[olegausany]

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I'm looking for a pair of cans that can be a good complement of the HE-400. I mean HPs which has a complete diferent sound signature.
Is the HE500 are what i'm looking for ? or AKG K702, or any suggestion ?
 

Certainly not the he500. They are cut from the same cloth for sure. Different but too similar if you are looking for a very different can that will complement the he400.
 
I'd say go for a closed can like the d5k or a pair of modded Fostex t50's such as the Maddog's. That would make a good complement. 
 
gL!!

+1 but if choose Mad Dogs get with Dog Pads

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 

[jfindon]

Thanks for the in depth reply IEMCrazy.  I may go with the cables anyway, the "premium" Monoprice ones are still $11 without shipping, so what's another $20 when I'm already dropping $800+?
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That exactly why I said I would rather pay $30 for 5 feet Audioquest Toslink than use one provided with Xonar card
Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

 
My Xonar didn't come with any cables so that's a moot point.
 
And just for the record, HE-400s sound like total trash out of the soundcard.  I don't know if I have them plugged in the wrong port or what, but my god they sound terrible.

 

[chewy4]

Quote:

Thanks for the in depth reply IEMCrazy.  I may go with the cables anyway, the "premium" Monoprice ones are still $11 without shipping, so what's another $20 when I'm already dropping $800+?
 
My Xonar didn't come with any cables so that's a moot point.
 
And just for the record, HE-400s sound like total trash out of the soundcard.  I don't know if I have them plugged in the wrong port or what, but my god they sound terrible.

 
Gotta be a bad soundcard or you're plugging in the wrong port. You're plugging directly into the soundcard, right? Front ports can get a lot of interference and might not even necessarily use the soundcard.
 
They sound great from my Audigy Soundblaster SE, which is a $30 soundcard. Should be getting my upgrade to a Xonar STX tomorrow.

 

[MartyMcFly]

How do you think the HE-400 stack up against the Q701? They both have their respective sound signatures, but do you think the Q701 has the best money/value ratio for what it does sound-wise? The reason I ask is because I am looking for a nice complimentary headphone that rivals the performance of the HE-400, but with a different sound signature (open, airy, slightly bright). 

 

[musicinmymind]

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Even I placed order for Lyr + Bifrost and I know they are great pair for HE-400...
 
other can I have and like is Sennheiser HD598...not sure if I use them with Lyr...scary to drive 50 Ohms HP on 6watts amp....or is it safe to use HD-598 with Lyr?
 
Please suggest

 
HD598 is a little sensitive, though...Lyr may be a little much for it.  It's not going to break them or anything but you may find a lack of fine volume control (IE it goes from quiet to loud too quickly to really control volume where you want it) or if it's as sensitive as Denons it may pick up some tube/transformer noise....

 
Thanks for replay...good to know Lyr will not break 598 drives..still waiting for Lyr, will post my findings.

 

[TwinQY]

Quote:

How do you think the HE-400 stack up against the Q701? They both have their respective sound signatures, but do you think the Q701 has the best money/value ratio for what it does sound-wise? The reason I ask is because I am looking for a nice complimentary headphone that rivals the performance of the HE-400, but with a different sound signature (open, airy, slightly bright). 

 Have heard both side by side. HE400s might be slightly better overall, but they sound nice together. Nicely complimenting sound signatures. If you're looking for a brighter headphone, I'd recommend against pairing them with Beyers. The Hifimans do everything they do well even better, and the sound sig is much more non-offensive.
 
BTW, anyone have any EQ curves to share? I just usually bump the upper-midrange up a bit, but it feels like I could do more. 

 

[jfindon]

Quote:

 
Gotta be a bad soundcard or you're plugging in the wrong port. You're plugging directly into the soundcard, right? Front ports can get a lot of interference and might not even necessarily use the soundcard.
 
They sound great from my Audigy Soundblaster SE, which is a $30 soundcard. Should be getting my upgrade to a Xonar STX tomorrow.

Yep, I'm plugging it into the port my speakers are currently plugged into, it's the only one I can get sound out of.  It's too much of a pain in the ass to pull my 40lb computer out and check which ports they are, let me find a picture online...
 

According to that, I'm plugging my speakers into the front jack, which means I'm doing the same for the headphones.  Sounds like complete crap.  Speakers sound fine though.

 

[jerg]

Hopefully I can get my replacement pair early next week...a couple of weeks without a main headphone is excruciating, can't concentrate on anything productive.

 

[palmfish]

Quote:

Yep, I'm plugging it into the port my speakers are currently plugged into, it's the only one I can get sound out of.  It's too much of a pain in the ass to pull my 40lb computer out and check which ports they are, let me find a picture online...
 

According to that, I'm plugging my speakers into the front jack, which means I'm doing the same for the headphones.  Sounds like complete crap.  Speakers sound fine though.

That's the correct place according to the manual. The only thing I can think of is that the digital volume control and/or EQ is robbing you of bits.

 

[jfindon]

Quote:

That's the correct place according to the manual. The only thing I can think of is that the digital volume control and/or EQ is robbing you of bits.

 


I was just going to say, I do have it EQed for the speakers now that I think about it.  Maybe I'll try a flat EQ and see what it sounds like...

 

[chewy4]

Quote:

 


I was just going to say, I do have it EQed for the speakers now that I think about it.  Maybe I'll try a flat EQ and see what it sounds like...

 
Yeah I'd give that a shot. I know at least for games not having it set on headphone mode can mess with the sound.

 

[jfindon]

Quote:

 
Yeah I'd give that a shot. I know at least for games not having it set on headphone mode can mess with the sound.

 
Put it on headphone mode, tried messing with the EQ a bit, still sounds like crap compared to my HM-601 and MK1+.  I'm too afraid of messing with options while I listen because knowing my luck something will crank the volume and I'll blow something out.  I remember that happening with my stupid Audigy 2ZS all the time, enable something and the damn volume shot to 100%.
 
Guess that means I'll be listening to my 601 when I get my Lyr and Bifrost too.

 

[chewy4]

That's weird... If another set of headphones sounds good on it I'd say you have it on the right settings.
 
Does it still sound like a decent pair of heaphones, or just bad by comparison? Because like I said I still don't have my amp yet.. I might be missing out on a lot more than I think. Which would make me really excited for when my new soundcard comes tomorrow.

 

[olegausany]

Quote:

Thanks for the in depth reply IEMCrazy.  I may go with the cables anyway, the "premium" Monoprice ones are still $11 without shipping, so what's another $20 when I'm already dropping $800+?
 
My Xonar didn't come with any cables so that's a moot point.
 
And just for the record, HE-400s sound like total trash out of the soundcard.  I don't know if I have them plugged in the wrong port or what, but my god they sound terrible.

Your sound has no dedicated headphones amp which uses 6.35 mm jack unlike Xonar ST/STX so you need attach external amp to your line out jack using 3.5 mm to RCA cable or attach DAC to SPIDF jack and then attach amp to DAC using RCA interconnects
 
Edit you attaching them to the correct jack nut since it isn't dedicated headphones amp it can't drive them properly so your only option is to do what I said earlier or I like I do now connect dac thru usb and then attach amp to dac using RCA interconnects

 

[jfindon]

Quote:

That's weird... If another set of headphones sounds good on it I'd say you have it on the right settings.
 
Does it still sound like a decent pair of heaphones, or just bad by comparison? Because like I said I still don't have my amp yet.. I might be missing out on a lot more than I think. Which would make me really excited for when my new soundcard comes tomorrow.

To me it doesn't sound good at all by any standard.  I had the volume almost all the way up in the control panel and it was barely even loud enough, everything sounded muddy/muffled even with EQ at certain extremes.