HiFiMAN HE400i Over Ear Full-Size Plannar Magnetic Headphone

Product Information

In a way you could say the 400i is to the 560 what the 400 is to the 500 but the difference is less huge as it was before. These two headphones, performance wise, now are closer to each other and that’s very positive for the consumer with a smaller budget. Comfort is as good as the HD650. You can easily forget that you have them on and the hours just fly by. Now if you want to hear manly bass, the HD650 isn't for you. The HD650 is the Prius, whereas the 400i would be the Aston Martin when you consider the power capability between these two headphones. The HD650 will hit its driver limit with a FIIO E12A! That is just sad. Pardon me, while I wipe a tear......from laughing. The highs on this headphone are in no way spiky or sibilant. They stop just before it gets too far. They are however very clear and precise. The word to describe these headphones is “fast” most dynamic drivers just can’t compete with the speed of planars. It doesn’t skip a beat. Listening to music with a lot of layered instruments is a breeze. Roght now i have koss esp950 .. beside the in the head LR soundstage that i dont like. They have very good clarity and resolution without harsness. Unacceptable for it's price tag. Where is the liquid planner bass I was promised? There is no sign of sub bass. It's just missing. On "secrets" by tiesto and kshmr- this particularly showed.

HIFIMAN HE400se Review - Headfonia Reviews HIFIMAN HE400se Review - Headfonia Reviews

I think our experiences are actually similar. I did not use a Schiit Lyr in my testing, and I have heard that planar magnetic headphones perform better when they are amped. However, I tested both headphones with a pretty good on-board sound card and a cheap FiiO A1 portable amp, neither of which had a problem powering either headphone. On a side note, I could power the HE-400i with my cell phone, but the DT880 needed the portable amp Here’s a question for you: Taking the treble of the Sennheiser HD800 for example, and the Beyer T90, as the brighter headphones, then the Shure SRH-1540 and Sennheiser Momentum as less bright, would you say the HD650 treble is in between, or more like the darker 2 that I mentioned? Would that apply to the mid treble and upper treble also? As a result we hear more detail and the overall sound is more clear and luminous but although this is not a bright or overly sharp headphone some users may find it fatiguing at the end.The box itself is quite large, and it’s sporting a very nice graphic on top. Inside you’ll find your new HE400i 2020, the cable and some paperwork. That’s basically it, but having their price in mind, you really won’t be expecting anything more. Soundstage: the soundstage is most intimate than the HD600 or the HD6xx/HD650, but this makes the bass much more apparent. This would be a preference thing but I enjoy soundstage and this was a downside for me I hear people with far harder to drive cans having to settle at 70 percent volume, because that's the most pleasurable listening. And again I'm literally cranking it as far right, power match on and connected via unbalanced input on both I should add.

HIFIMAN HE-400i Planar Magnetic Headphones - Drop HIFIMAN HE-400i Planar Magnetic Headphones - Drop

The HE-400 was more raw sounding and the mids in the old version were even more forward sounding then they are now. The new HE-400i is softer, more refined and a lot more musical and dynamic making longer listening session a lot easier. The ASR preference curve is in sold dashed blue. The red and green are each channel. Matching is pretty good. What is not good is cheating us out of a lot of energy in the all important region of 1 to 3 kHz. Why oh why? This is a common theme among many headphones it seems. The Hifiman HE400i 2020 version is fuller and more heavy sounding with more body from top to bottom. It is also more spacious and airy sounding, and has the better extension in the width as well as in note extension. The 400i 2020 compared to the se version sounds warmer, smoother. The se-version is lighter, more realistic and it sounds a lot more clear and clean. Its tuning is more neutral than that of the warmer HE400i 2020. Bass in the 400i 2020 is much bigger and the mids are weightier but you do get better extension and decay of the notes, with a wider sound stage. Treble is both headphones is easy and soft on the ears, nothing really spectacular to report here. My DT880s are the Manufaktur model and the build quality is superb. The HE-400i phones are not as well made. Thats not saying they are poorly made, just that the costs went to technology instead of build materials. It seems like HiFiman went for the best sound quality at a price point, whereas Beyerdynamic had a mature technology and manufacturing process and can use better materials and build design at the same or lower price point. General resolution, detail, clarity and sparkle are great for both sets- especially for the price. Like the 4XX, the 400i 2020 punches well above its price-class. Bass extension is sufficient, and like its predecessors, these also hold up relatively well to EQ; but what you miss out on here vs. other planarmagnetics is a surplus of slam and dynamics. Not to say that either of these qualities are bereft in these cans, but they are certainly less present than other, more-expensive planars by a few Db or so, even despite the fact that they actually have decent bass extensions. Having said that, dynamics are soft, subtle, and detailed enough to appease most listeners in my opinion. And while bass detail is also not mind-blowing either, it is definitely respectable for the price, and adds to the enjoyability factor for these sets.The change to the headband construction is a welcoming choice not only in terms of the overall design, but also it increased the comfort even further. The new headband is well-padded and just wonderfully comfortable to wear over long periods of time.

HiFiMAN HE-400i - Reviews - Head-Fi.org HiFiMAN HE-400i - Reviews - Head-Fi.org

Mids: Oh. Thissss. This is amazing. The mids have a sweetness to them that is hard to describe, its unlike anything I’ve ever heard. The instruments are presented in a way that is just a joy to listen to! On Porcupine Tree’s song- My Ashes, the guitar sounds incredible and the imaging is very good. The vocals carried that sense of dark atmosphere which just stood out so much to me! And not surprisingly Steven Wilson’s songs are great on these. The Vocals and the instruments never sound congested, rather they flow. Green day is also amazing here. The guitar riffs have a sense of authority to them. On Diana Krall’s Let’s Fall in Love, her voice sounds intoxicating to say the least. I’m blown away each time I hear that song. Bjork and Carpenters also sound amazing! Blowing me away each time I put their songs on. The HE400i proved to be a very capable performer for all kinds of music with great precision and transparency although with a rather ethereal and delicate sound to it. Throughout the review, I have already made many comparisons between the HE400i 2020 and the se model, but to be clear I’ll sum up the main differences again. I have calibrated my headphone fixture with 94 dBSPL test tones and decided that I use the same for headphone measurements. However, instead of using 1 kHz tone I have opted for 425 Hz. This seems to better match research data.If you've always wanted to own a pair of high-end "audiophile" headphones but can't quite justify dropping a grand on a pair, the superb sounding HiFiMan HE-400i is a good compromise. I´m thinking about this HiFiMan HE-400i whith the EF2A amp (also by HiFiMan) and a Fiio X5 ii as a sourse. You don’t have to know a lot about personal audio and technology to love these headphones. And for the very accessible price the Hifiman HE400se is going for, they’re the ideal recommendation to a whole lot of people. As a result I am adding the HE-400se to our list of best headphones to buy. The HE400i 2020 was already on the list, and as the se-version plays at the same level but sounds differently, it also deserves its spot their as an excellent entry level headphone. When starters or normal headphone users like my friends asks me for a recommendation of a closed headphone, the Beyerdynamic DT770 32 is the easy recommendation. Starting from now the Hifiman HE-400i 2020 is my recommendation for an open design headphone. And now that I have heard the se-version, I can easily advise it as well. I've put the JVC SZ-2000 "protein" earpads on the 400I. Impact greatly increased and the total sound changed for the better.

HIFIMAN High End HE400i Over Ear(Full-size) Planar Magnetic

The HE400i is slightly more detailed and airy but we thought that the Deva presented micro details better with a more natural and unforced way and the timbre was more to our liking. For this part on sound I, as usual, have used a multitude of sources and amps, but the main ones are my integrated Technics SU-G700 receiver and the Niimbus US4+ headphone amp.In general the highs and mids of this headphone are slightly extended. These two areas are where the headphone shine. Vocals and instrumentals sound very detailed while wearing these. Undaunted I tried my UAPP app. For those of you who have this I used in bit perfect mode and tried some radio channels as I don't have any music currently stored on my phone. The attempt through this app was far better and yielded a less thin sounding result. Other than musicality, my second and final con on audio with these, is the treble. It's too extended, causing things like cymbals to sound too distant from the rest of the record (think one floor above). Some call it separation, I call it "the thing that's wrong with half the cheap headphones I listen to", except the HE400i ain't cheap. A lot of companies seem to do that as it adds sparkle and detail (I guess?), but personally, I'm not a fan.