[James-uk]

Just ordered the re400 as an alternative to my senn ie800s. I sometimes find the senns a bit overpowering in the bass compared to my reference hd600 and hd800. I'm after a more neutral sound with the technical ability of the senns which these look to have ( looking at the objective data) will I be disappointed or will they suit my taste do you think?

 

[tinyman392]

  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.

If it's still in warranty, I'd consider getting it replaced.  I'm not sure if you're still using the old model (the connector was redesigned from an angled 45-degree jack to a 90-degree one).  If you are still on the old model, the new one is supposed to fix some of these issues.  

 

[proedros]

  Just thought i'd do a quick follow up on my RE-600 impressions. Have been using them for over a month now, but time and time again, I have been duly impressed by their performance. I feed them either with my iPhone 5 while on the go or the Hifiman HM-901 (balanced amp card) while i'm more stationary.
 
Theres just something really special about their sound signature, vocals are always so organic sounding, effortless but not "in your face" sounding. Vocals appear laid-back, which gives me the impression that i'm in a concert hall listening to a live performance. As an example, a month ago I went for Ben Howard's live concert, when I got back home, I listened to "Old Pine" through my HM-901, closed my eyes and I swear I was back at the concert hall again. Treble is clear and airy and completely free of sibilance, even on songs which I have heard sibilance from all my other headphones. 
 
Bass is quick, with just enough punch. Bass heads may complain as it doesn't give you that "thud" feeling, but coming from the Etymotics ER-4S, this is plentiful. 
 
Soundstage is truly the star of the show for me with the RE-600, especially when its running in balanced mode, which i'm sure Dr. Fang intended them for. Running them off the HM-901 for the first time, I immediately noticed an "out of head" sound. Often listening to IEMs such as my ER4S and Westone W40, you sort of feel that the sounds are confined in a bubble within your head. But not for the RE-600, it extends beyond your outer ears. My only other headphones which are able to do this are the JH Audio Roxanne's, but they cost nearly 2.5x the RE-600. 
 
If there's anything I can complain about them, there is some slight bass bleed when the song gets crowded, but this occurs rarely.
 
I would easily recommend this pair of IEMs to anyone. It definitely punches way above its price ($400), at some points even coming dangerously close to my JH Audio Roxanne in terms of performance. IMO, it flat out beats my Westone W40, which costs about $150 more and has 4x BA drivers.  

i really wanna try again the RE600 , fang seems to make great bang-for-buck audiophile iems for people who venture away from the more well known companies who tend to overcharge their iems

 

[Grado77]

I just received RE-400 today and right out of the box they sound A+ OK. Very happy with these and a DX90. Very slight EQ turns them into a wonderfully balanced IEM.....they EQ well.
 
Was using Miles Davis Tributes (original) before this and while awesome, just leaned a bit too hard on the bass for my liking.
 
The RE-400 sound just great across the whole spectrum.
 
They are a bit smaller than I expected and compared to the Miles, the build quality is lacking. The Miles are built like a tank, both shells and cable. The RE-400 however really delivers on audio quality......outstanding! Other IEM's used were TripleFi 10 and Klipsch X10.
 
Truly amazing for the price!
 
I also own HE-300, 400, and 500 HiFiman.....wish I jumped on their IEM's earlier.........

 

[Lieon]

You are describing just Havi B3 Pro I sound to me, only difference the bubble should be a little larger at B3 I think.

I've heard interesting things about the Havi B3 Pro's. How is their sound signature like aside from the soundstage? I might get a pair and do a mini review if their sound signature fits my tastes

 

[Lieon]

i really wanna try again the RE600 , fang seems to make great bang-for-buck audiophile iems for people who venture away from the more well known companies who tend to overcharge their iems

Agreed. I was lucky to stumble upon the RE-600 while on my IEM journey. What I love about Hifiman is that they place their focus on audio performance first before dabbling into aesthetics, form follows function. I think the HM-901 is a good example of this

 

[NebraskaX24]

 
If it's still in warranty, I'd consider getting it replaced.  I'm not sure if you're still using the old model (the connector was redesigned from an angled 45-degree jack to a 90-degree one).  If you are still on the old model, the new one is supposed to fix some of these issues.  

As far as I know the new jack is still a 45-degree angle. Unless there are actually 3 distinct versions of the RE400 of course. 

 

[tinyman392]

As far as I know the new jack is still a 45-degree angle. Unless there are actually 3 distinct versions of the RE400 of course. 

The ones I saw at the Chicago meet had 90-degree termination. Peter told me it was replaced to fix build issues.

 

[James-uk]

£80 iems shouldn't sound this good! Apart from a very slightly forward mid range I couldn't be happier. The thing that stands out so far is how great the soundstage and separation is, it's great for any headphone but for an iem it's astonishing! Especially at this price point. I'm a senn man but hifiman have just gained a fan! Seriously impressed.

 

[Duncan]

£80 iems shouldn't sound this good! Apart from a very slightly forward mid range I couldn't be happier. The thing that stands out so far is how great the soundstage and separation is, it's great for any headphone but for an iem it's astonishing! Especially at this price point. I'm a senn man but hifiman have just gained a fan! Seriously impressed.

...compared to the IE800?

Toying with the idea of getting the RE600, so your opinion would be highly valued by me

 

[James-uk]

...compared to the IE800?

Toying with the idea of getting the RE600, so your opinion would be highly valued by me

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

 

[Tom22]

I've heard interesting things about the Havi B3 Pro's. How is their sound signature like aside from the soundstage? I might get a pair and do a mini review if their sound signature fits my tastes

i have the havi b3 pro
 
and oddly enough i think their on a similar tier! the havis are leaner in and the bass is quicker too, the bass is more even than the slight bump the re400s have in the midbass
 
the treble is also not as laid back as the re400 (it feels more extended, but that also means its more likely to ensue listening fatigue for some)
 
the midrange i think the havis are just reproducing vocals down to the micro details so well, its quite scary
 
the re400s were my favorite sub 100 iem before but i think the havi is taking that place now. 
 
the re400s is still amazing but the build quality on them is a bit of a turn off

 

[Lieon]

Thanks for sharing this. Certainly sounds like these IEMs can punch way above their intended price! The cables on the havi are non-replaceable right? 

 

[Tom22]

Thanks for sharing this. Certainly sounds like these IEMs can punch way above their intended price! The cables on the havi are non-replaceable right? 

Correct

 

[MasterKuni]

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.

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.