[thefitz]

Joined the RE-400 bandwagon recently, and liked them so much I have RE-600 V2s on the way (did HiFiMAN have a Black Friday sale?)

The small white tube tips work best for me out of the stock tips, but once again JVC Spiral Dots are the winners of the day for me.

On the RE-400, I will say that they didn't help the bass at all - perhaps they even reduced the limited amount of what was already there. However, they seemed to completely remove the grain from the sound for me, adding some clarity without any of the harshness. I think they'll be a great fit with the RE-600 based on what I've read.

 

[squee116]

I found complys helped a great amount with the re600s v2

 

[The Dan of Steel]

Joined the RE-400 bandwagon recently, and liked them so much I have RE-600 V2s on the way (did HiFiMAN have a Black Friday sale?)

The small white tube tips work best for me out of the stock tips, but once again JVC Spiral Dots are the winners of the day for me.

On the RE-400, I will say that they didn't help the bass at all - perhaps they even reduced the limited amount of what was already there. However, they seemed to completely remove the grain from the sound for me, adding some clarity without any of the harshness. I think they'll be a great fit with the RE-600 based on what I've read.

Yes and the Re600 v2 was $99, i meant to get a spare but missed it too.

 

[thefitz]

Yes and the Re600 v2 was $99, i meant to get a spare but missed it too.

That's what I got them for!

 

[TheoS53]

Joined the RE-400 bandwagon recently, and liked them so much I have RE-600 V2s on the way (did HiFiMAN have a Black Friday sale?)

The small white tube tips work best for me out of the stock tips, but once again JVC Spiral Dots are the winners of the day for me.

On the RE-400, I will say that they didn't help the bass at all - perhaps they even reduced the limited amount of what was already there. However, they seemed to completely remove the grain from the sound for me, adding some clarity without any of the harshness. I think they'll be a great fit with the RE-600 based on what I've read.

Yes and the Re600 v2 was $99, i meant to get a spare but missed it too.

That's what I got them for!

I also recently ordered the RE-400 for $49 on Amazon. C'mon, for $49, how could a not? I needed something more neutral (tonality-wise) to "reset" my ears when doing reviews. Now just waiting for them to be delivered..probably in a day or so.

BTW, the RE-600 V2 is still available for $99 on Amazon.

 

[DivineCurrent]

RE-400 and RE-600 owners, I found out a great EQ trick you can use with these earphones. On the r/headphones discord chat, there is a bot that can transform one headphone's frequency response into another. I tried it with the RE-400, and made it sound like the Klipsch X12i. If you own the RE-400 and want a slightly bassier and warmer midrange like the X12, I have a modified Equalizer APO file here for you to download. https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Lah6i89dVrgZfqiOf_73tOHVAismsmJS.

This file makes the midrange and treble sound like the X12, but it doesn't work too well past 10 kHz, so I edited it. Measurement rigs can't measure accurately past 10 kHz anyway, so I left it were it is.
I truly think this brings out the best performance the RE-400/RE-600 is capable of. It can EQ like a champ, thanks to it's super low distortion and even frequency response. If you are interested, the Discord server I generated this EQ from is here: https://discord.me/headphones.

Also, I am enjoying the RE-400 even more now that I am using Sony Hyrbid tips. I find the small size (orange) ones work extremely well.

 

[dresdenjah]

Hello, folks.
Excuse me for my question - I really need some help, and have no means of trying these out myself.

Can anyone comment on how well do RE-400 work for sludge/doom/stoner/drone type of music? (where bass plays an important role. Not the hip-hop boom, but rather the clarity, speed. Sub-bass has more attention than most metal genres)

Spoiler: example:

(I'm not scared of EQ and will try out the filter mods. I do not have an amp, though)
What worries me is that their mid-centric nature will make doom, and metal in general, sound duller.
//Am I better off looking at more V-shaped headphones instead, like some hybrids of today, or stuff like gr07? And are RE-400 a worthy upgrade from monoprice 8320?

Thank you!

 

[dresdenjah]

Hello, folks.
Excuse me for my question - I really need some help, and have no means of trying these out myself.

Can anyone comment on how well do RE-400 work for sludge/doom/stoner/drone type of music? (where bass plays an important role. Not the hip-hop boom, but rather the clarity, speed. Sub-bass has more attention than most metal genres)

Spoiler: example:

(I'm not scared of EQ and will try out the filter mods. I do not have an amp, though)
What worries me is that their mid-centric nature will make doom, and metal in general, sound duller.
//Am I better off looking at more V-shaped headphones instead, like some hybrids of today, or stuff like gr07? And are RE-400 a worthy upgrade from monoprice 8320?

Thank you!

12/18/2017
Welp, I bought a pair, and am answering my own questions x) Who knows, there might be another doomhead searching in the future.
These little fellas certainly have enough bass. They don't possess the rumble that my 8320 had, but it by no way diminishes the quality of the music and might even be a plus; I found the lovely fart of my monoprice iems distracting and unfitting.
Are these doom-iems? Not superbly so - they seems a bit too airy and bright for doom, though it might be just me adjusting from less neutral 8320, since this feeling disappears within a minute of listening. I do love re-400 and I think they absolutely give doom enough justice. The highs are a huge improvement from my 8320, the mids are wonderful as expected, and the bass is amazingly dynamic and textured compared to 8320. They deal much better with overcrowred wall of sound too - industrial and thrash metal gained a fair bit of grit and agression coming from 8320.
And oh boy do they make me want to give classical music a fair listen - a desire I never had in my Earthly exparience. However, i first need to go over the entire Electric Wizard discography. Their glorious filthy barbarism sounds much more coherent with HiFiMan. Ambient jams sound like from another dimenshion.

 

[dresdenjah]

Of course, my used pair of re-400 had to break. Sent in for a replacement, and instead received... re-400i. Well...

IMO, cable sucks massively. I mean it. Microphonic, severely bent to the shape in which it was shipped, the lower wire isn't fabric-coated, both upper and lower cable material is very rigid. The jack strain relief is basically nonexistent - different in both shape and material to re-400 strain relief (still a 90-degree jack, though). Interestingly, the controls in the cable do work with Android (ZTE Maven, Lollipop). I don't know about the durability of the cable for sure, but it seems a downgrade from the new version of re-400.
I can't compare the sound quality since I don't have re-400 anymore and 've been using the worst possible earphones in the 10 days of the replacement process and I'm highly prone to placebo. I have checked, however, that the bass extension is equivalent to re-400, without any break-in. They sound good to me.
Checking Amazon, I found that re-400 costs $10 more than re-400i. AND re-400i receive amazingly negative reviews. Apparently, their break in no time. I suspect that the sound might differ too, but I can't know for sure.


I do not recommend buying re-400i. Go with re-400, just the updated jack strain relief is worth the 10 bucks.
FYI: my re-400 broke not in the cable, nor in the jack - the left dynamic straight out died, rattling in the aluminum case and, and, while still producing sound, only at ~10% of the right volume.

 

[BoomBap08]

Hey, guys!

Just wanna ask what's better between the RE600S V2 and the Ath IM02? I have an re600s coming and I'm thinking if I should still get an im02 or not. Y'all think they possess the same signature or not (besides the same neutral with very slight bump on the midsection)?

Hoping for your kind response. Thanks!

 

[TheoS53]

Hey, guys!

Just wanna ask what's better between the RE600S V2 and the Ath IM02? I have an re600s coming and I'm thinking if I should still get an im02 or not. Y'all think they possess the same signature or not (besides the same neutral with very slight bump on the midsection)?

Hoping for your kind response. Thanks!

Judging from the FR graphs on innerfidelity, both measure really, REALLY well. The IM02 seems to have a slightly more laid back sound (vocal range isn't quite as prominent...which I suspect might be the more pleasing ones to listen to for longer periods of time...although it does also show more presence in the upper registers. The 8kHz spike might sound a bit prominent to you depending on how sensitive you are to this region

 

[G_T_J]

Whatever I may acquire, I always return to my beloved RE-400. Seriously, what this guy has acomplished with this iem? Their tuning is one-of-a-kind,

The timbre, naturalness and cohesiveness are beyond anything I've tried. It is probably the most life-like iearphone I have ever tried! Only the TDK BA200 are good rivals imo, being a bit more airy and transparent but lacking in the highs which are a tiny splashy and sibilant with certain music genres.

I can't recommend the RE-400 highly enough. Just give them plenty of burn in time. My reserve set has just arrived (yes I had to buy a second one in case my original breaks and at this price is a no-brainer) and sound a bit shouty, more trebly and a bit grainy compared with the original pair. While I give them a few hours of playtime they tend to settle and even with the older set. I'm trying them side by side periodically to monitor the change and believe me, it's happening as we speak and it's more than evident.

I also noticed the jack has changed to a 90-angle as opposed to the ''banana-shaped'' the first ones came with. No issues with this (nor that I had with the old ones tbh) but I feel the fabric cable on the new is a bit stiffer. The one on the old RE-400's is smoother in comparison. I can't remember if that was the case with the original pair when I first used them. Perhaps someone could tell?

 

[rendyG]

I agree with you, they are something special, especially with their tonality, but.. recently I sold them because I simply felt that modded Blitzwolf es1 suits me better. And they are just $15 which is insane
The main problem with re400 was the "in the back of your head presentation" or no soundstage.. Maybe its just me that I enjoy somewhat open presentation.

Next small problems were bad fit in my left ear, maybe lack of bass extension (es1 is extremely full and snappy in comparison) and lastly I felt that the sudden drop after 2kHz was taking some excitement away from the music.
One thing where is re400 clearly superior is its tasty treble, maybe little bit in the backround but more natural I guess, although without sparkle that some people like.

Oh, this is longer than what I planned to write, anyway. I don't miss re400 now and I sold them for the $50, so I can just buy them again if I feel like it. (They are still for $100 here in CZ)

 

[G_T_J]

I agree with you, they are something special, especially with their tonality, but.. recently I sold them because I simply felt that modded Blitzwolf es1 suits me better. And they are just $15 which is insane
The main problem with re400 was the "in the back of your head presentation" or no soundstage.. Maybe its just me that I enjoy somewhat open presentation.

Next small problems were bad fit in my left ear, maybe lack of bass extension (es1 is extremely full and snappy in comparison) and lastly I felt that the sudden drop after 2kHz was taking some excitement away from the music.
One thing where is re400 clearly superior is its tasty treble, maybe little bit in the backround but more natural I guess, although without sparkle that some people like.

Oh, this is longer than what I planned to write, anyway. I don't miss re400 now and I sold them for the $50, so I can just buy them again if I feel like it. (They are still for $100 here in CZ)

I don't know about the Blitzwolf but the uniqueness of the RE-400 for me is their true-to-life timbre and efortless sound. It's like if you have 2 good old full-sized B&W speakers attached to your ears.

I agree their soundstage is not the biggest out there but there's definetely enough and realistic if driven properly. That said, in order to come up vividly in presentation, you have to drive them through a good and powerful device. Out of a smartphone, the RE-400 don't sound as good and I hear you about the soundstage in that case. For them to open up you need a dedicated music device other than a phone. They did not sound good with my Note 4(Exynos). With Note 8 they do noticeably better, wider and more expanding but still nowhere near as good as when I connect them to my i5 or X5iii. I also have a DF original and they do make a heavenly match together.

With regards to fit, I found that the stock small biflanges give the optimal sound but are not very comfortable, so the best working solution for me are either the Spinfits or the RHA double flanges. The second are supremely soft and comfortable but do darken a notch the overall signature.

I didn't like the RE-600s and returned them instantly. They were hollower and darker in comparison with less energy. Even driven from my DX90 which is a transparent detailed and rather bright DAP I felt there was something missing and sounded veiled. From memory-although I don't have the RE-600 anymore- I found them sounding similar to the Rockets. Both boast a similar tonality with the RE-400 but there's something missing for me.

 

[rendyG]

Yea, of course re400 scales with better source, I was using it with my walnut v2 which I believe is not that far away from my desktop himimediy source.
I may not expressed my thoughts about soundstage well enough.
I think soundstage and imaging in it is actually relatively precise, but the center of the soundstage is shifted somewhat behind my head compared to other iems, maybe its just my ears..
One can get used to it, but I was using them while traveling with bus and when you are used to full size headphones, it feels weird, but our brain gets used to it somehow after a while.

Regarding re600, I listened to them for a sec and I don´t understand how can they be any better than re400, esp. if you look at their price.


edit: I just remembered one more thing, when I read your description on "effortless sound".
I found that with some more complicated tracks (metal), there were somewhat shouty (I may be using this term wrongly). After seeing some CSDs and trying to EQ 2kHz a bit down, I found it helped a bit with this resonance.