[MattTCG]

Quote:

Their sound signature is far from bassy, rather the bass is there in just the right quantities and only when called upon.

I'd say they are pretty neutral sounding with only a slight emphasis in the bass and mids.
 

 
Plus one on that. It's just that they are somewhat bassy for planars unless you count lcd-2.

 

[dngkgk999]

Quote:

The bass got some improvement with burn in for me. What are you using for an amp/dac?

 
I'm running it with an Echo Indigo external sound card. Just two hours in now and I feel like the bass is a little better, but it could (and most likely is) be placebo.
 
 

Their sound signature is far from bassy, rather the bass is there in just the right quantities and only when called upon.

I'd say they are pretty neutral sounding with only a slight emphasis in the bass and mids.
 

I'd pretty much agree with you there. I got this thinking it'd be a bassy improvement to my HD-598, and while it is, it's also been a great improvement in the mids too. So overall it's just been a holistic upgrade for me, which I won't complain about!

 

[Boss429]

Quote:

 
Plus one on that. It's just that they are somewhat bassy for planars unless you count lcd-2.

 
How would you say these compare to the lcd-2? Would really like to have a set of those, just not sure I want to dump $1000 into them. 

 

[wje]

If you feel that the HE-400s are not producing enough bass, then you don't have enough Dr. Dre and the Black Eyed Peas in your music collection.  

 

[MattTCG]

Quote:

If you feel that the HE-400s are not producing enough bass, then you don't have enough Dr. Dre and the Black Eyed Peas in your music collection.  

 
Now that's funny 

 

[Il Mostro]

The word that comes to mind regarding the HE-400's bass is "ripe".  I would not describe them as being overly flabby, but they are quite rounded out.  

 

[dngkgk999]

There's plenty of meat in the bass. The mid-bass is a bit more prominent than the sub-bass (e.g. incredible for music like deadmau5, good for music like clubroot) but that's probably because it's difficult to be a Denon while being an open can. 

 

[MattTCG]

I agree with all of the above. Good descriptions of the he400 bass. I love the bass on this thing. Very versatile and doesn't over-do or over color the sound. But still hits hard with the right material. 

 

[choC.]

Quote:

There's plenty of meat in the bass. The mid-bass is a bit more prominent than the sub-bass (e.g. incredible for music like deadmau5, good for music like clubroot) but that's probably because it's difficult to be a Denon while being an open can. 

 
If the HE-400s had a bit more sub-bass impact they would have been my perfect headphones.
 
Pretty difficult to achieve though on an open design without sacrificing sound-stage.

 

[MattTCG]

Quote:

If you feel that the HE-400s are not producing enough bass, then you don't have enough Dr. Dre and the Black Eyed Peas in your music collection.  

 
Just threw on Drake, "Tare Care." I get the occasional urge to have some hard hittin' rap and just crank it. Now, I would never use planars for this and would naturally grab up the denon's. But I figured give it a shot. They he400 hit really nicely on sub bass. Is it as good as the denon...no. It is nice extension with good impact, you betcha. It was a fun listen.

 

[choC.]

Quote:

 
Just threw on Drake, "Tare Care." I get the occasional urge to have some hard hittin' rap and just crank it. Now, I would never use planars for this and would naturally grab up the denon's. But I figured give it a shot. They he400 hit really nicely on sub bass. Is it as good as the denon...no. It is nice extension with good impact, you betcha. It was a fun listen.

 
Yeah I love my Atrio MG7s for that smooth, eardrum massaging sub-bass.

Really tempted to grab some D5000s for a bedside setup.

 

[jerg]

Quote:

 
If the HE-400s had a bit more sub-bass impact they would have been my perfect headphones.
 
Pretty difficult to achieve though on an open design without sacrificing sound-stage.

 
Well Audeze's LCD2/3, which are all very open, does sub-bass ( <30 Hz) leagues better than almost any other headphone, somehow. It's ruler flat down to 10 Hz.

 

[choC.]

Quote:

 
Well Audeze's LCD2/3, which are all very open, does sub-bass ( <30 Hz) leagues better than almost any other headphone, somehow. It's ruler flat down to 10 Hz.

 
Yeah well aware of the LCDs but they're a bit out of my price range for the time being

 

[TMRaven]

If what Malveau says is true about the HE-400's bass being of the same energy all the way down to 30hz before it rolls off, then its true extension is as good as the Denons.  It only goes down to 40hz for me before it starts to roll off, but I'm thinking it may be my OTL tube amp not providing enough oomph for it.  LCDs would probably stay ruler flat below 10hz if the charts went lower!  Maybe its diaphragm is allowed to have a longer throw than the Hifimans.

 

[jerg]

Quote:

 
Yeah well aware of the LCDs but they're a bit out of my price range for the time being

Heh.
 
Don't know how they achieve it man...someone should reverse-engineer em and find out how they are open yet have #1 bass in headphone world by far.