[SmtAudio]

i

800 mW more than enough? You're not kidding, that's way overkill. The FiiO Q1 costs less, can power them to just under the pain threshold, and you get a better DAC in it.

m getting fiio A5

 

[alphanumerix1]

Whats the general consensus when it comes to comparing the akg712pro & the hd600/650 is the he-400i considered an upgrade or more of its own signature? Could you own all 3?

 

[peter123]

800 mW more than enough? You're not kidding, that's way overkill. The FiiO Q1 costs less, can power them to just under the pain threshold, and you get a better DAC in it.

Each to their own I'd guess. There's amplifiers and amp/dac that cost $30 that's powerful enough to drive them, it just depends on what quality you need.

For an amp/dac I'd suggest the Opus #11 but it all depends on needs and budget.

Could you also please explain to me the negative effects of having more than enough power available because I've never noticed any.

 

[abm0]

Could you also please explain to me the negative effects of having more than enough power available because I've never noticed any.

Just extra money spent for no additional benefit, as you're never going to put 800 mW into the 400i unless you're trying to blow it up, but for the same price or less you could upgrade both the amp and the DAC section, as already suggested.

 

[DavidA]

Whats the general consensus when it comes to comparing the akg712pro & the hd600/650 is the he-400i considered an upgrade or more of its own signature? Could you own all 3?

Depends on what you are looking for, I have K7XX, HD600 (sold), HD650 and HE400i and a few others, all are different enough to me to keep them (except for HD600, it has a peak in the 4-5khz range that bothered me at times, replaced with a Ypsilon build). Only thing to consider is an amp, not too many will drive all three well from my limited trials, K7XX best with Ember or Lyr2, HD650 best with BH Crack and HE400i best with UD-301 for me.

 

[phthora]

Just extra money spent for no additional benefit, as you're never going to put 800 mW into the 400i unless you're trying to blow it up, but for the same price or less you could upgrade both the amp and the DAC section, as already suggested.

Assuming all other factors to be equal, you will actually get lower distortion out of an amp that has more power on tap, since distortion goes up as the amp increases its power output. Of course, that distortion may not be audible to begin with. Also, my experience after hearing a dozen and owning four amps is that quality of sound (for whatever reason) tends to correlate to power output at least as reliably as it does to the price of the amp. Personally, I have never regretted investing a bit in an amp, since an improvement in sound there will mean improvement in all of my headphones.

 

[peter123]

Assuming all other factors to be equal, you will actually get lower distortion out of an amp that has more power on tap, since distortion goes up as the amp increases its power output. Of course, that distortion may not be audible to begin with. Also, my experience after hearing a dozen and owning four amps is that quality of sound (for whatever reason) tends to correlate to power output at least as reliably as it does to the price of the amp. Personally, I have never regretted investing a bit in an amp, since an improvement in sound there will mean improvement in all of my headphones.

My thoughts exactly. There's also quite noticeable differences in quality between different amps in my experience and the C5 happens to be a very nice sounding one.

It all depends on what you want. If all you're looking for is to be able to play loud enough most amps will be sufficient. If you want the best sound from your headphones the right matching/pairing is a different story........

 

[peter123]

Just extra money spent for no additional benefit, as you're never going to put 800 mW into the 400i unless you're trying to blow it up, but for the same price or less you could upgrade both the amp and the DAC section, as already suggested.

To me better sq and more flexibility is worth the extra money but as always YMMV.

 

[Linus1]

Been listening to the new Kendrick Lamar album with the HE400i today (Burson V2+ > Project Ember II > HE400i) and the bass impact is excellent. Anone feeling that the HE400i lacks bass should try this album and if they're still feeling that there's not enough bass I'd suggest buying some other headphones

... or a more powerful amplifier.....

I've given the 400i another good listen while home this last time (not as much as I was hoping, though), and found hearing an old Genesis album (Foxtrot) with my little rig (Sony blu-ray player/Cambridge DacMagic/Burson Soloist MKII), the bass is very, very satisfying. I'll go along with your observation that having a good amplifier makes a difference. With the caveat that the bass is very, very satisfying for -me- ....YMMV!

But they are real nice headpones.....

 

[abm0]

Assuming all other factors to be equal, you will actually get lower distortion out of an amp that has more power on tap, since distortion goes up as the amp increases its power output. Of course, that distortion may not be audible to begin with.

This was someone trying to move beyond powering it from their phone, so in their case there would be definite distortion there due to the lower-grade DAC used. The best bet in this case is to upgrade the DAC immediately after "enough" power has been reached. The extra power to support the correct reproduction of any and all peaks you might encounter in real-world listening will not make nearly as much difference as upgrading the DAC relative to the integrated one will. Weakest link first. Not enough power? Get enough power. Low-grade DAC? Get a decent DAC. Then we can talk about finer points like a comfortable power overhead.

 

[phthora]

can anybody tell me why out of the box it sounds too low directly from iphone 6s ? i mean these are low impedance cans and marketed for portable use then why such low volume or does the burn in will fix this issue with time ? any suggestion will be appreciated. thanks

This was someone trying to move beyond powering it from their phone, so in their case there would be definite distortion there due to the lower-grade DAC used. The best bet in this case is to upgrade the DAC immediately after "enough" power has been reached. The extra power to support the correct reproduction of any and all peaks you might encounter in real-world listening will not make nearly as much difference as upgrading the DAC relative to the integrated one will. Weakest link first. Not enough power? Get enough power. Low-grade DAC? Get a decent DAC. Then we can talk about finer points like a comfortable power overhead.

I may be wrong, but it seems like his original post was a concern with a lack of volume, followed by asking whether it was worthwhile to get an amp whose power exceeds the minimum requirements. I don't recall him mentioning that the DAC was lacking. So, that is what I addressed. Of course, one would ideally upgrade all links in the audio chain, DAC included, but it sounded like his priority was the amp, that that was his weakest link.

 

[alphanumerix1]

Depends on what you are looking for, I have K7XX, HD600 (sold), HD650 and HE400i and a few others, all are different enough to me to keep them (except for HD600, it has a peak in the 4-5khz range that bothered me at times, replaced with a Ypsilon build). Only thing to consider is an amp, not too many will drive all three well from my limited trials, K7XX best with Ember or Lyr2, HD650 best with BH Crack and HE400i best with UD-301 for me.

Thanks for your insight!

You made some good points, I will be using the oppo ha-1 as the amp.

Atm I'm using the 712pro primarily for gaming and hd600 for music. Wanting to try the he400i and if i liked sell one of the previously mentioned cans.

 

[big45-70]

Anyone try the new round brainwav pads? https://www.brainwavzaudio.com/collections/round-headphone-earpads/round-pads

Doesn't look like they are offering an angled version yet, but they are probobly coming at some point.

 

[GirgleMirt]

Whats the general consensus when it comes to comparing the akg712pro & the hd600/650 is the he-400i considered an upgrade or more of its own signature? Could you own all 3?

FWIW, using Schiit Magni+modi, have the Q701 and the 400i, and the main thing for me is that 400i is a good step above in terms of detail/resolution/clarity. I'd say that overall the q701 are very good headphones, and they can stand up in some ways vs 400i, but if you had a ladder of high fidelity, the 400i would definitely be higher IMHO just for the resolution, definitely a significant step up. Otherwise, they are indeed different sounding, so preference might be a toss up, sometimes some things like better resolution isn't even a strength depending on some material...

Both have their own sound (frequency response), 400i maybe a tad more mid/treble oriented, with Q701 bit darker with more (lower quality) bass, I'd say maybe the Q701 wins high/mid/bass balance, but when you're taking such a step back in terms of resolution, it's a bit like a mountain bike vs light bike with slim tires... Rolling fine pavement it's a no brainer, race bike is very smooth & fast, but given many roads are in crap condition (not great recordings), mountain bike might make a better ride; slower, but much less bumpy, but way less maneuverable, way slower & heavier... Different beasts.

Only heard the 650 once on a Senn amp which I was told wasn't a good match, and I was not impressed, very dark sounding and detail/resolution wasn't great, way more reminiscent of q701 than 400i... HD700 & 800 sounded much better on that setup, with way more acceptable detail; (was under the impression the 400i resolution was closer to those, but, as I said, some have said the amp wasn't a good match for 650, some said even 650 was similar in detail, ymmv..)

 

[DavidA]

Thanks for your insight!

You made some good points, I will be using the oppo ha-1 as the amp.

Atm I'm using the 712pro primarily for gaming and hd600 for music. Wanting to try the he400i and if i liked sell one of the previously mentioned cans.

I've only used the HA-1 once and it was awhile ago so I can't really comment about it but I did like it at the time that I tried it. For gaming the HD700 has been my go to headphones for quite some time, the positional audio is really good and it seems to handle the dynamics from most games quite well. I haven't really used my K7XX for gaming much but I don't game much these days so hard to make a judgement there.

For me the HD600 was the weakest of the three but since we all hear differently its really up to you to see which will be the one to go. With that said if you could keep all of them then it might be the best since you never know if your sound signature might change in the future. Good luck and how it all works out for you