[Sniping]

Quote:

If I'm enjoying my HE-400s but want something more comfortable, should I audition the HD650?

Have you tried soaking your velours in hot water/J$ pads or getting the Beyerdynamic universal headband?

 

[Sniping]

Quote:

Please kindly comment: Do the HE-400s feel heavy when you wear them? Are they comfortable on a big head? Thanks!

They're heavy but they don't feel extremely heavy because the weight is distributed very well after you get the right fit on them. 

 

[Spiderman]

I was not a fan of the weight.

 

[teofilrocks]

Have you tried soaking your velours in hot water/J$ pads or getting the Beyerdynamic universal headband?

I've soaked the velours, J$ aren't really an option anymore, and the stock headband itself isn't really an issue. Overall the headphone is just heavy on the head, velour are still stiff and itchy, and the clamp on the jaw gets old. I could bend the headband, but that could only fix one issue.

 

[Sniping]

Quote:

I've soaked the velours, J$ aren't really an option anymore, and the stock headband itself isn't really an issue. Overall the headphone is just heavy on the head, velour are still stiff and itchy, and the clamp on the jaw gets old. I could bend the headband, but that could only fix one issue.

I hear the Mad Dogs are very comfortable. And just fyi, I think YGuyG still has some J$ pads.

 

[steveting99]

Hi guys,
 
Occasionally my  HE-400 creates a funny sound - "..twaaack.." when playing flac files through the laptop, using foobar2000 and Compass 2 DAC/amp combo.
 
I've lent the HE-400 to a friend who connected it a CD transport and using another DAC/amp and he hears the occasional "twaaack".
 
Most of the time, the headphones sound great.
 
Has anyone experienced this with their HE-400 unit?
 
Steve 

 

[Luic]

Quote:

Hi guys,
 
Occasionally my  HE-400 creates a funny sound - "..twaaack.." when playing flac files through the laptop, using foobar2000 and Compass 2 DAC/amp combo.
 
I've lent the HE-400 to a friend who connected it a CD transport and using another DAC/amp and he hears the occasional "twaaack".
 
Most of the time, the headphones sound great.
 
Has anyone experienced this with their HE-400 unit?
 
Steve 

 
I have heard something similar, when I was listening to some music one time. It sounded like a 'whack!' from the left ear driver. Immediately I took it off, and was thinking, what the hell was that? lol. It was sort of loud, and was right next to my ear, so it was pretty worried that something broke after I've only had it for a week, but it seemed fine, nothing was loose, so I'm not sure what it was. Has only happened to me once.

 

[Marleybob217]

Quote:

Hi guys,
 
Occasionally my  HE-400 creates a funny sound - "..twaaack.." when playing flac files through the laptop, using foobar2000 and Compass 2 DAC/amp combo.
 
I've lent the HE-400 to a friend who connected it a CD transport and using another DAC/amp and he hears the occasional "twaaack".
 
Most of the time, the headphones sound great.
 
Has anyone experienced this with their HE-400 unit?
 
Steve 

Nope never ever had that lol! That sounds more like a driver/soundcard malfunction, like a decoding error, than something in the headphone. Did you ever hear it with other speakers/headphones?

 

[Bogatyr]

Received HE-400 in the mail today, have been unable to put them down ever since unboxing them. As a 6'3'' man these feel a tiny bit small, almost as if they were designed for an average sized Asian. The cables require tiny fingers to screw them in, the earpads are good 20% smaller than Q701's, the headband must extend all the way to fit me - but those issues aside, the sound is simply phenomenal. Q701s in comparison are shrill, bright, aggressively mid forward, and bass light. 
 
HE-400 on other hand sound ruler flat and incredibly smooth to my ears.
 
Started off with some Steely Dan, Aphex Twin, Autechre, Rob Zombie, Adele, Judas Priest, Miles Davis - everything sounds just right - a bit more bass wouldn't hurt but they respond real well to EQ. No matter how loud I go, they still don't sound too bright or unpleasant. I notice a bit of tizzyness in the upper treble region in some songs but it doesn't ruin music for me.
 
If my initial impressions don't change in the next week or two I'll be selling Q701s and keeping HE-400s. I'm looking forward to a weekend with this great sounding piece of technology.
 
Bought them from HeadAmp, another big vouch for Justin even though it would have been nice if he shipped them a day or two earlier

 

[TMRaven]

If the song has too much upper treble the HE-400 will brutally show it.  Besides that though I agree that they're very even sounding.  I don't mind their mid coloration at all, and it certainly doesn't affect vocals to me.

 

[Lohb]

Will upgrading cables to solid silver make the treble sparkly and the bass thinner ? On the one hand, you get experts saying cables change the signature and on the other, people say it is all hype and does nothing but make your cans prettier !

 

[jerg]

Quote:

Will upgrading cables to solid silver make the treble sparkly and the bass thinner ? On the one hand, you get experts saying cables change the signature and on the other, people say it is all hype and does nothing but make your cans prettier !

Yeah yeah experts say this and that, and heresay says this and that. The bottom line is that cable business is entirely headphone-dependent, it depends on how revealing the headphone is. On a Beats Studio you won't hear any difference between silver and copper cabling of course because the headphones overshadow any subtle difference.
 
On more appropriate cans it's fairly well-known in that pure copper sounds warmer, with a looser more rumbly bass and less prominent treble; vise versa for pure silver. Silver-plated copper tends to be something in the middle.
 
On my HE400, the difference between Hifiman copper and Hifiman SPC is subtle but my ears picked it up right away; my HE500 reveal much more significant tonal differences. I can imagine this difference being even more apparent with something more ultra-revealing such as HE6 or HD800.

 

[Lohb]

Quote:

Yeah yeah experts say this and that, and heresay says this and that. The bottom line is that cable business is entirely headphone-dependent, it depends on how revealing the headphone is. On a Beats Studio you won't hear any difference between silver and copper cabling of course because the headphones overshadow any subtle difference.
 
On more appropriate cans it's fairly well-known in that pure copper sounds warmer, with a looser more rumbly bass and less prominent treble; vise versa for pure silver. Silver-plated copper tends to be something in the middle.
 
On my HE400, the difference between Hifiman copper and Hifiman SPC is subtle but my ears picked it up right away; my HE500 reveal much more significant tonal differences. I can imagine this difference being even more apparent with something more ultra-revealing such as HE6 or HD800.

........and SPC/silver maybe better at instrument separation ? Yes, SPC might be safe middle ground actually.
I just got a good deal on these cans so I'm going to try them for a while and if they are not for me go for modded Fostex.
So happy to join the Hifiman-HE400 tribe anyway !

 

[beaver316]

Quote:

Yeah yeah experts say this and that, and heresay says this and that. The bottom line is that cable business is entirely headphone-dependent, it depends on how revealing the headphone is. On a Beats Studio you won't hear any difference between silver and copper cabling of course because the headphones overshadow any subtle difference.
 
On more appropriate cans it's fairly well-known in that pure copper sounds warmer, with a looser more rumbly bass and less prominent treble; vise versa for pure silver. Silver-plated copper tends to be something in the middle.
 
On my HE400, the difference between Hifiman copper and Hifiman SPC is subtle but my ears picked it up right away; my HE500 reveal much more significant tonal differences. I can imagine this difference being even more apparent with something more ultra-revealing such as HE6 or HD800.

 
Well put. I guess that's why people say the HD800 is so dependent on the upstream gear.

 

[Okamoto]

Quote:

Hi guys,
 
Occasionally my  HE-400 creates a funny sound - "..twaaack.." when playing flac files through the laptop, using foobar2000 and Compass 2 DAC/amp combo.
 
I've lent the HE-400 to a friend who connected it a CD transport and using another DAC/amp and he hears the occasional "twaaack".
 
Most of the time, the headphones sound great.
 
Has anyone experienced this with their HE-400 unit?
 
Steve 

 
May be a player or driver issue. Try raising the buffer length on foobar or reinstall your drivers.
 
Also, just for precaution purposes, always plug your phones after you turn the amp on, and turn it off after you have unplugged them.
 
 
Quote:

Yeah yeah experts say this and that, and heresay says this and that. The bottom line is that cable business is entirely headphone-dependent, it depends on how revealing the headphone is. On a Beats Studio you won't hear any difference between silver and copper cabling of course because the headphones overshadow any subtle difference.
 
On more appropriate cans it's fairly well-known in that pure copper sounds warmer, with a looser more rumbly bass and less prominent treble; vise versa for pure silver. Silver-plated copper tends to be something in the middle.
 
On my HE400, the difference between Hifiman copper and Hifiman SPC is subtle but my ears picked it up right away; my HE500 reveal much more significant tonal differences. I can imagine this difference being even more apparent with something more ultra-revealing such as HE6 or HD800.

 
The problem is when people claim it changes the headphone performance. Very unlikely to me.