[kstuart]

 

The HE-400 is known to have distorted midrange, which is corrected in the new HE-400i.

I notice your use of the passive "is." Have you actually listened both of them? There's nothing wrong with the mids on HE400. It's the treble people complain about.

OP, since you listen to metal, I have to ask if you're interested Grados.

I owned the HE-400 for months, and eventually sold them because the Mad Dog 3.2 were superior, except for soundstage and bass.
 
Someone who auditioned the HE-400i said that it "corrected the problem with the distorted mids on the HE-400".
 
I borrowed a pair of HE-500 and they do not have the distortion.
 
It's something one would probably not notice on metal tracks, or on lower end source equipment or amps.   Since most people who buy HE-400 use them on less expensive equipment, then most don't notice it.

 

[Claritas]

  I dunno why everyone says that. Grados have such a hard drop-off in the bass that metal only works if you don't care about hearing the bass guitar or kick drum. The PS500 was pretty dang good, but the RS1i was horrid.

 
Because they make guitars sound better than anything else can. You're right: it depends what you like about metal.
 
One day, I'd be curious to know what you think of the bass using tape-modded L-cushions.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

   
Because they make guitars sound better than anything else can. You're right: it depends what you like about metal.
 
One day, I'd be curious to know what you think of the bass using tape-modded L-cushions.

 
TBH if that's a mod that fills out the bass on them, I would totally get a set of PS500s because for all the frequencies above ~80Hz they were stellar. 

 

[Claritas]

 
TBH if that's a mod that fills out the bass on them, I would totally get a set of PS500s because for all the frequencies above ~80Hz they were stellar. 

 
Yeah, that's why something similar was my first suggestion on your upgrade thread. Only I don't know how deep into the sub-bass the increase goes. The mod with electrical tape should help more.
 
You can also increase the bass by punching holes in the cloth on the side of the driver and other mods:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/508459/sr60-mod#post_6871791.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

   
Yeah, that's why something similar was my first suggestion on your upgrade thread. Only I don't know how deep into the sub-bass the increase goes. The mod with electrical tape should help more.
 
You can also increase the bass by punching holes in the cloth on the side of the driver and other mods:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/508459/sr60-mod#post_6871791.

 
Well my interest is definitely piqued. I might consider pulling the trigger on that. The hole-punching thing makes me a little nervous, but who knows.

 

[vaed]

  Hey vaed, have you listened to the MD 3.2 as well?
 
I'm a metalhead and wondering which would be better for metal...MDP or MD 3.2?
 
Thanks

 
I haven't listened to the 3.2, but the MDP is supposed to be an improved MD 3.2 across the board.

 

[richbass]

  I owned the HE-400 for months, and eventually sold them because the Mad Dog 3.2 were superior, except for soundstage and bass.
 
Someone who auditioned the HE-400i said that it "corrected the problem with the distorted mids on the HE-400".
 
I borrowed a pair of HE-500 and they do not have the distortion.
 
It's something one would probably not notice on metal tracks, or on lower end source equipment or amps.   Since most people who buy HE-400 use them on less expensive equipment, then most don't notice it.

The HE-400i is not even out yet !

 

[kstuart]

 

  I owned the HE-400 for months, and eventually sold them because the Mad Dog 3.2 were superior, except for soundstage and bass.
 
Someone who auditioned the HE-400i said that it "corrected the problem with the distorted mids on the HE-400".
 
I borrowed a pair of HE-500 and they do not have the distortion.
 
It's something one would probably not notice on metal tracks, or on lower end source equipment or amps.   Since most people who buy HE-400 use them on less expensive equipment, then most don't notice it.

The HE-400i is not even out yet !

He auditioned it at CES.   Same guy who did one of the HD800 mods.

 

[Claritas]

It's something one would probably not notice on metal tracks, or on lower end source equipment or amps.   Since most people who buy HE-400 use them on less expensive equipment, then most don't notice it.

That doesn't correspond to my experience with expensive equipment. Even so, I can certainly accept that that's how you hear it but it's somewhat misleading to state that without that the qualification so people can't determine if it might affect them.

 

[TWerk]

About the PS-500, they are really good sounding headphones, but I totally agree about the bass issue. Even the PS-500 has pretty weak bass in my opinion, even though they are considered to be Grado's most bass heavy headphone. 
 
The Tape mod did very little to my ears, just made them sound less airy actually. I didn't get a big boost to the bass or anything. Because I legit need bass in my headphones, I sold it off. 
 
Not to mention, and I always say this but here goes:
 
Grado's are not comfortable. In fact, they are the most uncomfortable headphones I have owned. They need to fix that.

 

[Chops]

I can honestly say that ALL of the Grado cans I've owned or used over the years were rather bright, lean and more than anything, uncomfortable! If you make it for more than 30 minutes with Gados strapped to your head, you must have ear lobes made of steel. I mean, they genuinely make your ears hurt! I started off years ago with a pair of Sony MDR-7506's, then went through about $2200 worth of Grados, and ended up selling all of them and going back to the Sony's. Not only are the Sony's comfy for hours on end, they also sound pretty darn good.

With that said, I've gone through my share of Sennheisers, AKGs and Byerdynamics as well, all the top contenders. In the end, I've ended up with the original Mad Dogs with the upgraded Dog Pads. To me, they are the overall best performers. I need my cans to be closed, and these are the best sounding closed cans I have heard so far. I listen to everything from classical jazz to modern and fusion jazz, classical, orchestral, pipe organ, blues, pop, rock, even some dubstep every once in a while, and these Mad Dogs do it all quite well..

One of the key requirements to getting these cans sounding great and performing well with all types of music I think is getting some major power behind them. I've tried several dedicated headphone amps with them, both SS and tube, and none of them bring these cans alive like my old, trusty vintage Sansui receiver. This thing just has gobs of power on tap and has absolutely no problems throwing some current at these cans when the music demands it.

With the Sansui powering the MDs, they have plenty of bass depth and impact, midrange warmth and clarity, and sweet, detailed treble with better than average imaging and sound staging. I'm quite content with my original MDs and will eventually upgrade to the latest and greatest MDs, but I'm certainly in no hurry to do so at this time. They just sound so darn good, I don't want to be without them for any period of time, or worse yet, upgrade them to something I might not like.

Of course, this is ALL my own 2 cents and YMMV.

 

[TWerk]

Totally agree with that: Bright, Lean and Uncomfortable describes the Grados well. And their 325 model, talk about bright! 

 
 
Ouch.

 

[DigitalFreak]

   
I dunno why everyone says that. Grados have such a hard drop-off in the bass that metal only works if you don't care about hearing the bass guitar or kick drum. The PS500 was pretty dang good, but the RS1i was horrid.

Probably because Grados are mid centric and bring forward the screeching guitars. I've noticed its mostly the riff heavy melodic guitar lovers who like Grados. I have to look into the PS500 one of these days.

 

[Frederose]

I'm considering pulling the trigger on some HE-400i, but someone is selling Mad Dog Pro at the same price. Considering that I loved my Beyerdynamics 990 Pro for the bass, what would you suggest ?

 

[billymaloney3]

I'm considering pulling the trigger on some HE-400i, but someone is selling Mad Dog Pro at the same price. Considering that I loved my Beyerdynamics 990 Pro for the bass, what would you suggest ?

 


I have the mad dog pros and I can say the bass is definitely strong but not over powering which is nice. I cant speak for the HE-400s though as I've never owned them