[KepinCemit]

  Just picked up a set of HE 400s's, not taken delivery yet.
 
Is there a benefit to changing the ear pads?
 
If YES, is there general consensus on a preferred option?
 
Many thanks,
 
Mooch

Focus pads A or brainwavz angled (p)leather pads
 
At least those are what I've used so far
 
 
Might wanna do the grill mod too to open up the soundstage - this is my personal preference btw

 

[Vigrith]

  Focus pads A or brainwavz angled (p)leather pads
 
At least those are what I've used so far
 
 
Might wanna do the grill mod too to open up the soundstage - this is my personal preference btw

 
I should try to remove the cloth some time, I'm way too lazy to do that because I worry I'll mess up when taking the grills and stuff apart.
 
Regarding pads I've tried the Brainwavz angled pleathers, Audeze vegans and leathers and recently Kennerton ECL-02 lambskin whites. Guess it all comes down to preference as usual but I enjoy the Kennerton pads the most, however they, as well as the Audezes, are like three times the price of the Brainwavz. I've not tried any kind of Focus pads because our Hifiman dealers in Portugal don't import accessories unfortunately.

 

[relikk356]

  Just picked up a set of HE 400s's, not taken delivery yet.
 
Is there a benefit to changing the ear pads?
 
If YES, is there general consensus on a preferred option?
 
Many thanks,
 
Mooch

I suggest the ZMF cowhide ($49.99). They seem to add a bit more bass boost too me. I've use the Alpha dog (lamb skin), and the Brainwaves pleather. 

 

[YungFrieza]

Has anyone tried the Audeze Leather Pads? If I'm getting these I will also be getting the Audeze pads, if they don't sound good i'll just save up for either an HD-800 or LCD-2.

 

[Vigrith]

  Has anyone tried the Audeze Leather Pads? If I'm getting these I will also be getting the Audeze pads, if they don't sound good i'll just save up for either an HD-800 or LCD-2.

 
Yes. They basically have the same impact on the sound as the angled Brainwavz do except (in my opinion) they do it a little better. I find them to be more comfortable as well. Are they worth three times the price of the brainwavz? Sure, if you don't mind spending 80 on pads for 300 dollar headphones.

 

[Gino]

If the grills are stock, I recommend the Focuspad A. That's the pleather outer skin and velour inner lining.

If you will do the grill mod, use Focuspad. That's the pleather outer with perforated pleather inner lining. Velour in between.

I've not tried but have read that the Brainwavz HM5 angled all pleather sounds better then the Hifiman pads. You will need to order pad rings from hifiman and HM5 angled pads elsewhere. Or you can peel off the rings from the stock velour pads.

 

[serman005]

I understand and appreciate that a significant number of people do not believe that burn-in exists. That said, for those who do believe it exists, how many hours do you feel the 400S needs to be largely burned in?

 

[Vigrith]

  I understand and appreciate that a significant number of people do not believe that burn-in exists. That said, for those who do believe it exists, how many hours do you feel the 400S needs to be largely burned in?

 
I've read and heard most planars tend to require around 200 hours so that the drivers adjust and all that. I'm not a specialist by any means but I was advised 200 hours personally by both the staff at the hifi store (I also know for a fact they are competent and qualified) as well as Hifiman customer support. I think it even says 200h on their users manual, might be 150 though, can't recall exactly any more.

 

[bixby]

In My experience no more than 12-24 hours

 

[KepinCemit]

Speaking of burn in,
 
I've had a few headphones / iems.
 
HE400s is the first can whose sound changes drastically after "burn in" (maybe not so much burn in as warming in XD ).
 
Right out of the box it sounded so...... meh. Like how you'd expect a $1 bargain bin earbud would sound like.
 
Left in on my desktop playing music overnight, the next day it sounded totally different. Sound sig stay pretty much the same now after a few months. No other changes that I can positively confirmed happened.
 
Then again, after a couple of weeks of owning it, I started to change pads (from stock to focus pads A to brainwavz angled) and did the grill mod a couple of months ago.

 

[fishda]

Same here.my he400s and he560s needed 50+ hours to sound their best.

 

[serman005]

See, I just find it fascinating that everyone's got the same headphone and yet has their own unique take on this issue. Very interesting. Also interesting that HiFiMAN advises such a large number of hours. I suppose they know what they're doing...

 

[DavidA]

  See, I just find it fascinating that everyone's got the same headphone and yet has their own unique take on this issue. Very interesting. Also interesting that HiFiMAN advises such a large number of hours. I suppose they know what they're doing...

While I'm one of those that doesn't believe in "burn-in" I do know that the brain can get used to the sound and there is expectation bias as well.  There might be some truth to this since Audeze does burn-in headphones at the factory.

 

[serman005]

  While I'm one of those that doesn't believe in "burn-in" I do know that the brain can get used to the sound and there is expectation bias as well.  There might be some truth to this since Audeze does burn-in headphones at the factory.

Did not know that about Audeze--makes me wonder what the engineering people there feel about this. They would be more "sciencey" than the sales and marketing folks, presumably. I wonder what part of the company this burn-in recommendation initially came from (?).

 

[Gino]

I can understand that mechanical pieces that move will exhibit some wear over time. That may influence sound. I cannot imagine changes with cables and other conductors. Break-in to me is the parts settling into a state where they wear out no more. This to me simply means that there will be no more audible changes. 

Also a factor in headphones are the pads wearing out to conform to the head. That certanly fits my idea of break-in.

Truth is, I don't give a hoot. Whether sound changes or not, I will be using the cans anyway and will eventually reach that supposed point of being broken in.