[maestrochoy]

Quote:

pads or headband pads? The 8400 uses memory foam and the 6400 uses plastic foam.
 
You could try the 8400's memory foam pads. They fit on the 6400 (same with the pads).

I meant the headband pads. I'll go ahead and order the 8400 memory foam pads. Did you ever experience any discomfort with the 8400 or 6400 pads or is it just me?

 

[zazex]

Quote:

I meant the headband pads. I'll go ahead and order the 8400 memory foam pads. Did you ever experience any discomfort with the 8400 or 6400 pads or is it just me?

I just sold my 8400's but their comfort was never an issue for me in any way.
Definitely one of the more comfortable headphones I've had.
 

 

[Not Yet]

Can anybody else comment about wearing glasses with these? These are my first pair of headphones (as in ever, I didn't use anything before) but I too can hear a bass difference when wearing glasses. I don't really want to have to stick paper towels inside either.
 
I checked my glasses and it looks they don't interfere in any way, I don't see any bumps or areas that would break the seal. They don't even feel like they are pushing on my glasses, but when I wear them, it sounds like I lose a tiny bit of presence. This normally wouldn't be a problem but since these are so restrained to begin with that little bit is the straw that breaks the camels back! That little bit of "oumph" is gone, bass has no real impact or hit. It feels like the headphones have no bass at all sometimes too. Is this all in my mind or not? Can anybody else comment? I really don't want to have to return them and start a hunt for another pair, but at the same time, if it's not just me, then I guess I'll have to return them

 

[SanjiWatsuki]

Quote:

Can anybody else comment about wearing glasses with these? These are my first pair of headphones (as in ever, I didn't use anything before) but I too can hear a bass difference when wearing glasses. I don't really want to have to stick paper towels inside either.
 
I checked my glasses and it looks they don't interfere in any way, I don't see any bumps or areas that would break the seal. They don't even feel like they are pushing on my glasses, but when I wear them, it sounds like I lose a tiny bit of presence. That little bit of "oumph" is gone, bass has no real impact or hit. It feels like the headphones have no bass at all! Is this all in my mind or not? Can anybody else comment? I really don't want to have to return them and start a hunt for another pair, but at the same time, if it's not just me, then I guess I'll have to return them

I sold my pair to a glasses wearing friend and he hasn't complained about it at all. That's about as much as I can say on wearing glasses with them, though. 

 

[Error403]

Quote:

Can anybody else comment about wearing glasses with these? These are my first pair of headphones (as in ever, I didn't use anything before) but I too can hear a bass difference when wearing glasses. I don't really want to have to stick paper towels inside either.
 
I checked my glasses and it looks they don't interfere in any way, I don't see any bumps or areas that would break the seal. They don't even feel like they are pushing on my glasses, but when I wear them, it sounds like I lose a tiny bit of presence. This normally wouldn't be a problem but since these are so restrained to begin with that little bit is the straw that breaks the camels back! That little bit of "oumph" is gone, bass has no real impact or hit. It feels like the headphones have no bass at all sometimes too. Is this all in my mind or not? Can anybody else comment? I really don't want to have to return them and start a hunt for another pair, but at the same time, if it's not just me, then I guess I'll have to return them

I don't know about if wearing glasses does anything; I'm severely short-sighted, so I don't take my glasses off to listen to mine, but I found if anything gives it more oomph, it's more power (which I found when I switched from using a computer and phone to listening to some vinyls). For low impedance headphones they do use a LOT of power (though i suppose that should probably be expected from a headphone with a 97dB @ 1mW SPL), so maybe it would be wise to invest in some kind of amp for them (I personally don't have one as I use my other headphones to listen to the baser stuff I usually listen to).
I, too am intrigued at any ways to increase the bass quantity without sacrificing the rest of the sound.

 

[FlobHobNob]

@tdockweiler What's your favorite headphone under, sound wise without an amp. By reading your post it seems hard to find your favorite.

 

[FlobHobNob]

@tdockweiler What's your favorite headphone under 200 unamp
ed sound wise. By reading your post it's hard to telll

 

[Error403]

Quote:

I have been enjoying my KRK KNS 8400 for about a month now, and I have also enjoyed the discussions
on this nice pair of cans in this thread and several others. In this post I would like to share some of my
observations on these phones. My first observation concerns wearing glasses while listening. As a regular 
switcher between wearing glasses and contact lenses, I noticed that with glasses the bass is compromised. 
Somehow the legs of my spectacles break the seal of the earpads around my ears, and its seems that this 
seal is important for putting the bass energy across, especially the for low bass.
(I don't know if this also holds for the 6400 earpads, but when I saw MalVeauX's review on the 6400's
(see http://www.head-fi.org/products/krk-kns6400-studio-headphones/reviews/5632 where he includes a couple of
pictures on which he wears glasses.) I could not help thinking that he would have written a slightly different
review without his glasses.)
 
This observation inspired me for the following simple, and easily reversible, mod for my KNS 8400's,
which is for the ones who think that the 8400's have too little bass and which warms up the sound of 
the 8400's considerably and puts the bass a bit more forward in the mix:
it only takes two pieces of paper kitchen towels which you need to roll up into a two "snakes". Then tuck these "snakes"
in in between the memory foam earpad and the mesh cloth of the earpad, see below for some pictures which
I hope clarify this mod. In this way the space in the eardpad between drivers and your ears is made smaller 
(perhaps this mod does not apply for big ears, mine still fit in nicely ) which might perhaps account 
for the increased punch in the bass. I do not have many other phones that I can compare my modded 8400's to,
except a Grado SR60 and a Sennheiser HD485.
Without mod the bass energy of my 8400's is perhaps comparable to the bass energy of the SR60's, although the focuss
of the 8400's lies lower than that of the SR60's and it does not have the bass impact of the SR60's. With mod the bass 
impact is comparable to the SR60's but with the extra energy in the low bass. (I hope that this description makes sense).
On some tracks I found the modded bass too much, on some others it was perfect. I tried to do a bit of A/B-ing
with the mod, but this proved difficult because it takes quite a while to tuck the paper towels back in (taking them 
out it easy . 
 
Here are the promised pictures:
 
The 8400's with the paper towels:

 
 
Roll them up:

 
Tuck them in:

 
And here's the final result:

 
 
 
Well, that's it so far, I hope that this (my very first post on Headfi) was informative, and keep on
enjoying those 8400's!

 
Wow, just did this and they are considerably more bassy than I previously thought (though it has been a while and I think my MBP might be better than my other sources). MUCH more to my personal taste.
Thank you.

 

[tdockweiler]

Quote:

@tdockweiler What's your favorite headphone under, sound wise without an amp. By reading your post it seems hard to find your favorite.

 
I'm actually such a nerd that I use a portable amp with all of them. I actually would have to say the HD-598. It actually sounds very good with no amp. Not sure how or why.
Next would be the KRK KNS-6400/8400. 8400 seems maybe a little harder to drive than the 6400. I prefer the KRKs with an amp.

 

[tdockweiler]

Quote:

 
Wow, just did this and they are considerably more bassy than I previously thought (though it has been a while and I think my MBP might be better than my other sources). MUCH more to my personal taste.
Thank you.

I should try this. One idea I had is to try the 6400 pads on the 8400 and see if the bass changes. Probably not.

 

[FlobHobNob]

I'm actually such a nerd that I use a portable amp with all of them. I actually would have to say the HD-598. It actually sounds very good with no amp. Not sure how or why.
Next would be the KRK KNS-6400/8400. 8400 seems maybe a little harder to drive than the 6400. I prefer the KRKs with an amp.

We are all nerds on this website haha, but in all seriousness, do you happen to use them for semi portable use, like bus ride and stuff like that. Also, the reason why I'm asking you is cause I think we enjoy the same sound signatures. I would go and get the dj100 because I love it to death, but my buddy has one and I dont want to feel like I'm copying him.Oh, btw I'm sorry for the double post, my iPad is being stupid.

 

[Not Yet]

Quick update + questions:
 
Sadly, I'm not loving these headphones. I have come to the conclusion that wearing my glasses DOES take away a bit of the bass. It's ever so slight, but noticeable. The difference is "Oh, there's the bass, it's very subtle" vs "Where is the bass (period)?" Even if it's really in my mind, well placebo is just as real as if it actually happened so it's still a problem. I'm going to get my temple ends remove from my glasses and see if that helps. Speaking of comfort, I find them ok when I first put them on, but then they go e eventually they feel like they are trying to simulate a vice grip after a long time! Lastly, I find the sound staging kinda pathetic. I almost feel I should have gone for open headphones had I known this!
 
I've had them since the 7th (bought on the 4th) and I have a 30 day warranty. I don't want to return them and start ANOTHER hunt for headphones (what next anyways? SHR840? For all I know, that could blow up in my face too), I want to make these work. Would an amplifier drastically change things? As of now, I'm just using my motherboards line out (not the headphone jack). It's Realtek Integrated Audio, RTL 8168B/8111B. I was thinking of the trying the Fiio E7 which has a DAC too but that is really expensive. I don't know how much it would be worth it if I dont' listen my headphones 24/7. What about the Fiio E6? Would that be a good starting place? I don't really know anything about amps or brands so I just stuck with Fiio. Since I really have like a month of experience with headphone sound at all I'm still not totally used to this kind of delivery or signature so I don't know how much of a benefit (or not) an amp would make. Right now, I feel the analytical-ness in the frequency balance, and with the smaller soundstage, it sounds like weird after using them for a long time, like the details it's revealing should be in 3D space, yet I'm only receiving them via a very sharp 2D photograph. I don't have any actual high fidelity music to use as a reference though to test the headphones (damn loudness war - one of it's biggest effects being soundstage killing).
 
Any help will be appreciated.

 

[tdockweiler]

Quote:

Quick update + questions:
 
Sadly, I'm not loving these headphones. I have come to the conclusion that wearing my glasses DOES take away a bit of the bass. It's ever so slight, but noticeable. The difference is "Oh, there's the bass, it's very subtle" vs "Where is the bass (period)?" Even if it's really in my mind, well placebo is just as real as if it actually happened so it's still a problem. I'm going to get my temple ends remove from my glasses and see if that helps. Speaking of comfort, I find them ok when I first put them on, but then they go e eventually they feel like they are trying to simulate a vice grip after a long time! Lastly, I find the sound staging kinda pathetic. I almost feel I should have gone for open headphones had I known this!
 
I've had them since the 7th (bought on the 4th) and I have a 30 day warranty. I don't want to return them and start ANOTHER hunt for headphones (what next anyways? SHR840? For all I know, that could blow up in my face too), I want to make these work. Would an amplifier drastically change things? As of now, I'm just using my motherboards line out (not the headphone jack). It's Realtek Integrated Audio, RTL 8168B/8111B. I was thinking of the trying the Fiio E7 which has a DAC too but that is really expensive. I don't know how much it would be worth it if I dont' listen my headphones 24/7. What about the Fiio E6? Would that be a good starting place? I don't really know anything about amps or brands so I just stuck with Fiio. Since I really have like a month of experience with headphone sound at all I'm still not totally used to this kind of delivery or signature so I don't know how much of a benefit (or not) an amp would make. Right now, I feel the analytical-ness in the frequency balance, and with the smaller soundstage, it sounds like weird after using them for a long time, like the details it's revealing should be in 3D space, yet I'm only receiving them via a very sharp 2D photograph. I don't have any actual high fidelity music to use as a reference though to test the headphones (damn loudness war - one of it's biggest effects being soundstage killing).
 
Any help will be appreciated.

 
I don't know if an amp or DAC will make you like them even more, but it's worth a try. Onboard audio should be more than enough I'd imagine to drive them properly. One idea I have is to buy the X-Fi Go Pro at Best Buy (can check stock online). It's a DAC that's dirt cheap and actually sounds good. It's $41 and often on sale for $30-35. If you don't notice any difference or you don't like the results, Best Buy won't care if you return it.
 
Sounds good with my KRKs and even my HD-598 and HD-580(!). The E7 also is worth a try, but i've never tried it with the KRKs. I imagine a warmer sounding DAC would be better for the KRKs. The E5 is perfect with the KRKs and the E6 should sound similar.
 
One thing i've noticed with the KRKs is that with a good DAC the soundstage is much larger. Even with the Creative DAC i've noticed this. I think the perfect match for the X-Fi Go Pro is the HD-598 for some reason.

 

[Not Yet]

Quote:

One thing i've noticed with the KRKs is that with a good DAC the soundstage is much larger. Even with the Creative DAC i've noticed this. I think the perfect match for the X-Fi Go Pro is the HD-598 for some reason.

I actually read you review a while ago but forgot all about it! I would have never guessed otherwise so thanks for the reminder. It's marketing is all about the ways it can "enhances" music with cheesy named technology bites ("THX TruStudio Pro Crystalizer"... um no thank you).

 

[Not Yet]

Well, the headphones have got a lot better since I got my temple ends removed. Last ones were just too big. I don't hear as much of a difference now on vs off. AMP on the way too.
 
I've noticed something else - the placement on the ear matters a lot. In the default, center position, I find the midrange to sound good and very detailed, but bass is there but kinda, well I can't fully make it out, like trying to recall fine detail from a less than lifelike dream. You can get most what you need to remember, but not everything. Comfort in this position gets worse over time. Pushing them back, sound becomes more fuller/warmer, ESPECIALLY the bass area. This is mixed bag. One hand the bass is clearer and easier to discern for bass, but at the same time, loss of soundstage. When I push them forward (which usually results in down too), the overall sound becomes weaker, BUT bass notes sound like they have increased soundstage, MUCH easier to distinguish where they sit in relationship to other instruments compared to center, but not so upfront like the back position. I can't tell if if details are resolved better or the same as center position. I would like to keep using this front position but something about it just feels not right, like the angle of the sound to the ear is off it just sounds "wrong" and distant. Gonna do some more headphone positioning research.
 
Why I can't put headphones and just listen to music? I'm like naturally analytical when it comes to music.