[dwatanabe]

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All authorized retailers now ONLY carry the correct revision, as far as I know. If you want to make sure, rip off one of the earpads and take a look at the colour of the driver.

Thanks, I'll take a look at it when they get here on monday. I also have to ask, are these really as good as this thread makes them sound? I had traded my 701s for k550s and was pretty disappointed so I sold them and now I'm getting the he400s. I know for sure they'll sound better than the k550s but how do they compare to the 701s?

 

[zeinharis]

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Also, most of those reviews are based on the pleather pads which heavily sinks the mids to a deep V contributing to the very dark sound as well.  It's kind of an addictive sound, but it's not close to what we expect from neutral hi-fi headphones.

 
100% agree, that's why i never use the pleather on the HE-500. For me by using the velours it opens up the mids, opens up the trebles, and make the bass to be more focus (loosing a bit of weight though, but enhanced the detail), the velours makes the sound more balanced

 

[IEMCrazy]

Quote:

Thanks, I'll take a look at it when they get here on monday. I also have to ask, are these really as good as this thread makes them sound? I had traded my 701s for k550s and was pretty disappointed so I sold them and now I'm getting the he400s. I know for sure they'll sound better than the k550s but how do they compare to the 701s?

 
They sound completely different than AKG 70x.  70x is a very flat,linear sound with a treble shelf that boosts the treble levels, much like HD800.  They have a vastly wide soundstage and are immaculately detailed, but they can also sound thin and harsh due to the treble shelf and overall lack of bass impact (though they have great bass extension.)  Also they're harder to drive than a lot of people presume.
 
HE-400 is a lusher, fuller headphone with tons of bass presence and extension.  Its soundstage is extremely closed in compared to K702 but it makes up for it in instrument separation.  It has an unusual signature in that it has a prominent bass, neutral mids (or recessed with pleather pads), but a spiked up low treble that makes it both dark and bright at the same time. 
 
They don't have very much in common at all and are almost opposites.

 

[beaver316]

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I just ordered some from moon audio and they sent me velours for free. Do any of you know what revision they have? also have you guys had experience using the he400s with a matrix m-stage?

 
I will be able to post impressions on that pairing as soon as my HE-400 arrive, but i have no idea when that will be. I've been waiting over two weeks now for them 

 

[Fearless1]

Quote:

I just ordered some from moon audio and they sent me velours for free. Do any of you know what revision they have? also have you guys had experience using the he400s with a matrix m-stage?

They sound good with the M-stage, but I would recommend class A biasing, http://tamaudio.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=91 or http://tamaudio.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=91 definitely worth the money and it is a simple switch.

 

[hifimanrookie]

100% agree, that's why i never use the pleather on the HE-500. For me by using the velours it opens up the mids, opens up the trebles, and make the bass to be more focus (loosing a bit of weight though, but enhanced the detail), the velours makes the sound more balanced

+1 i second that..velours is the way to go for he400 and he500..funny thing is i loved the pleather ones better on my he300 with my modded matrix m-stage..but maybe because its a dynamic phone why he is different...

 

[dwatanabe]

Quote:

 
They sound completely different than AKG 70x.  70x is a very flat,linear sound with a treble shelf that boosts the treble levels, much like HD800.  They have a vastly wide soundstage and are immaculately detailed, but they can also sound thin and harsh due to the treble shelf and overall lack of bass impact (though they have great bass extension.)  Also they're harder to drive than a lot of people presume.
 
HE-400 is a lusher, fuller headphone with tons of bass presence and extension.  Its soundstage is extremely closed in compared to K702 but it makes up for it in instrument separation.  It has an unusual signature in that it has a prominent bass, neutral mids (or recessed with pleather pads), but a spiked up low treble that makes it both dark and bright at the same time. 
 
They don't have very much in common at all and are almost opposites.

 
Thanks, that's kinda what I wanna hear. Idk how much time you spent with the 70xs but I really enjoyed them out of the matrix the rare times I actually felt like listening to them. First impressions were amazing but it wore off quickly and I think it had to do with how cold the sound is. One thing i do miss from them is the soundstage but I'm sure i'll be happy with the he400.
Quote:

 
I will be able to post impressions on that pairing as soon as my HE-400 arrive, but i have no idea when that will be. I've been waiting over two weeks now for them 

Thanks, let me know. In any case I'll post up my impressions and let you know. Where'd you order from? I ordered from moon audio and they were shipped the next day, which was yesterday and are set to be delivered on monday. The moon audio guy, i forgot his name, also included velour pads. Maybe you should have ordered from them
Quote:

They sound good with the M-stage, but I would recommend class A biasing, http://tamaudio.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=91 or http://tamaudio.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=91 definitely worth the money and it is a simple switch.

My opamp m-stage has that mod, I can't say how much it improves the sound over the stock matrix because i bought it from someone with this mod installed.

 

[hifimanrookie]

Thanks, that's kinda what I wanna hear. Idk how much time you spent with the 70xs but I really enjoyed them out of the matrix the rare times I actually felt like listening to them. First impressions were amazing but it wore off quickly and I think it had to do with how cold the sound is. One thing i do miss from them is the soundstage but I'm sure i'll be happy with the he400.
Thanks, let me know. In any case I'll post up my impressions and let you know. Where'd you order from? I ordered from moon audio and they were shipped the next day, which was yesterday and are set to be delivered on monday. The moon audio guy, i forgot his name, also included velour pads. Maybe you should have ordered from them
My opamp m-stage has that mod, I can't say how much it improves the sound over the stock matrix because i bought it from someone with this mod installed.

Concerning the mstage mod..i also have a class a biassed opa627 mod on my m-stage..i got it unmodified..so i can say what, to my ears, is the difference....sound gets more velvetly, bass more controlled, high less sharp, more soundstage..in my eyes ig got a class higher soundwise and i am not the only one saying this..check the moon review about the m-stage...

 

[hifimanrookie]

​

Yeah envy is right there is an original rev2 and this latest iteration of rev2 and im not sure if there is any absolute certainties here but for what its worth neither sound the same even though there is one first version rev2 and now this latest iteration rev2..There was another revision that was of a sandy colored housing with a Pierrcing treble shelve but it was allegedly reverted back to rev2 or maybe even something else lol. The sandy color housing revision was dubbed rev3 by members here and not hifiman..
How's all that for confusion lol.
So as of now there should be only revision2 latest iteration and maybe some original rev2 but the so called rev3 were pulled from distributers shelves everywhere.

Rev 3 was faulty..they went back to rev 2 as last revision..everyone that got the revision 3 could exchange that for version 2 without costs as far i know..

 

[beaver316]

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Thanks, let me know. In any case I'll post up my impressions and let you know. Where'd you order from? I ordered from moon audio and they were shipped the next day, which was yesterday and are set to be delivered on monday. The moon audio guy, i forgot his name, also included velour pads. Maybe you should have ordered from them

 
I ordered from Headamp. They offered free shipping which is why i bought from them. It was dispatched quickly and arrived in my country pretty fast, but since it touched down here it sat in customs for nearly a week, and now my tracking status shows "Arrival at pick-up point" for 3 days, not sure what that means.
 
Im now hoping they're here by Monday or tuesday.

 

[renishi]

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I ordered from Headamp. They offered free shipping which is why i bought from them. It was dispatched quickly and arrived in my country pretty fast, but since it touched down here it sat in customs for nearly a week, and now my tracking status shows "Arrival at pick-up point" for 3 days, not sure what that means.
 
Im now hoping they're here by Monday or tuesday.

Did u try to track it with your local post? I bought it around the same time as you from headamp too and i have been using it for a week now. Once it reach my shore, i tracked it with my local post/delivery. It is more accurate that way 

 

[beaver316]

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Did u try to track it with your local post? I bought it around the same time as you from headamp too and i have been using it for a week now. Once it reach my shore, i tracked it with my local post/delivery. It is more accurate that way 

 
Thanks for your post!
 
I didn't realize that i could track it with my local post since USPS was being used. Anyway i managed to track it with local post and i think i know know why it hasn't arrived. The latest event states: 
 
"Unsuccessful item delivery attempt (Inb)" followed by
 
"Reason: No delivery service, for this product/service, to the specified.
"Measure: Addressee advised to pick up the item.
 
So they're just sitting there waiting for me to pick them up. They didn't even give me a notice. I should have them tomorrow Monday then

 

[Scyy]

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Thanks for your post!
 
I didn't realize that i could track it with my local post since USPS was being used. Anyway i managed to track it with local post and i think i know know why it hasn't arrived. The latest event states: 
 
"Unsuccessful item delivery attempt (Inb)" followed by
 
"Reason: No delivery service, for this product/service, to the specified.
"Measure: Addressee advised to pick up the item.
 
So they're just sitting there waiting for me to pick them up. They didn't even give me a notice. I should have them tomorrow then

That sucks. at least you will have it shortly.

 

[lubczyk]

So shouldn't the latest version be called the Rev. 4 then? Having so many revisions of expensive headphones doesn't give me much confidence.

 

[jerg]

Quote:

So shouldn't the latest version be called the Rev. 4 then? Having so many revisions of expensive headphones doesn't give me much confidence.

It's still rev2; rev3 was dubbed by yours truly and was never an official revision.
 
I do agree though that this whole mess is pretty damaging to the reputation of the HE400 reliability, despite the fact that pretty much all rev2s (pre- and post-recall) are very reliable. Remember, even the "rev3"s were reliable and did not have any driver-malfunctioning issues, they just had a treble issue because Hifiman tried a new driver plastic.