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Hifiman he-400i Impressions and Discussion
Mar 26, 2017 at 10:45 PM Post #12,001 of 14,386
atkhan said:
Yeah i feel the same. The Hifiman He400i has what i call a BigRoom or Stadium sound compared to rhe Sennheiser. Not to say you get reverb lol. No. Tight. Yes linear. And more nuetral, though I eq a bit to get a good slam.

Pleather/Leather pads are important for those dynamics and much more resolving bass. I use velour only on Sennheiser. All else is best with non fibre pads. I'm an EDM listener btw.
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The genre of preference has a lot of influence in the choice of headphone.  For EDM the HE400i is one of the best choices but if acoustic jazz or blues then the HD650 might be a better choice or for classical then the HD700 would be my choice
 
Mar 27, 2017 at 4:59 PM Post #12,002 of 14,386
I had the chance to compare the Sennheiser HD650, 800 and 800s, and all 3 were connect to a 3000$ sennheiser amp, hdvd-800 I think.  Anyway, the 650 were not close to the 800 line...  The clarity/detail/musicality was just not there, the 650s sounded so muddy and bloated in comparison...  Absolute let down. Now, it's just a pure impression as I didn't have the 400i to compare, and was listening to their music, but although some have said that the 400i is comparable to the 650 in terms of clarity/detail, I find that hard to believe... 
 
As I mentioned though, the amp powered 3 headphones at once, so maybe the 650s weren't driven properly or something, but my quick impression would be that the 400i sound quality is a bit closer to the 800 line than the 650...  Like if the 800 line was the reference at 10/10, and the 650 was a 6/10, the 400i would likely be like a 7.5 or 8/10.  I'd say maybe the 650 would be more comparable to AKG's Q701, the AKG is no slouch, but vs the 400i it's just not as transparent/fast/detailed...  Bit more 'lowfi', which is more how the 650 sounded to me...
 
Also heard the Beyerdynamic T1p, and it was driven by a small portable fiio or something, it also failed to impress, I'd say the amp was likely the culprit as their pricepoint is quite higher than the 400i, but yeah, it was ok/nice, just not impressive when thinking of it vs 400i.  The Senn 800 line was amazing though...
 
Also heard the Hifiman 560, driven by some ridiculous Chord amp, with the silly name of 'Dave' it looks like (not kidding!!!  http://www.whathifi.com/chord/dave/review) and wow now THAT was something.  Smooth sound, detailed, nothing bad stood out, very pleasant sound!  But then, I'm seeing 899$US for 560 where I got the 400i for 240$US...  Definitely a sweet setup though, hard to tell which of headphone or amp added some magic, but my guess is that both were doing a great job.  Definitely a good step up vs 400i, but then who knows how much better the 400i would also have sounded on that crazy dac/amp...!
 
The Sennheiser Orpheus HE-1 was also fun to listen to.  I almost bought it, but then realized it would not fit on my desk, also they only had it in white soo, I had to leave it there...
tongue.gif
 
 
Mar 27, 2017 at 6:22 PM Post #12,003 of 14,386
girglemirt said:
  I had the chance to compare the Sennheiser HD650, 800 and 800s, and all 3 were connect to a 3000$ sennheiser amp, hdvd-800 I think.  Anyway, the 650 were not close to the 800 line...  The clarity/detail/musicality was just not there, the 650s sounded so muddy and bloated in comparison...  Absolute let down. Now, it's just a pure impression as I didn't have the 400i to compare, and was listening to their music, but although some have said that the 400i is comparable to the 650 in terms of clarity/detail, I find that hard to believe... 
 
As I mentioned though, the amp powered 3 headphones at once, so maybe the 650s weren't driven properly or something, but my quick impression would be that the 400i sound quality is a bit closer to the 800 line than the 650...  Like if the 800 line was the reference at 10/10, and the 650 was a 6/10, the 400i would likely be like a 7.5 or 8/10.  I'd say maybe the 650 would be more comparable to AKG's Q701, the AKG is no slouch, but vs the 400i it's just not as transparent/fast/detailed...  Bit more 'lowfi', which is more how the 650 sounded to me...
 
Also heard the Beyerdynamic T1p, and it was driven by a small portable fiio or something, it also failed to impress, I'd say the amp was likely the culprit as their pricepoint is quite higher than the 400i, but yeah, it was ok/nice, just not impressive when thinking of it vs 400i.  The Senn 800 line was amazing though...
 
Also heard the Hifiman 560, driven by some ridiculous Chord amp, with the silly name of 'Dave' it looks like (not kidding!!!  http://www.whathifi.com/chord/dave/review) and wow now THAT was something.  Smooth sound, detailed, nothing bad stood out, very pleasant sound!  But then, I'm seeing 899$US for 560 where I got the 400i for 240$US...  Definitely a sweet setup though, hard to tell which of headphone or amp added some magic, but my guess is that both were doing a great job.  Definitely a good step up vs 400i, but then who knows how much better the 400i would also have sounded on that crazy dac/amp...!
 
The Sennheiser Orpheus HE-1 was also fun to listen to.  I almost bought it, but then realized it would not fit on my desk, also they only had it in white soo, I had to leave it there...
tongue.gif
 
Click to expand...


Very interesting take. Good thing I got the He400i despite having made it in the HD6XX drop. I use both interchangeably, though yes, I think I'm tilting more towards the He400i. With my ifi Micro iDSD, I don't think I'm missing out much on the action. Really loving what these cans do...

I guess we're in good hands...
L3000.gif
 
 
Mar 27, 2017 at 11:49 PM Post #12,004 of 14,386
Hi All,
  I am interested in buying a pair of HE-400i.  So far the best price I can find is $449.  Does anyone know of a lower price or a Hifiman discount code ?  Thank you ! 
 
Mar 28, 2017 at 8:58 AM Post #12,007 of 14,386
dc430 said:
Saw it on official Hifiman Taobao store going for less than USD200 last week. Might worth a look
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Hi dc430,
  Thank you !
 
Just checked the Taobao Hifiman store HE-400i $175 with shipping.  Have you ordered through Taobao Hifiman ?  Seems like a great price, thank you ! 
 
Mar 28, 2017 at 12:21 PM Post #12,010 of 14,386
musedesign said:
Hi dc430,
  Thank you !

Just checked the Taobao Hifiman store [COLOR=282828]HE-400i [/COLOR]$175 with shipping.  Have you ordered through Taobao Hifiman ?  Seems like a great price, thank you ! 
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I didn't, got mine from Hifiman eBay store last Black Friday. And found the Taobao store a week later and cheaper than I paid for mine. Keep checking their store for the pleather replacement pad but no luck so far. Can't find any HM5 pads here in Hong Kong either
 
Mar 28, 2017 at 4:22 PM Post #12,013 of 14,386
hi, i own these headphones for two weeks and use them with Mojo. It is huge step up from my previous closed portables audio technica es10 + fiio x5. I think there is still room for improvement though. Especially in bass departement. It kinda lacks that deep kick i was used to. I also find them (at least with Mojo) to be quite sibilant and bit harsh in upper mids. I dont like EQ, im purist, so my only hope is that they will improve with burn in. Let's keep discussion whether burn in is real or not aside. Any opinions from burn in believers on how he400i changes over time?
 
PS: i read in manual, that Hifiman recommends 150h of continuous burn-in - do they mean 150 hours of burn in without any pause?
 
PPS: what track do you recommend for burn in and what volume?
 
thanks
 
Mar 28, 2017 at 4:59 PM Post #12,014 of 14,386
At least in my personal experience, my HE400i sounded better when they hit around 100 hours of use. I reset the timer on foobar so when I compared my HE400i with my friends out of the box HE400i y could celarly hear the difference.

The difference I could noticed was in the low frequencies. They sound better, fuller I would say.

Of course we can argue maybe it was because I get used to the planar sound. But my comparisons with my friend's new headphones was notice.

Saludos

Enviado desde mi Nexus 6 mediante Tapatalk
 
Mar 28, 2017 at 7:40 PM Post #12,015 of 14,386
drwlf said:
  Well, there's this: http://www.head-fi.org/t/711824/hifiman-he-560-impressions-discussion-thread/17025#post_12886234
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Hideeho
I have only used the stock & hybrid angled pads, but that is a very accurate description of what I have heard. I believe I might have to try some other pads to see how big of a difference they make.
 
 
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