[MuppetFace]

Quote:

hey i just got my HE-400 today.
I'm listening to them through my macbook.
I dont have an amp either, but I read that they are decent without one.
 
Honestly, the sound is muffled even compared to my 4 year old HD 555 that was 98 bucks.
maybe i need to spend more time with it, or maybe i was expecting too much from my first "real" headphone.
Idk... i'm just a little dissapointed.
Or it could be because its not amped.

 
Quote:

They're thoroughly underpowered by the lack of amp, not like HD555 which is designed to be driven by onboard soundcards and MP3 players. You're probably getting maybe 5~10% potential performance out of them, arbitrarily speaking.
 
Any channel imbalance issues so far?
 

Personally, I think that's a bit of an exaggeration in performance loss from the lack of an amp.  There will be improvement with an amp, yes, but not an 90-95% improvement in my experience with orthos (aside from the HE-6, but that's thing is a monster). Now it's more likely in my experience that the HE-400 is accentuating poorly recorded material much more than the HD555.

 

[Kilosonic]

Quote:

hey i just got my HE-400 today.
I'm listening to them through my macbook.
I dont have an amp either, but I read that they are decent without one.
 
Honestly, the sound is muffled even compared to my 4 year old HD 555 that was 98 bucks.
maybe i need to spend more time with it, or maybe i was expecting too much from my first "real" headphone.
Idk... i'm just a little dissapointed.
Or it could be because its not amped.

In my limited experience, trying to drive orthos unamped is like attempting to tow a cruiseship with a jet ski. I briefly tried the he-400 @ ces with my droid unamped and even at max vol it was disappointing to say the least. Also if you havent already, take advantage of your macbook's optical out -> external dac. The difference is quite substantial imho. Good luck~
 
 

 

[murrays]

Quote:

hey i just got my HE-400 today.
I'm listening to them through my macbook.
I dont have an amp either, but I read that they are decent without one.
 
Honestly, the sound is muffled even compared to my 4 year old HD 555 that was 98 bucks.
maybe i need to spend more time with it, or maybe i was expecting too much from my first "real" headphone.
Idk... i'm just a little dissapointed.
Or it could be because its not amped.

What is your source material - lossless (e.g. FLAC) or MP3 files? Can you play direct from a CD?
Can you try the headphones on something else, like a receiver/amplifier playing from CD source?
 

 

[054k4]

What music are you listening to ?  Electronic music is godly with these headphones, classical... not so much. I expected this when I preordered mine so I'm happy with it. Also, I recommend an amp as well, even a low end one, and burning for a day or two can help.

 
Quote:

hey i just got my HE-400 today.
I'm listening to them through my macbook.
I dont have an amp either, but I read that they are decent without one.
 
Honestly, the sound is muffled even compared to my 4 year old HD 555 that was 98 bucks.
maybe i need to spend more time with it, or maybe i was expecting too much from my first "real" headphone.
Idk... i'm just a little dissapointed.
Or it could be because its not amped.

 

 

[amcananey]

To chime in....it's the lack of an amp. I felt the same way about mine at first and was quite disappointed. Then I hooked them up to an amp and they were completely different headphones altogether. Not necessarily the holy grail, but very, very good indeed. Don't give up on them based on their unamped performance. 

 

[Focker]

Quote:

They're thoroughly underpowered by the lack of amp, not like HD555 which is designed to be driven by onboard soundcards and MP3 players. You're probably getting maybe 5~10% potential performance out of them, arbitrarily speaking.
 
Any channel imbalance issues so far?
 

Doesn't Fang sort of market the 400s as not needing an amp? I'm not doubting that they sound better with the amp. I am playing around with a pair of very easy to drive Grado SR80i's right now, and even those sound better when my little Fiio E11 is in the mix. But probably some people will see that hifiman has indicated that the 400s don't really need any sort of amplification to sound good, and they will inevitably use their laptops, iPods, and other underpowered sources.

 

[jerg]

Quote:

Doesn't Fang sort of market the 400s as not needing an amp? I'm not doubting that they sound better with the amp. I am playing around with a pair of very easy to drive Grado SR80i's right now, and even those sound better when my little Fiio E11 is in the mix. But probably some people will see that hifiman has indicated that the 400s don't really need any sort of amplification to sound good, and they will inevitably use their laptops, iPods, and other underpowered sources.

The truth behind the marketing is that they will not need an amp to play at practical volumes, but that's it. Everyone who has received it has confirmed it.

 

[CSGO rice]

I'm at home right now so I only have my macbook.
At school, I have a desktop with a audio chip similar in quality to a E7 from what I've read on here.
I am listening to mostly FLAC files and a few 320 mp3's.
I do like classical but i also like female vocal stuff, alternative rock and screamo.
I don't listen to any electronic, hiphop or rap.
 
I was thinking about getting a matrix m stage or a O2 amp cause my budget isn't that high being a student and all.
Would either of those be powerful enough to drive these to near max potential?
Also, no channel imbalance at all.
 
Honestly i was set on getting a Q701 and matrix m stage before they announced this headphone.
I was drawn in by the planar hype and also seeing these claiming they don't need much juice to sound good.
In music, I value clarity and soundstage above other aspects.
Would I be happier with the AKG's?
 

 

[CSGO rice]

With the limited amount of hours I've listened to these for, being a complete noobie, and having these without an amp....
I can say that I feel like the low end is impressively punctual.  Really good separation in bass.  I used to not like bass heavy stuff before, but I feel like these might change that.  The slightly harsh treble is distracting away attention from the mids IMO.  Mids are my favorite part of the music, so it was a little disappointing.
There is detail, but when it is in the lower mid range, it tends to drown out some of the detail.
I will try to find someone with an amp (its gonna be hard cause i live in freaking nebraska) and hopefully some problems will go away and I will enjoy these more!

 

[Disengager]

So I'll be shipping mine out for repair on Monday. Going to really miss not having them for 2-3 weeks. Luckily they only need to be shipped back to NY, not China.

 

[Katysax]

Well mine worked for about 20 minutes then started losing the left channel.  The left channel worked off and on and now it doesn't work at all.  I guess I'm going to have to send them back.

 

[lextek]

I'm getting the feeling that it's good I missed the preorder special.  Let things settle down.

 

[dorino]

Quote:

I'm getting the feeling that it's good I missed the preorder special.  Let things settle down.

First batch syndrome at its finest - At least HiFiMAN was really prompt in responding to the issue (there was really only one) and hell, telling people how to DIY fix 'em.

 

[rhythmdevils]

Quote:

 
Honestly i was set on getting a Q701 and matrix m stage before they announced this headphone.
I was drawn in by the planar hype and also seeing these claiming they don't need much juice to sound good.
In music, I value clarity and soundstage above other aspects.
Would I be happier with the AKG's?
 

1.  There is no hype.  They are superior. 

 
2.  If those are really your only priorities and you are ok maximizing them with colorations, then maybe so, yes. 

 

[Larryonfire]

It would be cool if Fang gave us more than the blue color to chose from. Especially In these celebrity headphone times, a white, camouflage colors or metallic red would suit the HE-400 nicely in my opinion.