[Thujone]

Quote:

Matte black on the HE-400 looks AWESOME. And I DIDN'T BREAK ANYTHING. DOUBLE AWESOME.
 
Pics coming tomorrow, gonna take one more pass at it tonight.

Damn. You're gonna make me want to paint mine....

 

[davidsh]

Wanna make a 'hippie' HE-500!! Don't care if it's ugly.

 

[Wintersxx866]

Hey guys! Sooo where to start... When I first got the HE400s in I was not impressed at all... They were actually seriously disappointing to me... Reasoning for this was the mids were just so awkward and didn't sound right at all.  I understand some of you guys really are against using digital modifications like EQs and audio enhancers but I've gotta hand it to  these sorts of software...  The HE400s are a beyond capable headphone of taking pretty much any sound signature one would desire.  I mean LITERALLY any sound signature except for heavy bass lol.  These headphones will distort very badly as beyond a certain bass db.  It actually sounds like the membrane between the two magnets will hit the actual magnets themselves causing a serious amount of distortion.  So don't over do the bass on these babies.  The bass is very tight and punchy!  Certainly a very good amount of bass for an open headphone but no where near how much bass closed headphones can do.  Also certainly not the most bassy open headphone out there... If you've heard an amped Somic MH463, goodness those things can rock bass like no other... More than a standard ATH M50 can put out... 
 
Anyways back to the HE400, my first initial impressions were terrible as I almost felt angry at how much these things cost but only did so little in the mids department... I kind of expected this as many people have said the vocals on HE400s often sound awkward and this was no farther from the case stock...  Also on top of that, the vocals were oddly sibilant as well.  After a few hours of playing around with an EQ I almost gave up... I tried every trick that worked for dynamic driver headphones... Then it hit me... These things aren't even being close to dynamic drivers... The ortho nature of the drivers must respond differently to EQ than anything else.  Sure enough, these orthos do respond drastically different to dynamic headphones.  Anyways I finally got the sound signature I love which is very VERY similar to the sound signature of my beloved Audio Technica A900x.  Beautiful, rich and romantic mids with plenty of body!  If you've ever heard the A900x, you'll might fall in love with the sound signature when the mids are slightly bumped up.  There are flaws with the A900x though.  The first is that since it is a closed headphone it doesn't give as much transparency as you'd like.  You can still hear the slight echo in the background from the metal shells of the cans.  Also another flaw is that the dynamic drivers on the A900x, although good, still struggle hardcore with complex songs like In My Mind by Ivan Gough.  When the chorus comes in, the complexity of the bass and treble together is just too much and the drivers make a muddled version of the song that isn't very pleasing.  Also the A900x fails at times to make vocals sound correct as it adds a slight metallic sound that is rather common with ATH 53mm drivers.  In less complex songs, such as Turn Up The Love by Far East Movement, when the synth (thats what I believe it is... lol might be a trumpet or something) kicks in, the A900x just makes it sound sooo dang pleasing!  I knew that if I replicated the body with which the A900x sound signature could play this synth, the sound signature would be perfect! 
 
Onto the tuning, I use spotify and the free EQ for spotify named equalify.  I know that this EQ isn't exactly the best as basically tuning it around will most likely result in the drowning of the mids.  For some reason the program will always lower the mids or make them sound awkward if tuned incorrectly.  Anyways though I decided to do the following setup.
 
60 HZ     +2DB
170 HZ   +2DB
310 HZ   +2DB
600 HZ   +7DB
1K HZ    +7DB
3K HZ    +7DB
6k HZ     -7DB (PLEASE NOTE THIS IS -7DB NO +)
12k HZ   +2DB
14 HZ     +3DB
16 HZ     +2DB
 
Even with this setup, the headphones still didn't carry the body in the mids I desired.  This setup did although clear out the sibilance that made my ears become slightly fatigued.  I next used another audio enhancer named DFX Audio Enhancer.  This program was pretty much specifically designed to give body to the mids and vocals as well as treble and also an artificial sound stage enhancer.  With this program my setup is the following:
 
Fidelity- 1
Ambience- 3
3D surround- 3
Dynamic Boost- 7
Hyper Bass- 4 (not sure this setting ever really does anything?...)
 
Lastly I run a Fiio E17 with all of its power literally maxed out... I mean everything is maxed out to get this Headphone to run at the desired volume.  I understand volume has nothing to do with detail but this headphone is still slightly hard to drive lol
 
My treble and bass settings for the Fiio E17 is -2 on treble and 0 for bass.  
 
I don't know if anybody had the same reaction I did to the stock HE400, but if anybody loves mids and can try to replicate my settings, please tell me if you like the sound signature the HE400s put out.  
 
Thanks guys! Hope I didn't bore anybody to death XD
 
 

 

[TMRaven]

He-400 can take a looooot of bass when eq'd. You just need to eq down so it won't digitally clip, and you need a very powerful amp with lots of overhead. At times I've given my he-400 12db bass boost and maxed out my magni on volume and just held the 400 out at arms length just to feel how much it could shake my arm.

 

[Thujone]

Quote:

He-400 can take a looooot of bass when eq'd. You just need to eq down so it won't digitally clip, and you need a very powerful amp with lots of overhead. At times I've given my he-400 12db bass boost and maxed out my magni on volume and just held the 400 out at arms length just to feel how much it could shake my arm.

So you EQed everything but bass down by 12dB?

 

[BenF]

Quote:

... Lastly I run a Fiio E17 with all of its power literally maxed out... I mean everything is maxed out to get this Headphone to run at the desired volume.  I understand volume has nothing to do with detail but this headphone is still slightly hard to drive lol
...
 

 

On FIIO E17 with the 12dB gain I can't go above 25, it is too loud. Did you really max it out?

 

[TMRaven]

So you EQed everything but bass down by 12dB?

Yes.

 

[Thujone]

Quote:

Yes.

*Begins planning bass experiment*

 

[Wintersxx866]

LOLWUT??? I must get a new AMP!!!! 

  Also my fiio is indeed maxed out but on spotify I use it to about 75% volume on the volume bar... Maybe I'm just stupid and am blowing out my ears at the moment?... XD
 
I honestly got a little scared when the HE400 distorted lol XD Idk maybe I'm just paranoid about how much pressure orthos use between the two magnets... 
 
Okay... just tried 25 on 12 db... and full volume on control bar... Its too low on volume XD....

 

[BenF]

Quote:

LOLWUT??? I must get a new AMP!!!! 

  Also my fiio is indeed maxed out but on spotify I use it to about 75% volume on the volume bar... Maybe I'm just stupid and am blowing out my ears at the moment?... XD
 
I honestly got a little scared when the HE400 distorted lol XD Idk maybe I'm just paranoid about how much pressure orthos use between the two magnets... 
 
Okay... just tried 25 on 12 db... and full volume on control bar... Its too low on volume XD....

Depending on a mastering of the song, 25 may not be enough for you.
if you have to max out FIIO E17 all the time, you should consult a doctor - hearing loss is not a joke.

 

[BenF]

Two Steps From Hell sounds great on HE-400:
 

 
 

 

 

 

[Wintersxx866]

Quote:

Depending on a mastering of the song, 25 may not be enough for you.
if you have to max out FIIO E17 all the time, you should consult a doctor - hearing loss is not a joke.

Ahhhh lol yeah... I guess it was actually a coldplay song that was mastered at pretty low volumes that I was listening too... Some EDM I'm using at like 33 to 32 at max lol You were right!   Funny thing is I'm a pharmacist in the making XD We just did hearing in IPP labs lol

 

[Netforce]

Quote:

Matte black on the HE-400 looks AWESOME. And I DIDN'T BREAK ANYTHING. DOUBLE AWESOME.
 
Pics coming tomorrow, gonna take one more pass at it tonight.

Wow, excited to see it!

 

[TMRaven]

Which album is that ocean prince song on? I (thought) I had the entire two steps discography of around like 800 songs, but I've never heard that one.

 

[BenF]

Quote:

Which album is that ocean prince song on? I (thought) I had the entire two steps discography of around like 800 songs, but I've never heard that one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illusions_%28Thomas_Bergersen_album%29