[pk4425]

Quick follow-up on night three of ownership. I REALLY like the sound of these headphones. Stunning for $150.

But ... the headband might be the most uncomfortable I've worn on any headphone in my life. I get a serious headache within 30 minutes of wearing these due to seemingly all of the weight of these cans being centered on a small hotspot in the dead center of the band. I've tried adjusting the cups, with no luck.

I'm bald, so I don't have anything to act as additional padding. And I have a pretty big head. But these are downright painful on the top of the head despite fitting very nice around the ears.

Maybe I'll try the old style HE-400i with the suspension headband or return these and save for the Sundaras. No chance I can keep these if this fit persists. Bummer, as they sound lovely for $150.

More testing and tweaking ahead.

 

[pk4425]

Some more listening notes, after A/B comparisons to the Sennheiser HD 560s.

I was wrong about the soundstage on the HE-400se upon first listen. It's wider than the HD 560s but not by the margin I expected. Same with the imaging. It's better than I thought.

But I still think the timbre and detail of the HD 560s are better.

One edge that the HE-400se has is the ability to handle more complex, faster music better than the HD 560s. The instruments never collapse into a grainy wall of sound with the 400se. Maybe that's a characteristic of a planar, as this is my first planar. It rarely happens with the 560s, but it does.

But holy hell, the 560s are immensely more comfortable than the HE400se on my head -- especially the headband. The headband was the LAST thing I thought would be a deciding factor in which of these two cans I would keep. But it's going to be tough for me to justify keeping a headphone that gives me a headache every time I wear it.

More to come.

 

[ultraman31]

Quick follow-up on night three of ownership. I REALLY like the sound of these headphones. Stunning for $150.

But ... the headband might be the most uncomfortable I've worn on any headphone in my life. I get a serious headache within 30 minutes of wearing these due to seemingly all of the weight of these cans being centered on a small hotspot in the dead center of the band. I've tried adjusting the cups, with no luck.

I'm bald, so I don't have anything to act as additional padding. And I have a pretty big head. But these are downright painful on the top of the head despite fitting very nice around the ears.

Maybe I'll try the old style HE-400i with the suspension headband or return these and save for the Sundaras. No chance I can keep these if this fit persists. Bummer, as they sound lovely for $150.

More testing and tweaking ahead.

I had same issue with both HE400i 2020 and HE400se. New headband maybe soft, but the style just doesn't work as intended. I had old headband pad around and it works as charm (link below). I think the HE400se pairs very well with the Zen stack as it has xBass to give more oomph!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B082XGPWZ8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Scarce]

Hey guys,

I just got the HIFIMAN HE400SE and I tried them with a LG V30 and a dunu 150 ohm adapter to trigger High Gain Mode.
I'm not sure if the LG30 is really in High Gain Mode, but the headphones are way to quiet on max volume.
I tested in Neutron Player the gain with the adapter and the headphones. I put the gain on 100 in Neutron and with the adapter it jumps down to 67; with the headphones only plugged in it does the same thing.
I tried to use the preamp in Neutron, but it will distort the sound.

I hope somebody could test this, because I really thought the V30 could drive this.

 

[calvin8902]

Hey guys,

I just got the HIFIMAN HE400SE and I tried them with a LG V30 and a dunu 150 ohm adapter to trigger High Gain Mode.
I'm not sure if the LG30 is really in High Gain Mode, but the headphones are way to quiet on max volume.
I tested in Neutron Player the gain with the adapter and the headphones. I put the gain on 100 in Neutron and with the adapter it jumps down to 67; with the headphones only plugged in it does the same thing.
I tried to use the preamp in Neutron, but it will distort the sound.

I hope somebody could test this, because I really thought the V30 could drive this.

why don't just ignore the duno adapter, just plug directly into your v30

 

[HipHopScribe]

Hey guys,

I just got the HIFIMAN HE400SE and I tried them with a LG V30 and a dunu 150 ohm adapter to trigger High Gain Mode.
I'm not sure if the LG30 is really in High Gain Mode, but the headphones are way to quiet on max volume.
I tested in Neutron Player the gain with the adapter and the headphones. I put the gain on 100 in Neutron and with the adapter it jumps down to 67; with the headphones only plugged in it does the same thing.
I tried to use the preamp in Neutron, but it will distort the sound.

I hope somebody could test this, because I really thought the V30 could drive this.

You're removing the adapter after triggering high gain mode right? That's how the trick works. Short extension cable>impedance adapter>headphone cable, plug them in, keep the extension cable plugged into the phone, unplug and remove the adapter, plug the headphone cable to the extension.

If you keep the adapter plugged in while you're using the headphones you're defeating the purpose of the trick.

You could also try unplugging the cable from the headphones THEN plugging only the cable into the V30, then hook up the headphones. This gets you into aux mode, which might be enough output.

 

[561450]

Can you please check for me if there is an imprint that says "stealth magnets" on the swivel part of the earcup like in the image below?

I'm trying to buy the stealth magnet version, but 1 reviewer said that they ordered the stealth magnet version and there was no imprint like the one in the image.
(The image is from another reviewer who also ordered the stealth magnet version from the same seller)