[kelvinwsy]

Part iii
6. Bass and Sub bass
Pink Floyd Wish you were here ..Welcome to the machine
The opening bars puts you right into the heart of the machine with those throbbing and beating machine sounds menacing and impactful ... Fantastic bass response from the LS 400. It goes deep and impactful with great tonality
The synthesizers are firing at you from both left and right. The elevator sequence at the end of the track brings you right to the open where the crowds are ... very convincing!
7. Can the LS 400 Rock and sing the blues?
Gary Moore - Still got the blues ... opening guitar riffs soars and the vocals comes in with pain and anguish in Gary's voice without any harshness in his voice.
8. Sade Lovers Live CD .. The Sweetest Taboo ... the opening bars with the thunder sound effects is great then the crowd roars and Sade and the band kicks in. The throbbing bass guitar is powerful and Sade's voice and the backing vocals rides on the bass riff.. Great live rendition to a great R&B hit.. you can hear the individual cheering and singing along during the chorus ... simply magical R&B at its best live .. the LS400 shines!
9. What about some Jazz now?
Polly Gibbons - HD Tracks 96kHz download -- great album with fantastic smoky and husky Vocal performance and some of the best recorded jazz piano and drumming I have heard ...
check out Track 1 ---After Hours
Track 3 -- a Cover of Ricky Lee Jones sing Company
You defer to sit in the jazz lounge with Polly Gibbons and her band while you are sipping on your favorite poison
It does not get better than this except being there in person!

In summary the LS400 is smooth across the frequency sound spectrum .. the AT engineers have tuned the multiple BA drivers very well. It is an ultimate refinement of the AT sound signature with the beautiful rendition of the female vocals . The highs soar and the bass is tight, extended and tuneful

Fit up and comfort is great . Wore it all over Tokyo and manage to block out 80-90% of Tokyo's cityscape noises. Great isolation

It is a great IEM in its price range and in my experience it will keep 95% of headfiers happy without spending hundreds more on more expensive IEMs

 

[Chefano]

Quick Review of ATH - LS 400
Having a Xmas Vacation in Tokyo !!
Picked up. Set of ATH - LS 400 from
BIC Camera in Yurakucho
2nd day went to BIC Canera in Shinjuku to pick up the HDC313A A2DC 6N -OFC Upgrade cable
Running it on. IOS 6 plus with KORG iAugiogate player
Music :
Eagles Hotel California XRCD 44.1khz rip
Jackson Browne Solo Acoustic vol 1
Jane Monheit 96 kHz HD tracks There is a small hotel
Larry andRobbin live in Paris I put a spell on you
Joni Mitchell Miskes of Aisles HD Tracks Live or Money
JD Southers HD Tracks New Kid in Town

COMFORT
Fits well
Isolation
Very good - better than my im50 and bks 77
Sound
Transparent true to the source
The bass from the double BA units is perfect - bass heavy music just needs a 1.5 DB on the lower frequencies

Mids
Great presence
Highs
No sibilance but great extension

Sound Stage
Wide Deep and great central voice presence and location

Standard cable -- not good enough
Upgraded cable fantastic
Will add more after burn in

 
Ive just received mine today, and I think by your description that is not the same LS400 I recieved.
Just a quick listen on my fav. tracks and where the hell all the details went, it sounds really weird.
On a Sony ZX2 compared to SE846
1. The chain - Fleetwood Mac ‎– Rumours (Japanese SACD) 
The strings details were lost, all the studio presence was lost. It became a "meh" track
2. Lonestar - Norah Jones - Come away with me (SACD).
Is this really Norah Jones singing? o.O   On SE846 I can hear all the articulation of the words and the vocal is rendered beautifully.
 
So far Im really disappointed
I have the perfect sensation of listening to some old AM radio 

 

[kelvinwsy]

Oh dear .. I had a full hour to test listen the LS400 vs the 300, 70 and 50 .. even did a relistrn to the E70 .. chose the ls400 .. well it suits my musical tastes.. from my brief listening on a previous visit to Sony showroom in Ginza and the ZX2 I vaguely remembered it was bright and accentuated the mid highs to the highs .. But I could hv remembered wrongly...
anyway I use the iAudioGateplayer and cd rips ... so the LS400 has not disappointed ... one suggestion is maybe u consider upgrading the cable ... the standard cable is CRAP !! You miss a lot of u don't upgrade to the HDC313A in my humble opinion ..
Best wishes

 

[Chefano]

Oh dear .. I had a full hour to test listen the LS400 vs the 300, 70 and 50 .. even did a relistrn to the E70 .. chose the ls400 .. well it suits my musical tastes.. from my brief listening on a previous visit to Sony showroom in Ginza and the ZX2 I vaguely remembered it was bright and accentuated the mid highs to the highs .. But I could hv remembered wrongly...
anyway I use the iAudioGateplayer and cd rips ... so the LS400 has not disappointed ... one suggestion is maybe u consider upgrading the cable ... the standard cable is CRAP !! You miss a lot of u don't upgrade to the HDC313A in my humble opinion ..
Best wishes

Given the pricepoint, IMO is unacceptable a cable upgrade to sound barely Ok.
Tried with different amps, sources, no way to sound good

 

[kelvinwsy]

Ok I guess different people have different tastes ... the LS400 is maybe half the price of the Shute 846SE.. I think
?
We all buy hifi stuff and we sell those we don't like ..
good luck !!

 

[Lionlian]

It's come down to ls400 vs e70, It's show time.

 

[daboscovellen]

It's come down to ls400 vs e70, It's show time.

Are you comparing them? I'm interested to hear your impressions. I have, and love, the E70, but I do like the look of the ls400. 

 

[gemmoglock]

It's come down to ls400 vs e70, It's show time.

 

 
Are you comparing them? I'm interested to hear your impressions. I have, and love, the E70, but I do like the look of the ls400. 

 
Yeah let us know how the tuning differs!

 

[Boringz]

Just pop by our local store to try the new LS400, OMG.... this has to be the worst flagship I've ever heard. The treble was roll off, mids were recessed and muffled and bass was loose and uncontrolled. It was so bad I had to ask the store manager if this was a faulty unit. Guess what? Apparently they requested for a replacement and according to them, it sounds almost the same.
 
The LS200 was the nicest sounding among the entire lineup, nice color too. I notice that LS200 seem to have a smaller shell compared to the rest of the lineup like LS50,70,300 and 400, I assume this would be great for listeners with smaller ears. This may not appeal to bassheads but otherwise, its a great IEM that is also made in Japan.

 

[Sp12er3]

Hrmm... Impressions of the LS400 seems to be varied so far, what could be the reason? Is it really each individual different preference or does this really depend on the source? It's kinda weird, really.
@asdf21 oh have they? I'll be waiting for them to come around Jaben Jogja, the IM50 is quite popular here, some stocks are even still in the shelves, hope they bring the new models soon.

 

[Boringz]

Hrmm... Impressions of the LS400 seems to be varied so far, what could be the reason? Is it really each individual different preference or does this really depend on the source? It's kinda weird, really.
@asdf21 oh have they? I'll be waiting for them to come around Jaben Jogja, the IM50 is quite popular here, some stocks are even still in the shelves, hope they bring the new models soon.

By the way I tested it with the IFI IDSD BL with files ranging from WAV to FLAC.

 

[potatoe94]

i tested the entire series on the iDSD BL and only liked the LS200 . the rest sounded kind of constrained and muddy , well it could also be the fact that they were fresh off the batch ? not certain . but seems like my money is only on the ls200

 

[tomscy2000]

My $0.02:

1. The LS300 is not very good; people are better off with the IM03, or even the CK100PRO (if they can stand the hot treble).
2. The LS400 will be a polarizing earphone; it contains all of ATH's house coloration (i.e. mid-bass emphasis, depressed lower midrange with concurrent elevated upper midrange), so only people who have grown to love that kind of coloration will actually enjoy the LS400.
3. The LS200 is a significant improvement over the IM02/CK90PROMK2; The center image is larger and deeper (i.e. flat phase, better lower/upper midrange balance) and the treble is smoother with fewer spikes (will lead people to think it is less resolving, but is every bit as resolving as the IM02). Using a DAP with a reasonable amount of OI, e.g. 10 ohms, will probably be fine with this earphone, because of its AcuPass design and the bass/midrange driver being a standard 2300-sized driver. The LS200 is one of the best low/mid-end IEM on the market right now because of how neutral it is. It also has a one of a kind driver setup proprietary to ATH (Sonion 2300 + E25ST) that can't be found anywhere else, unlike the IM02, which uses the Knowles GQ-30783, also used in multiple other IEMs like the InEar StageDiver SD2, Westone W2/W20, Lime Ears LE2, etc. Thus, the LS200 is a frontrunner and a "collectible", much like the CK100PRO. To amortize costs of a proprietary driver, ATH will likely use this driver in successive models, and perhaps adapt it for use in successive higher-end models as a midrange/tweeter combination, but currently neither the LS300 nor LS400 uses the "23-E25".

 

[FranTBW]

Seems like the LS200 is the way to go

 

[yellowbirdfly]

  My $0.02:

1. The LS300 is not very good; people are better off with the IM03, or even the CK100PRO (if they can stand the hot treble).
2. The LS400 will be a polarizing earphone; it contains all of ATH's house coloration (i.e. mid-bass emphasis, depressed lower midrange with concurrent elevated upper midrange), so only people who have grown to love that kind of coloration will actually enjoy the LS400.
3. The LS200 is a significant improvement over the IM02/CK90PROMK2; The center image is larger and deeper (i.e. flat phase, better lower/upper midrange balance) and the treble is smoother with fewer spikes (will lead people to think it is less resolving, but is every bit as resolving as the IM02). Using a DAP with a reasonable amount of OI, e.g. 10 ohms, will probably be fine with this earphone, because of its AcuPass design and the bass/midrange driver being a standard 2300-sized driver. The LS200 is one of the best low/mid-end IEM on the market right now because of how neutral it is. It also has a one of a kind driver setup proprietary to ATH (Sonion 2300 + E25ST) that can't be found anywhere else, unlike the IM02, which uses the Knowles GQ-30783, also used in multiple other IEMs like the InEar StageDiver SD2, Westone W2/W20, Lime Ears LE2, etc. Thus, the LS200 is a frontrunner and a "collectible", much like the CK100PRO. To amortize costs of a proprietary driver, ATH will likely use this driver in successive models, and perhaps adapt it for use in successive higher-end models as a midrange/tweeter combination, but currently neither the LS300 nor LS400 uses the "23-E25".

Which IEM or headphone from AT is most similar to LS400's coloration? CK100?
 
Could the LS200 be considered an upgrade of CK10 or is it completely different?