[Jodiuh]

I have 2 12" Polks in a custom enclosure when I'm rolling down Mill Ave. Yes, I do like my bass. But more importantly, I like my accuracy.
 
The KRK's don't force the low end (a good thing). I've been ABing them w/ Sennheiser HD380 Pro's and honestly, they are just surpassing them in every way w/ regard to tonal detail in the vocals. They don't have much soundstage and they don't exaggerate the bass...but this is a good thing. I left them on the tube for a few hours and things are toning down on the high end. The soundstage is opening up and the bass is hitting not harder, but more accurate even. I'm honestly blown away by this headphone and thinking I might stop here, return the 380's and just wait, research, etc before my next can. I have some AKG Q701's if I need the space, but I'm enjoying these more despite their closed, in your head presentation. KRK did a magnificent job w/ these, yet I yearn for the low end BOOM my RP6's delivered.
 
Unfortunately, I'm not sure there IS a headphone w/ such accuracy and comfort WITH low end quantity and the fun factor of these. At this point, my only real consideration is Grado. I own the 325i's and they're phenomenal, but my cat sort of had his way w/ them.

 

[electropop]

One of my only problems with the 8400 was the mid-bass bloom. It wasn't completely accurate and kind of started bugging me. Were it more linear and faster, like their speakers, I'd have kept them. 

 

[ayahuasca]

hi,
regarding then kns8400 and the shure shr940's: using them straight out of a RME fireface 400, (and also testing on a presonus audiobox, as well as an iphone ha!), with high resolution recordings both electronic and jazz, the shure 940's blow away the kns8400, are quite usuable for studio mixing in a pinch. I have also tried the shure840's, the beyerdynamic dt880's, and the sennheiser 598's (and the akg's m50's and grado 60i's) and the shure 940's beat them all. In fact i fine the shure's rather exciting. They are not the most comfortable headphones, or best lookin, but they are ok, and considerably more comfortable than the 840's), I burned in all the headphones I was testing 20hrs before doing my final tests/listens, and this was over a 3-week period (i.e. several comparisons). I have a masters in music, and have be composing music for 20 years, and have worked in the film industry in L.A. (not boasting just giving a little background for the other readers). The 8400 is bright at first, and does have good detail for the price, and it's quite comfortable. But after one gets above the $150 range there is are bunch of choices out there. Unfortunately, it seems some bean counter or "marketing wiz" at Shure has now decided to up the price of the 940's (they were $230 a few months ago, now are at $300 most places).

 

[Angular Mo]

After a lengthy burnin, to me the 8400s are a bit harsh, not great transitions to treble.

To fill the bass, the power towel mod helped (i wear eyeglasses), as does the E17's gain and
bass control!

 

[Digigold]

I liked these right out of the box allot; however, after using for long listening sessions I find they wear me down. I've got ~30hrs on these cans but they are still so damn fatiguing. I'm thinking about running them off ears for a couple days straight and seeing if that makes a difference. If that doesn't work I might get rid of them.

Just exactly how long a burn in should these need?..or maybe they're are they just too fatiguing for my tastes? :confused_face(1):

Also, what would you folks recommend for burn ins as far as type of sound and db level?

Thanks!

 

[machoboy]

I think these have the perfect amount of bass. I don't know why people call them bass-anemic.
 
They're very bright for sure and that leads the listener to focus on the brightness but the bass is very present as well.

 

[Tangster]

I fail to see how people think these lack in bass. It's not got the kind of slam that a Ultrasone, Denon or a Sony XB but it's present and it's quite punchy. The real weakness in the bass response is the sub bass which seems a bit slow and rolled off making it fairly weak for listening to things like a orchestral score with large amounts of string bass.
 
Soundstage seems quite average(at least for the price), nothing to write home about, but does gives it a good go.
 
 
[size=10pt]I feel it's a bright headphone, but I've only burned mine in for 18 hours. It's still less bright and less fatiguing [/size]than my Shure SRH840s, but I also feel it’s less accurate in the highs, about the same with the mids(possibly a bit better) and lag behind by a margin in the low mid/bass and are outclassed in the sub bass.
 
[size=10pt]I will be recabling these however. The stock cable is disappointment, it’s way too stiff and at the same time tends to try and conform to whatever shape it was last stored in.[/size]
 
[size=10pt]Incidentally, I picked these up for £129, which compares favourably to the £130 I paid for my SRH840, which I consider to be it's natural counterpart in my collection.[/size]

 

[ansmi]

Quote:

hi,
regarding then kns8400 and the shure shr940's: using them straight out of a RME fireface 400, (and also testing on a presonus audiobox, as well as an iphone ha!), with high resolution recordings both electronic and jazz, the shure 940's blow away the kns8400, are quite usuable for studio mixing in a pinch. I have also tried the shure840's, the beyerdynamic dt880's, and the sennheiser 598's (and the akg's m50's and grado 60i's) and the shure 940's beat them all. In fact i fine the shure's rather exciting. They are not the most comfortable headphones, or best lookin, but they are ok, and considerably more comfortable than the 840's), I burned in all the headphones I was testing 20hrs before doing my final tests/listens, and this was over a 3-week period (i.e. several comparisons). I have a masters in music, and have be composing music for 20 years, and have worked in the film industry in L.A. (not boasting just giving a little background for the other readers). The 8400 is bright at first, and does have good detail for the price, and it's quite comfortable. But after one gets above the $150 range there is are bunch of choices out there. Unfortunately, it seems some bean counter or "marketing wiz" at Shure has now decided to up the price of the 940's (they were $230 a few months ago, now are at $300 most places).

Could you describe more details in terms of comparing shure shr940 and kns8400 : )? 
would like to get some inputs on that. Like why would shr940 be more suitable for studio use, in what way it sounds better than kns8400.
 
I personally never really use kns8400 as my primary can. Most of the time is for mix check (I guess you can call it the B can? ; ))

 

[ansmi]

Quote:

I saw this frequency response graph today and my first reaction was...WHAT...THE...HECK.
Either this is the most inaccurate graph I've ever seen in my entire life or that KRK "secretly" made an update to their headphone after people complained about them being bass light. Does anyone else here have the KNS-8400? Does this graph match up to what they're hearing? Mine is just about bass light, but not quite. They still sound good at least, but a tad more bass would have been nice. They surely don't match up to what the graph is showing. Not even remotely.
 

lol this graph looks completely different than how I heard KNS8400. Word.

 

[tdockweiler]

Has anyone heard both the KRKs yet? I got them out for a listen yesterday when completely stock.
 
After years i'm still trying to pick out the differences.
 
To my ears it seems like the KRK KNS-8400 definitely has more bass, mostly mid and upper bass. I think the low bass quantity is about the same. The 8400 most definitely seems warmer and fuller sounding to my ears. The bass on the 6400 seems closer to neutral, but overall seems a bit thinner sounding. Don't ask me why, but at once point last year I was sure the 6400 had more mid-bass. What the heck?
 
Seriously, I'm confused. I don't even know if a completely flat headphone can be that warm. I mean the HD-600 isn't flat in the bass at all to me. The 598 sounds balanced, but not flat. I still find that kind of warm too. What headphone is ruler flat and still warm?
 
It's weird how much fuller the 8400 sounds, but I don't think I could go around and calling it warm. It even improves with a warm source such as the Clip+ (yes, it's warm IMO, weird).
 
My ears can't really tell the difference between the treble on the 6400 vs the 8400. Sometimes makes me think the 6400 has less, but it's barely detectable.
 
The 6400 definitely sounds like it has more forward mids. The 8400 seems like it has a small dip in the lower mids somewhere. Not some massive hole. Yet it does have slightly forward (sounding) upper mids perhaps.
 
I listened to my 8400 last night for a few hours and it was much bassier than I remember. Seemed like it was more upper bass, but the 8400 always had very good low bass. About as good as my DJ100 and even better extended than my Q701 and HD-650.
No, I don't mean DT-770 Pro 80 like sub-bass!
 
You know what's weird? Listening to the HD-650 and then putting on the KRK KNS-8400! Totally weird. 8400 is just so much more colored. Only kidding! The 650 sounds balanced to me (I have a weird pair I guess), but yet totally different than the 8400.
 
Despite loving the 8400 I won't say it's the most musical headphone on earth. Probably would never sell it. At times I do believe it's technically better than the Q701. I know that's a shock for some to hear. I think the 8400 with my ODAC is much more revealing too.

 

[sammyp]

Great review of the KRK 8400 - they struck me the same way they did you! First day ....oh my, what have i done, how soon can i return em. The burn in was crucial, much better now! 
 
Cheers

 

[Digigold]

I know some people are still doubters when it comes to burn in, but these cans prove that it can make a pretty big difference. It took between 60-80hrs but they don't make my ears bleed anymore. They are still best for monitoring, but they also EQ nicely if I choose to use them for general listening.

 

[sammyp]

Quote:

I know some people are still doubters when it comes to burn in, but these cans prove that it can make a pretty big difference. It took between 60-80hrs but they don't make my ears bleed anymore. They are still best for monitoring, but they also EQ nicely if I choose to use them for general listening.

ok .....i'm still 20-30 hours behind you .....they're better but still bugging me in the upper mids.....new rock and metal is tough! I donno, i'll give em a few more hours then it may be a big thumbs down ......i have 240 mark 1, 770 pro, 141 mark 2 .....soon i'll be asking myself why i am even bothering with the KRK ...
 
however, it is incontestable that burn in has already improved these cans.....outta the box they we unlistenable! 

 

[PanamaHat]

This review is spot on. My favorite part of the headphones are the ear pads though. They're incredible! seriously the most comfortable I've ever tried. I showed them to a few friends and they agree. They feel like clouds gently caressing my head, pretty happy with these 

 Comfort: 10/10

 

[Tangster]

Quote:

This review is spot on. My favorite part of the headphones are the ear pads though. They're incredible! seriously the most comfortable I've ever tried. I showed them to a few friends and they agree. They feel like clouds gently caressing my head, pretty happy with these 

 Comfort: 10/10

For semi-circumaural headphones, the KRK KNS8400 and the CAL! have the best pads in the world. No contest.