[thyname]

Good luck.
What cable did you decide on?
Do let us know what difference it makes.

http://tritonaudiocables.com/Removable-Headphone-Cables_c_8.html

The one on the left.

 

[Mani ATH 87]

 
I have this cable coming later this weak, possibly early next week. Excited to see how these are! Time to get rid of this stiff stock cable with the angled plug, bleh.

 

[spookanide]

  Yes it is easy to remove / install the 400i pads but make sure you remember the direction of the elevated side of the pad.
 
Just wondering, does the audeze pads comes with a flexible outer sleeve like brainwavz? or does it has its own ring like hifiman?

I do think they're like the brainwavz in that regard, but I am not 100% certain until I have them in my hands. They certainly do not come with a ring, but they do come with double-sided adhesive.

 

[gunwale]

  I do think they're like the brainwavz in that regard, but I am not 100% certain until I have them in my hands. They certainly do not come with a ring, but they do come with double-sided adhesive.

Can you snap a photo of the pads (back view) when you get them? thanks.

 

[spookanide]

  Can you snap a photo of the pads (back view) when you get them? thanks.

I just watched this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LkaQsxcNSM
 
They do not have a sleeve for fitting, surprisingly. You have to buy seperate plastic rings if you don't want to glue them onto your hifimans.

 

[Gamingmusiclove]

i've been thinking about getting these for my birthday, since i've been looking for an upgrade to my AD700 which did an amazing job. However, considering i will probably have to buy them along the Magni/Modi combo for getting some power, i got a little bit worried about price. My main conscerns are detail, versatile sound signature (i don't want to say neutral cause i think neutral headphones might sound flat most of the time), good mid range and comfort. Are the HE400i good at these? or is there a cheaper alternative? i was wondering how did they fare against teh Hee 400s which are said to be easy to drive, something very interesting to me. As for music,  i actually love all kinds of music but i am looking for something optimal for jazz and classical, hence why i need good detailed headphones

 

[spookanide]

  My main conscerns are detail, versatile sound signature (i don't want to say neutral cause i think neutral headphones might sound flat most of the time), good mid range and comfort. Are the HE400i good at these? or is there a cheaper alternative? i was wondering how did they fare against teh Hee 400s which are said to be easy to drive, something very interesting to me. As for music,  i actually love all kinds of music but i am looking for something optimal for jazz and classical, hence why i need good detailed headphones

My personal opinion (not a cans collector, own them for about half a year, take it how you will):
Detail: big yes, (will vary between source quality)
versatile: big yes,  (I listen anything from electronic/DnB to indie rock to metal to jazz. It doesn't do phat bass, maybe with different pads, but reaches 30Hz no problem)
good midrange: yes, (very nice and clear/balanced, but I can imagine some people liking a thicker low midrange. The most upper mids got a slight bump.)
comfort: yes (where I previously had a HD558, this comes close. It does not get nasty hot. Wore it hours no prob)
 
My very personal opinion: I A/B'd these with a desk full of cans in this pricerange (including sennh HD600 & 650, final audio sonorous, HE-400s) in a long listening session at a specialty store. I placed these above the others every time myself, but you might really want to try the HD650 depending on the type of listener you are. I can't exactly remember in which music genres I placed the 400i above the 650.
An audition is always wise if you want to know exactly what to get for yourself. Bring your gear too like I did.
 

  Best headphone for jazz and classical in this price would be a HD-700 IMO with the caveat that you will most likely want a tube amp to go with them, Vali2 vs Magni is a good choice but if you want to stay SS then a Project Polaris from Garage 1217 is my recommendation.  The Vali2 will also work quite well with the HE-400i from what others have said.

Thanks for the reminder. I found the HD700s highs absolutely rampant when I tried them out.

 

[DavidA]

  i've been thinking about getting these for my birthday, since i've been looking for an upgrade to my AD700 which did an amazing job. However, considering i will probably have to buy them along the Magni/Modi combo for getting some power, i got a little bit worried about price. My main conscerns are detail, versatile sound signature (i don't want to say neutral cause i think neutral headphones might sound flat most of the time), good mid range and comfort. Are the HE400i good at these? or is there a cheaper alternative? i was wondering how did they fare against teh Hee 400s which are said to be easy to drive, something very interesting to me. As for music,  i actually love all kinds of music but i am looking for something optimal for jazz and classical, hence why i need good detailed headphones

Best headphone for jazz and classical in this price would be a HD-700 IMO with the caveat that you will most likely want a tube amp to go with them, Vali2 vs Magni is a good choice but if you want to stay SS then a Project Polaris from Garage 1217 is my recommendation.  The Vali2 will also work quite well with the HE-400i from what others have said.
 
Cheaper / alternatives:
 
If you can DIY then a Ypsilon build is a great alternative since you will not need an DA/amp and the use of G pads makes them quite comfortable.  The Ypsilon driver is about the same or better with details, better sound stage, dynamics, bass, mids and highs to most that have heard it.  Its like taking the Grado RS2e and adding bass/mid bass.
 
DT-1990 might also be one you might want to consider

 

[fumblingforward]

i've been thinking about getting these for my birthday, since i've been looking for an upgrade to my AD700 which did an amazing job. However, considering i will probably have to buy them along the Magni/Modi combo for getting some power, i got a little bit worried about price. My main conscerns are detail, versatile sound signature (i don't want to say neutral cause i think neutral headphones might sound flat most of the time), good mid range and comfort. Are the HE400i good at these? or is there a cheaper alternative? i was wondering how did they fare against teh Hee 400s which are said to be easy to drive, something very interesting to me. As for music,  i actually love all kinds of music but i am looking for something optimal for jazz and classical, hence why i need good detailed headphones

I have one jazz album, I bought it to explore the genre. Miles Davis Kind of Blue. On vinyl and it's sounded great over everything I've listened through but especially great through the he-400i. These headphones were my motivation to further explore Davis and Coltrane. Classical also sounds great. I don't know if it's the speed of the drivers response or the neutrality. Through my amp there's certainly no problem with flatness. Crisp and detailed but full. Strings and horns bloom, percussion is; well percussion, cymbals have the crash you want not the hiss you settle for. A good copy of 1812 overture is like being in the middle of the battle. I can't speak to whether or not something is optimum for any particular genre but these sound great with every genre I've heard through them. The Philips shp9500 is a very very close second. A little slower sounding to me, slightly slower. My ad700x''s collect dust. Giving them to my brother.

 

[thesmokingman]

Hey, if anyone has scratched up their headphone cup arms, I found that a scrub pad matches the stock texture. Specifically the scrub pad that comes with a package of Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra. I had gotten a light scratch on my 400i arm, and my OCD was bugging me. I had to do something about it lol. I tried some different materials when I came across on of the scrub pads from my last cpu project. The scrub pad matches the stock texture perfectly.

 

[Audio-MCFly]

   The Vali2 will also work quite well with the HE-400i from what others have said.
 

 
Hi,
I have the H400i's since a week and I'm looking for a desktop amp. Atm I have a Dragonfly v1.2 which is connected with my studio monitors. I'm looking now for something better which can handle the Hifiman and my speakers. I'm still uncertain what to do...should I buy only an amp or an amp and dac.The amps I favor are Magni Uber 2 and Lake People G 103s. Recommendations are welcome.
 
I have done alot of research until now (more than it's healthy

) and I remember that some folks mentioned that the Vali 2 and the 400i is not a good combo. They say the headphones will become grainy and muddy.
 
I have found this glowing review about an SMSL dac/hybrid amp: http://www.headfonia.com/review-smsl-a-surprise/
 
I wonder that the author was pleased driving the 400i directly from the amp because the amp seems to be quite weak. I thought they need alot of current. Do you think this works?
 
Greetings

 

[big45-70]

I've ready a lot about durabilty issues with Hifiman can's.  Does the 400i suffer from any of these problems?

 

[Voxata]

No issues on my 400i, 560

 

[trivium911]

Hi,
I have the H400i's since a week and I'm looking for a desktop amp. Atm I have a Dragonfly v1.2 which is connected with my studio monitors. I'm looking now for something better which can handle the Hifiman and my speakers. I'm still uncertain what to do...should I buy only an amp or an amp and dac.The amps I favor are Magni Uber 2 and Lake People G 103s. Recommendations are welcome.

I have done alot of research until now (more than it's healthy ) and I remember that some folks mentioned that the Vali 2 and the 400i is not a good combo. They say the headphones will become grainy and muddy.

I have found this glowing review about an SMSL dac/hybrid amp: http://www.headfonia.com/review-smsl-a-surprise/

I wonder that the author was pleased driving the 400i directly from the amp because the amp seems to be quite weak. I thought they need alot of current. Do you think this works?

Greetings

Really ive heard the opposite, i just bought a little dot i+ as its more versatile and i can upgrade things like the op amp for better clarity. I have not yet received it but the reason i bought it was because my objective 2 is a little too clinical and thin with these...so i guess it depends what you want as i think alot of people that call something muddy, others may call it warm. I could not imagine these being muddy though even with a poor source, i pushed the equalizer on the bass frequencies just atraight from my x3ii on these...its sounds insane and exceptionally clear. It was too much for normal listening and i find the bass just right for the most part but its fun to experiment...if you eq you can get alot of clean liquid bass from these if you are into that. Im sure there will be some grain with a tube amp but it depends what tubes you use, also its very subjective as some people call grain texture and find it appealing.

 

[DavidA]

   
Hi,
I have the H400i's since a week and I'm looking for a desktop amp. Atm I have a Dragonfly v1.2 which is connected with my studio monitors. I'm looking now for something better which can handle the Hifiman and my speakers. I'm still uncertain what to do...should I buy only an amp or an amp and dac.The amps I favor are Magni Uber 2 and Lake People G 103s. Recommendations are welcome.
 
I have done alot of research until now (more than it's healthy

) and I remember that some folks mentioned that the Vali 2 and the 400i is not a good combo. They say the headphones will become grainy and muddy.
 
I have found this glowing review about an SMSL dac/hybrid amp: http://www.headfonia.com/review-smsl-a-surprise/
 
I wonder that the author was pleased driving the 400i directly from the amp because the amp seems to be quite weak. I thought they need alot of current. Do you think this works?
 
Greetings

If you want to use one device for both speakers and headphones I would look at a Teac AI-301 or slightly cheaper AI-101.  I love my older AH-01 for just this purpose, it also has a remote and a sub-woofer output.  The headphone amp section is quite good, enough to drive my HE-560 which is not the easiest to drive properly.
 
I haven't used any dragonfly usb DAC/amps so I can't compare it to the Teac.  Tried some SMSL gear a few years ago but it didn't stand out as good or bad so really didn't research them.
 
The Vali2 is a solid amp and the ability to roll different tubes gives it a big advantage over the Magni IMO.  As for the sound becoming muddy or grainy it will depend on the tube used, its like my Lyr2 where the tubes play a large role in how the amp will sound with various headphones.