[rovopio]

  Thanks for your input.
 
It seems I might have to just take the plunge with them, when I have scraped some cash together.

Bonus questions:
Have any of you tried them with a modmic 4.0? And if so does it pick up the sound leakage?
As for amplification I am thinking about just using it directly in my laptop as a start, but will get an amp/DAC later. Will an Audio-GD NFB 11 or 15 be sufficient?

 
its an upgrade on almost everything over the dt990 imo... but around the same price, if you can find a T90, that's a natural upgrade from your dt990...
 
Maybe your laptop won't have enough amplification for the he-400i, but something as simple as an X3 or X5, or a magni 2 heck, even a Fulla, and you will be set with tight-budget mid-fi bliss...

 

[marhol]

  Hello

I have been lurking on this thread for a long time, but I am still no closer to a decision about getting the HE-400i. Since there are absolutely 0 Hifiman dealers in Denmark I have to rely on the Head-Fi'ers expertise.

My problem is mostly in regards to how people have been describing the bass, some seem to think it is very good, while others think it is not present at all.
It is a bit confusing to me.
 
So can anyone compare it to the DT990's? Since those are some I have actually heard. I liked the bass on them though they were a tad boomy, I think I would be fine with slightly less.
The high was what turned me off about the 990's they were too metallic sounding to me.
 
Also I will be using headphones for gaming and listening to electronic music (Drum & Bass, Hardstyle, Hardtrance, so on).
 
I hope some of you could help me out.
Cheers

Hi,  Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro (250 Ohm version) was prior to HE-400i my previous headphone.  In my opinion DT 990 has very nice mid bass which is more elevated than the mid bass on HE-400i. Although the mid bass on HE-400i is only slightly elevated -in comparison to DT 990 - HE-400i has better sub bass extension and much better refined overall bass (sub bass+mid bass+ upper bass/lower midrange). As far as quantity goes, in my opinion HE-400i overall bass has more weight and better impact, because DT 990 is much brighter headphone with considerably more treble energy vs HE-400i. HE-400i has much more balanced sound signature with better sub-bass extension and more natural timbre than DT 990. For instance drum beats have generally much better slam on HE-400i than on DT 990 - on DT 990 you often hear more cymbals or similar metallic instruments which is sometimes hindering the bass slam. 
Besides of the better bass and smoother, more natural treble, HE-400i has also much fuller and lusher sounding midrange, DT 990 midrange is more laid back/recessed in comparison to HE-400i. Also the overall refinement is better.
Regarding soundstage - I would say the soundstage width between these headphones is comparable, but in soundstage height and depth is HE-400i clearly superior. It simply sounds more 3-D.
 
I listen mostly rock music but have also tried HE-400i with some electronic music (progressive house - namely these songs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmkWNR7ilIo) and despite listening only these youtube files the experience was quite stunning - and I normally do not listen this type of music at all !
Overall HE-400i is a very good upgrade from DT 990. (Of course I´m talking about DT 990 Pro, as I do not have any experience with Beyerdynamic DT 990 Premium version)

 

[Hardtrancing]

  Hi,  Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro (250 Ohm version) was prior to HE-400i my previous headphone.  In my opinion DT 990 has very nice mid bass which is more elevated than the mid bass on HE-400i. Although the mid bass on HE-400i is only slightly elevated -in comparison to DT 990 - HE-400i has better sub bass extension and much better refined overall bass (sub bass+mid bass+ upper bass/lower midrange). As far as quantity goes, in my opinion HE-400i overall bass has more weight and better impact, because DT 990 is much brighter headphone with considerably more treble energy vs HE-400i. HE-400i has much more balanced sound signature with better sub-bass extension and more natural timbre than DT 990. For instance drum beats have generally much better slam on HE-400i than on DT 990 - on DT 990 you often hear more cymbals or similar metallic instruments which is sometimes hindering the bass slam. 
Besides of the better bass and smoother, more natural treble, HE-400i has also much fuller and lusher sounding midrange, DT 990 midrange is more laid back/recessed in comparison to HE-400i. Also the overall refinement is better.
Regarding soundstage - I would say the soundstage width between these headphones is comparable, but in soundstage height and depth is HE-400i clearly superior. It simply sounds more 3-D.
 
I listen mostly rock music but have also tried HE-400i with some electronic music (progressive house - namely these songs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmkWNR7ilIo) and despite listening only these youtube files the experience was quite stunning - and I normally do not listen this type of music at all !
Overall HE-400i is a very good upgrade from DT 990. (Of course I´m talking about DT 990 Pro, as I do not have any experience with Beyerdynamic DT 990 Premium version)

Great comparison! It really sounds like it would be up my alley, thank you.

 

   
its an upgrade on almost everything over the dt990 imo... but around the same price, if you can find a T90, that's a natural upgrade from your dt990...
 
Maybe your laptop won't have enough amplification for the he-400i, but something as simple as an X3 or X5, or a magni 2 heck, even a Fulla, and you will be set with tight-budget mid-fi bliss...

Just to clarify: I don't own a DT990, it's just one of the more higher end headphones I have heard which I kinda liked, but where the harsh treble made me not buy it.
I have also listened to the DT880 and T70, but only a brief listen. I can't remember exactly what I didn't like about them (It was some time ago), but I didn't buy those either. Beyerdynamic propably isn't my thing.

 

[Hachiko270296]

The HE-400i is better than the 990 but the 990 has a much larger soundstage than the 400i.

 

[WriterHead]

The HE-400i is better than the 990 but the 990 has a much larger soundstage than the 400i.

+1

 

[marhol]

The HE-400i is better than the 990 but the 990 has a much larger soundstage than the 400i.

Are you talking about DT 990 Pro version or DT 990 Premium ?

 

[Hachiko270296]

It doesn't matter both sound identical. I love the HE-400i but it's staging is really small for an open phone.

 

[BrokeEngineer]

Pardon me ladies and gents for doing a little cross-posting and self-quoting! But I think I might get faster and also more
answers to my burning questions here in this thread than in the one I originally posted.
 
I consider buying the hifiman he-400i and thus asked in the "From Sennheiser HD 650 to HiFiMAN HE-400i... there's no way back!" thread:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/762957/from-sennheiser-hd-650-to-hifiman-he-400i-theres-no-way-back/15#post_11553541
 
Quote:

[...]  
My music:
As I understand you listen mostly to Jazz. And unfortunately that's one of the few genres I don't really liste to, so I'm
not sure how your described impressions would transfer to my music. Here are some songs for you to get an idea of
what I'd be listening to:
 
Uppermost - Imagine Reality
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8bA0wVi7eU
 
Madeline Juno - Like Lovers Do
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78q26O1MHWc

Pendulum - The Island Pt. I (Dawn)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hszZmFRPqx8
 
Martin Tungevaag - Wicked Wonderland
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egtI2xqg75E
 
Nightwish - I Want My Tears Back
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaGyduQBh7M
 
Astronaut - Quantum
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TE-x8XSlDc
 
Toto - Great Expectations
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaqaZOXGncM
 
I guess you won't necessarily like these songs (as they are something completely different from jazz and blues),
but I got the impression that you'd be able to judge the headphones from a professinal and technical/analytical
point of view.
 
So, as I unfortunately won't have the chance to listen to the Hifiman before ordering it, my questions are:
how would you say do the headphones suit these different genres and styles? How do they work with the different characteristics
of these songs? Do they reveal any weaknesses which wouldn't be a problem for Jazz music and the like but in this case
might really be disturbing?
 
[...]

 
 
As this thread here seems to get way more attention, I hope some of you could help me out!
 
Thanks in advance,
Broke

 

[rovopio]

Hi Broke,
 
you ought to have copy this part of your cross-post instead
 

 
WARNING: This might become a longer post, so this is the TL;DR:
- How does the Hifiman HE-400i handle electronica (trance, house, faster stuff), (symphony-) metal, female vocals and rock?
- Coming from a 300€ combo (AKG K601, ASUS XONAR ESSENCE ST, FLAC 44/16), is the HE-400i + iDSD micro a right step or too big?

 
i've listened to the first 15 seconds of the Pendulum and Uppermost song, and I have to say, it's probably the types of music he-400i was actually tuned for.

 

[BrokeEngineer]

Thanks for the quote and yes, you are right, would have been clearer to mention this part of my OP.
 
And I'm happy to hear your opinion!
 
The shop which offers the best price (would save me 170€ EDIT: 100€ compared to the next best offer) only has this sale for a limited time.
As I don't know when it will end my fingers are BUUUURNING to hit that check out button
 
EDIT:
170€ would be the total saving for the HE-400i and the iDSD micro I mentionend in another thread.

 

[imahawki]

Has anyone compared these to the Mad Dogs?

 

[rovopio]

  Thanks for the quote and yes, you are right, would have been clearer to mention this part of my OP.
 
And I'm happy to hear your opinion!
 
The shop which offers the best price (would save me 170€ compared to the next best offer) only has this sale for a limited time.
As I don't know when it will end my fingers are BUUUURNING to hit that check out button

 
 
330 euro? get them, get them now. I got them for $550 and now put them on sales thread for $370, if you can get new for 330 euro, you might want to go for them, you might regret it later if you dont...

 

[Hardtrancing]

The HE-400i is better than the 990 but the 990 has a much larger soundstage than the 400i.

I'm okay with a smaller soundstage, I easily find larger soundstages to be too distant.

 

[BrokeEngineer]

   
 
330 euro? get them, get them now.

 
No...-.- that would be a dream...
500€ for the HE-400i is the offer currently listed in a DUTCH shop. Here in GERMANY everyone sells them for 600€. So that's 100€ in savings.
The remaining 70€ come from the iDSD micro I talked about in the other thread, which is sold for 500€ as well in this Dutch shop. In Gemany
again it's being sold for 570€.
 
We had a really steep increase in the price for the hifiman some weeks ago. While they retailed for 500$ in the US and still do,
in Germany they were at 400€ as far as I understood. And then, in the course of the € losing quite some value compared to the $, they
"adjusted" the price to 600€ -.-
 
 
I should pay more attention to what I write, seems to confuse people^^

 

[rovopio]

   
No...-.- that would be a dream...
500€ for the HE-400i is the offer currently listed in a DUTCH shop. Here in GERMANY everyone sells them for 600€. So that's 100€ in savings.
The remaining 70€ come from the iDSD micro I talked about in the other thread, which is sold for 500€ as well in this Dutch shop. In Gemany
again it's being sold for 570€.
 
We had a really steep increase in the price for the hifiman some weeks ago. While they retailed for 500$ in the US and still do,
in Germany they were at 400€ as far as I understood. And then, in the course of the € losing quite some value compared to the $, they
"adjusted" the price to 600€ -.-
 
 
I should pay more attention to what I write, seems to confuse people^^

 
why do you want the iDSD micro particularly? There are lots of options... i'm just saying... take your time. Get the headphone first and then read some more about the amps before buying them.