[soundeffect]

listening to guys saying they are bright and stuff is getting me excited as I want something different, but good. I'm excited to get something lighter and slightly smaller. I'm still placing my bet on the HE400, but if the annie falls a little short I'm still okay with the trade off of lighter and more comfort. I ordered last night and it should be here on Monday and i have Monday to listen to them before I head out on vacation for the rest of the week I might attempt to take it with my some how.

 

[Bop]

Quote:

Is there a way to stop the extreme sibilance from female vocals on the HE-400? I have velour pads and an E17 with +2 bass, -2 treble. Should I look into doing some pad mods, or is there a way to EQ it out?

 
Pads mods help tremendously.  Listening to a Libera CD was like a migraine-in-a-can.  The jergpad mod definitely helped with the sibilance in the upper registers and made them rather pleasing.  I sort of went ham in cutting the holes, which lead to some channel imbalance but fixed that with a few cotton balls added beneath the pads.  Double benefit of clearing up the sound a little more as well as more padding to keep the ear away from the driver.  IMO jergpads help tremendously and bring out the real character of the headphones, makes "neutral" setups sound worthwhile
 
Thank you Jerg for the idea 

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

I agree with MLE that you need to listen to the Annies for a while without A/B'ing them with the HE400s.  The Annies will probably seem very bright to you at first.

I dunno about bright, as the HE400 has a helluva lot more treble than the Annie. Maybe the fact the upper mids aren't recessed, and will enhance female vocals more than the HE400, but sibilance and treble is a non-issue on the Annie.

 

[Limniscate]

Quote:

I dunno about bright, as the HE400 has a helluva lot more treble than the Annie. Maybe the fact the upper mids aren't recessed, and will enhance female vocals more than the HE400, but sibilance and treble is a non-issue on the Annie.

MLE, I was able to hear the DT880s again and think that the bass is definitely tighter on the 880s versus the Annies, but the treble and mids are better on the Annies for sure.  I've never noticed the sibilance and treble issues that others have noted about the HE400.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

I agree. The 880 does have tighter bass than the Annie. The Annie's bass is softer and more ambientthan the 880s, which is faster.

The HE400 is a dark headphone with the exception of its treble which seems out of place in its darkness. Its problematic to some people because dark headphones dont tend to have that kind of treble. Its ultimately easier on the ears when a headphone starts off bright. Like I find the 990s to be less glaring than the HE400, because your ears expect the brightness.

Kinda hard to explain. Its like when you go from a dark headphone to a bright one. Your ears take a bit to get accustomed to the signature change. With the HE400, you dont really get enough time to adjust from darkness to brightness, so the treble can come off as a bit fatiguing.

 

[soundeffect]

I think people who don't really notice the treble issue are the one that really like them, I'm one of those. It's weird for me though, when I first got them after owning the MD, I did notice it, but after a few days it didnt stand out for me anymore like I got accustom to it. Sibilance wise, I think I do notice it, but always take it as the recording more than actual as I only notice this only in a few.

I hope the k702 anniv. are not too smooth that they are a snooze fest.

 

[Poetik]

Just got done listening to the HE-400's.
 
My ears are COMPLETELY done and now I want to burn down a whole village.
 
What the hell were they thinking with the treble? SERIOUSLY? Lets make take a great sounding headphone and totally screw it up with the treble.  Holy crap way to go hifiman!!!!! I really thought that I liked treble, I mean I used to think it was definitely necessary.  Not anymore! Now I'm scared to even go anywhere near it.. I'm forever scarred from that experience!!
 
Beyerdynamic J$ pads, Denon v3 J$ pads, Hifiman pleather, and Hifiman velour all do not help.  I am totally against using EQ so my only hope is the jerg mod.  Will that mod possibly cure the pain and anguish that I feel right now? Or am I forever doomed to be disappointed by in my opinion, one of the worst blunders in headphone sound signature history?
 
SOMEONE HELP!!!!!

 

[ninjames]

Hyperbole, much? You should probably just move on to another headphone, as you should know that no amount of modding can take a treble down from the levels you claim its at to something that suits you and is worth $400 of your hard-earned money.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Yeah, time to move on to another headphone. Nothing short of a drastic EQ reduction will save the HE400 from being treble heavy.

 

[Okamoto]

Quote:

I think people who don't really notice the treble issue are the one that really like them, I'm one of those. It's weird for me though, when I first got them after owning the MD, I did notice it, but after a few days it didnt stand out for me anymore like I got accustom to it. Sibilance wise, I think I do notice it, but always take it as the recording more than actual as I only notice this only in a few.

I hope the k702 anniv. are not too smooth that they are a snooze fest.

Same here. I notice some sibilance in very few albums, so I'm guessing it's more of a recording issue.

I made an EQ curve some time ago but I've barely used it. The stock signature is indeed the best one.

I was almost getting a HE-500(even got a Burson HA-160 for that purpose), but I'm still enjoying these cans so much that I really see no need for that.

 

[davidsh]

I am positive that some people's treble issues are due to loud listening.

 

[beaver316]

Quote:

I am positive that some people's treble issues are due to loud listening.

 
Agreed, but the fact remains that the HE-400 does have a slightly bothersome treble. With jergpad and slight EQ it's perfectly fine.
 
Slightly unrelated story. Back when I owned my Fiio E17 and Senn IE80 I gave it to a friend to have a listen since he was curious how it sounded. I usually listen to around 30-35 on the 0db gain setting. Plenty loud for me. When he started listening he set the volume to 60 (max)! He even asked if it goes any louder but I refrained from telling him you can increase the gain for fear of his hearing. I was shocked.

 

[soundeffect]

your story reminded me of last weekend.  I had a few people at my house and my little brother that I lend my XB700 for long term (really permanent) wanted to listen to the HE400, I set it at 11:00 and he slowly crank it up to either really close to max or max volume on the Magni.  It was insane because people started to make comments like "wow that is scary."  I never heard my HE400 not on my head at that loud of a volume before and now I understand what people mean when they say "sound like desktop speakers."  I can hear everything clearly.  When he stopped, took off the headphone, and he commented "wow I can hear everything". My comment was "I hope so because we all can."  Crazy stuff.

 

[Poetik]

Listening at too high of a volume? My normal listening levels are around 9 o'clock on my audio GD fun.  I find that I listen to music at VERY acceptable levels, it's just that the HE-400's treble is so pronounced that it makes even listening to music at an acceptable level a near painful experience for me.  I really wanted to like these headphones and for the most part I do.  They have a very nice bass response, the mids are more or less engaging, but the treble is basically flipping me off every time I put the headphone on. Most of my files are modern recordings and we all know those are mastered very hot but I can't really recall a situation in the past where I absolutely had to take a headphone off my head due to the pounding of a merciless treble.  I don't even believe my HD800 or T1 did anything like this at acceptable volumes.
 
I did more testing last night and it seems like the pleather pads do tone down the treble a bit but they muffle up the whole sound signature.  The Denon J$ pads are more of the same with their extra thick screen. The beyerdynamic J$ pads have a nice sound but absolutely no screen to them so you're at the mercy of the treble.  The velour sounds better than the pleather / Denon J$ pads to me yet a bit dark compared to the beyerdynamic J$ pads. Hmm, I think the Beyerdynamic j$ pads will probably have a good compromise of everything if paired with the velour pad screen too.
 
The pads really do have a different sound so it makes me wonder about the Jerg pads.  I guess the only way to know is to try it right?

 

[jsaliga]

While I think some mods can improve what is already a good product, no amount of modding is going to turn what you think is a sow's ear into a silk purse.  I thought the HE-400s were pretty terrible headphones.  Many like them; I don't.  There is nothing wrong with people liking them, and there is nothing wrong with people not liking them.  Whatever floats your boat.  I returned the HE-400s and bought the HE-500s instead, and I am a helluva lot happier for it.  Yes, the HE-500 is more expensive and have some amping requirements you need to be mindful of, but it is also a much better headphone (at least for me).
 
--Jerome