[aami2techie]

  I think it was mentioned earlier.  It is all speculation of course.  But I wouldn't be surprised for them to have a Christmas sale as well and drop it for the same price.  Until then, it isn't 100% though.

ok im going to wait a little may be they get sale, i have a very strict budget, cause i have to get these and also O2 ODAC

 

[fjrabon]

are u really serious or just making fun of me? cause i REALLY REALLY want these now

Just pure speculation. I doubt it's true, as HiFiMan completely sold out their back stock of HE400i and likely wouldn't be able to keep up with another sale's worth of demand.

If anything I'd guess it's more likely they put the HE400S on a small sale ($50 off or something) instead.

Also remember most Chinese manufacturing plants slow down in December and January due to Chinese holidays, so that even further makes it unlikely a sale happens st Christmas.

 

[tf10charged]

the good news is , chinese holiday is in february, so they have 2 months to work it out. 
Quote:

Just pure speculation. I doubt it's true, as HiFiMan completely sold out their back stock of HE400i and likely wouldn't be able to keep up with another sale's worth of demand.

If anything I'd guess it's more likely they put the HE400S on a small sale ($50 off or something) instead.

Also remember most Chinese manufacturing plants slow down in December and January due to Chinese holidays, so that even further makes it unlikely a sale happens st Christmas.

 

[fjrabon]

 

eh, just going on what Will from massdrop recently said, that new production is rarely made in china between mid December and February, anything that is produced during that period is winding up old contracts, not taking on new products.  He could be wrong, but he regularly deals with chinese headphone makers, so thats what I'm going off.  But again, there's absolutely 0 evidence that HiFiMan is going to put the HE400i on sale again this quickly, especially after they totally wiped out all of their extra stock in the last sale.  

 

[titaniumx3]

Just received my HE400i and I'm finding the cable way too short and would also prefer a 6.3 mm connector. Can anyone recommend a cable that is at least 2 metres long? The version I have has the new 3.5mm connectors on each ear cup.
 
Also on a separate note, do these headphones require burn in? They are sounding really bright and almost sibliant right now. Coming from a HD650, they sound a little hollow in the mids too. Is this normal?

 

[fjrabon]

  Just received my HE400i and I'm finding the cable way too short and would also prefer a 6.3 mm connector. Can anyone recommend a cable that is at least 2 metres long? The version I have has the new 3.5mm connectors on each ear cup.
 
Also on a separate note, do these headphones require burn in? They are sounding really bright and almost sibliant right now. Coming from a HD650, they sound a little hollow in the mids too. Is this normal?

just so you're aware it's a 2.5mm plug into the cups, not 3.5mm (which is the amp end termination).  
 
I didn't have that experience pre-burn in. I felt that 8kHz was brighter than the HD650, but otherwise they had a very similar frequency response.  I didn't find them sibilant at all.  Things seemed to smooth out a little bit after burn in, but I didn't feel like the base frequency response changed at all.

 

[fjrabon]

  Hi,
HIFIMAN Headphone Stand is available on head-direct.com.
 
It looks good and it only costs $20. This is the same stand we use at various shows (CanJam or CES) and meets, so I can tell you that they are definitely durable.
 
Here is the link.  http://head-direct.com/Products/?act=detail&id=217
 

does anybody know if there is anywhere you can still purchase this?  the old link is dead for me.

 

[Mr Rick]

 
does anybody know if there is anywhere you can still purchase this?  the old link is dead for me.

Here you go.
 
http://www.hifiman.com/products/detail/187

 

[HirschiAUT]

Just received my HE400i and I'm finding the cable way too short and would also prefer a 6.3 mm connector. Can anyone recommend a cable that is at least 2 metres long? The version I have has the new 3.5mm connectors on each ear cup.

Also on a separate note, do these headphones require burn in? They are sounding really bright and almost sibliant right now. Coming from a HD650, they sound a little hollow in the mids too. Is this normal?

I recently ordered some cables for my HE-400i from here:

http://forzaaudioworks.com

The have entry level cables from 50€ with 3 meter lenght and 6,3 connector.
I ordered one of the color series (entry) with 6,3 connector and one Claire MK2 (mid level) with 4 pin XLR connector, and so far i am very pleased with both build quality and sound.

Hope that helps

 

[NeoWilson]

A few things i want to ask
 
1) Why are the cables so expensive? I am looking for a 3m or 5m cable, how much are they supposed to cost?
2) What is sibilant? Is there a good video to explain what it sounds like?
3) Amp/Dac to pair with this headphone? Aune X1s, JDS Element, Schiit M2M2 stack? I plan to get the Audeze LCD-2 when it's next on sale so will these go well with the LCD2 as well?

 

[Sonic Defender]

  Just received my HE400i and I'm finding the cable way too short and would also prefer a 6.3 mm connector. Can anyone recommend a cable that is at least 2 metres long? The version I have has the new 3.5mm connectors on each ear cup.
 
Also on a separate note, do these headphones require burn in? They are sounding really bright and almost sibliant right now. Coming from a HD650, they sound a little hollow in the mids too. Is this normal?

I think you need to give the 400i time on head as the 650 while nice, is a really rolled off treble headphone. The 650 also has that exaggerated mid which makes them gooey good, but in reality they are spoiling your ears against anything that is more balanced. I'm not saying somebody shouldn't like the 650, I mostly liked them when I had a set, but it really is somewhat expected to have a tough initial transition to a more balanced headphone. I have yet to hear sibilance with the 400i. What material are you finding the treble sibilant with?

 

[titaniumx3]

Well right now its hard to say as I don't currently have a decent or well matched amp for the HE400i. I normally listen to my HD650 straight out of an Asus Essence ST sound card, which sound great together, but the same can't be said for HE400i. It's like sound is compressed and lacking body. Not completely unlistenable, but not really good either. They are also quieter than my HD650 out of the Essence, which makes no sense since they have a 35ohm impedance compared to the 300ohms the HD650 has. The Essence ST can make the HE400i plenty loud, but it just does not sound right. They also sound too quiet and weak out of any portable that I've tried, despite Hifiman advertising them as being portable friendly.

 
In any case, after much faffing about, I actually found them to sound best straight out of my Chromecast Audio which just makes everything even more confusing. For the time being I will continue using them out of the CC Audio. I have ordered a Schiit Magni/Modi 2 Uber stack which I'm still waiting to be delivered. Hope they are a good match otherwise I will be well annoyed!
 
In any case, have been running them for a few hours now and quite certain that they are sounding a lot better than when I first tried them. The mids seem more forward and the bass has more impact and body. Actually they sound pretty damn good out of the CC Audio and already I can tell that they have more high end detail and separation than the HD650. With regards to the sibliance issue, it's only seems to be sibliant in certain songs, primarily poorly mastered tracks. On the good tracks, it's not sibliant, just piercingly bright. I'm guessing this is just me not being used to bright treble as I've been using the HD650 for the past 5 years.
 
Would also like to mention that I find it pretty lame that Hifiman couldn't bundle a longer cable. The one they provide is hilariously short. Plus, a right angled 3.5mm plug on such a massive headphone? Really? 

 None of my phones or tablets can even run them adequately! Not sure what they were thinking there. Rather than spend that money on that pretty but ultimately useless carrying case, they should have bundled a longer cable with 2.5mm plugs (thanks for the correction fjrabon) that don't look like cheap plasticky pieces of crap.
 
Other than those things, I'm reasonably happy with them thus far. Comfort was an issue at first but slowly getting used to them now. Just hope the mids come more forward and treble settles down a bit. Hoping the Schiit amp/dac will make a difference; it's the most I was prepared to spend on this setup.

 

[titaniumx3]

I recently ordered some cables for my HE-400i from here:

http://forzaaudioworks.com

The have entry level cables from 50€ with 3 meter lenght and 6,3 connector.
I ordered one of the color series (entry) with 6,3 connector and one Claire MK2 (mid level) with 4 pin XLR connector, and so far i am very pleased with both build quality and sound.

Hope that helps

 
Thank you so much! Was about to order some cheap cables from ebay, but this look far better.

 

[Sonic Defender]

   
Thank you so much! Was about to order some cheap cables from ebay, but this look far better.

These are harder to drive and the declared resistance is one thing, but my understanding with planar headphones is that current output needed is a consideration. I'm going to make an educated guess that the output of the devices you are using are not very strong in terms of current. I suspect somebody with a deeper understanding on this technical consideration will weigh in to help. 

 

[titaniumx3]

  I think you need to give the 400i time on head as the 650 while nice, is a really rolled off treble headphone. The 650 also has that exaggerated mid which makes them gooey good, but in reality they are spoiling your ears against anything that is more balanced. I'm not saying somebody shouldn't like the 650, I mostly liked them when I had a set, but it really is somewhat expected to have a tough initial transition to a more balanced headphone. I have yet to hear sibilance with the 400i. What material are you finding the treble sibilant with?

 

I recently ordered some cables for my HE-400i from here:

http://forzaaudioworks.com

The have entry level cables from 50€ with 3 meter lenght and 6,3 connector.
I ordered one of the color series (entry) with 6,3 connector and one Claire MK2 (mid level) with 4 pin XLR connector, and so far i am very pleased with both build quality and sound.

Hope that helps

 
Sorry, forgot to ask, but on their website, do the Hifiman HE compatible series have the newer 2.5mm connectors or the older ones? What connectors do your HE 400i have?
 

  These are harder to drive and the declared resistance is one thing, but my understanding with planar headphones is that current output needed is a consideration. I'm going to make an educated guess that the output of the devices you are using are not very strong in terms of current. I suspect somebody with a deeper understanding on this technical consideration will weigh in to help. 

 
I suspect its something to do with that. I also read that the Essence ST soundcards have high output impedance which does not go well with low impedance headphones. Will admit though that I'm really impressed with the Chromecast Audio, sounds absolutely fantastic for what it is.