Yes. No problem. Actually, with the regular TRS connector, I thought the HE-400s sounded "good". Moving over to balanced connectors with the speaker taps changed the sound by improving the level of realism and detail - kind of in an eery way, actually. In my case, my Sansui, presented the music to me through the TRS connector and I could listen to the many various artists and enjoy my music. However, when moving over to the speaker taps, I found that when I went back and relistened to some of the various sections of music that I'm quite familiar with, the headphones were much more "alive". The vocals had more authority - like the performer was in the room with me and not me off in the distance listening to them. The changes in their vocals as they would sing through the songs was pure and I could easily hear the changes in pitch, etc.
I think for anyone who has the HifiMAN headphones, it would be worth considering moving over to a balanced cable and speaker taps. The price is actually quite cheap, and will not cost an arm and a leg. I was able to get a pair of Neutrik 4-Pin XLR connectors (Male / Female) for $12.99 - delivered. Also, the Canare star quad cable runs only about $.51 cents per linear foot + shipping from various on-line vendors. Finally, a new set of golden headphone connectors runs $10.## + shipping and they claim that their version is easier to work with than the connectors that are sold and provided by HifiMAN. Clearly, this isn't snake oil that I'm trying to sell people on. Doing the speaker taps, extension cable with the XLR connectors at each end, etc., woud ony be about $60.00 in materials. In my case, it was a bit less because I used my cable from my HE-5LEs, which had the HifiMAN golden headphone connectors in place, as well as the XLR connector at the end of the cable. However, in time, I'll build my own dedicated cable for the HE-400s so I don't have to keep doing the cable swaps.
I've also been running my HE-5LEs this weekend with the balanced mode cables. In that configuration, my 5LEs produced less bass than the 400s, but still a pleasing amount. However, the vocals were even more accurate and responsive. Now, I can only imagine what it must sound like to have the HE-6 with a balanced connection and milking that details and "liveness" for all one can. But, one must also consider if it's worth spending 120% more money for a 15% improvement in sound?
When I got into this hobby some years back with my Grado SR-60s (5 or 6 years back) or even my Radio Shack (made by Koss) closed headphones about 32 years back or the Yamahas 28 years back, I never thought I'd be able to ever achieve this level of sound quality from headphones. Call me impressed. Greatly impressed.
