[Letmebefrank]

This email address seems a bit fishy to me now as they are asking me to mail the headphones to what appears to be a residential address. I have contacted the official hifiman customer support to authenticate the email/shipping address.

I'll update once I get this straightened out.

 

[Yevgen Chupak]

since that email and all those steps were sent from Massdrop i don't think that we should be really suspicious

 

[Letmebefrank]

I received confirmation from the official hifiman customer support email, that address goes to the same inbox and they use Gmail for their email services. As for the address, it's listed on their website so I guess it's legit, but seeing a residence when you Google a big company's address is strange.

Anyway, looks like I was just being paranoid.

 

[Beau Cauchemar]

I think what it boils down to is for a company that also sells some absolute TOTL, $6000-tier (Susvara) headphones this level of customer interaction is perplexing at best.

 

[karloil]

will warranty support build issues? like the uneven placements of the headband to the earcups?

 

[jaco61]

.. of course, it has to.

 

[opiumhum]

Just confirming that I have the same issue with my HE4XX - the moment i touch the cables below the cups the sound crackles and drops out. Contacted Massdrop and they asked me to follow the same procedure.

 

[conquerator2]

On a different note, I encourage everyone to try the original Hifiman pleathers pads with these if they want to hear a slightly different sound - http://hifiman.com/products/detail/89
They are not as comfortable as the included pads but I feel like the headphone sounds a lot more confident with them (more defined, a bit more body, more distinct imaging) where as with the stock pads it sounded somewhat hazy and indistinct to my humble ears.
Regardless, they are inexpensive so just throwing this out here

 

[Beau Cauchemar]

Because I can never leave well enough alone, the pad rolling continues. Just ordered the perforated Ori's.

4XX + Grill mod + Ori non-perforated lambskin pads: Initially loved this combo (listening impressions mostly with jazz and electronic), but after branching out to more genres am starting to feel as though the bass/mid-bass presence was too inconsistent leaving some tracks feeling a bit treble-focused (although still not harsh) and not quite neutral.

4XX + Grill mod + hair roller mod + Ori non-perforated lambskin pads: Initially felt as though this made things too punchy/impactful in the low end (+/- Elear levels of slam) and was getting a bit of fatigue/distraction because of it along with a sensation of seal pressure. So I took out the rollers and continued to listen without them. After coming to my later sans-roller conclusion ("after branching out...") I decided to put the rollers back in to see if my opinion had changed based on wanting more consistent low end presence whilst preserving neutrality (for tracks that let the lack of low end diminish that.) My original opinion of this config still remained though even after some longer listens, however, it got me thinking that perhaps the perforated Ori lambskin pads and rollers might strike a balance...

- The slightly too-impactful bass with the rollers will be brought down a tad with the bass-lessening perforated pads
- Increased air from the perforations helping to lessen the closed-in/pressure induced by the impactful bass.
- Even more soundstage in conjunction with the distance/soundstage gained from the rollers.
- Keeping an emphasis on neutrality

Since the added distance from the driver that the rollers provide allowing for more soundstage and bass impact/punch is important to keep, finding a balance with the right pad is now the mission.


Perhaps I'm reading too much into this or have too much free time, but I'm excited to see how all the tweaks and mods work together with the perforated Ori pads when they arrive. I can tell that these cans really have some impressive potential with the right combo of mods/pads and I'm questing to find it (for my ears anyway.) Impressions to follow. Just hoping that I don't end up feeling like I need to order the suede pads, too although who am I kidding? :/

 

[trellus]

Just got my HE-4XX yesterday, bought them used from a fellow Head Fi member, could tell they were barely used.

Have really only had a few minutes of head time with them, but I really liked the fit on my head, and didn't find them as heavy as my original HE-400 (from memory since I have since given those away). I also did a quick A/B between the HE-4XX and HE-500 and I found that HE-4XX seemed really close to my ears to the HE-500, and as a bonus the HE-4XX fit me better as my HE-500 have a weird headband issue where there is not enough clamp, and I have no such issue with the HE-4XX.

Now I just have to decide whether to keep my HE-500 or not... will obviously need to do more listening for that decision!

 

[dgindlespergerd]

Added to the hifiman mix

 

[FastAndClean]

is that a he350 in the middle?

 

[dgindlespergerd]

Yep, those were my first Hifiman headphones....

 

[FastAndClean]

Yep, those were my first Hifiman headphones....

how do you deal with the treble, do you have some mods to them?

 

[dgindlespergerd]

how do you deal with the treble, do you have some mods to them?

Never had any issue with the treble at all. But they had the brainwaze pads on them when I bought them.