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Hifiman IEM's: RE-400 and RE-600

Sep 17, 2014 at 6:33 AM Post #2,297 of 3,507
masterkuni said:
I just got my pair of RE-400s earlier today, and I have quite a few thoughts on them.

First of all, I have been using a pair of Hifiman HE-500s for daily at-home listening, and Hifiman RE-0s for on-the-go; but since the latter broke, I was in the market for a new pair of IEMs.

Coming from the RE-0, the first thing I noticed is that the RE-400 have a much deeper fit with the stock biflanges. This is great, because I was never able to get a good seal with the RE-0 and its shallow insertion depth. This in turn makes for much better isolation and fit.

The soundstage of the RE-400 is pretty impressive. Neither my belated RE-0 nor my HE-500 have as wide a soundstage or instrument separation. Granted, planar headphones like the HE-500 aren't exactly known for their soundstage, but my point stands.

As far as the bass goes, the RE-400 have much, much better bass in terms of both quality and quantity than the RE-0 were ever able to accomplish. It extends much deeper and has substantially more power (though this was a known weakness of the RE-0). This isn't to say that they are excessively bassy by any means, but they posses a surprisingly accurate and deep low end for an IEM.

The mids are also more present on the RE-400 than RE-0, which could be both a good and a bad thing. Since they have a pretty substantial bump at 2KHz, some might find this slightly unpleasant (some might describe it as "shouty" or "honky" mids). Headphones that people generally agree to have a "pleasing" and "laid-back" sound signature (like the HE-500) often attenuate the 2k frequency to mitigate this issue. However, in general the mids (like the rest of the headphone) are pretty darn accurate and to my ears sound better than the RE-0.

The treble is the only category where I would say the RE-0 have the upper hand over the RE-400. Since the RE-400 has a darker [deeper, richer, pick your semantically vacuous adjective] sound signature, the treble is slightly less present, which is most noticeable when listening to vocal music. This can also be determined through visual inspection of the measured frequency response, which shows a big dip in at 4KHz (the "in your face, presence" frequencies), and a slightly smaller dip at 8KHz ("sparkle").

To mitigate some of the issues I mentioned regarding the shortcomings I perceived with the RE-400, I made a sample equalization profile I'm using with MediaMonkey. If you don't believe in equalization or don't hear the same things I do, feel free to totally ignore it.

vnWoh7C.png


All in all, the RE-400 turned out to be an astonishingly good buy, and I think they categorically outclass their predecessor (the RE-0) in nearly every way and make few compromises with regards to sound quality, despite their price. I can't imagine getting much better sound for only $100.
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Thanks for ur review, I also do treble to be a bit more and sparkle for re400...can you pls let me know what is the equiliser settings you did to acheve that without sacrificing mids or lows....just boosting treble will do ?
 
I use it on my HTC One M8, poweramp player....I just tend to boost treble and sometimes bass as well as it just flat
 
Sep 17, 2014 at 12:12 PM Post #2,298 of 3,507
james-uk said:
I would say they are on similar level technically . They are completely different in presentation though . The ie800s have a very pleasing sound sig with that deep bass , very clean polite midrange and ethereal treble. The re400 are just straight up neutral and transparent and they remind me of the hd800 in some ways ( brutally honest to the recording!) . Thanks to this balanced sound and diffuse FR the soundstage is natural and precise and all the instruments have their place and are not overpowered ( sometimes I feel the ie800 bass is a bit much) . The only slight negative on the re400 is maybe a slightly 'shouty' midrange . This is hard to put my finger on and maybe it's because I'm used to sennheiser midrange. If I could transplant the ie800 mids into the re400 I would be a very happy man. The ie800s and these have all my iem needs covered...... For now ;)
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James. I had the re400. Replacement has been horrible as the cable sheath sort of had a problem... Still waiting on the replacement. Your post has made me miss them. Re400s are very neutral and transparent. It also helps that theyre good iems for listening while lying on your bed.I bought ie800s as an upgrade/replacement and i have similar experience... I'm enjoying the ie800s but for some music id prefer the re400.

Just a tip. There was a thread i saw before on an re400 mod that would put it closer to re600 territory. You may want to read on it. Sadly i found it after i returned my re400 for replacement so couldnt test myself. For $100 i think its a good buy.
 
Sep 17, 2014 at 1:10 PM Post #2,299 of 3,507
Regarding my previous post:
mgal said:
  Does anybody know if the cable/connector in RE-400s are repairable? My left earpiece started to cut out (after about 4 months of use...) and I’d like to resolder the cable and replace the minijack connector by myself.
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I managed to repair my RE-400s on my own (I've resoldered the minijack connector). So they're definitely repairable :)
 
Sep 17, 2014 at 11:09 PM Post #2,301 of 3,507
masterkuni said:
I just got my pair of RE-400s earlier today, and I have quite a few thoughts on them.

First of all, I have been using a pair of Hifiman HE-500s for daily at-home listening, and Hifiman RE-0s for on-the-go; but since the latter broke, I was in the market for a new pair of IEMs.

Coming from the RE-0, the first thing I noticed is that the RE-400 have a much deeper fit with the stock biflanges. This is great, because I was never able to get a good seal with the RE-0 and its shallow insertion depth. This in turn makes for much better isolation and fit.

The soundstage of the RE-400 is pretty impressive. Neither my belated RE-0 nor my HE-500 have as wide a soundstage or instrument separation. Granted, planar headphones like the HE-500 aren't exactly known for their soundstage, but my point stands.

As far as the bass goes, the RE-400 have much, much better bass in terms of both quality and quantity than the RE-0 were ever able to accomplish. It extends much deeper and has substantially more power (though this was a known weakness of the RE-0). This isn't to say that they are excessively bassy by any means, but they posses a surprisingly accurate and deep low end for an IEM.

The mids are also more present on the RE-400 than RE-0, which could be both a good and a bad thing. Since they have a pretty substantial bump at 2KHz, some might find this slightly unpleasant (some might describe it as "shouty" or "honky" mids). Headphones that people generally agree to have a "pleasing" and "laid-back" sound signature (like the HE-500) often attenuate the 2k frequency to mitigate this issue. However, in general the mids (like the rest of the headphone) are pretty darn accurate and to my ears sound better than the RE-0.

The treble is the only category where I would say the RE-0 have the upper hand over the RE-400. Since the RE-400 has a darker [deeper, richer, pick your semantically vacuous adjective] sound signature, the treble is slightly less present, which is most noticeable when listening to vocal music. This can also be determined through visual inspection of the measured frequency response, which shows a big dip in at 4KHz (the "in your face, presence" frequencies), and a slightly smaller dip at 8KHz ("sparkle").

To mitigate some of the issues I mentioned regarding the shortcomings I perceived with the RE-400, I made a sample equalization profile I'm using with MediaMonkey. If you don't believe in equalization or don't hear the same things I do, feel free to totally ignore it.

vnWoh7C.png


All in all, the RE-400 turned out to be an astonishingly good buy, and I think they categorically outclass their predecessor (the RE-0) in nearly every way and make few compromises with regards to sound quality, despite their price. I can't imagine getting much better sound for only $100.
Click to expand...

 
yalper said:
  I think you can, after you try havi b3 
Click to expand...

 
we'll find out i'm gonna do comparison of them check out at about 8:19 in the video If this interests anyone here wanting a spectacular neutral earphone with a smashing design. check out my review of the havi b3 pro 1 and subscribe for the latest updates and comparisons

 
Sep 28, 2014 at 7:21 AM Post #2,302 of 3,507
Hey guys... My re262 are getting old (wire hardened) so I sent mail to customer support of hifiman. They said I can upgrade to re400 for just $40. Also an option to repair the existing earphones for $40. Now my question is whether re400 are an upgrade to re262?? Should I go for re400 for $40 or buy havi b3 pro1 for $60?
 
Sep 28, 2014 at 10:40 AM Post #2,304 of 3,507
aadee said:
Or should I keep re262 repaired?? As they are rare gem n not available in the market.
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i am a huge hifiman fan , love their iem sound

i had re-zero,re-252,re400
i have re-262,re-272
i just ordered re600 (which i demoed and i loved the sound)

the only one i didn't like was the re400(maybe i had a defective pair? dunno as everyone loves them)

the 262 is very nice for its price although it needs an amp to get its full potential , and i find it way superior to the re400 - you may wanna try the re600 which is very nice although quite expensive
 
Sep 28, 2014 at 2:32 PM Post #2,306 of 3,507
I'd repair it, since it is an uncontinued item, even if it sounds worse than RE-400 (it's controversial)
 
Sep 28, 2014 at 3:20 PM Post #2,308 of 3,507
aadee said:
Thanks buddy for the input.. I replied them that i would like to go for pay-needed service (repair)
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do Hifiman repair iem without warranty ?
 
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