[jerg]

Quote:

Jerg,
 
I'm happy to hear your feedback.
 
Mine are on the way as well!
 
I'm excited because these are my first pair of audiophile headphones. I don't have an audiophile ear...yet, but it's going to be fun using these instead of my desktop speakers.

I'm going from Audio Technica M50's to these, still quite an insane jump in terms of sonic fidelity. I promptly put away my M50's into its bag and into a corner lol.
 
One thing to note though, these are really revealing and I can easily hear how certain recordings are bad with these, even at FLAC quality. Not sure if that's good or bad.

 

[ChaiBear]

Jerg,
 
Would you say that they are more revealing since the audio quality jump was so big for your ears? Or just that the sound is colored that way?
 
 
 

 

[jerg]

Quote:

Jerg,
 
Would you say that they are more revealing since the audio quality jump was so big for your ears? Or just that the sound is colored that way?
 
 
 

It's definitely more details, not colouring. I did a very careful frequency sweep and the cans are really neutral compared to M50's, especially in the upper mids and treble. Yet it produces much more textured sound across the spectrum in every song I'm listening to.
 
Edit: another reason for this is possibly because these have much better dynamics - I could pick up some extremely faint details even at the "high-points" of certain songs.

 

[Kilosonic]

Quote:

Mine is on FedEx vehicle for delivery...they better not keep me waiting till 5PM.
 
Edit: Speaking of which, hey it just arrived lol.
 
Edit2: First 5 minutes of listen. IMO it's not dark at all. In fact treble is fairly hot. Not overly hot, mind you. I like it. Gonna listen quite a bit more this afternoon.
 
Edit3: Nor is the bass as pronounced as what everyone seem to make it to be. It's just there, in the right amount.
 
Edit4: The more I listen, the more it seems to have a slight smiley face frequency response, "Black" by Pearl Jam sounds particularly airy.
 
Edit5: What a bass...

I got the sense they weren't dark either on first listen but I've got over 30hrs of pink noise n now they've become a tad bit on the darkside, idk if it's just me but that's what i'm hearin rite now. Also bass has fleshed out and the highs seem to have lost that hotness somewhat. I agree with the smiley face freq response.
 


Quote:

I equate it more to as being a "layer".  When I'm lisening to some jazz, for example, there seems to be layers of instruments.  The trumpet might appear closer, while the upright bass (for the bass response) sounds as though it's a few layers back.  I really like this destinction when I listent to music (on a critical level).  My Fostex modified headphones has a great frequency range, but it's not capable of performing the layering process with the instruments.  It's harder to use the Fostex for really critical listening, because it can't quite keep up.  The Fostex does have its purpose and is the right price to toy around with to make various modifications.  However, I can also appreciate being able to sit down with a stock pair of HifiMAN headphones and just listen for the sake of listening and not worrying about what I might be able to upgrade or tweak to change this or that.
 
 

Yeah, liking the layering. Jonathan Stout's Hop, Skip, and Jump track is especially revealing on these cans. The trumpet you can tell is like in the back row while the clarinet comes in crystal clear up front left. really amazing stuff. 
 

 

[jerg]

Quote:

I got the sense they weren't dark either on first listen but I've got over 30hrs of pink noise n now they've become a tad bit on the darkside, idk if it's just me but that's what i'm hearin rite now. Also bass has fleshed out and the highs seem to have lost that hotness somewhat. I agree with the smiley face freq response.
 
 

 
AFAIK these second batch headphones got over 200 hours of burn-in already in factory? Could just be a shift in perception on your part but I suppose there's still possibility of a drastic change in tonality after another period of burn-in, wouldn't make much sense though.

 

[Gribble]

Received mine today. They are a bit heavier than I expected but very comfortable, wouldn't fancy the more expensive ones which are heavier again. Fairly disappointed in the sound quality for the first few hours but things seem to be improving. Had a bad fright when the left channel lost about 30% volume but I think a cable wasn't connected up tightly. I ordered the velour pads but wont fit them until I am used to the sound.

 

[Kilosonic]

Quote:

 
AFAIK these second batch headphones got over 200 hours of burn-in already in factory? Could just be a shift in perception on your part but I suppose there's still possibility of a drastic change in tonality after another period of burn-in, wouldn't make much sense though.

Right but I'm curious if they ran in every single one or just a few prototypes, was Fang specific on that? Could be just perception but idk the difference was quite stark. Highs were borderline ouch first time around now it's butter smooth. weird
 

 

[DannyBai]

Seems everyone has gotten theirs or is on its way.  I've yet to receive shipping notice.  I've even sent Head-Direct my receipt and tracking # from when I returned the defective unit.  Starting to really get annoying and I'm a patient person.  

 

[olegausany]

I really like low end bass but unfortunately highs are their weakness for me and because of testing burn-in i doubt they gonna improve but i will still try play EQ tricks i was recommended this Sunday but otherwise they going back since i'm not entitled to HE-500 upgrade

 

[jerg]

After another few hours of listening, I begin to notice that there exists a very light veil, sort of like there's too much cover grill and it's "cupping" the sound somewhat.
 
It's very slight though, and only shows up in certain songs at certain sections. Most prevalent in live rock/metal concert recordings.
 
Anyone else share this experience?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I really like low end bass but unfortunately highs are their weakness for me and because of testing burn-in i doubt they gonna improve but i will still try play EQ tricks i was recommended this Sunday but otherwise they going back since i'm not entitled to HE-500 upgrade

That's really weird, the pair I received today has hot and fairly sparkly highs. Harmonicas and sax sounds all have a nice edge to them.
 
What are your previous headphones? Perhaps you are accustomed to sound signatures with emphasized treble? My previous can is Audio Technica M50, but I've used extensive parametric equalization to pretty much completely neutralize the treble FR from those cans, so my ears are accustomed only to very neutral sounds, and IMO the HE-400s are neutral enough that I don't need to touch the parametric EQ to enjoy music from them.

 

[Kilosonic]

Quote:

After another few hours of listening, I begin to notice that there exists a very light veil, sort of like there's too much cover grill and it's "cupping" the sound somewhat.
 
It's very slight though, and only shows up in certain songs at certain sections. Most prevalent in live rock/metal concert recordings.
 
Anyone else share this experience?

Yeah, I noted this earlier. But for me, the cupping went away eventually; some songs it was still there but when I used my K702 it was still there so must be the song, not the headphones. For me it was jazz; I tried some Zeppelin and didn't hear it. Again, this is assuming if there's still some burning in effect left, might just be my imagination . 
 

 

[olegausany]

I love my HD650 with Moon Audio BlueDragon  V3 cable and i only used graphic EQ but will try follow the guide y was pointed to and see if if i will be able to get something using Electric-Q cause I read about it before but never tried it before while graphic 31-band i'm using now gave me everything i want and more

 

[wje]

Quote:

Right but I'm curious if they ran in every single one or just a few prototypes, was Fang specific on that? Could be just perception but idk the difference was quite stark. Highs were borderline ouch first time around now it's butter smooth. weird
 

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the reference that HifiMAN applied regarding the HE-400 drivers were those drivers that they had received without the headphone enclosures.  The drivers were burned in for test purposes to prove that they didn't exhibit the issues that part of the first batch of headphones were released with.  I can't imagine any manufacturer taking 200 hours of time for burn in on their headphones before shipping them out.  Then again, they also provided instructions so the owners of the first batch could resolve the issue themselves if they felt comfortable take the headphone cup apart to apply the fix.
 
 
Edit: Had to correct a typo error.

 

[Kilosonic]

Quote:

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the reference that HifiMAN applied regarding the HE-200 drivers were those drivers that they had received without the headphone enclosures.  The drivers were burned in for test purposes to prove that they didn't exhibit the issues that part of the first batch of headphones were released with.  I can't imagine any manufacturer taking 200 hours of time for burn in on their headphones before shipping them out.  Then again, they also provided instructions so the owners of the first batch could resolve the issue themselves if they felt comfortable take the headphone cup apart to apply the fix.
 

 
Think you're right
 

 

[jerg]

Time to pink noise then.