[GirgleMirt]

Power cycle all of your gear, DCing it from the wall as well for a moment.

Me?  Daily power off for me, and issue is pretty much daily and again, absolutely no issue with other headphones.  And when wiring the right driver instead of the left, there's no distortion at all, clean sweep!  So it's really on the left driver...
 
Quote:

   
Yup, I thought your L/R description sounded like a driver or an ear mismatch. Which is it, rattling or distortion?

Likely both.  Something vibrating and causing audible distortion with certain frequencies.  I've uploaded a video where you can hear it, sweep is a bit loud given the mic sensitivity & proximity..
 
15s mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_DdTf0-EHE
20s mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4YhuMovezs
 
Also I just noticed that it seems affected by the pad's pressure...  200-300hz seemed to go away, but if I push out on the headphone's pad to put some distance between it and my ear, the 300hz noise is back with a vengeance.  So likely something between the pads & drivers vibrating & causing distortion...  Oh well, replacing!

 

[hakuzen]

after some tries, since august, i got my he400i from taobao. burning-in them now.
 

 
2.5mm version, no marks of being refurbished.
but what's that? a backplate? it doesn't look like the pics of old backplate, but can't see the magnets

 

[DavidA]

@hakuzen
that does not look like a back plate, if you remove the grill I think it will look like:
 

 
Below is the back plate

 

[460414]

http://hifiman.com/promote/16xmas/index.html
You can get a HE400i 45% off the MSRP on their website, $249.

 

[Sennheiser Yo]

I bought a wooden omega headphone stand and I was wondering if they damage the headphones at all since the headphone's are being stretched out a little while they are on

 

[GirgleMirt]

Yeah I'm not sure they're the best idea for headphones with soft pads..   They do get squished up, and the fact that they are putting more pressure when on the stand than just sitting on a desk doesn't seem the greatest idea for me...  I wouldn't think they would damage them per se, but long time use I could see them squishing the pads more than they'd be squished without the stands...

 

[peter123]

I bought a wooden omega headphone stand and I was wondering if they damage the headphones at all since the headphone's are being stretched out a little while they are on

I've got four of them and have used them with my headphones for a couple of years now and haven't noticed any issues whatsoever with them.

 

[darkninja67]

Just extend the pads all the way down when you store them on the stand. I have 4 of those stands and that is what I do. Especially with my LCD-2's.

 

[mahdi1234]

Recently got 2nd hand old version of HE400i ... I tried removing grills completely and indeed they sound a way more open to my liking.
 
I have couple questions before going to proper grill mod.
 
- is there any sound effect peeling off dust cloth covering original grils on inside?
- is there any effect on soundstage changing focuspads for velour pads?
 
thanks & cheers

 

[fjrabon]

  Recently got 2nd hand old version of HE400i ... I tried removing grills completely and indeed they sound a way more open to my liking.
 
I have couple questions before going to proper grill mod.
 
- is there any sound effect peeling off dust cloth covering original grils on inside?
- is there any effect on soundstage changing focuspads for velour pads?
 
thanks & cheers

1) yes, eventually transient response will become dulled, as planar diaphragms attract dust due to their electrical charge.  Eventually there will be a nice little coating of dust on your drivers.  Hifiman didn't put the dust covers on there for no reason, they're there because they're necessary for the headphone to stand up over time.  Now, as to how long, it could take several years for anybody to notice the dulled transient response, and maybe they never would, because it's like a slow frog in hot water thing, where the change is so gradual that you don't notice it.  But it will gradually dull the sound, absolutely.  Around here people rarely keep a headphone for more than a couple of years, so to head-fiers it may not matter, as they may not use the headphone long enough for it to accumulate significant dust.  But I would absolutely NEVER buy a used headphone with the grill mod done to it.  I've heard a HE500 that had the grill mod for a couple of years and one that didn't and it was a noticeable difference in clarity in favor of the non grill modded HE500.
 
2) No, the velours don't impact the soundstage very much, they mostly just murder the bass.

 

[bugeyed]

 


1) yes, eventually transient response will become dulled, as planar diaphragms attract dust due to their electrical charge.  Eventually there will be a nice little coating of dust on your drivers.  Hifiman didn't put the dust covers on there for no reason, they're there because they're necessary for the headphone to stand up over time.  Now, as to how long, it could take several years for anybody to notice the dulled transient response, and maybe they never would, because it's like a slow frog in hot water thing, where the change is so gradual that you don't notice it.  But it will gradually dull the sound, absolutely.  Around here people rarely keep a headphone for more than a couple of years, so to head-fiers it may not matter, as they may not use the headphone long enough for it to accumulate significant dust.  But I would absolutely NEVER buy a used headphone with the grill mod done to it.  I've heard a HE500 that had the grill mod for a couple of years and one that didn't and it was a noticeable difference in clarity in favor of the non grill modded HE500.


 


2) No, the velours don't impact the soundstage very much, they mostly just murder the bass.

I can see dust being attracted to electrostatic panels, but not to planar mag. panels. At least not any more than regular drivers. Planar Magnetic panels don't have a "electrical charge" that electrostatic panels do & the signal passing through the "voice grid" doesn't attract dust in the same way. I agree that dust accumulation can be a problem, but it should be easy to remove with a blower bulb unless there is some residue causing it to stick. I suppose the main culprit for sticky panels would be cigarette smoke residue. 


 


kev

 

[DavidA]

 
Quote:

  Recently got 2nd hand old version of HE400i ... I tried removing grills completely and indeed they sound a way more open to my liking.
 
I have couple questions before going to proper grill mod.
 
- is there any sound effect peeling off dust cloth covering original grils on inside?
- is there any effect on soundstage changing focuspads for velour pads?
 
thanks & cheers

agree with @fjrabon about dust and more so if you have pets, when I did my grill mods I also used a silk organza as a dust screen which is a finer mesh than the original grill cloth but at the same time more acoustically transparent according to a friend who works in the COE testing labs.
And since my GF like pink:

 

[mahdi1234]

Thanks guys, good to know before I move to grill mod waters.

 

[fjrabon]

 
 

 

1) yes, eventually transient response will become dulled, as planar diaphragms attract dust due to their electrical charge.  Eventually there will be a nice little coating of dust on your drivers.  Hifiman didn't put the dust covers on there for no reason, they're there because they're necessary for the headphone to stand up over time.  Now, as to how long, it could take several years for anybody to notice the dulled transient response, and maybe they never would, because it's like a slow frog in hot water thing, where the change is so gradual that you don't notice it.  But it will gradually dull the sound, absolutely.  Around here people rarely keep a headphone for more than a couple of years, so to head-fiers it may not matter, as they may not use the headphone long enough for it to accumulate significant dust.  But I would absolutely NEVER buy a used headphone with the grill mod done to it.  I've heard a HE500 that had the grill mod for a couple of years and one that didn't and it was a noticeable difference in clarity in favor of the non grill modded HE500.
   
  2) No, the velours don't impact the soundstage very much, they mostly just murder the bass.

  I can see dust being attracted to electrostatic panels, but not to planar mag. panels. At least not any more than regular drivers. Planar Magnetic panels don't have a "electrical charge" that electrostatic panels do & the signal passing through the "voice grid" doesn't attract dust in the same way. I agree that dust accumulation can be a problem, but it should be easy to remove with a blower bulb unless there is some residue causing it to stick. I suppose the main culprit for sticky panels would be cigarette smoke residue. 
   
  kev

It doesn't "attract dust" the same way that electrostats do, probably true, but according to mr speakers people I've talked to it does attract dust more than dynamic designs, hence why they used a pretty dense dust cover on the ether.  It also won't "shake loose" dust the way that a dynamic driver will, so the dust just accumulates.  The motion of a dynamic voice coil will actually knock off dust particles somewhat if the voice coil is made of a non-charged material (most headphones are).  Apparently this doesn't happen with planars.

You could probably use something like the hand powered blowers for camera sensors to clean them, and they probably wouldn't damage the diaphragm.  It's not a gamble I would want to take, but it would probably be fine.  You'd definitely screw stuff up with compressed air though.  

 

[fjrabon]

  agree with @fjrabon about dust and more so if you have pets, when I did my grill mods I also used a silk organza as a dust screen which is a finer mesh than the original grill cloth but at the same time more acoustically transparent according to a friend who works in the COE testing labs.
And since my GF like pink:

upgrading the TYPE of dust cover isn't something I'd considered.  Nice.  Seems like a good balance for those who want to do some sort of grill mod between no protection and leaving it stock.  If I still had the HE400i, this might make me consider a grill mod.