[hifimanrookie]

Metal is my biggest chunk of music, and I shall check that track out asap!

Metal huh? Mmmmm may i give u a tip..if u have a chance..try to listen to the he500 on a good amp...i say this as i have lots of metallica tracks..and especially those tracks on which the leadsinger (female) has a higher (or opera style) voice and when the second voice is one of those LOOOOOWW evil devilish male screaming voices (u know the scary ones) that headphone will give u the creeps how real those voices sound.. And am not even talking about the extreme high speed guitar solos..wonderfull.. U have to hear it to believe it..for me the he500 did much better then the he400... As i said..try it one day.. At a meet or something

 

[amigomatt]

Metal huh? Mmmmm may i give u a tip..if u have a chance..try to listen to the he500 on a good amp...i say this as i have lots of metallica tracks..and especially those tracks on which the leadsinger (female) has a higher (or opera style) voice and when the second voice is one of those LOOOOOWW evil devilish male screaming voices (u know the scary ones) that headphone will give u the creeps how real those voices sound.. And am not even talking about the extreme high speed guitar solos..wonderfull.. U have to hear it to believe it..for me the he500 did much better then the he400... As i said..try it one day.. At a meet or something

Oh, you're just persuading me even more to upgrade to the 500s now!

 

[nicholars]

I do not find the HE400 to be very good for metal or rock type music personally...  I even prefer my relatively cheap Shure Se215 IEM's for those genres.... For EDM or soundtracks and that sort of thing the HE400 are much better though....

 

[jerg]

Yeah rock and metal tend to have a ton of information in the upper midrange, which HE400's de-emphasize by their intrinsic tonal balance. Just not a great complement.
 
Same reason why headphones that have really aggressive prominent upper mids almost always sound great with rock (and to a lesser extent metal), even if they are not that special in a technical sense.

 

[nicholars]

  Yeah rock and metal tend to have a ton of information in the upper midrange, which HE400's de-emphasize by their intrinsic tonal balance. Just not a great complement.
 
Same reason why headphones that have really aggressive prominent upper mids almost always sound great with rock (and to a lesser extent metal), even if they are not that special in a technical sense.

 
A combination of this and also the fact that the HE400 emphasise any flaws in the recording, which is also often not very good with metal and rock music. You have a combination of recessed upper mids and emphasised sibilance etc. Does not sound great with those genres...

 

[hifimanrookie]

Yeah rock and metal tend to have a ton of information in the upper midrange, which HE400's de-emphasize by their intrinsic tonal balance. Just not a great complement.

Same reason why headphones that have really aggressive prominent upper mids almost always sound great with rock (and to a lesser extent metal), even if they are not that special in a technical sense.

And reading this..i need to say the jerg pads by modulor made a recognizable positive difference with metallica compared to when my he500 was with standard pads!

Sound got fuller..more powerfull..especially when more then one guitars start playing with force...for example when i was listening to evenacence, her leadguitarist had a very specific way to plunk on his electric guitar on certain tracks and u hear that plunk so clearly after the pad mod... So natural..and that bass hits hard and controlled...and those metal bass guitars.. The agressivity makes u smile how they smile..so low and growling almost... But i have to say..i had the amp to deliver..on others u maybe dont get that punch..

 

[GWagon]

I've been using these for the last couple of hours and I'm really digging the sound. The details are astounding, with the holographic sound stage I'm able to pick out the different instruments pretty easily. I am getting the slight "Tz" sound but it seems to have died down a bit since I first put them on. It was pretty unbearable to start off with, which worried me a little but it went within the first few minutes.
 
Overall, I am really impressed with these technically and musically. I hear that the velour pads help with the recessed upper mids but also negatively effect the bass so I'm not sure if I should get a pair. Should I be expecting any significant change to the sound as I burn them in further?

 

[Thujone]

The sound shouldn't change from "burn in". Your brain may change how it feels about the sound though. The velours will make the treble a little worse but they are nicely balanced. The best route to go for pads is to make/buy jergpads. Definitely use some EQ to tame that treble though, I agree that they're unbearable without it.

 

[amigomatt]

Yeah rock and metal tend to have a ton of information in the upper midrange, which HE400's de-emphasize by their intrinsic tonal balance. Just not a great complement.

Same reason why headphones that have really aggressive prominent upper mids almost always sound great with rock (and to a lesser extent metal), even if they are not that special in a technical sense.

Except the HD598s, but that's because they lack speed as well.

It's not that they sound bad with rock and metal, just a bit too smooth and polite.

 

[hemipowered007]

The thing is, because of the speed they don't sound terrible with metal, and I also listen to a lot of NIN and slower acoustic rock. These were kind of a foot in the water to planars for me. As at the time of purchase I coukdnt afford more. So, now, I'm saving for a 500. May even get a mini x I'd my sx 727 doesn't sound right. But for now, I still enjoy them, with games as well. O knew when I bought them they weren't an all arounder, now if I would have known more about the he 4 I would have bought them instead. But at the time all my readings seem to say the he400 was the better of the two. I guess in my case especially, that was entirely incorrect

 

[hemipowered007]

Sorry for typos my phone is acting up

 

[modulor]

The thing is, because of the speed they don't sound terrible with metal, and I also listen to a lot of NIN and slower acoustic rock. These were kind of a foot in the water to planars for me. As at the time of purchase I coukdnt afford more. So, now, I'm saving for a 500. May even get a mini x I'd my sx 727 doesn't sound right. But for now, I still enjoy them, with games as well. O knew when I bought them they weren't an all arounder, now if I would have known more about the he 4 I would have bought them instead. But at the time all my readings seem to say the he400 was the better of the two. I guess in my case especially, that was entirely incorrect

Hmm, could be due to the capacitors and/or resistors as they will go over time (common with older amps).  It is possible to replace them but it's a bit of work and expense.  If you have an audio repair shop in your area, they may do it for a reasonable price though.

 

[nicholars]

For some reason I find that metal and rock just sound better on IEM's.... Some over ears are good as well....

 

[MattTCG]

  Hmm, could be due to the capacitors and/or resistors as they will go over time (common with older amps).  It is possible to replace them but it's a bit of work and expense.  If you have an audio repair shop in your area, they may do it for a reasonable price though.

 
This. A restored vintage receiver/amp will sound very different from one that is 30-40 years old with no restoration. The difference in sound can be amazing. 

 

[Thujone]

I think he meant to say that he'll get the Emotiva IF his SX 727 doesn't sound right. I don't think he meant to say there was anything wrong with it.