also:
 
* Did not like a particular pair of headphones
* Did not want them to get "better", I wanted to sell them to buy HiFiMan headphones
* Did want to write a review first
* Did want to let them burn-in for 100 hours, just so that my review "covered all bases by anyone's reckoning"
* Did put them in a closet hooked up to a music player for 100 hours, so it cannot be brain burn-in
* Reluctantly had to admit they sounded better in certain ways after the burn-in
 
So, two independent experiences demonstrating that it cannot be expectation bias or brain burn-in.   Doesn't mean we are correct, but those cannot be the explanations.
 
By the way, one of the two designers of the Schiit Magni amp told me yesterday that they recommend quote "50-100 hours" of burn-in time before evaluating the Magni.

 

[jerg]

Quote:

Similar to the other poster, I also:
 
* Did not like a particular pair of headphones
* Did not want them to get "better", I wanted to sell them to buy HiFiMan headphones
* Did want to write a review first
* Did want to let them burn-in for 100 hours, just so that my review "covered all bases by anyone's reckoning"
* Did put them in a closet hooked up to a music player for 100 hours, so it cannot be brain burn-in
* Reluctantly had to admit they sounded better in certain ways after the burn-in
 
So, two independent experiences demonstrating that it cannot be expectation bias or brain burn-in.   Doesn't mean we are correct, but those cannot be the explanations.
 
By the way, one of the two designers of the Schiit Magni amp told me yesterday that they recommend quote "50-100 hours" of burn-in time before evaluating the Magni.

IMO manufacturer-recommended burn-in makes a lot of sense, not just for the sake of burning in, but more importantly for the customer to be coerced into spending much longer than a few minutes with the equipment in question, before forming a solidified impression in their minds.
 
If brain burn-in is true and significant, then it is critical that you ensure people don't form early opinions about cans / amps from which to decide things with prematurely, before their brain could adjust properly to the sound signatures.

 

[Jabse]

rev 2 is the optimal version right? just double checking

 

[justin w.]

rev 2 is the optimal version right? just double checking

Yes, i think so

 

[Jabse]

"Midrange is not especially strong, with vocals sometimes sounding a little hollow."
 
anyone confirm the above statement? If true.. quite bad news since i frequent vocal trance
 
source: http://headphones.com.au/psingle?productID=670

 

[catspaw]

Im not sure about burn in, but as far as i understand it, burn in is required for the signal to be transported evenly with the same ammount of response on the entire spectrum (highs to lows).
Before burn in, the Headphones can be less responsive in one are than another, yet that does not mean its what the consumer is expecting.
 
I do think that with a high investment like this i should give it time before i give an opinion, but i already said what my "first impressions" were.

 

[chewy4]

Quote:

"Midrange is not especially strong, with vocals sometimes sounding a little hollow."
 
anyone confirm the above statement? If true.. quite bad news since i frequent vocal trance
 
source: http://headphones.com.au/psingle?productID=670

I don't really think they're hollow, especially with vocal trance. If you give me a link to any songs in particular I can check them out and see how they work for it.
 
The recessed area on these headphones is recessed for a good reason - it's a pretty sensitive area to human hearing and noises in that range can sound harsh and piercing. If you listen to a sine sweep it will still sound like the volume is increasing in the recessed region.
 
Quote:

Similar to the other poster, I also:
 
* Did not like a particular pair of headphones
* Did not want them to get "better", I wanted to sell them to buy HiFiMan headphones
* Did want to write a review first
* Did want to let them burn-in for 100 hours, just so that my review "covered all bases by anyone's reckoning"
* Did put them in a closet hooked up to a music player for 100 hours, so it cannot be brain burn-in
* Reluctantly had to admit they sounded better in certain ways after the burn-in
 
So, two independent experiences demonstrating that it cannot be expectation bias or brain burn-in.   Doesn't mean we are correct, but those cannot be the explanations.
 
By the way, one of the two designers of the Schiit Magni amp told me yesterday that they recommend quote "50-100 hours" of burn-in time before evaluating the Magni.

Just because two independent experiences show that it might not be brain burn-in or expectation bias doesn't mean that it isn't in almost every other case. And I still believe it's more than likely a psychological thing in those two cases. You didn't want to experience it but your brain felt like being a dick and making you experience it anyways. Kinda like when someonte tells you not to think about a pink elephant.

 

[Habu]

Quote:

"Midrange is not especially strong, with vocals sometimes sounding a little hollow."
 
anyone confirm the above statement? If true.. quite bad news since i frequent vocal trance
 
source: http://headphones.com.au/psingle?productID=670

 


Don't worry. They are pretty impressive with vocal trance