[thyname]

The DP-X1 can put 300 mW into 32 ohm in balanced. At 35 ohm, the 400i will get a bit less than this. To be honest, that is not enough power to fully drive these, balanced or not. My D14, which puts out 800 mW into 32 ohm, comes closer but still falls short. Balanced will improve some things with these, but I think you really need a decent amp to run these well. Otherwise, they going to sounder thinner, more sibilant, and more closed in (at the very least). Something with at least 1 W at 32 ohm should do the trick, IMO.

Such as what?

My brother-in-law is letting me use an Oppo HA-2, so I may try that next week:

https://www.amazon.com/OPPO-HA-2-Portable-Headphone-Amplifier/dp/B00UW0BP48

Everything that I had read before on DP-X1 indicated that had plenty of power to drive the 400i, but I guess I was wrong.

 

[peter123]

The DP-X1 can put 300 mW into 32 ohm in balanced. At 35 ohm, the 400i will get a bit less than this. To be honest, that is not enough power to fully drive these, balanced or not. My D14, which puts out 800 mW into 32 ohm, comes closer but still falls short. Balanced will improve some things with these, but I think you really need a decent amp to run these well. Otherwise, they going to sounder thinner, more sibilant, and more closed in (at the very least). Something with at least 1 W at 32 ohm should do the trick, IMO.

Something must be wrong with your D14 or HE400i if the D14 doesn't have enough power for them.

The Opus #1 with 330mW@16Ohm has more than enough power for the HE400i.

Interesting what you are saying...

Do you know of any other portable device that can drive these headphones to their full potential?

What's their full potential?

 

[mrs1986]

What's their full potential?

I have no Idea, that's what I'm asking, I know the headphones don't sound too great on my fiio X1, so there should be something more to them??

 

[DavidA]

   
The DP-X1 can put 300 mW into 32 ohm in balanced. At 35 ohm, the 400i will get a bit less than this. To be honest, that is not enough power to fully drive these, balanced or not. My D14, which puts out 800 mW into 32 ohm, comes closer but still falls short. Balanced will improve some things with these, but I think you really need a decent amp to run these well. Otherwise, they going to sounder thinner, more sibilant, and more closed in (at the very least). Something with at least 1 W at 32 ohm should do the trick, IMO.

Its not the watts, you also need to consider current/voltage.  The headphone amp of my UD-301 only has 100mW at 32ohms but it will drive the 400i very well, it sounds better than my Lyr2 which puts out 6W at 32ohms.  There is also synergy between gear that needs to addressed

 

[phthora]

  Interesting what you are saying...
 
Do you know of any other portable device that can drive these headphones to their full potential?

 
The iBasso P5 can drive them. It puts 1340 mW or so into 32 ohm. However, I think that is even more that these need. Really, anything portable that can put out 1 W at 32 ohm should do it. Something with a bass boost works well with the sound signature of these, too.

 

[phthora]

  Its not the watts, you also need to consider current/voltage.  The headphone amp of my UD-301 only has 100mW at 32ohms but it will drive the 400i very well, it sounds better than my Lyr2 which puts out 6W at 32ohms.  There is also synergy between gear that needs to addressed

 
As I understand things (which may not be well), high quality amplification with low wattage can be had with current amplifiers, but with voltage amplifiers, you need higher wattage to get more power because the output is influenced a great deal by the impedance of the headphones. Except for the QP1R, I don't know of anything portable that does current amplification. Am I wrong? I will admit, I am not 100% on this and would love to get some correct information here.

 

[Fearless1]

The headphone amp of my UD-301

Not to stray off-topic, but what a fantastic under-rated DAC the UD-301 is! .......Just saying!

 

[DavidA]

   
As I understand things (which may not be well), high quality amplification with low wattage can be had with current amplifiers, but with voltage amplifiers, you need higher wattage to get more power because the output is influenced a great deal by the impedance of the headphones. Except for the QP1R, I don't know of anything portable that does current amplification. Am I wrong? I will admit, I am not 100% on this and would love to get some correct information here.

While I don't know the exact science, a few others on this and other thread have noted that planar headphones like current while dynamic headphones like voltage IIRC.  Many times this info is not provided in the specs by manufactures.  In my experience so far it seems to hold true where the watts output is not the only spec to look at.
 
 

Not to stray off-topic, but what a fantastic under-rated DAC the UD-301 is! .......Just saying!

Love it and its really come down in price over the past few years

 

[peter123]

The iBasso P5 can drive them. It puts 1340 mW or so into 32 ohm. However, I think that is even more that these need. Really, anything portable that can put out 1 W at 32 ohm should do it. Something with a bass boost works well with the sound signature of these, too.

I think you might mistake the lean bass presentation of the D14 for lack of power.

Was just listening to the pairing myself and there's now way I can even go past 50% on the volume knob so something is definitely wrong. What have you connected your D14 to?

 

[phthora]

I think you might mistake the lean bass presentation of the D14 for lack of power.

Was just listening to the pairing myself and there's now way I can even go past 50% on the volume knob so something is definitely wrong. What have you connected your D14 to?

 
Maybe. But, I don't find the D14 'lean' in general. Now, the P5 is definitely a warmer amp, and for sound signature, it's my preference, but I haven't heard the same thinning of sound when pairing the D14 with my other cans. The 80 ohm DT 770's, for example, sound just fine on it. It could be a synergy issue, I suppose. In my experience, 'loud enough' is not the same as good sound.
 
I run my Note 5 to the D14 with or without the P5 as the amp.

 

[phthora]

I should also reiterate that the D14 comes close to delivering the full potential of the 400i. So, it may not be a power issue in that case. A warmer amp with the same power, like the Fiio E12, might fare better.

 

[peter123]

I should also reiterate that the D14 comes close to delivering the full potential of the 400i. So, it may not be a power issue in that case. A warmer amp with the same power, like the Fiio E12, might fare better.

I think you're on to something here.

I've done a shootout with and reviewed 12 amp/dac combos in the price range $250-1.500 and the D14 is probably the one with the least bass presence of them all (definitely one of them with the least).

I enjoy the D14 a lot but having spent some time with it and the HE400i right now it wouldn't be my first choice for them. Not bad but I've definitely heard better.

 

[fjrabon]

The DP-X1 can put 300 mW into 32 ohm in balanced. At 35 ohm, the 400i will get a bit less than this. To be honest, that is not enough power to fully drive these, balanced or not. My D14, which puts out 800 mW into 32 ohm, comes closer but still falls short. Balanced will improve some things with these, but I think you really need a decent amp to run these well. Otherwise, they going to sounder thinner, more sibilant, and more closed in (at the very least). Something with at least 1 W at 32 ohm should do the trick, IMO.

All power does is make things louder. If you put 1 watt into these, the result is 125dB. That's a fact of electricity.

 

[mandrake50]

thyname
 
I don't agree. 300 milliwatts is sufficient to drive the 400i to ear damaging levels. If it plays as loud as you need it to and you are not hearing distortion, you are fine. Often people will like the sound of a more powerful amplifier better. That is due to other aspects of the amp rather than power output. It can be distribution of the harmonic distortion components or just the sound signature in general. Power, once you have enough, does not in and of itself increase SQ.
 
I use my X5ii by itself (255 mw /32 ohms) or HA-2 (220 mw /32 ohms) to drive the 400i and am quite happy with the results. Using the same devices as DACs with my Liquid Gold or H10 does sound better to me, but again I think it is the Character of the amps overall rather than the additional available power that is responsible for the difference.
 
I never recommend that someone buy amplification simply because the newer equipment has more output capability, unless what the have is demonstrably under powered. In other words, if you are not hearing audible distortion and if you do not notice the sounds becoming congested and losing definition at the levels that you listen, you most likely do not "need" more amplification.
 
Of course people in this hobby do not buy equipment based on "need". If you want to explore other gear, by all means do. But I do not think I would buy into advice where someone recommends a certain level of power being required. Understand the efficiency specs and your own listening requirements. In this case, you would realize that a 1 watt amp is simply not required to drive the 400i.

 

[InsTwin]

Has anyone tried to tune the treble on the HE400i using something like the product below?
 
I was considering ordering these https://mrspeakers.com/shop/3-accessories/doggie-treats-tweaking-kit/ but didn't know if anyone had some other easily accessible tuning suggestions.