[davidsh]

The HE-400 treble is not linear, and I find it to be one of the few things it does not do very well. The treble seems rather uniform and a tad metallic.

 

[skinnygamer12]

The HE-400 treble is not linear, and I find it to be one of the few things it does not do very well. The treble seems rather uniform and a tad metallic.

What do you mean by uniform?
I have not noticed a metallic sound in the treble so far. To me they sound linear, but then again they are by far the best I have heard so maybe I just don't know what true linearity sounds like. Or perhaps with more critical listening I will discover some peaks or dips, I haven't had as much time with them yet as I would like.

 

[skinnygamer12]

The HE-400 treble is not linear, and I find it to be one of the few things it does not do very well. The treble seems rather uniform and a tad metallic.

What do you mean by uniform?
I have not noticed a metallic sound in the treble so far. To me they sound linear, but then again they are by far the best I have heard so maybe I just don't know what true linearity sounds like. Or perhaps with more critical listening I will discover some peaks or dips, I haven't had as much time with them yet as I would like.

 

[skinnygamer12]

Oops sorry about the double post. Phone glitched.

 

[davidsh]

 
Talking about the enourmous valley from 1khz-8khz... And then the later treble roll off. The HE-500 is quite a bit better in the treble region

 

[skinnygamer12]

I hadn't really noticed that as I was still adjusting to their sound signature, but yes you're right. I haven't noticed the roll off though... That valley seems to be what gives the cans their somewhat dark sound signature. They respond to EQ very well though, so it is easily corrected if you so choose. Personally I like their sound signature as is so I'm going to leave it alone, but I just tried fixing that with an EQ out of curiosity and it works very well.

 

[dauhak]

Hi,

I also have he400. It is no placebo effect by no means. After reading the review I compared it with vmoda crossfade 2 I . I tried to find similarities in sonic signature but I can't.

Vmoda isn't bad by any means, but the hifiman blows it away by the sheer wide soundstage and spaciousness. But i have to agree on the metallic sounding, it does sound like you are in a big vaccum room. I prefer the vocals of vmoda though.

Although Vmoda have stronger bass presence, he400 goes a bit deeper almost to a level of slight rumble, but since it is planar, it is so quick without any delay on bass.
I can conclude the Hifiman have a very fast sound driver, treble and bass can both be heard at the same time whilst vmoda is a dynamic driver, it doesn't sound airy hence bass and treble can't be differentiated while listening.

 

[bagwell359]

Beginners are prone to over and understatement due to lack of experience. Nothing wrong in that, we were all there at one time.

I'd bet that if you attended some meets and hit some retail stores that in 18-24 months your writing would contain more references and depth - because you are off to a good start. I'll keep an eye on you, should be interesting.

For my part when I first heard the 400 I thought it was the 2nd best can I ever heard after a Stax 300. Now? It's not in my top 20 - but its pretty good - it's all relative to time and experience.

 

[bagwell359]

Maybe to some extent, but my stepdad has very expensive studio monitor speakers, not sure what brand, and they dont have the same smoothness as these.

Room speakers have to deal with rooms. Most people just plunk the speakers down and go, there are many things that affect sound, and many things that can be done to make the room more neutral. Is there a lot of glass windows, sliders, and hanging pictures? That will kill you right there. Spare furnishings, tile/concrete floors, etc.

I have frequently found speakers and headphones with mylar need a lot of break-in, also piston woofers. Lots of other designs don't have notable break-in. Of course there is break-in (training) of ear from one headphone to another which is another matter.