[Swatcsi]

I think might pick up a pair of these 8400's, if they really are better than the SRH840's it might be worth a try!

 

[megamagic]

Quote:

So far I'm not impressed with these. They are a lot more comfortable than my crappy HD201s but the sound just seems dull and the bass is lacking. Hoping burn in will help them a lot. They work a lot better unamped than the 201s but I still think they sound much better amped and disagree with megamagic but I'm also running a different amp which has a built in DAC so I don't know if it is a reasonable comparison.

So I tried listening again with galaxy s + amp (m-stage as well as fiio e9) and it actually did sound pretty good with amp. Probably part of the issue with my previous test was I kept using my yulong (desktop dac) which tends to have better internal amp than portable players. So if using a portable player, it's possible that one might get more benefit from an amp. 
 
But still I think this headphone sounds pretty good with or without amp, and whether to use an amp is more of an individual preference. This is unlike some other headphones ie. ATH-M50s which I definitely preferred without amp. And also in contrast to HD600/HD650 which benefit a lot from an amp...

 

[tdockweiler]

Quote:

I think might pick up a pair of these 8400's, if they really are better than the SRH840's it might be worth a try!

The SRH-840 was an old favorite that I was forced to sell due to comfort issues. When I got the 8400's I actually bought the SRH-840 just to compare them again.
 The 8400 ended up being better, but some may still prefer the SRH-840. The SRH-840 has more bass, less treble and most likely more forward mids from what I remember. I have no doubt the 8400 has better sub-bass though. The SRH-840 is also warmer and has more mid-bass.
 
I imagine the SRH-840 might have the more "fun" sound signature for SOME. Depends on what you want.
 
With a slightly warm amp and a good DAC, these are really impressive. Can't really decide if I prefer these or the Q701 for ambient music.
 
People who are VERY sensitive to treble should not bother with these though. They're kind of annoying with a lot of my garbage tracks. Even stuff that sounds fine on other headphones could sound bad on these. Not the heaphones fault, but some might not like this.
 
I remember checking some of these tracks on the 6400 and hoping they were a little more forgiving, but that definitely wasn't the case.
 
It's so weird switching between these and the HD-598. HD-598 just feels as if it's taking all that garbage and making it slightly more listenable.

 

[Swatcsi]

I actually was never a fan of the HD598's, but I am looking for a new midrange analytical can, and if it doesn't really have as much midbass I wouldn't mind, if it is more detailed I think I'll be a happy camper.
Quote:

The SRH-840 was an old favorite that I was forced to sell due to comfort issues. When I got the 8400's I actually bought the SRH-840 just to compare them again.
 The 8400 ended up being better, but some may still prefer the SRH-840. The SRH-840 has more bass, less treble and most likely more forward mids from what I remember. I have no doubt the 8400 has better sub-bass though. The SRH-840 is also warmer and has more mid-bass.
 
I imagine the SRH-840 might have the more "fun" sound signature for SOME. Depends on what you want.
 
With a slightly warm amp and a good DAC, these are really impressive. Can't really decide if I prefer these or the Q701 for ambient music.
 
People who are VERY sensitive to treble should not bother with these though. They're kind of annoying with a lot of my garbage tracks. Even stuff that sounds fine on other headphones could sound bad on these. Not the heaphones fault, but some might not like this.
 
I remember checking some of these tracks on the 6400 and hoping they were a little more forgiving, but that definitely wasn't the case.
 
It's so weird switching between these and the HD-598. HD-598 just feels as if it's taking all that garbage and making it slightly more listenable.

 

 

[Groovy T]

 
My two months old 8400s have developed a driver imbalance: the left driver produces more bass than the right driver.
I do not know if this imbalance was there from the start or that I started noticing it just recently. I performed some
measurements and these revealed that the drivers are nicely matched from 200 Hz and up (everything within +/- 1 dB),
but for lower frequencies the left driver is significantly louder: at 80 Hz by approximately 3 dB.
 
Now my questions are the following: does this driver difference fall within quality control limits and should I learn to
live with this difference? Or should I use the warranty to get my 8400's repaired or replaced?
Any advice is much appreciated! 

 

[R-Audiohead]

Quote:

 
My two months old 8400s have developed a driver imbalance: the left driver produces more bass than the right driver.
I do not know if this imbalance was there from the start or that I started noticing it just recently. I performed some
measurements and these revealed that the drivers are nicely matched from 200 Hz and up (everything within +/- 1 dB),
but for lower frequencies the left driver is significantly louder: at 80 Hz by approximately 3 dB.
 
Now my questions are the following: does this driver difference fall within quality control limits and should I learn to
live with this difference? Or should I use the warranty to get my 8400's repaired or replaced?
Any advice is much appreciated! 

Why not attempt replacement?

 

[peck1234]

Just ordered my pair yesterday, ill be sure to update this thread with my review. 
 
Also, I dont understand how so many people say the bass is lacking on these phones?  The frequency charts would say otherwise? 
 
Also, why do they cap these charts at 10K?  Why not go up to 20Khz?
 
http://graphs.headphone.com/graphCompare.php?graphType=0&graphID[]=2961&graphID[]=863

 

[tdockweiler]

Quote:

Just ordered my pair yesterday, ill be sure to update this thread with my review. 
 
Also, I dont understand how so many people say the bass is lacking on these phones?  The frequency charts would say otherwise? 
 
Also, why do they cap these charts at 10K?  Why not go up to 20Khz?
 
http://graphs.headphone.com/graphCompare.php?graphType=0&graphID[]=2961&graphID[]=863

If that graph was accurate, then all the bassheads would own these and not the XB500.
When I saw that graph it kind of made me sick. Another reason why I never trust graphs. Headroom graphs are usually pretty accurate.
Here's another graph of the 8400:
 
http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/KRKKNS8400.pdf
 
To my ears the 6400 has more mid-bass and the 8400 has more sub-bass.
 
 
 

 

[tdockweiler]

This is one weird headphone..reminds me a little of the DT-880. Not it's signature though at all, but just how it presents music.
 
On both you can be listening to music and it'll be the most boring experience ever. The mids will sound distant and the entire song is just not engaging. I was listening to these headphones last night for 4 hours and had so many varying experiences with songs. The mids issue (and the boring sound) is not recessed mids, but how the song was recorded. The 8400 didn't just suddenly shove everything in my face but true to the recording.
 
On other music the sound is very engaging and all comes down to each track. On some music the mids felt as engaging and as fun as the SR-225i! Yet they're not that forward.
 
When switching to some Chinese pop music it felt as if the 8400 had the most forward mids on earth, or similar to my DJ100. Again, it was just the recording. It's nice to know that when some music annoys my ears it's due to a bad recording and not the headphone. For reference I can try the song on my Q701 and it sounds equally as bad. My HD-598 will tame some music and I don't always want that. Some do.
 
It's just interesting how accurate this thing is with vocals. They can go anywhere from sounding distant or in your face. All depending on the recording. There's some Pearl Jam songs I have where it sounds like it has very recessed vocals, but it's not the fault of the headphone.
 
On one recording it sounds as if the singer is 5 feet away and in a cave or something. On some headphones you can't accurately tell how far they are away.
 
I wonder how many times people have blamed this headphone for the way it sounds, when in fact it's just the recording?
 
People say that a headphone can never be boring and that it's the music. I don't agree with this, but for the DT-880 and the KNS-8400, this seems to be the case.
 
Anyone else notice that the 8400 sound really varies a lot between recordings? It's just impressive how accurate these are based on each recording.
 
To my ears these don't really have any shortage of bass. Nothing suddenly goes missing I'm glad to say.
 
I was using these last night with a Total Airhead and a LOD Ipod Touch 2G.The Airhead seems to be the perfect match for the 8400! It's fairly expensive compared to the Fiio stuff, but is worth every penny. It even drives my Q701!
 
8400 does have a lot of similarities to my Q701. With some music, they each sound very similar. Just very accurate and neither of them try and change my music to make it sound any better.
 
It seems like on most headphones i've ever owned with a few exceptions, they've always made everything sound equally as good with less variance between songs. The HD-600 and HD-598 are like this, but that's sometimes a good thing.

 

[megamagic]

Quote:

Just ordered my pair yesterday, ill be sure to update this thread with my review. 
 
Also, I dont understand how so many people say the bass is lacking on these phones?  The frequency charts would say otherwise? 
 
Also, why do they cap these charts at 10K?  Why not go up to 20Khz?
 
http://graphs.headphone.com/graphCompare.php?graphType=0&graphID[]=2961&graphID[]=863

 
I was skeptical of variations in quality of KNS 8400 but now that graph makes me wonder. So maybe the frequency response can vary on each 8400?
 
Either that or like tdockweiler said, the graph just might not be accurate, as in matching whats being actually heard.
 
edit: fixed spelling of tdockweiler's name 

 

[tdockweiler]

Quote:

 
I was skeptical of variations in quality of KNS 8400 but now that graph makes me wonder. So maybe the frequency response can vary on each 8400?
 
Either that or like tdowckweiler said, the graph just might not be accurate, as in matching whats being actually heard.

Yeah, 100% no way that graph could be accurate. If it is even remotely possible, it would have to have the clamping force of a vise. That'd be like buying a K701 and getting the bass of an XB500 or something. I've had 3 pairs of 8400's and none of them were very different. Not like that. I think it's quite possible KRK could have made slight tweaks along the way to fix issues. The mids of my latest pair are very, very good and not as relaxed as they were on my first pair. The first (early) pair had almost recessed mids and a little too much treble. Ear piercing out of the box. The 8400 I have now doesn't have any fatiguing treble. Pretty smooth treble unless it's a bad recording.
 
 
 

 

[Beagle]

Quote:

 
Here's another graph of the 8400:
 
http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/KRKKNS8400.pdf
 
To my ears the 6400 has more mid-bass and the 8400 has more sub-bass.
 

Odd. That innerfidelity graph of the 8400 looks somewhat like the HeadRoom graph for the 6400.
 

 

[DjNoonstar]

So i had them for about a week maybe around 80 or so hours of burn in and listening.
 
My question...is this what flat sounding natural response sounds like??

 
Ive been using a few headphones and IEM's nothing to spectacular tho and maybe the bass was colored along with other frequencies. With these headphones songs that sound fine in other headphones with bass just seen flat and lack thump in these.
 
So should music sound the way these make it seem. "flat" and its just the other headphones that is giving it the bass boost?
 
I am trying to use these to produce/mix electroninc dance music late night.

 

[wilyodysseus]

is this what flat sounding natural response sounds like?? Ive been using a few headphones and IEM's nothing to spectacular tho and maybe the bass was colored along with other frequencies.

Yes. They're pretty flat, with fairly accurate bass.

 

[Zoom25]

Yea the bass to me at first sounded really weak, but it was just due to lack of mid-bass. Although to be fair, the mid-bass and sub-bass are both flat, it just appears that the mid-bass is especially missing because most headphones tend to have a bump there in the FR to give that boost, so these tend to be weak there. So since, the mid-bass is flat, the tendency for me, and perhaps other people, is to notice that the sub-bass is present more than the mid-bass when its actually simply people noticing the sub-bass due to their lower than expected mid bass presence. Regarding the highs, these for some genres seem dull to listen to and not always engaging although regardless of the genre can always hear every thing from highs to lows. I will admit that the highs don't have a superb extension, but a decent one - although it fits in very nicely with the rest of spectrum. Mids are definitely neutral on this and pleasing to hear. Following drums and percussive instruments for music production is a delight on this. Regarding the soundstage, I am okay with the width, however the depth seems meh. Anyone with similar thoughts?