[DavidA]

  Just bought these new up here in Canada... and this is my first post around here.

All I can say is wow. I am coming from Grado 125 and am currently only driving them with FiiO E10K but these are night and day between anything I own and these are my first dip into Hi-Mid Fi headphones. I know there is far more potential but I am pleased the FiiO can drive these with no Gain and no Bass boost just fine.
 
I researched a ton and demoed these and the 400S (among others) forever before deciding. Although the 400S seemed more exciting and easy to hear immediate differences in the shop (especially un-amped with an iPhone 6S), I could tell these are just that much more detailed and nuanced. I am not too up on my Audiophile lingo yet, but I can tell the amping potential is where it is at so I chose the 400i.
 
Strings and fuzz, textures and resonance are where I am really noticing these are a cut above. I am listening to ALACs of Radiohead's newest A Moon Shaped Pool, (which I have listened to countless times since it dropped, but this is the first time I can feel and imagine each member of the band playing in such a distinct way.) If this is soundstage, I get it because I feel like I am sitting in a little desk chair with the band on all sides of me. 
 
Anyways thanks for everyone who posts here, I chose these because of my research here.
 
ANYWAYS...
 
Onto the annoying part where I ask a question that has likely been asked 10000 times.
 
I eventually will be buying a dedicated Amp and probably going to keep the FiiO or get a dragonfly for a DAC so I can also drive these with an iPhone in a pinch.

I have a very extensive Vinyl collection so I will be looking for an amp that can travel between home and office and deal with Vinyl and Digital (From a Macbook Pro) as well. Most of my listening takes place at home or office as I don't commute really...

Easy choice is the O2 or the Magni but I may want to dig deeper. Any suggestions?
 
 
...In the meantime I am going to relive all my music with the E10K for now.

Cheers

I would not get either the O2 or Magni for the HE-400i and I had them both, they are slightly on the bright side to me and do not really go well with the HE-400i.  I would suggest a Polaris from Garage 1217 if you don't want to deal with tubes but if tubes are something you want to try then the Ember is a great place to start.  Both amps are very flexible since they have adjustable output resistance/impedance so you can better match them to different headphones.

 

[Sonic Defender]

 
I would not get either the O2 or Magni for the HE-400i and I had them both, they are slightly on the bright side to me and do not really go well with the HE-400i.  I would suggest a Polaris from Garage 1217 if you don't want to deal with tubes but if tubes are something you want to try then the Ember is a great place to start.  Both amps are very flexible since they have adjustable output resistance/impedance so you can better match them to different headphones.

Good suggestions, the Ember is the amp I would be going after, or the Massdrop Grace M9XX, but the Ember for sure as I think a little tube warmth could only benefit the 400i.

 

[AJTSin]

Thanks for the responses.

Is anyone using a Dragonfly Red/Black with these?

 

[manishex]

With the Sorbothane mod, it closes the soundstage somewhat and makes the sound sig too dark.
The best solution I've found is to place a small piece of Sorbothane under the earpads at -45 degrees from the top.
This gives the damping (instrument separation) effect without changing the sound signature/sound stage too much, it also makes upper treble more energetic and bass slightly tighter.

 

[DavidA]

  With the Sorbothane mod, it closes the soundstage somewhat and makes the sound sig too dark.
The best solution I've found is to place a small piece of Sorbothane under the earpads at -45 degrees from the top.
This gives the damping (instrument separation) effect without changing the sound signature/sound stage too much, it also makes upper treble more energetic and bass slightly tighter.

sounds interesting, got any pictures?  I've tried putting the sorbothane inside the cups behind the grill but took them out since it changed the sound too much, might have to put less and position them differently.

 

[Vanheim]

I would not get either the O2 or Magni for the HE-400i and I had them both, they are slightly on the bright side to me and do not really go well with the HE-400i.  I would suggest a Polaris from Garage 1217 if you don't want to deal with tubes but if tubes are something you want to try then the Ember is a great place to start.  Both amps are very flexible since they have adjustable output resistance/impedance so you can better match them to different headphones.

the Polaris might just be what I'm looking for. I honestly don't want a tube amp as tubes are a huge hassle for me right now. Can anyone compare the project Polaris to cavalli liquid carbon?

Will a modi 2 Uber be a good pairing with the Polaris? It seems that it has little issues with speed/clarity/congestion. The modi is a leaner sounding dac so they might balance each other out?

So for now my plan is to eventually buy a used modi 2 Uber, buy a used project Polaris.

 

[520RanchBro]

the Polaris might just be what I'm looking for. I honestly don't want a tube amp as tubes are a huge hassle for me right now. Can anyone compare the project Polaris to cavalli liquid carbon?

Will a modi 2 Uber be a good pairing with the Polaris? It seems that it has little issues with speed/clarity/congestion. The modi is a leaner sounding dac so they might balance each other out?

So for now my plan is to eventually buy a used modi 2 Uber, buy a used project Polaris.

I think that's a good plan. I liked the Modi 2/Asgard 2 combo with the 400i, clear, fast and plenty detailed. Heard many good things (and nothing bad) about Garage1217 amp and HiFiMAN headphones.

 

[DavidA]

the Polaris might just be what I'm looking for. I honestly don't want a tube amp as tubes are a huge hassle for me right now. Can anyone compare the project Polaris to cavalli liquid carbon?

Will a modi 2 Uber be a good pairing with the Polaris? It seems that it has little issues with speed/clarity/congestion. The modi is a leaner sounding dac so they might balance each other out?

So for now my plan is to eventually buy a used modi 2 Uber, buy a used project Polaris.

1.  If you are going to run the HE-400i balanced then the Liquid Carbon makes sense.  The Polaris and LC are not in the same ball park IMO, if looking at the LC then you are looking at a higher tier level which would include other amps like the Heron 5 and HA-501 amps.  I've only heard the LC once and it was a while ago but it did sound great with the HD-650 and LCD-2 that I got to hear with them, both were with balanced cables.  In SE mode the LC was not as good IMO.
 
2.  I have a Modi2uber, it doesn't seem to have issues with speed/clarity/congestion compared to my Bimby and UD-301.  Its fairly close to my Bifrost Uber and its hard to hear differences most of the time.  Its also dependent on the genre of music that you listen to and the quality of the recordings that you will notice any differences.  I will say that the Modi2uber is somewhere between neutral to a touch bright.
 
3.  Your plan to get used modi2uber and used Polaris sounds like a good starting point.

 

[manishex]

  sounds interesting, got any pictures?  I've tried putting the sorbothane inside the cups behind the grill but took them out since it changed the sound too much, might have to put less and position them differently.

I just pushed a little cut of the Sorbothane underneath the earpad somewhere between the top and the thicker section.I think I used the 50 duro, about 1x0.3cm or less?
 
I found putting the Sorbothane on the outer grill made it sound too dark. The trick is to put in a rough estimate then depending on how much it changes the sound signature, keep cutting the size down and re-evaluating until you're happy with it.

 

[Sonic Defender]

the Polaris might just be what I'm looking for. I honestly don't want a tube amp as tubes are a huge hassle for me right now. Can anyone compare the project Polaris to cavalli liquid carbon?

Will a modi 2 Uber be a good pairing with the Polaris? It seems that it has little issues with speed/clarity/congestion. The modi is a leaner sounding dac so they might balance each other out?

So for now my plan is to eventually buy a used modi 2 Uber, buy a used project Polaris.

I would also say the iDSD Micro, which I own and love is REALLY worth looking into. It has been getting quite a bit of well deserved praise around here and it shares that with the Grace M9XX. I would really say to look at those seriously as well. So much choice these days it is almost too much!

 

[DavidA]

  I just pushed a little cut of the Sorbothane underneath the earpad somewhere between the top and the thicker section.I think I used the 50 duro, about 1x0.3cm or less?
 
I found putting the Sorbothane on the outer grill made it sound too dark. The trick is to put in a rough estimate then depending on how much it changes the sound signature, keep cutting the size down and re-evaluating until you're happy with it.

Thanks for the reply will try this out
That's a really small piece 1x0.3 cm, I was using 6 strips about 1cm x 2cm around the cup under the grill and then cutting them in to smaller sections after.

 

[Secone]

I wasn't sure if anyone had seen these files before or not, but I stumbled upon this thread here: http://diyah.boards.net/thread/1166/hifiman-400i and one of the members had some impulse file .wavs that I used with JRiver's Convolution plugin and damn, the difference is incredible! To me at least! I just thought I would share these in case anyone wanted to try them out.
 
EDIT: for people who may not want to register here's a .zip of the 3 files https://www.dropbox.com/s/a812aezxlon05bh/filtersoft%20monomix%2044.1.zip?dl=0 

 

[Vanheim]

1.  If you are going to run the HE-400i balanced then the Liquid Carbon makes sense.  The Polaris and LC are not in the same ball park IMO, if looking at the LC then you are looking at a higher tier level which would include other amps like the Heron 5 and HA-501 amps.  I've only heard the LC once and it was a while ago but it did sound great with the HD-650 and LCD-2 that I got to hear with them, both were with balanced cables.  In SE mode the LC was not as good IMO.

2.  I have a Modi2uber, it doesn't seem to have issues with speed/clarity/congestion compared to my Bimby and UD-301.  Its fairly close to my Bifrost Uber and its hard to hear differences most of the time.  Its also dependent on the genre of music that you listen to and the quality of the recordings that you will notice any differences.  I will say that the Modi2uber is somewhere between neutral to a touch bright.

3.  Your plan to get used modi2uber and used Polaris sounds like a good starting point.

I meant that the Polaris has speed and congestion issues. I read it on a review. But I think pairing it with modi 2 will clear that up.

 

[DavidA]

I meant that the Polaris has speed and congestion issues. I read it on a review. But I think pairing it with modi 2 will clear that up.

If you are referring to the review by Asr, you should also consider the headphones that was used for those thoughts as he did say that the Polaris was not a great match for the AD2000.

 

[Vanheim]

 

 
It has been difficult but I finally found a way to love my hifiman he-400i. Now it produces the best bass I've heard on headphones. (haven't heard many headphones XD only few budget ones) I think I might be a bass head after all. eq all the way. thanks to the bass head thread and graphs.