[DavidA]

I have somewhat large ears, and when putting the headphones on, my ears curl within the ear pad openings.

After a little while my skin will also start to itch after wearing the pads. I don't know if this is the velour, or the clamping pressure.

While the Ori pads have a larger opening height wise they are slightly less in width so if your problems are with height then they might work out for you. One thing I have noticed with most pads that have leather on the inner sidewalls is that they tend to bring the mids forward which I noticed with Dekoni, Alpha pads and the Ether/C flat/angled pads but that does not mean the Ori pads with behave the same way. Hope others can help with this as I'll also be interested to see how the Ori pads perform.

 

[leeperry]

.

 

[binaryhermit]

I just have to say, I'm listening to Iron & Wine's new album on my phone using a USB-C to USB-A, HDMI, and USB C PD adaptor to a Schiit Fulla 2 to my HE400i, and damn it sounds good

 

[candysound]

I already posted this before several pages back. This is to anyone who upgraded the pads to the Brainwavz HM5 Angled Memory Foam Pleather pads like I ended up doing. I strongly suggest giving my EQ a try with these pads. It completely destroys the sound of the stock headphone.

200Hz: - 0.5
250Hz: - 0.5
400Hz: - 1.0
500Hz: - 3.5
800Hz: - 1.0
1kHz: - 1.5
12kHz: + 0.5
16kHz: + 1

Are you using the new round brainwavz or still the angled . http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Brainwavz...230695?hash=item212b6920a7:g:VGQAAOSwqVxZf6Dm

 

[393699]

I am using the angled ones here.

https://www.amazon.com/Brainwavz-An...00ZY8PGJI/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

 

[candysound]

I am using the angled ones here.

https://www.amazon.com/Brainwavz-An...00ZY8PGJI/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

I will buy a set, I did the attenuation ring on the back but I also used a small attenuation ring on the front and a round soft foam on the inside... the bass is amazing and the highs are just perfect now for me (they were slightly bright)... I think I got them where I want them to be but would like to try and see what they would sound like with something else.

 

[Presto]

I can't be bothered to look through this whole thread to find an answer, but has anybody noticed a very split opinion on the bass of these headphones? People keep telling me there is plenty of bass and even sub-bass, but I have owned these headphones for a good while and can't hear this "planar bass" people keep talking about. It seems to have a very big roll off in the low end. Thoughts?

 

[phthora]

I can't be bothered to look through this whole thread to find an answer, but has anybody noticed a very split opinion on the bass of these headphones? People keep telling me there is plenty of bass and even sub-bass, but I have owned these headphones for a good while and can't hear this "planar bass" people keep talking about. It seems to have a very big roll off in the low end. Thoughts?

Yes, I've noticed that. The opinion is split for three very good reasons.

First, there do seem to exist sonic differences between the v1 and v2 400i. The v1 has a backplate which is generally thought to aid in the production of sub-bass. In v2, that backplate has been removed.

Second, there are simply QC differences or variation between v2 units. I experienced this myself A/B/Cing three different v2 400is. The difference in bass production was quite noticeable between the first two and the third, and I would definitely say that for the less bassy pair it did not sound 'planar' (or even very good). The guy who owned them was able to exchange them for a new pair based on that discrepancy, so perhaps HiFiMan recognizes the issue. More info here: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hif...-and-discussion.698974/page-825#post-13554076

Third, a lot of people expect to hear the same kind of bass as they would in a dynamic driver headphone. The linearity of the bass, the lack of a mid-bass hump, the fast decay and lack of bloom, or even the deep extension of the sub-bass sounds off to them.

 

[DavidA]

I can't be bothered to look through this whole thread to find an answer, but has anybody noticed a very split opinion on the bass of these headphones? People keep telling me there is plenty of bass and even sub-bass, but I have owned these headphones for a good while and can't hear this "planar bass" people keep talking about. It seems to have a very big roll off in the low end. Thoughts?

If you are comparing them to your TH900 then the HE400i will not be as bass heavy but it does go as low as the TH900 without being muddy which the TH900 can be at times. To me the HE400i as decent bass, not as detailed nor as present like the HE560 or most of the LCD series.

Might want to check on how well the ear pads seal on you head and also check the seal between the ear pads and the cups. One way to boost the bass is to use attenuation rings made from card stock or similar material, pretty much free and easily removed if you don't like it:

What I've been using, try with one first to see if you like it, then try with 2, might be too much for some.

 

[Presto]

Might want to check on how well the ear pads seal on you head and also check the seal between the ear pads and the cups.

I've also tried the headphones with angled hm5 pads to no real effect.

 

[DavidA]

I've also tried the headphones with angled hm5 pads to no real effect.

I posted a while back that a friend who tried the HM5 pads could never get a good seal but it seems to work for others.

Agree with @phthora and his three reasons for your impression on the lack of bass. My HE400i are the old SMC jack w/ back plate and they do sound different from the 3 newer ones but mostly in the mids and highs to me. The newer ones seem to have a bit more grain in the highs and the mids are a bit recessed compared to the older back plate model.

There is variation between headphones, sometimes very slight and sometimes quite noticeable.

In your case I think its the third reason, you are used to the bass of the TH900, almost any headphone will seem to lack bass compared to it but for some that type of bass is not very life like unless in a night club IMO.

 

[Presto]

I'm not "used" to the TH900, I just own them.

 

[candysound]

when I got them and burned them in, I still did not get the low-end desired but the mids were great and getting better, highs were nice crisp but were a bit piercing on some tracks and sometimes even grainy , so i followed the mod mentioned above with the attenuation ring, it fixed the low-end a tad but nothing like i wanted so i experimented a bit and now for me they are a lot better.
i will post some pics later to what i did to help with the low-end (still is nothing next to a Fostex TH-series) but is fast and punchy and goes low and now deeper.

it only took some cardboard paper and some foam.

 

[candysound]

sorry for the quality but i only had an old ipad 3 at hand.
here are some pictures to the slight mods I did, I am using an attenuation ring like mentioned here plus a variant of it made from slightly dense foam on the front, I started with just the cardboard one but then tried more (as you can see)
I also had the big round foam that covers the whole area and was not bad but had to take the front foam crescent moon mod out. although it calmed the highs, even more, and found it to sound somewhat congested a bit (to my liking) so calming the highs that much I did not like, someone might tho if they find the 400i harsh on the highs, also my ears was touching the round large foam so i took it out and went for the 2x Crescent mods which I am really liking now.

 

[Brahmsian]

In v2, that backplate has been removed..

Why was the backplate removed? Actually, why did they release a second version if the first sounds better?

also check the seal between the ear pads and the cups.

How do you check this, around the inside of the cups or are you talking about the outside? A few weeks ago, to make the chambers a little roomier, I ran my finger 360 degrees around the inside of the pads, lifting them away from the cups a little. Ever since then I have thought the headphones sounded a bit brighter but I can't be sure.