[bwcgrx]

Since the 400S is your first orthos headphones I recommend after a bit of a breakin that you just wear and listen to the 400S for the first week only so that your ears can get used to the Orthodynamic sound and then compare your 4400S to your other headphones.

Thanks fot the advice john57, sounds like a good plan. Is there a general consensus on initial breakin time for these orthos. I must admit that I've been fairly skeptical of the real world benefits of headphone breakin, however i do believe that both my hd600 and k7xx sounded better after many hours of use.

bwcgrx

 

[obsidyen]

  I find that the 400S treble to be even smoother than my 400 which has a sharper treble peak. I think what amp you are using does make a difference. If you are using a amp section that is running near the limits you may get some clipping at the peaks of some classical music that have a larger dynamic range than some of the popular music of today. Some of the classical brass section in some of my recordings can be quite piercing but that sounds that way in a concert.  The 400S being more transparent sounding is going to be a bit more fussier on the source/amp you are using.  In other words the 400S scales very well with better source and equipment. IFI products for example, have a slightly richer and mellow sound as compared to some Sabre based products which tend be a bit brighter and edgier in some cases. I am saying that IFI products is more likely to pair well with the 400S and I am sure that there are others as well. I have tried the 400i as well but I like the 400S much better as its transparency and clarity is great and natural as compared going to live concerts of the same pieces. I have returned my 400i which at first I like but got tired of its sound signature and the 400S just continues to grow on me. My headphones came from Brian Larson at RazorDog.    

iDSD Micro pairs exceptionally well with HE400S.

 

[Mark Up]

Ordered these. They arrive in a week. I'll give impressions then. I was spoiled by the LCD-2, disappointed by the HE1K. Stay tuned.

 

[john57]

Thanks fot the advice john57, sounds like a good plan. Is there a general consensus on initial breakin time for these orthos. I must admit that I've been fairly skeptical of the real world benefits of headphone breakin, however i do believe that both my hd600 and k7xx sounded better after many hours of use.

bwcgrx

Some will say 100 hours but I would say 40 hours is plenty. Part of it is brain burn-in, getting used to the sound of planers. I would say that the 400S sounds much better after hours of breakin as compared to the 400i I tried. I was going to experiment with focus pads on the original 400 but due to a mixup at hifiman that project is a bit delayed. I may instead of the focus pads on the 400 I may use the newer version of the VelPad made for the 400S to try on the original 400 and cheaper. I am not going to mess with the ear pads on my 400S since its seems to work quite well for sound.  

 

[john57]

 
iDSD Micro pairs exceptionally well with HE400S.

Yes and my IFI Retro is a good match for the 400S as well and for my Klipsch reference 6 incher bookshelves in a near field arrangement . The horns tweeters on the Klipsch speakers crosses-over at a much lower frequency than usual at 1.5kHz. Because of that the heatsinks on the tweeter has large fins on it. The newer horn tweeters on the Klipsch does not have any of the honkness sound of the old Klipsch era. The woofers are aluminum with ceramic coating. The Retro would have more power to drive something like the HE-6. For a closed planner I like my Alpha Prime which is far better than the LCD-XC. At the end of the day when my ears are a bit tired the primes works well with me to isolated myself from the world.      

 

[john57]

  Ordered these. They arrive in a week. I'll give impressions then. I was spoiled by the LCD-2, disappointed by the HE1K. Stay tuned.

I read a few of your posts and I am getting the impression that you prefer bass focused phones. I Have tried the LCD-2 twice in the past and it is way too dark from what I am used to from unamplifed acoustical concerts that I go to in many ventures.  For the Audeze line I like the LCD-X the best follow by the LCD-3 but the LCD-3 has a bit of a jumpy treble as compared to the LCD-X.  Just another way of saying that I do not like the LCD-2 at all. Personally I would try  MrSpeakers ETHER before the HE1K.

 

[conquerator2]

OMG, so many conflicting opinions! These I can't hear soon enough 

 

[canthearyou]

Ummmmm....these sound great! First listen and I really like what I hear. I will try to do some more comparisons with the X2.

Most noticeable difference seems to be vocals have more authority.

Tidal>Element>X2/400s

All I can say is take everyone's opinion with a grain of salt. Even mine.

 

[kingdixon]

I had my eyes set on he-560 for quite some time now,

But i would like to hear how they compare to he-400s, since their price is very tempting and also i hear its more bassier which is more to my liking ..

Thanks

 

[ronnel0918]

I tried the 400s with the magni 2. I found the treble slightly harsh and the presentation a little too energetic for my tastes but YMMV

 

  Sounds about right. The Magni 2 can sound exhausting and too energetic with quite a few headphones, so to pair it with the HE-400S, which is already very punchy/energetic...

 
Thanks guys!
 
How about the SMSL New HIFI VMV VA2 VA-2 Desktop Headphone Amplifier AMP?
 
I really hope these gears are available in the country so I can audition them myself. For now, impressions/feedbacks will do.

 

[Music Path]

Could someone make comparision between the he-400S and he-500? The he-500 has an excelent price/performance ratio, as it seems he-400S case to be too. So that would be interesting.
Thanks

 

[mysticstryk]

  Sounds about right. The Magni 2 can sound exhausting and too energetic with quite a few headphones, so to pair it with the HE-400S, which is already very punchy/energetic...

Ugh...this is not what I wanted to hear.  My Modi/Magni uber stack is just past the 15 day money back guarantee.  Still haven't been able to test the 400s with them, but I hate overly bright sound.

 

[avitron142]

  Ugh...this is not what I wanted to hear.  My Modi/Magni uber stack is just past the 15 day money back guarantee.  Still haven't been able to test the 400s with them, but I hate overly bright sound.

I don't think it will be bright, as much as an exhausting bass that might hit a bit too hard.

 

[KewlMunky]

  Listening to the 400S in balanced mode from the Violectric V281, this thing is seriously good for the money. Agreed, the amp is overkill for this unit but the clarity and speed is impressive. Just expected a bit more bass body and deeper bass (but I'm used to the HE-1000)

You had mentioned you have the entire Hifiman lineup. Would you be able to compare the 400s to the 300?

 

[canthearyou]

Sounds like a cross between K7XX and X2. The midrange and vocals of K7XX and a bit of the low end of the X2.