[Little Bear]

I bought mine about 6 weeks ago and absolutely love them. No problems whatsoever.

 

[thesmokingman]

The HE400i has a sensitivity of 93dB which makes it very easy to drive to a fairly loud level, any amp that can output 25-35mW will make them play quite loud. Note that I'm only saying loudness which is not the same as the quality of the sound.

I find them to be power hungry and not all that efficient.

 

[abm0]

I bought mine in November and use them frequently, often in commute, often crammed into a case not made from them. I've had no problems. In general, they are robustly built. I couldn't tell you about recent batches, though.

As far as the price, that is not a red flag. They priced them that low for several weeks around the time of Black Friday sales and they have dipped down to that price a handful of times since then. Just a more aggressive marketing strategy. I don't think they are trying to ditch faulty units. Frankly, (and this is pure speculation) I think the HE-350 through Massdrop has been getting people with smaller budgets interested in the product line, but HiFiMan's attempts to interest those customers in the next step up in price with the 400S and the Edition S have been less successful than they would have liked. The 400i at $250 is a clear, enormous step up and that price is very competitive.

Plus there's the recent pressure from Monoprice at the bottom of the planar price range.

Got mine new for 239$ via eBay, 2.5mm version, no issues this first month.

I find them to be power hungry and not all that efficient.

I'm driving them with my HA-2 on low gain and they get as loud as my 250-ohm DT-880s at one notch lower on the volume knob, so I can't complain. Never expected to get 100% out of them with just my phone anyway.

LE:
Tried them off the phone (Xiaomi Redmi 3) in the kind of very quiet environment I normally prefer to use them in and I could turn them up to disturbing levels at max. I'd probably stick to about 50% software volume to get the kind of loudness I'm used to. So I guess sound quality is all I need to worry about if I'm going to plug them straight into the phone, not loudness.

 

[mmichii]

ok so i recently purchased one from the hifiman store on amazon. upon first listen i thought had channel imbalance but later on realized i have some sort of hearing loss in my left ear. Anyways i purchased a second pair with the intent to return the first pair. Now these are both new with the seal intact. What I found after listening to both of them is that they are alike yet completely different. The first pair the bass is defined without bloat but a little lacking in the low end and presence but very much forward vocally and has more air than the second with that hard sound that some found unnatural. the second the vocals seem more recessed and less full but the bass has presence but with a little bleed or maybe what some people call a hump and overall maybe more fun to listen to with certain genres like edm. The second has what i guess some would call a warmer sound meaning it doesn't have that hard sounding reproduction in the upper frequencies. I can easily tell which pair are on my head. I'm surprised at the level of variation and consider them completely different in the same way my k701, q701, and k7xx's are different. I like them both for different reasons. Since they were on sale plus 5% discount for using amazon visa i'm considering keeping both. In recognition of my way less than perfect hearing I had others with much better hearing listen to them and they also said they could easily tell the difference. It should also be noted both pairs have at most 5hrs a piece on them. I'm interested to find out how they sound after proper break in. Anyways I guess the point of my post is confirmation that there seems to be great variation from unit to unit at least for the he400i's.

 

[abm0]

Please don't use the old data that I provided any more! It was not compensated properly. Here is the new equalizer setting:
http://bradshacks.com/he400i-eq-2/

Tried your WAV/IRS file with ViPER4Android's convolver and I found the result way too bright/thin. Not sure why, there could even be multiple reasons, but it's way off for me, I don't like it.

 

[phthora]

ok so i recently purchased one from the hifiman store on amazon. upon first listen i thought had channel imbalance but later on realized i have some sort of hearing loss in my left ear. Anyways i purchased a second pair with the intent to return the first pair. Now these are both new with the seal intact. What I found after listening to both of them is that they are alike yet completely different. The first pair the bass is defined without bloat but a little lacking in the low end and presence but very much forward vocally and has more air than the second with that hard sound that some found unnatural. the second the vocals seem more recessed and less full but the bass has presence but with a little bleed or maybe what some people call a hump and overall maybe more fun to listen to with certain genres like edm. The second has what i guess some would call a warmer sound meaning it doesn't have that hard sounding reproduction in the upper frequencies. I can easily tell which pair are on my head. I'm surprised at the level of variation and consider them completely different in the same way my k701, q701, and k7xx's are different. I like them both for different reasons. Since they were on sale plus 5% discount for using amazon visa i'm considering keeping both. In recognition of my way less than perfect hearing I had others with much better hearing listen to them and they also said they could easily tell the difference. It should also be noted both pairs have at most 5hrs a piece on them. I'm interested to find out how they sound after proper break in. Anyways I guess the point of my post is confirmation that there seems to be great variation from unit to unit at least for the he400i's.

I experienced such variation in an A/B/C (there was a third set) session with @CoFire. Your description would apply well to what I heard. This is a legitimate concern. The only question is how widespread the issue is and if the variation was the result of an intentional redesign.

 

[393699]

I am currently a DT880 250 Ohm Premium owner. I am happy to say that I just bought the HE400i yesterday. The current price drop was too good to pass up. I was able to avoid Canadian taxes with buying direct from Hifiman as well. This is my first planar magnetic headphone. I will put up my thoughts and comparisons with the DT880 once I get the HE400i in the mail. I am sure other DT880 owners will be interested in the differences as well.

 

[Mr Trev]

I am currently a DT880 250 Ohm Premium owner. I am happy to say that I just bought the HE400i yesterday. The current price drop was too good to pass up. I was able to avoid Canadian taxes with buying direct from Hifiman as well. This is my first planar magnetic headphone. I will put up my thoughts and comparisons with the DT880 once I get the HE400i in the mail. I am sure other DT880 owners will be interested in the differences as well.

Fantastic. Just hope you can avoid those Canadian duties too

 

[Slim1970]

I just picked up a pair of these at the sale price. I was also considering the Fostex T50RPmk3. I think these will sound better and I don't really have to mod them for better sound. Although, I've been reading posts in this forum about the Focus-A pads and how they will give HE-400i's more bass.It's something I can tryout once I get a listen to these in stock form.

 

[nickthefunking]

I just got the he400i a week ago. when I use it to listen diana krall's "like someone in love", I found that the "s" sound (some, self, star) become very high to a level that very uncomfortable to hear. Is it normal or just my he400i. I got the record from prostudiomasters

 

[DavidA]

I just got the he400i a week ago. when I use it to listen diana krall's "like someone in love", I found that the "s" sound (some, self, star) become very high to a level that very uncomfortable to hear. Is it normal or just my he400i. I got the record from prostudiomasters

Lots of possibilities, the headphone, the amp, the DAC, or you might just be sensitive to the frequency.

I just picked up a pair of these at the sale price. I was also considering the Fostex T50RPmk3. I think these will sound better and I don't really have to mod them for better sound. Although, I've been reading posts in this forum about the Focus-A pads and how they will give HE-400i's more bass.It's something I can tryout once I get a listen to these in stock form.

I didn't get the impression of more bass with the Focus-A pads but they did smooth out the treble but it also changed the mids and made them a bit to forward where, it messed up the FR to me. Since we all hear differently it might be different for you.

 

[nickthefunking]

Lots of possibilities, the headphone, the amp, the DAC, or you might just be sensitive to the frequency.



I didn't get the impression of more bass with the Focus-A pads but they did smooth out the treble but it also changed the mids and made them a bit to forward where, it messed up the FR to me. Since we all hear differently it might be different for you.

Don't have the same experience when I used the sony ma900 and ath m50 By the way MJ sound so good with he400i

 

[DavidA]

Don't have the same experience when I used the sony ma900 and ath m50 By the way MJ sound so good with he400i

The ATH-M50 is not as extended in the highs like the HE400i so that might be one reason you didn't notice the sibilance before. I've never heard the ma900 so I don't know how it sounds. What DAC/amp are you using?

 

[nickthefunking]

The ATH-M50 is not as extended in the highs like the HE400i so that might be one reason you didn't notice the sibilance before. I've never heard the ma900 so I don't know how it sounds. What DAC/amp are you using?

udsd and myzic

 

[mib91]

The HE400i has a sensitivity of 93dB which makes it very easy to drive to a fairly loud level, any amp that can output 25-35mW will make them play quite loud. Note that I'm only saying loudness which is not the same as the quality of the sound.

Thank you. But I'm primarily interested to know how much of power in mW/W I need to provide at ~32ohm for those planners to bloom in full.