[krzkrzkrz]

Am waiting on my HE-400's to arrive! Real excited!
 
In the meantime, am just looking for some conversation about what type of audio files I should listen to with with these cans. I've got a library of mp3 files, that bring back memories. Will the HE-400's shine here? Or should I consider obtaining a higher quality format? Higher than CD quality? Will listening from online services like Spotify or online radio stations make these cans shine just as good?

 

[invalid404]

I think most online radio's stream at pretty low audio quality. Obviously higher bit rates would sound the best such as those found in lossless audio files. But try to balance bit rate/file sizes with quality. MP3 320 quality is a great balance. M4A / AAC can shrink the file size a little but will maintain 99% of the quality of the 320kbps MP3 file. 

 

[krzkrzkrz]

Standard mp3 files at 192kbps is just "average"?
 
Where does one obtain audio files from? CDs? Torrents? Special sites? Itunes? If I am spending $400+ on cans and an amp/dac, I would like to hear "quality" sound.

 

[koax]

Spotify and MOG both stream at 320k.  I'm really happy with the quality trade-off for the convenience of having all the music in the world at my fingertips for $10/month.  It's not lossless, but most of the time I don't find myself yearning to listen to it in lossless.  Only for albums I'm totally infatuated with.  In my opinion, 320k has enough fidelity to be very enjoyable with high-end cans.  

 

[Misios]

I agree Koax, the only danger with this head-fi businiss is that you stop enjoying the music, because you pay too much attention to the sound! I basicly started listening to a lot of jazz - which I normally don't listen to, just to challenge my cans and produce good sound!
 
 
Thats why I resubbed my spotify account - now I can actually leave it on and enjoy music in the background again *phew*

 

[machoboy]

I think you should just experiment once you get them to see what sounds the best on them to you. Go ahead and buy a few lossless tracks just for reference but don't go "all in" trying to replace your existing collection before you're even sure you notice a difference.
 
I've found that while some genres/artists sound mindblowing in lossless format compared to sub-par MP3s, others either sound identical or even slightly worse (if the recordings are bad to begin with, I don't really see the advantage of enhancing the thrilling sounds of mic clipping or bad room acoustics, but that's just me).
 
I'm 100% fine with my current music collection which is a confusing mixture of CDs, vinyls, MP3s, FLAC, and streaming online stations.