[DefQon]

Quote:

They're solid, mostly transparent cans with nice bass, they have nice extension below 30Hz. IMO, they're the best you can get for $400 and I noticed no bleed like you're talking about, the FA-011s are much, much worse for that.
HE-400s are a completely different critter than the HE-6, but then HiFiMAN wasn't aiming at the same buyers either.

 
Interesting.

 

[Magick Man]

**update**

I'm not sure what happened, but I've been thinking that the FA-011s sounded too different from what I've heard from others. So, I did what any crazy, bored audio person does in that situation, I took them apart. I stripped them down completely and looked over all the components, which was interesting (What at those big resistors soldered on to the backs of the drivers), and after prodding and poking I put them back together.

Now, here's the kicker, they aren't muddy anymore and the bass isn't overbearing and bleeding into the mids. I have no idea what I did to change them, but they're now very different. They went from being unusable to wonderfully fun and engaging. Again, no clue what happened, but I'm happy, it keeps me from putting them up on the chopping block.

Oh, and yes, they are now very "LCD-2-like". The bass is still a little more forward than I normally prefer, but they make a nice alternate set now.

 

[swbf2cheater]

You are the second person I've heard of that this happened to.  I have no idea what caused it but I am glad whatever it was ended up fixed after you were done poking it.  I really enjoy my FA011, one of my favorite open backs.  

 

[mrAdrian]

Quote:

**update**
I'm not sure what happened, but I've been thinking that the FA-011s sounded too different from what I've heard from others. So, I did what any crazy, bored audio person does in that situation, I took them apart. I stripped them down completely and looked over all the components, which was interesting (What at those big resistors soldered on to the backs of the drivers), and after prodding and poking I put them back together.
Now, here's the kicker, they aren't muddy anymore and the bass isn't overbearing and bleeding into the mids. I have no idea what I did to change them, but they're now very different. They went from being unusable to wonderfully fun and engaging. Again, no clue what happened, but I'm happy, it keeps me from putting them up on the chopping block.
Oh, and yes, they are now very "LCD-2-like". The bass is still a little more forward than I normally prefer, but they make a nice alternate set now.

 

• Thank the headphone god
• That's not helping at all. My (gf's) FA011 sounds like a screaming biatch esp with hefty bass and forward midrange. She's a Grado with aggressive bass as well!

 

[DefQon]

Quote:

**update**
I'm not sure what happened, but I've been thinking that the FA-011s sounded too different from what I've heard from others. So, I did what any crazy, bored audio person does in that situation, I took them apart. I stripped them down completely and looked over all the components, which was interesting (What at those big resistors soldered on to the backs of the drivers), and after prodding and poking I put them back together.
Now, here's the kicker, they aren't muddy anymore and the bass isn't overbearing and bleeding into the mids. I have no idea what I did to change them, but they're now very different. They went from being unusable to wonderfully fun and engaging. Again, no clue what happened, but I'm happy, it keeps me from putting them up on the chopping block.
Oh, and yes, they are now very "LCD-2-like". The bass is still a little more forward than I normally prefer, but they make a nice alternate set now.

 
I believe the resistors are there to control impedence and prevent extreme roll off with the mids and highs. Sounds like your batch had  possibly loose contact between solder joints, this is why when you first posted that you received these and described the sound, I knew straight away that either you got a different bad batch again or some defect, I was going to suggest you open and take them apart (not many are daring to anyway).
 
Glad you find them similar sounding to the LCD2's in a way, if you have heard or owned one before. Good to see us on the same page and no doubt about what I said earlier that the 011's sound somewhat very similar to the LCD2's, heck I have my 011 connected to speaker output on my JVC JA-S10 integrated amp and the sound and bass is just powerful.

 

[billymav]

Quote:

**update**
I'm not sure what happened, but I've been thinking that the FA-011s sounded too different from what I've heard from others. So, I did what any crazy, bored audio person does in that situation, I took them apart. I stripped them down completely and looked over all the components, which was interesting (What at those big resistors soldered on to the backs of the drivers), and after prodding and poking I put them back together.
Now, here's the kicker, they aren't muddy anymore and the bass isn't overbearing and bleeding into the mids. I have no idea what I did to change them, but they're now very different. They went from being unusable to wonderfully fun and engaging. Again, no clue what happened, but I'm happy, it keeps me from putting them up on the chopping block.
Oh, and yes, they are now very "LCD-2-like". The bass is still a little more forward than I normally prefer, but they make a nice alternate set now.

 
Maybe something disturbed them whilst they were on the way to you and somehow went back to normal when you put them back together?  The wires inside are a little on the thin side...
 
Great to hear they're performing as they should.

 

[mrAdrian]

I wonder how a Hifiman EF2 would power them hmm...

 

[DefQon]

Quote:

I wonder how a Hifiman EF2 would power them hmm...

They sound awful. Treble is extremely rolled off and bass is somewhat lacking detail and impact bit on the muddy side, not sure if they can tube roll as I've never tried it before, really doubt tube's will bring much of an improvement anyway. I find the 011's sound best out of SS amp's of all the tube amp's I've thrown at it ($70-750), none of them even comes close when they are powered out of either my V100 or Aune DAC/amp (DAC output). The best combination was having it being powered by a vintage JVC JA-S10 integrated amp which is because it has bass and treble adjustment dial's, balance for channels and a +1 gain.

 

[FlySweep]

Decided I missed these too much.. so after selling them a number of months back, I've ordered a new pair. My first pair was from the original run (dark red cups/coiled cord). I loved the look but am looking forward to the new natural wood color ones.
 
Anyone recabled these with silver?  Any difference in sound?

 

[Szadzik]

Hah, I found a worthy replacement fro FA-011s - JVC DX1000. I found them on the FS forums and remembered they were pretty good in bass department. Decided not to buy HE-400s and bought the JVC used for the same price I would have paid for new HE-400s (in the UK). Hope this was a good deal.

 

[TMRaven]

My god those pads are monsters.

 

[DefQon]

Quote:

 
Anyone recabled these with silver?  Any difference in sound?

 
Yes if you even go back a few pages there's a pic I posted of mine (from the original batch) disassembled.
 
I will be recabling these with my custom 12 strands of silver wrapped with 12 strands of ofc copper, with pure silver I found the sound a tad bit too thin sounding, like its missing body.

 

[FlySweep]

Yes if you even go back a few pages there's a pic I posted of mine (from the original batch) disassembled.
 
I will be recabling these with my custom 12 strands of silver wrapped with 12 strands of ofc copper, with pure silver I found the sound a tad bit too thin sounding, like its missing body.

 
That's what I suspected.  From what I remember, the 011 have a "wispy" quality to their sound, so a silver cable might just take that to the extreme by excessively thinning it out.
 
I recabled my original 011 with (dual entry) Mogami 3524 quadcore copper.. it sounded --relative to the stock 011-- thicker, more balanced, and closer to the FA-003.  I'm thinking about making this second pair of 011s "removable cable"-compatible so I can "cable roll".. but I remember the 011 sounding so good in bone stock form, that might not be necessary.
 
It seems best to stick with the stock cable if we want to preserve the "011 sound," no?  Preserving & enhancing that sound via a cable swap seems quite hit or miss.

 

[DefQon]

Quote:

 
That's what I suspected.  From what I remember, the 011 have a "wispy" quality to their sound, so a silver cable might just take that to the extreme by excessively thinning it out.
 
I recabled my original 011 with (dual entry) Mogami 3524 quadcore copper.. it sounded --relative to the stock 011-- thicker, more balanced, and closer to the FA-003.  I'm thinking about making this second pair of 011s "removable cable"-compatible so I can "cable roll".. but I remember the 011 sounding so good in bone stock form, that might not be necessary.
 
It seems best to stick with the stock cable if we want to preserve the "011 sound," no?  Preserving & enhancing that sound via a cable swap seems quite hit or miss.

Agreed, I've drilled a entry hole on the wooden housing that doesn't have the wire coming out so I can use these via balanced mode, I'am unsure if I'm going to go with the removable cable route or just standard wires coming through. The end will be terminated into either a 3 or 4 pin XLR. With the cable to be used I'm unsure, but I'm not sure what the result will be if I use strands from copper and wrap it around my single 24awg pure silver solid core wire, the slighter clarity and brighter highs with pure silver with the added warmth and more bass end's of copper.

 

[FlySweep]

Agreed, I've drilled a entry hole on the wooden housing that doesn't have the wire coming out so I can use these via balanced mode, I'am unsure if I'm going to go with the removable cable route or just standard wires coming through. The end will be terminated into either a 3 or 4 pin XLR. With the cable to be used I'm unsure, but I'm not sure what the result will be if I use strands from copper and wrap it around my single 24awg pure silver solid core wire, the slighter clarity and brighter highs with pure silver with the added warmth and more bass end's of copper.

 
That's ideally what I'd be looking for, too.. treble clarity that silver can bring along with the naturalness, and note weight copper affords.  My only gripe with the (stock) 011 was that it lacked some articulation & resolution in the treble range and the mids were (slightly) grainy.  The fantastic treble sparkle & extension along with the always excellent midrange (FA is renowned for) covers up these minor quibbles.  The mids had excellent timbre and a great balance between being 'dry' & 'wet'/lush.
 
These observations were in comparison to $300+ full sized, phones.. so not necessarily an even fight in terms of price bracket.. but I felt the 011 competed astonishingly well with such phones in practically every other area.. which is an accomplishment unto itself.  Do keep us posted on how your mods go, DefQon.  I'm definitely very interested.
 
I can't wait to get these.. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder" has never rang more true than with these phones!