[musicinmymind]

which one you like better HE-400 or HD700
 
Below impression from this thread made me buy He400 , http://www.head-fi.org/t/614011/sennheiser-hd700-review
 
 
"HD700 vs. HE400 @ $399
I had only a little time with these headphones. The bass sounded tight and snappy (better than the HE500). It is a dark/neutral sounding headphone, but hardly veiled akin to the HD650 (if it ever was.) My favorite characteristic was how smooth everything sounded. I didn't hear any ringing or peaks in the upper midrange or treble. The entire range was very cohesive. I'm not sure if there is anything the HD700 does better than these other than soundstage, apparent gross detail, and possibly micro-detail, but only by a bit. There was perhaps a bump in the HE400's midrange that accounted for a nasal quality with voices on certain tracks. I believe there were some teething issues with these headphones, so don't hold me to anything as to how they sound."

 

[tomatoshoe]

Quote:

Umm..no, it is a headphone amp also.. and a pretty darn good one for the price. Love it with the HE400. Personally, I find it better than the E17 which I also have. YMMV. Headphone out is on the right side of it on the picture.
http://audioengineusa.com/Store/Audioengine-D1 
 

 
 
WRT to portable source.. I don't use anything with my iPhone or iPod.. just plug the HE400 directly in (actually, my vModa M80s).
Portable with laptop.. I use the D1 but now that I have the Dragonfly, it's pretty much glued to my MacBook Air.
Personally didn't like the E17 piggybacked to my iPhone/iPod. (just the bulk, sound was OK). That's just me.
 
If you're looking to drive off a PC and connect to a portable DAP, the E17 is your baby. Add an L7 and you have triple duty.. portable, dac/amp with a PC and dac/line out to drive external speakers.
 
 

Interesting. Now I'm conflicted to whether I should get the Audioengine D1 or the Fiio E17. Decisions, decisions..
 
Would the Audioengine D1 or the Asus Xonar STX sound better with the Audioengine A5+?

 

[olegausany]

Quote:

Interesting. Now I'm conflicted to whether I should get the Audioengine D1 or the Fiio E17. Decisions, decisions..

Looks like i can get them locally and have no problems returning them so will try to get them tomorrow and compare them against my Xonar STX with LME49860 opamps

 

[jerg]

Quote:

which one you like better HE-400 or HD700
 
Below impression from this thread made me buy He400 , http://www.head-fi.org/t/614011/sennheiser-hd700-review
 
 
"HD700 vs. HE400 @ $399
I had only a little time with these headphones. The bass sounded tight and snappy (better than the HE500). It is a dark/neutral sounding headphone, but hardly veiled akin to the HD650 (if it ever was.) My favorite characteristic was how smooth everything sounded. I didn't hear any ringing or peaks in the upper midrange or treble. The entire range was very cohesive. I'm not sure if there is anything the HD700 does better than these other than soundstage, apparent gross detail, and possibly micro-detail, but only by a bit. There was perhaps a bump in the HE400's midrange that accounted for a nasal quality with voices on certain tracks. I believe there were some teething issues with these headphones, so don't hold me to anything as to how they sound."

 
purrin has since then done measurements of HE400s with velours instead of pleathers, and the results on the CSD were pretty amazing, taming of the mids hump and raising of the upper mids / lower treble depression, as well as flattening of the upper treble range peak. I'm sure if he were to do some detailed listening with them again he would give them even more preference.

 

[tomatoshoe]

Cool. Thanks. I'm very interested to know your impressions.
 
EDIT: Ended up just purchasing the Audioengine D1. Going to be using it for my HE-400 and Audioengine A5+ speakers. Not going to be using the Asus Xonar STX. I'll see how they are.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

http://soundcloud.com/xthemout/holly-drummond-out-of-my-mind-cto-remix

edit: (This part of the post was before the producer fixed the song due to me mentioning it to him, lol).

This song is amazing... yet, can you guys hear this static-like noise on the right driver at 0:15? It occurs in different parts of the song, but it starts there. Such a shame... the song is beautiful, but that mastering... damn.

 

[MickeyVee]

Let us know what you think. Enjoy!
Quote:

Cool. Thanks. I'm very interested to know your impressions.
 
EDIT: Ended up just purchasing the Audioengine D1. Going to be using it for my HE-400 and Audioengine A5+ speakers. Not going to be using the Asus Xonar STX. I'll see how they are.

 

[MickeyVee]

Nice choice.  I don't hear any static.. listened to the first 20 seconds 4 or 5 times and the who track a few times.  Went to purchase it in iTunes but they don't have this remix so just downloaded the song.
Edit: I don't hear it streaming online but do hear it in the download.
Quote:

http://soundcloud.com/xthemout/holly-drummond-out-of-my-mind-cto-remix
This song is amazing... yet, can you guys hear this static-like noise on the right driver at 0:15? It occurs in different parts of the song, but it starts there. Such a shame... the song is beautiful, but that mastering... damn.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Edit: Just heard it with my Turbines. It's definitely the track. You might wanna listen a little louder. The static is definitely there.

As for the song, Cross Them Out put it out for free... so no need to purchase anything...

 

[jerg]

Quote:

Edit: Just heard it with my turbines. It's definitely the track.
As for the song, Cross Them Out put it out for free... so no need to purchase anything...

 
He's kidding, there's a nasty patch of static in the music on the right channel around 15 second mark. Again, paranoia.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

No, not paranoia. I'm just trying to confirm. In any case, I've already got an email from a Head-Direct rep to exchange my HE400. I'll take the exchange for the piece of mind (considering all the other times I've heard distortions that I hadn't heard with my other headphones), and if I keep hearing static on the next one, then I know it was me.

What I don't understand is how the mixer can miss such obvious flaws in mastering? It's irritating.

 

[MickeyVee]

Hear it on the download.
Quote:

Edit: Just heard it with my Turbines. It's definitely the track. You might wanna listen a little louder. The static is definitely there.
As for the song, Cross Them Out put it out for free... so no need to purchase anything...

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

(edit: Again, this comment was before the artist fixed and re-uploaded the track)

That's what I did. The download is as staticky as the link.

Something is wrong with your ears if you can't hear it.

 

[jerg]

Quote:

No, not paranoia. I'm just trying to confirm. In any case, I've already got an email from a Head-Direct rep to exchange my HE400. I'll take the exchange for the piece of mind (considering all the other times I've heard distortions that I hadn't heard with my other headphones), and if I keep hearing static on the next one, then I know it was me.
What I don't understand is how the mixer can miss such obvious flaws in mastering? It's irritating.

What that's ridiculous...obviously they don't have a listening guy who routinely checks for newly produced headphone drivers for balance and issues, so if your current headphone is actually perfectly balanced and without driver defects, you are just needlessly spending your own money to risk getting a worse pair.

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

No, lol. You misunderstand. I was referring to the guy who remixed that song. How could he have missed that staticky garbage in the track when finishing it?



As for the headphone.. you really think the variation from one HE400 to the next can be so big that it'd be noticeably better/worse than the one I'm sending back? I'd rather just get a new pair and not do any sort of burn in, and just listen to it normally.