EQ’ing that bass in is effortless. Got a 4.4mm cable for them with a nice braid.
I do gaming with them and it just feels so freaking wide.
I’m a percussion guy. Drums and intricate percussive ellements, in music, sound blissful.
Try listening to Dinossaur - OTR Remix, close your eyes and have fun.
Because they are made with cheap components and materials by indentured workers to indifferent levels of QC?
Indentured workers? You mean the people who are part of the supply chain of pretty much any brand, chifi or not?
It’s okay within 10 years or so we will be falling down towards them/they will be rising up over us, people just do not understand how the world works. When they’re cold hungry and fighting like the dark ages they’ll all miss the cheap chinese/indian manufacturing I bet.
Yes, them.
Your phone is more than likely made by child labor.
Not just child labour, but legit slavery.
Look up uygher slaves
Very likely involved at one or more components of the total supply chain, yes.
If not the main construction, then in the gathering or the processing of the resources and materials that go into the end product.
Yeah I’ve tried all kinds of headphones, they all just broke and yellow stuff exposed out of it.
Hmm - I think you may have actually been listening to eggs.
Common mistake for a beginner audiophile to make.
🤣 how is this comment not more appreciated
Probably around $200 a week in U.S. dollars working 50 to 60 hours.
What DAC & Amp do you have to run those drivers?
If you bother with DAC and amp while listening to spotify 192 kbps may god help you.
Lol i meant what is his AMP & DAC he’s using to power his hifimans correctly.
Not the kilobits of a music lmfao
People out here talking like Spotify is 128kbps MP3 from limewire…
Different headphones matter far more.
Even an Apple dongle is a dacamp and sounds considerably less noisy than most built in DACs in Laptops and windows PC’s, no matter if Spotify or not.
I can’t hear the difference between lossless and 160kbps opus, 192kbps is good enough.
Here’s Andrew from the headphone show using Spotify to test the Sennheiser HE-1 … lol
Well if you have 320kbps using premium it’s fine. Difference between 320kbps and lossless is not as crazy as 320bkps mp3 and spotify free “high quality” 160 kbps
I run them off of a iFi Hip Dac 2 out of the 4.4 balanced output.
Could these be run straight off a PC or an apple dongle or not?
lol I find myself running them with my Shiit Magni on High-gain setting.
I probably should get my hearing checked, but they love raw power.
straight up no, don’t do it. you’ll hear sound but it ain’t gonna be enough. it’ll feel forced and someone I read said it’ll be “tunog multo” (ghostlike)
Apple dongle no, anything else reasonable yes
They’re quite hard to drive, around 88dB/mW. So they might be quiet, and if you want to use EQ (which improves them a lot) you need to use a negative pre-amp which further drops the volume. They will play at Apple dongle levels, but better out of an amp or at least a more powerful dongle.
Sundara or Ananda are much easier to drive.
I wasn’t impressed with my Sundara’s until I plugged them into an amp. If those are easier to drive than the HE400SE, then I wouldn’t try using an Apple dongle with them.
It depends a lot on how loud you listen and whether you want to EQ. Sundara is very well tuned and doesn’t really need much EQ, a small bass boost at most.
Sensitivity on the Sundara is 94db/mW, that means you get 94dB out of 1mW of power. The US version of the Apple dongle will do its full 1V into 32Ω without clipping, which is 31mW.
If I’m listening to it without EQ, about 1mW is a comfortable listening level, 2mW is loud and about as high as I’d go (Qudelix reports exact voltage/power).
The EQ I use with them, if I do, has a -3dB negative pre-amp, so putting that back would be a further doubling of the power to 4mW… it’s still not a whole lot.
The HE400SE is harder again at 91dB/mW though and in measurements even a bit lower. So it needs twice the power of the Sundara for the same volume level.
I’d never suggest the Apple dongle for these (or for that matter the Sundara). But if someone has the Apple dongle already, it’s worth trying. It does depend how loud you listen.
I’m going to level with you.
A Dongle is very capable of getting them to a nice volume.
But if you want to play with EQ, you do need a better source.
The dynamics also scale with a better source.I do have a dongle and it drives them nicely (at least for what it is)
Yeah the HE400se can sound anemic for lack of a better term on a poor amplifier. What I use as a poor source to test a headphone is the 3.5mm output of my Xbox One X controller. The bass sounded a little strange and fell off very fast. 3/4 volume to be listenable. I do use them on my iFi Zen DAC via 4.4mm and it works wonders. I did try them on the unbalanced output but there’s barely any difference if I can even say, and it’s quieter compared to balanced but all that needs is more on the volume knob.
Comparing a xbox controller to a dongle seems kinda odd though. I have not seen any testing done on its amp or dac capabilities, but I can almost bet on that they didn’t bother to include a decent dac in them compared to even the shittiest phone dongles haha.
I wasn’t comparing them to a dongle. I use it for kicks to see how much a source matters for headphones. Not the best testing method though.
Sorry about that. Clearly I read it wrong. But yeah the source will matter hehe 😅
Regarding your Zen DAC, I have the same experience with my Hip Dac 2.
The 3.5 output drives them nicely already.
Hello, I just got them a couple of hours ago. May 2021 mfg so got the white braided cable which I’m told are useless. Will buy better cables after 1 Dec when I get my salary lol. Complete newbie to this. Tried it on my ROG Strix laptop. Even at full volume, it’s like 20 for my Razer Blackshark V2 usb. They seriously need something to push them. So I think I’ll get the balanced cable to see if they’re better. Then get a dac/amp like a Dawn Pro or Fiio Ka13. Regarding eq for laptop, I tried installing Equalizer APO, somehow its not installing, after complete installation, and restart, it still doesnt show any where, i tick marked all the audio options that I want the APO for. Strange. Any other laptop eq that would be good for the HE400se?
Apo is the eq software. But you need the GUI. For that you have to install Peace gui.
This 2 softwares are a combo.
Only then will you be able to eq to your hearts content.
The moondrop Dawn pro should be plenty.
If you want to get my balanced cable just tell me and I’ll send you the Aliexpress link.
Thanks a ton! I was able to eq according to Oratory’s eq. Can’t find too much of a difference for now, but will wait for dac amp and maybe then I’ll notice the difference.
Yeah, the negative pre amp lowers the volume so you need more juice to get them going.
Hey man, what are some resources that I can read more from on this topic? Specifically, how different DAC/Amps affect sound from a technical perspective.
It’s so subjective in some areas that there isn’t a “centralised” data base or resource channel for this kinda stuff.
I get my bearing from reddit (not too much tho), head-fi, a few reviewers such as Resolve from The Headphone Show, Crinacle, and a few others.
I can’t get a neat unanimous answer on DACs/Amps anywhere.
For me is just searching and getting a grasp of what the majority have to say about the subject.
Though I’m not best person to ask about these things.
You can try to join the Headphones Show discord and ask Resolve himself.
He’s usually prone to conversation.
They’ve been my first pair of planars and while I can’t use them for longer sessions due to their weight and the imo uncomfortable headband, I enjoy them a lot.
If you live in the UK try this out:
https://youtu.be/RFbya-CPNu8?si=8Tzc9hZnapFe-bvK
I bought it for my Edition XS and can now wear them for hours without the band irritating.
I concede … I have huge afro so the headband isn’t as much of a big deal to me. But I get you.
I had the same problem si i wrapped piece of foam in cloth and mounted on the headband and its perfect now, I can wear them for 10s of hours with no problem
idk man, these stop me buying more expensive cans tbh
I’ve started having classes at a studio. I tried the HD 600 … REFERENCE.
I didn’t like them as much as my HE400se … it’s uncanny.
I wish i could’ve enjoyed them more than i did. Mine came with a channel imbalance issue and stopped working. Some friends also said my copy didn’t sound right from the start…
Did you warranty them?
That’s a real shame … Saddly the QC isn’t to a solid standart yet.
Though people are reporting the QC getting better.
This post inspired me to make a post about how bad Spotify is: https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/s/boNNNl3QYc
Here’s Andrew from The Headphone Show testing the HE-1 with spotify lol …
Ok , down the rabbit hole we go .
surprisingly shallow as soon as you compare this set to other ones.
I failed to mention this but the HE400se is solely responsible for making me sell my Sony WH-1000XM4 … and I loved that set.
I have a set of Linkbuds S for ANC and that’s all I need in that front.
I pair this with my AKG K240 mkii and it feels more than enough for me … for now lmao.
That’s what I thought
Get a BJ2 from Aura
- Vertical integration (they own the factories) and direct access to cheaper labor in China with no middleman.
- They have a higher QC threshold (they throw out fewer potentially defective units off the line, which means every one that goes out is cheaper) and not great build quality (cheaper construction).
That reality check has already been given to me by another comment …
But yeah, thank you for clarifying!Not meant to be a reality check, just clarification. I think they are cool, especially for the sale price (which is insane).
I’m having the same epiphany now that there’s been an EQ profile uploaded for the DT770 32 ohm version (pleather pads) on the Qudelix. It’s insane how good they sound EQed to Harman. I was really surprised because I don’t generally EQ my other pairs to Harman.
I’ve transitioned from harman to keeping the set’s identitiy, while adjusting a few things.
That said, harman sounds great. Specially on the DT770.
I tried a friend’s set and they’re pretty good as well. Was thinking of getting them for christmas but decided to go with another set.Loved the DT770s tho!! Amazing set!
Which Qudelix do you have? I got the DT770 80 ohms as my first pair of “good” headphones and I’m looking to get a cheaper amp soon. Can it be used without Bluetooth too?
I have the Qudelix 5K, which is more or less the most popular Bluetooth amp/dac in this community. Its main advantage is that is has full parametric EQ built into the mobile application and browser extension, which means that you can use EQ with pretty much any device.
And yes, it can be used wired as well. It comes with two cables, an usb c to usb c and an usb a to usb c, so you can basically connect it to any device that has a usb c or usb a port. When I am at my desk I mostly use my Fiio K5 Pro amp/dac, but the Qudelix 5K is a super versatile device, I used it quite a bit with my laptop when I was working away from my desk and had no problem driving my other headphones.
The dirty secret is that it’s not hard to make headphones that sound good. I’d be curious on cheap planars how much of the cost is the drivers and how much is everything else.
The original came with a really bad cable.
Later versions came with a nicer one (the one I have)
It’s stuff like that …That’s actually a legit point. What I felt was channel imbalance ended up being a bad cable itself
Currently using these with an ifi DAC it’s bliss
I remember when the HE400’s first came out at $400
Those were my babies back in the day…
They are interesting. Run a 20hz-20khz test tone sweep. If you got a pair that does not rattle, consider yourself very lucky.
where can I do that test?
The hex4 is basically the same model but all black. Love my pair! Good stuff
So I tested this! I had both pairs and did something silly- I mounted one side of my X4 on my He-400i 2020, the X4 is a little more veiled with less bass. It is suppper slight though. You really have to listen for it. All of that to say, most people could save the buck and not know.