[Sonic Defender]

   
The Momentums are definitely dark/warm sounding to my ears.  Too much so.  My pair is still new, and I'm hoping they open up some.
 
I haven't dipped my toes in high-end yet, but it's feeling like I may have stumbled on the perfect cans for me in the 400i's.

Well, you certainly have found an excellent bang for the buck headphone with an engaging, and fairly neutral signature.

 

[GettingBuckets]

Yea I had the old Momentums and have the M2s since I needed a pair of portable cans. The M2s aren't as dark/warm as the previous version (which were way too recessed in the treble) but still are quite warm. They are very enjoyable for what I'm using them for (primarily portable/travel usage) although I'm still debating if I should have bit the bullet and spent the little bit extra to get the PM-3s.
 
I still have a preference for warmer cans, so the 400i is pretty neutral for me compared to other users on here. I'll probably be using the 400i for quite a little bit but will eventually go back to my preferred warm wood headphones and go for the ZMF Omni since I still miss my Enigmas and Blackwoods for their smooth, warm and unoffensive sound signature.
 
Since I did get the drop on the m9xx, I do wonder about how much of a difference in sound sig the amp will make for the 400i.

 

[urbino]

  Yea I had the old Momentums and have the M2s since I needed a pair of portable cans. The M2s aren't as dark/warm as the previous version (which were way too recessed in the treble) but still are quite warm. They are very enjoyable for what I'm using them for (primarily portable/travel usage) although I'm still debating if I should have bit the bullet and spent the little bit extra to get the PM-3s.
 
I still have a preference for warmer cans, so the 400i is pretty neutral for me compared to other users on here. I'll probably be using the 400i for quite a little bit but will eventually go back to my preferred warm wood headphones and go for the ZMF Omni since I still miss my Enigmas and Blackwoods for their smooth, warm and unoffensive sound signature.
 
Since I did get the drop on the m9xx, I do wonder about how much of a difference in sound sig the amp will make for the 400i.

 
Yeah, I wasn't clear, but the M2's are what I have.  If the previous version had even less treble . . . well, they'd be definitely not for me.

 

[GettingBuckets]

   
Yeah, I wasn't clear, but the M2's are what I have.  If the previous version had even less treble . . . well, they'd be definitely not for me.

Yep you definitely would not have liked the first Momentums. They were even more recessed in the treble and had smaller earpads too, so I really could not stick with them. The M2s are still treble recessed, but from what I can tell, it is at least more present compared to the first generation. It is only used for travelling and portability and not as a pair of desktop or home headphones for me, so I don't really pay notice as much. The treble recession actually helps since I end up sleeping with them on long car rides anyways.

 

[Sonic Defender]

  ... since I end up sleeping with them on long car rides anyways.

You can afford a chauffer?  

 

[urbino]

  Yep you definitely would not have liked the first Momentums. They were even more recessed in the treble and had smaller earpads too, so I really could not stick with them. The M2s are still treble recessed, but from what I can tell, it is at least more present compared to the first generation. It is only used for travelling and portability and not as a pair of desktop or home headphones for me, so I don't really pay notice as much. The treble recession actually helps since I end up sleeping with them on long car rides anyways.

 
I got them to use at the office.  Needed closed cans, but couldn't settle on anything because I couldn't find any that were quite what I wanted.  Sonically, I wanted to try a pair of Alpha Dogs (or maybe Primes), but they look too Spaceman Spiff for the office.  Ether C's would've been okay, but more than I wanted to spend.
 
So, I went with [relatively] inexpensive and [hopefully] good enough.

 

[GettingBuckets]

  You can afford a chauffer?  

Quite the contrary. I'm a poor college student, but I'm getting by since I'm a student-athlete. Most of my travels are in a cramped 12 passenger van.

 

[Sonic Defender]

  Quite the contrary. I'm a poor college student, but I'm getting by since I'm a student-athlete. Most of my travels are in a cramped 12 passenger van.

You should see how Canadian college/university athletes get treated up here! I go to Carleton University where our men's basketball program has won I think 10 of the last 11 national championships, including if I'm not mistaken 8 in a row and when they are in the gym hell almost nobody notices. Now those are poor students! I'm just babbling for fun, but I imagine a US team with that success would make the players gods on campus with people falling all over them. I know as good as Carleton is the couldn't compete with the top tier US teams. They hold their own when they play US teams, actually I think they have a winning record, but it isn't like they are playing the cream of the US crop. Hope you and your team are having a good season so far and on into the rest of the year.

 

[swspiers]

 
Quite the contrary. I'm a poor college student, but I'm getting by since I'm a student-athlete. Most of my travels are in a cramped 12 passenger van.

You should see how Canadian college/university athletes get treated up here! I go to Carleton University where our men's basketball program has won I think 10 of the last 11 national championships, including if I'm not mistaken 8 in a row and when they are in the gym hell almost nobody notices. Now those are poor students! I'm just babbling for fun, but I imagine a US team with that success would make the players gods on campus with people falling all over them. I know as good as Carleton is the couldn't compete with the top tier US teams. They hold their own when they play US teams, actually I think they have a winning record, but it isn't like they are playing the cream of the US crop. Hope you and your team are having a good season so far and on into the rest of the year.

Yeah, but us 'Mericans would be more intellectually and academically competitive if we actually revered education more than athletics. I get that they're fun and all, but in the U.S. we get carried away to extremes...

There are so many more important issues to deal with. Like why is the cable for the 400i's so darn short? And which pads work better for bassheads?

 

[urbino]

There are so many more important issues to deal with. Like why is the cable for the 400i's so darn short? And which pads work better for bassheads?

 
One of my favorite Kierkegaard quotes.

 

[RERO]

I think being right angle is the biggest sin of the cable. The stiffness is a close second.

 

[Sonic Defender]

Yeah, but us 'Mericans would be more intellectually and academically competitive if we actually revered education more than athletics. I get that they're fun and all, but in the U.S. we get carried away to extremes...

There are so many more important issues to deal with. Like why is the cable for the 400i's so darn short? And which pads work better for bassheads?

Perhaps in general, but there is certainly a connection between occupying the dominant economic position on earth and educational and social achievement. It is fun, and sometimes easy to bash our American brethren, but the reality is that in many ways the US is exceptional. But yes, in general athletics does seem to be far more important than it should be. I always say to people it isn't my achievement so why am I supposed to get all worked up about my teams success? It isn't like the players care about my life so why should I focus so much on theirs right? My paternal grandfather died a US citizen (from New York city) so I have a soft spot for you crazy Yanks even if you do get a little carried away with college football.

 

[1800yolk]

  ​AAAGGGHHH!!! LISTEN UP 400I OWNERS!You have NOT heard what these cans are capable of if you haven't heard them with an ALL TUBE amp...Yes MOST ALL OTL(output transformer less)amps don't work well with low impedance cans.You need an OTC (output transformer coupled)tube amp like my APPJ Audio PA1502 amp or the Woo Audio WA6...

 
 

  GOTTA share this immediately:  after about 200 hours of burn in my 400is completely dazzled me out of a MOJO AUDIO NOS DAC into a David Berning MicroZotl tube headphone amp. the synchrony of the above chain is unreal, a completely different beast with the tube power and the state of the art NOS (non oversampling dac) I had played with the 4000is only DX90s with a Cayin C5 powering it, with an Audioquest Dragonfly with stabilized iFi power supply, etc.  but nothing prepared me for how good these cans are with tubes and NOS dac.  sound like my old Magnaplanar2.0 speakers on steroids.  bass is great, mids are liquid and treble sparkly.  i am so satisfied i can hardly speak. hi rez files sound the best of all, they are ALIVE on good recordings (like Linnrecords xmas gift files) and voices silky and seductive...but EDMs sound like being in a live club thats inside your head
not as much detail or soundstage as the 560s i heard on tour, but i like this sound way better, much more musically involving and emotionally stimulating.  back to listening...

 
I am shopping around for headphone amps for the 400i, and these two comments stuck out to me, because of how specific and enthused they were about their listening experience. However, these posts disagree with each other: drblue uses an OTL amp, while E8 says is not the way to go. I've also read many people on this board who were happy with digital options, such as the iBasso DX90. My take from this is that it is difficult to choose the wrong amp for these headphones, so long as the quality is respectable. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this though!

 

[EinZweiDrei]

Im do plan to get a wa6se or a mjolnir 2 or maybe by then theres better options somewhere in the future. For now ill stick with the m9xx's built in amp to run the 400i.

 

[urbino]

  I am shopping around for headphone amps for the 400i, and these two comments stuck out to me, because of how specific and enthused they were about their listening experience. However, these posts disagree with each other: drblue uses an OTL amp, while E8 says is not the way to go. I've also read many people on this board who were happy with digital options, such as the iBasso DX90. My take from this is that it is difficult to choose the wrong amp for these headphones, so long as the quality is respectable. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this though!

 
I think that's right.  They do take some current to drive to normal listening levels, but they seem to sound pretty good with just about anything.