[swspiers]

At the risk of confusing you further and tbh, for my enjoyment as I was in the same boat a little while back, my wife did comment that the he-400i are like speakers because she knew every song I was playing from across the room even from an iPad set to half the volume.
BTW, these phones sound absolutely divine with an iPad (air if you must know) compared to an emotiva dc-1 or the Dragonfly v1.2. Anybody with a similar experience or any theories as to why?

No theory, but I was shocked at how good they sounded with my Air 2.  Maybe it was my low expectations, but I really enjoy the experience

 

[ashutoshp]

Good to know. IME, the combo is so good that I cant wait to go home and put them on, a rare thing indeed for me. I'm going to try doing some level matched A/B comparisons with the DC-1 or iPad as source and will report back. My description may not be as good as money4me's but I'll try

  
 
 
Quote:

  No theory, but I was shocked at how good they sounded with my Air 2.  Maybe it was my low expectations, but I really enjoy the experience

 

[ashutoshp]

  Four quick questions for you HE-400i owners out there:
1. How does the bass compare to the HE-400s and other basshead cans like, but not limited to the M100s/DT770s/etc.?
2. I hear the soundstage is its weakness...is that true, and if anyone has tried or owns the DT990s can you compare the soundstage of both of them?
3. Another one for the DT990 owners or those that have tried them. Do they sound airy at all like the DT990s?
4. I also hear these aren't difficult to drive, can something portable and relatively weak like the E11K handle them with good volume?

 
I am assuming you want as many opinions as possible so here goes my input, albeit limited so keep that in mind.
 
1. How does the bass compare to the HE-400s and other basshead cans like, but not limited to the M100s/DT770s/etc.?
    I have heard only the M100s and currently own the XS. While I should say that comparing closed vs open is a tricky thing, the 400i's are not the same in terms of level but the bass is better. The analogy I can think of is that the bass seldom 'lingers' like the V Modas. It is very quick to come and go. For eg, I listen to Jamie xx who uses a ton of powerful bass lines and his music sounds more coherent on the HE-400i's.    
 
2. I hear the soundstage is its weakness...is that true, and if anyone has tried or owns the DT990s can you compare the soundstage of both of them?
 
I used to own the DT880s and feel they were better wrt soundstage. Having said that, I tried the soundstage check from Audiocheck.net and literally got fooled thinking the pizza delivery guy was here! I think it may be source dependent.
    FWIW, I have frequently read opinions of DACs/amps, esp on the cheaper side (eg, <$500) that were a bit poor in terms of soundstage. I can say with some experience that it may be at least partly true because when you plug in the Schiit Wyrd before the Dragonfly, the little dongle becomes a different beast altogether.
 
3. Another one for the DT990 owners or those that have tried them. Do they sound airy at all like the DT990s?
 
Compared to the DT880s, these are airier but meatier, if that makes any sense. The vocals were thinner on the DT880s.
 
4. I also hear these aren't difficult to drive, can something portable and relatively weak like the E11K handle them with good volume?
 
Not difficult to drive at all. I drive them through an LG G3 and an iPad Air. The iPad provides a max of ~1V/channel and I keep the volume at 50% generally and VERY occasionally, I increase it to 75% if I feel crazy.
Hope this helps.

 

[Matthew720]

 
You will be perfectly safe if you use your head a bit... common sense is a marvelous thing.
The 400i will suck as a speaker... I would not ever play them any louder than you would listen with them on your head.
Not sure I would by an amp based on the fact that it is designed to protect me from doing something stupid.

I like your post I found It amusing and embarrassing  just looking back on the stress I was having, over one detail and the way I went about trying to get the answers... my common sence just came back from it's holiday 

.

 

[chowmein83]

  4. I also hear these aren't difficult to drive, can something portable and relatively weak like the E11K handle them with good volume?

 
I can't really answer your other questions as I've never heard the HE-400 or the DT990, but the E11k will drive the 400i with no problem. This is based on listening to the FiiO X3 2nd gen, which outputs around the same power at 32 ohms (since the 400i is rated at 35 ohms, iirc).

 

[520RanchBro]

The bass impact and punch is better on the HE-400 and the 400 has a more preferable soundstage too but the 400i has a much more balanced sound signature with far superior mids and a bit better clarity. The  400i is focused and in-your-face (not in any way fatiguing though) and the 400 sounds a bit warmer and distant, mids are a bit scooped and some people don't get along with the treble but it's fine to me. I have both and think I'm keeping both.
 
Haven't listened to the beyers so no input there.

 

[rovopio]

  Four quick questions for you HE-400i owners out there:
1. How does the bass compare to the HE-400s and other basshead cans like, but not limited to the M100s/DT770s/etc.?
2. I hear the soundstage is its weakness...is that true, and if anyone has tried or owns the DT990s can you compare the soundstage of both of them?
3. Another one for the DT990 owners or those that have tried them. Do they sound airy at all like the DT990s?
4. I also hear these aren't difficult to drive, can something portable and relatively weak like the E11K handle them with good volume?

 
1. They are adequate. he-400i has better Bass quality than m100 and dt770
3. dt880 and dt990 is airier than he-400i, but overall, the he-400i is far less fatiguing on your ear than the dt990.
4. No it's not difficult. You can drive them with fiio x3.

 

[DavidA]

  Four quick questions for you HE-400i owners out there:
1. How does the bass compare to the HE-400s and other basshead cans like, but not limited to the M100s/DT770s/etc.?
2. I hear the soundstage is its weakness...is that true, and if anyone has tried or owns the DT990s can you compare the soundstage of both of them?
3. Another one for the DT990 owners or those that have tried them. Do they sound airy at all like the DT990s?
4. I also hear these aren't difficult to drive, can something portable and relatively weak like the E11K handle them with good volume?

My take on the 4 questions:
1.  HE-400 has better bass than 400i, less than M-100 but not muddy like M-100, Don't have DT-770, other bass heavy cans I have; TH-600 has more bass but not as controlled, Fidelio X1 also has more bass but not as controlled.
2.  DT-990 (premium 250 ohm) has a wider sound stage but I wouldn't call the HE-400i sound stage narrow either, depending on the genre of music it does quite well IMO.
3.  Not quite as airy as DT-990 but not bad either, again depends on the music you listen to also.
4.  Not difficult to drive to get good listening volume but if you want to get the most out of them then it gets a little harder, I use either Bifrost or UD-301 DAC and either Lyr2 or Ember AMP.  I can get good listening volume and decent sound with a X3 or X3ii, off my Galaxy S5 its at max volume and still not at listening volume.
 
Hope that answers your questions, cheers.

 

[money4me247]

good comparisons by above posters. just another thing to add, dt990 sounded a bit v-shaped as well iirc. the he-400i seemed more mid-centric to my ears with a subtle forwardness to its midrange. sonic preferences will determine which one is more suited for your personal listening habits

 

[chowmein83]

  4.  Not difficult to drive to get good listening volume but if you want to get the most out of them then it gets a little harder, I use either Bifrost or UD-301 DAC and either Lyr2 or Ember AMP.  I can get good listening volume and decent sound with a X3 or X3ii, off my Galaxy S5 its at max volume and still not at listening volume.
 
Hope that answers your questions, cheers.

 
This is a good point. It doesn't take much too much to drive the 400i but they will really scale if you give them more and cleaner power.

 

[kdejonge]

Ok I just received my he-400i, I am blown away by the quality of the music I hear. As this is my first "high end" headphone I really need to listen more, and upgrade my sources . My rotel drives it pretty well I think. I'll be back with more details .
 
Btw I was planning to do the burn in by just listening to music, or should I just keep it running over night with pink noise? Doesn't sound like a great idea to leave it running all the time.

 

[chowmein83]

  Ok I just received my he-400i, I am blown away by the quality of the music I hear. As this is my first "high end" headphone I really need to listen more, and upgrade my sources . My rotel drives it pretty well I think. I'll be back with more details .
 
Btw I was planning to do the burn in by just listening to music, or should I just keep it running over night with pink noise? Doesn't sound like a great idea to leave it running all the time.

 
I don't really think there is a "right" way to do burn-in. Some people just recommend burning them in as you listen to them normally, while others will recommend that you burn them in constantly as soon as you receive the headphones. Do whichever method you like better, I guess.

 
There should be no problem letting the headphones play music all the time. That's actually what I did with my HE-400i the first several days I got them, and they're still going strong.

 

[cyclops214]

  Ok I just received my he-400i, I am blown away by the quality of the music I hear. As this is my first "high end" headphone I really need to listen more, and upgrade my sources . My rotel drives it pretty well I think. I'll be back with more details .
 
Btw I was planning to do the burn in by just listening to music, or should I just keep it running over night with pink noise? Doesn't sound like a great idea to leave it running all the time.

Hi I'm on a Mac so I have been using a program called burnin I use white noise instead of pink noise like the manufacturer recommends and I have been doing this whenever I go to bed the program can be set up for whatever duration you would like I have mine set up for 100 hours so each time I turn it on it keeps track of the progress and I am 70% finished now if you include the time I use it during the day to listen normally I am probably well burnt in by now but I am going to finish it should be by the end of this week.

 

[marhol]

  Four quick questions for you HE-400i owners out there:
1. How does the bass compare to the HE-400s and other basshead cans like, but not limited to the M100s/DT770s/etc.?
2. I hear the soundstage is its weakness...is that true, and if anyone has tried or owns the DT990s can you compare the soundstage of both of them?
3. Another one for the DT990 owners or those that have tried them. Do they sound airy at all like the DT990s?
4. I also hear these aren't difficult to drive, can something portable and relatively weak like the E11K handle them with good volume?

I can give you my impressions regarding questions 2 and 3 as I used to own DT 990 Pro (250 Ohm).
 
Question 2 : Some may disagree, but to me HE-400i has, as a whole, bigger soundstage than DT 990 Pro. In my opinion soundstage width is comparable between HE-400i and DT 990, or perhaps, DT 990 might be very slightly better here. But the difference in soundstage width is certainly not big. But as far as soundstage height and depth goes, HE-400i  feels considerably more expansive headphone  to me with the better ability to sound 3-D than DT 990. 
 
Question 3: I would say DT 990 sounds airier because it has significant treble emphasis and is quite a bright headphone. HE-400i is slightly warm/ neutral headphone which happens to be, strangely enough, airy and meaty at the same time.  To give you an example:  HE-400i has more intimate sound than DT 990, especially with vocals - they sound pleasantly near you with good weight and sense of lushness, nevertheless other instruments or background vocals also have their "own" space, thus it never gets congested. 
Also one of the strenghts of HE-400i is the tonal balance. To put it in a perspective: It does not sound too airy/ thin but it also does not sound overly lush or too meaty.   As a HE-560 (close) sibling it still has that trademark Hifiman airiness, although its not as airy headphone as HE-560 is. On the other side HE-400i sounded airier to me than Oppo PM1 which had even warmer sound signature than HE-400i.

 

[Chris Ihao]

Hey guys. Last week I asked for advice regarding choosing the h400's or the 400i's, and in choosing the non i version, some of you guys asked me to report what I felt about them. Having received the 400's today, I wrote up a "first impression" comment here, if anyone is interested. Cheers.