[Tassie Devil]

I loaned my 400S to a friend who owns AKG K701s.  He agreed they sounded better but he too much of a scrooge to buy a pair.  I had intended only loaning them for a few days but circumstances meant it was more like 10 days before I got them back.  And yes, I sorely missed them.
 
Intent on trying them out with balanced connectors to compare to the Senheiser HD800s, I purchased another cord, intended for the OPPO phones, from China.  My idea was to replace the 3.5mm stereo plug with XLRs.
 
Well the 400S arrived back last night and I tried out the OPPO cable without any changes.  Yes it works fine and interestingly only had 2.5mm mono plugs while the original 400S cable has 2.5mm stereo.  Both are gold plated so obviously no difference there, BUT the sound from the Chinese cable was not as good as from the HifiMan original.  VERY hard to put my finger on it, slightly less air and the bass response was not as definitive.
 
Like most of you I've been a bit mesmerized by headphone cabling, having spent some large sums on it in the past, but at the back of my mind remained a tad of skepticism about the topic.  Bottom line is yes, cabling does alter the sound, but whether for better or worse is an individual subjective judgement.
 
So I'll take a different tack.  I've just ordered a length of Mogami W2893 cable and will make up the balanced line from it rather than butcher the ordinary sounding Chinese OPPO cable.  I'll post up the results about how the 400S compares to the magnificent HD800s.  I the meantime I'll continue to enjoy using the 400S with original cabling with the Sony A17.  IMHO the AQ is superior to the AKG K702s, The Sennheiser HD 650s & Sennheiser HD 598s.  Note my taste is classical music so comments relate to it.

 

[jnak00]

Speaking of cables, anyone know where to find a good, inexpensive (under $50) replacement cable?  I find the stock cable to be too stiff and would prefer something more pliable...I've looked for HD700 cables as I read they're compatible, and they all seem pretty pricey.

 

[Tassie Devil]

Maybe I can make you up one using that Magami cable I referred to in my post - I've ordered far more cable than I will need + I have a spare pair of 2.5 mm plugs.  PM me off board if interested and we will see what we can work out.  Postage should not be too much as the items are not very heavy.

 

[NoOneLt]

About focus pads, am i right that thin side should be near eyes and thick "behind ears"? Thanks.

 

[Broo0d]

  About focus pads, am i right that thin side should be near eyes and thick "behind ears"? Thanks.

Yes, you are right.

 

[Tassie Devil]

Damn it I'm impatient.
 
Decided not to wait for the Morgami cable so butchered some Warren cable that had been used with the HD800's.  Rotten heavy cable, so heavy it too easily pulled out the plugs in the headphones BUT the sound..... superb.
 
The setup is:
 
Sooloos media centre -> balanced digital out -> Vaughan M2Tech DAC -> balanced analog -> HeadRoom Blockhead balanced amp -> HE400S via the Warren cable.
 
The very nature of the HE400s, planar, showed up the articulation with transients.  Harpsichord can sound very jangley but not with the HE400S.  Voices come through loud and clear, ........ and so it goes on.
 
So do they make nicer music than the HD800?  First impressions are maybe yes.  I say "maybe" because I distrust auditory memory but the bottom line is that the HE400S handles all types of music thrown at it and reproduces all that comes in.  Maybe this could be a negative as the old GIGO applies with a vengeance.  Not that I heard any really bad sound with the numerous pop and classical CDs sampled (in FLAC form) but I seemed to hear more differences than I had previously noticed.  And the AQ was far better than ex my beloved Sony A25 - and so it should be!!!
 
Bottom line - the HifiMan HE 400S is a remarkable achievement for the price.  Possibly other models and some other brands might appeal to others more but there is one VERY happy customer here with these cans.

 

[GNinja]

Hey guys, I ended up saving money for this cans and a dac/amp combo I have some comfort questions before pulling the trigger.
 
What pads do you think would be better for a hot, tropical place? humidity is always at 100% so pads get sweaty in about 30 minutes.
 
also how are the mids on these cans?, i totally hate when mids get recessed by bass or treble is sibilant.

 

[NoOneLt]

Original velour's pads will be the best comfort wise, angled i have on 400i are pretty hot after some time, even in not hot location, noticed it immediately, but maybe some time have to pass. But it is normal as they have pleather = hotter. So for comfort velour only. But they say 400S opens up with angled pads, so maybe you can check pure velour angled from Brainwavz.

 

[KepinCemit]

  Hey guys, I ended up saving money for this cans and a dac/amp combo I have some comfort questions before pulling the trigger.
 
What pads do you think would be better for a hot, tropical place? humidity is always at 100% so pads get sweaty in about 30 minutes.
 
also how are the mids on these cans?, i totally hate when mids get recessed by bass or treble is sibilant.

 
I live in Indonesia, using focuspads A for now, don't have any problem yet with heat/humidity
 
Using the 400s in an air conned room though
 
Used to have HE300 with brainwavz angled pleather pads, pads get sweaty in 30 minutes too, even in this air conned room
 
I'm guessing focus pads / focus pads A / brainwavz hybrid might be better for SQ & comfort for 400s
 
Pleather all around the pads body for that extra bass extension + velour on the cup is good for me

 

[fishda]

Would the focus pads make the bass bleed to the mids(bloated)?i'm still waiting for our local supplier to have them on stock.would the hm5 angled pads be a better alternative?

 

[Vigrith]

  Hey guys, I ended up saving money for this cans and a dac/amp combo I have some comfort questions before pulling the trigger.
 
What pads do you think would be better for a hot, tropical place? humidity is always at 100% so pads get sweaty in about 30 minutes.
 
also how are the mids on these cans?, i totally hate when mids get recessed by bass or treble is sibilant.

 
I live in Portugal right by the ocean, the humidity is not as harsh as in an actual tropical place but Summers are insanely hot too and there is dry, warm wind 24/7.
 
I use the Audeze lambskin leather angled pads and I also own Brainwavz HM5 ones which are similar enough given the price difference (I already owned the Audezes beforehand) - my skin gets severely irritated when using velour pads probably because of some sort of allergy so I cannot use them but I have the hybrid leather/velour ones too and those are probably the least warm of the 3, I imagine those would be the better option for you. The leather ones are not terribly warm either though, I wear headphones for 8+ hours a day and never get uncomfortable, if you're used to the heat which you should be given you live in a tropical country and also to wearing headphones often I don't think you'll have a that big of a problem.
 
You might already be aware but keep in mind though the H400S stock pads have the plastic rings that attach to the cups glued onto them, so if you don't already own replacement rings the Brainwavz do not come with that included - you'll have to either cut out the stocks to get the rings (what I did) or buy another pair of pads from another brand that come with them, take them out and use those.
 
In my opinion the mids are not recessed at all, the bass is actually a little lackluster with stock pads and the treble is almost on the edge of being a liiiittle too much - however, and I cannot emphasize this enough, swapping to proper angled pads fixes both of those, the bass becomes great as you'd expect it to be and smooths out the treble to perfection. They really are fantastic sounding headphones, especially with the price taken into account it's basically theft.

 

[DavidA]

  Hey guys, I ended up saving money for this cans and a dac/amp combo I have some comfort questions before pulling the trigger.
 
What pads do you think would be better for a hot, tropical place? humidity is always at 100% so pads get sweaty in about 30 minutes.
 
also how are the mids on these cans?, i totally hate when mids get recessed by bass or treble is sibilant.

I live in Hawaii, about 200 yards from the ocean, its hot and high humidity.  While I don't have the HE-400S, I have 400/400i/560 and one of the most comfortable pads I've tried is the spare pads from my SRH-1840.  Another poster also mentioned the pads from the SRH-1540 as being even better.  If you need mounting rings the cheapest might be to order a pair of velour pads from hifiman ($10), also they are not glued to the ring.
 
I haven't done any evaluations of sound yet with the SRH-1840 ear pads but the first listen on the HE-400 was favorable over the velour, been to busy fixing a friends computer to give a detailed review.
 
Update: did a quick listen with HE-400 using SRH-1840 pads (Alcantara, not velour), mids seems a touch more forward, highs are smoother, bass a little less present, this is compared to Focus pads.  Comfort is much better, cooler (even compared to velour), but the pads have slightly smaller inside diameter so might feel cramp to some.  Think I might try the SRH-1540 pad after this quick experiment.

 

[GNinja]

thanks a lot for your help. I looked up for those pads and I decided ill order the focus pads A because if I wanted brainwavz or shures I would have to pay like 20usd import.
Not quite sure what the difference is between focus pads A and the regular but I guess they would be cooler as they have less pleather.

 

[DangerToast]

Would the focus pads make the bass bleed to the mids(bloated)?i'm still waiting for our local supplier to have them on stock.would the hm5 angled pads be a better alternative?

I personally found that they did, however I realize I'm in the minority in that I prefer the stock pads.

 

[Noldir]

thanks a lot for your help. I looked up for those pads and I decided ill order the focus pads A because if I wanted brainwavz or shures I would have to pay like 20usd import.
Not quite sure what the difference is between focus pads A and the regular but I guess they would be cooler as they have less pleather.

Not much really difference is quite subtle :http://www.head-fi.org/t/711824/hifiman-he-560-impressions-discussion-thread/5625

Comfort seems to be the main thing. I have experience both at home now but no chance to test them yet...