[Mad Lust Envy]

The SRM-252S which is just under the price of the SR407.

Keep in mind that the mids aren't forward but blended into the overall sound. Like on the same line as the rest of the sound.

 

[Marleybob217]

^ Wow they sell them, in my country!
 
http://www.number4audio.nl/stax_srs2170.html
 
I could actually audition it!

 

[Okamoto]

I told to myself that if I am to upgrade to a electrostat, it's gonna be the SR-007.
 
There's one fellow here in Brazil selling the SR-007 MKII + 727A combo for R$7000(U$3500). Had I not other priorities at the moment, I'd not think twice before buying it.
 

 

 

[MrMateoHead]

Quote:

I hate to stir the pot, but wanted to add one more data point for people.
 
As a matter of personal opinion the HE-500 does have burn in. And 150 hours is just about right. I always said 120 minimum and after 200 no change ("stable")
 
This coming from someone who has his 4th pair of HE-500 and burning them in for the 4th time. I'm a big believer of the scientific method and a proud skeptic. But not everything shows up in Frequency Response Cuves/CSD/Impulse Response/Square Waves.
 
I think we need more sophisticated measuring tools and then we'll be able to measure small differences. Like being able to measure the diaphram with laser precision while real music is playing, instead of sending impulses to make measurements.
 
Now... saying all that can it just be a placebo psuedo effect and my brain is being fooled for the 4th time? Of course. Humans are faulty in general so why not.
 
I hope in the future we'll develope more sophisticated measuring tools to really flesh this issue out.

Well, to an extent headphones are a unique problem. In another thread, a recent test by Harmon international showed very different response curves by listener, some of which relating, for example, to the 'seal' between the phone and the head. So there can be variation in user to user experience, and also issues experianced by some but not all listeners. Or, in other words, finely crafted headphones are still likely to make very different impressions on every person that try them. For me, sound quality has been something 'learned', not necessarily known before hand. Yet I have always known that I like a more balanced presentation better than an un-balanced one, because the performance is usually more consistent across genres.
 
While I think burn-in is ultimately a major farce, I do think attitudes and preferences can adjust to new products. The "sporty" car you purchased on Monday may, after some months, seem quite tame compared to your memory of the initial driving experience. Some of this may be attributable to wear and tear, but not enough, IMHO, to really change the choice you made / would make now. Headphone diaphrams may break in somewhat, but are still working within certain mechanical tolerances.
 
Impressions and memory are not reliable sources of knowledge.

 

[M-13]

Quote:

 
Impressions and memory are not reliable sources of knowledge.

Often, this is how humans operate since we're not machines...
 
If you can't trust what you hear and if you can't trust what you remember, who are you then?
 
Eye witness testimony has been proven to be inaccurate, yet I usually believe things I see and hear. Call me crazy.

 

[hemipowered007]

Finally got some time on on these, spent all week listening at around 30 to 34 on a fiio e17 at 12 gain. Now, I ended up being quite happy with the outcome, had to get used to the planar sound. Having said that, I got home, hooked up to my desktop-dac destroyer- to pioneer sx 727. I have always loved how this vintage receiver sounds, and I spent a long time re doing the internals so it sounds brand new. Well the verdict is, while I enjoyed these on the e17, there's enough of a difference to where I think I'm going to sell the e17 and dac destroyer, and buy an hrt music streamer or an arcam rpac. I absolutely love the pioneer, it gives these the power they aren't supposed to want, everything just became more full, and yes I've switched back to the e17 volume matched. I don't see these scaling a whole lot more, so with the arcam or hrt I think ill be happy for a while. And no I don't have hearing loss! I just jumped the gun to quickly on first impression of these, thanks everyone for listening and giving advice for that though, much appreciated. Now back to the music!

 

[TwinQY]

Quote:

If you can't trust what you hear and if you can't trust what you remember, who are you then?

That is really getting close into philosophical territory. Who are you? Why should we trust our senses? 
 
Just playing some devil's advocate as I found this interesting. Much more interesting than a burn-in debate.

 

[M-13]

Quote:

Finally got some time on on these, spent all week listening at around 30 to 34 on a fiio e17 at 12 gain. Now, I ended up being quite happy with the outcome, had to get used to the planar sound. Having said that, I got home, hooked up to my desktop-dac destroyer- to pioneer sx 727. I have always loved how this vintage receiver sounds, and I spent a long time re doing the internals so it sounds brand new. Well the verdict is, while I enjoyed these on the e17, there's enough of a difference to where I think I'm going to sell the e17 and dac destroyer, and buy an hrt music streamer or an arcam rpac. I absolutely love the pioneer, it gives these the power they aren't supposed to want, everything just became more full, and yes I've switched back to the e17 volume matched. I don't see these scaling a whole lot more, so with the arcam or hrt I think ill be happy for a while. And no I don't have hearing loss! I just jumped the gun to quickly on first impression of these, thanks everyone for listening and giving advice for that though, much appreciated. Now back to the music!

I knew it!
 
Planars and power go like peanut butter and jelly, haha. Congrats on the discovery. I'm driving my HE-500 using 50 watts/channel speaker taps and oh my they sing like an angel. Not that this would be needed for the HE-400, but atleast an E09k or a Magni would be an improvement over just an E17. You get volume yes, but it just doesn't sound the best. I'm sure you know what I mean now.

 

[M-13]

Quote:

That is really getting close into philosophical territory. Who are you? Why should we trust our senses? 
 
Just playing some devil's advocate as I found this interesting. Much more interesting than a burn-in debate.

Yeah I try to keep life simple. I try my best not to deceive myself or get fooled, but if I hear something and if I see something over and over again despite my best efforts and personal test procedures. I will believe it.
 
What more can I do as a human being? A fundamental cornerstone of science is observation and writing down data from observations. If hearing is a sonic observation then why not make conclusions from my own data points? I honestly believe regular audiophiles don't have the right scientific instruments to measure things like burn-in, but I feel like someone smart enough could probably design such a machine to take sensitive measurements someday. Humans are easily fooled and are wrong very often, but we're also right every once in a while.

 
What's funny is that Head-Fi has given me a lot of hunger to study Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. This coming from a business/law guy. I just want to learn more so that I can investigate if there is any truth to audiophile claims and maybe even design and build my own amps/dacs or even dare I say it... headphones? 

 

[Anvil]

Has anyone ever had a loud clicking noise occur with the HE-400s? I was just playing a game with these on and I got three loud clicks, two on the left earcup and one on the right. I had gotten these before, albeit not as common so it's a little odd.

 

[beaver316]

Quote:

Has anyone ever had a loud clicking noise occur with the HE-400s? I was just playing a game with these on and I got three loud clicks, two on the left earcup and one on the right. I had gotten these before, albeit not as common so it's a little odd.

 
Yeah I get them every so often. I think it's just expansion or contraction occurring with the driver frame, nothing to worry about imo.

 

[MattTCG]

Interesting...I've never heard it. Clipping maybe?

 

[Marleybob217]

Quote:

Interesting...I've never heard it. Clipping maybe?

Me neither. Also the construction of the He-400 probably wouldn't allow expansion and contraction. First of all it's plastic, not wood so I doubt things would even want to expand or contract.
Second, it's an extremely tight fit.

 

[beaver316]

Quote:

Interesting...I've never heard it. Clipping maybe?

 
Nah no way it's clipping. It's not sound being produced by the driver, it sounds like someone is tapping the headphone while you're wearing it. We had a discussion about this not too long ago, I think someone referred to it as a "twaack".

 

[MattTCG]

Oh yeah, now I remember the posts after mentioned "twaack." Still haven't heard it though.