HiFiMAN HE400i Over Ear Full-Size Plannar Magnetic Headphone

Product Information

The pads are also improved, being quite a lot more squishy and pleasant to the touch. It is once again a hybrid construction, with leather on the outside and velour on the part that touches your skin. 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 Just FYI, I didn’t find I needed to mod the grills. My headphone didn’t actually come with padding inside so the sound was less impaired compared to some forums I had seen. I bought these second hand and I’m not sure if the previous guy took them out.

HIFIMAN HE400i 2020 Version Full-Size Over-Ear Planar HIFIMAN HE400i 2020 Version Full-Size Over-Ear Planar

Todestrieb Does 7900XT still has high idle consumption on multiple monitors? And should I wait for the Supers even when I'm leaning towards AMD cards? ( 16) So, from an auditory perspective, if you already own a 4XX, I would not rush out to replace it with a HE400i 2020 anytime soon, as the two sound more similar than they do different. Also, while the comfort is slightly better for the HE400i 2020 than the HE4XX (due to a lesser weight and more padded headband), I do not find the overall difference in comfort as significant as going from say the 4XX to the DEVA. Yet, if you value speed or want a slightly sharper presentation both with regard to tone and articulation, then the HIFIMAN HE400i 2020 might be, more uniquely, for you. Da luuks and da build: I’ll say it, these look sexy. The chrome cups give for a very classy and sophisticated look IMO which helps it segregate itself as a higher class of headphones. The headband is not so ideal but you get used to them. Others really don’t. I wore these during a road trip and I stopped counting how many weird looks people were giving me. It was awkward to say the least. But tell you what? I didn’t care, (maybe I cared a little bit), but I wasn’t going to take them off my head.Other attributes: The soundstage is fairly large, nothing crazy here, but it is involving, and does everything it should to make you forget about it, and satisfy you. 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.

HiFiMan HE-400i vs HiFiMan HE400se Side-by-Side Headphones HiFiMan HE-400i vs HiFiMan HE400se Side-by-Side Headphones

It is made of memory foam with pleather at the outside and allows for the ear cups to swivel freely. Increased the rating from 4-stars to 4.5-stars because the 400i is so capable and if you have a setup you can trust the 400i will be truly reference and enjoyable. Regarding the soundstage of HE-400i, there has been written certain criticism here and there on the internet. This criticism I can understand but can not fully agree with. I will admit that the soundstage is not the strongest point of HE-400i sound presentation but I can´t agree that it is any small, average or even claustrophobic. If that would be the case, then you simply could not have such an amazing instrument separation, which is somehow presented in HE-400i sound. Maybe part of this criticism came from comparing HE-400i with HE-400, in which HE-400i, perhaps, came up short. I haven´t heard HE-400 so I could not compare both headphones but I could compare HE-400i thoroughly with DT 990 and at least briefly with other premier cans. And I came to a conclusion that the soundstage on HE-400i is, as a whole, realistic and reasonably big. From my point of view, the soundstage width really is not exceptional, it is about on par with DT 990, but in height and especially depth HE-400i has significant edge over DT 990. This results into more 3D sound in relation to DT 990. From the brief comparison with HE-560 I did not feel that the more expensive headphone had here such a big upper hand. I might be wrong though, because as mentioned, my time with (A-B ing) both headphones was limited. From my memory Oppo PM1 also did not seem to have much advantage here over HE-400i (and if at all, then probably in depth). Only when I heard cans like HD 800 or LCD-X it became obvious that there was substantial difference in soundstage expansiveness. However, what I like on HE-400i soundstage is that it comes natural and realistic: compressed mp3s with low dynamic range will truly sound narrower in width and generally flatter, high quality recordings (e.g. 24 bit/192 kHz FLACs or SACD files) with a decent dynamic range will sound a lot more 3D. Or, to put it in a different way, when the song is recorded with an expansive soundstage, HE-400i will clearly show it, without breaking a sweat. Bottom line: HD 800 is getting 10/10 here, HE-400i is getting 8/10 here, DT 990 is getting 7/10 here.As for sound quality, I think it meets all expectation of an audiophile headphone. Treble is clear and neutral. Mids seem to be more of the focus, as they have a slightly more pronounced volume and realism, especially when listening to vocals you can hear great details in the voice. Bass is tight, focused, has lots of texture and impact, and depending on the music genre can be either just right or a little too quiet for one's tastes. I was expecting distortion to look across the frequency range more like the low distortion seen in the bass, but a few issues in distortion further up the frequency range. I'm thinking it's possible that the HE4XX would have less distortion issues than the 400i 2016 version, because the frequency sweep is a bit more "regular" with less of the more extreme dips in the treble. Also I've seen postings of HE4XX distortion being low across the board. Having said this, I have noticed that Amir's measurements for all the headphones he's tested so far seem to be showing somewhat higher distortion than measurements I've seen over on diyaudioheaven and praps some other places.....so it makes me think which ones are the most relevant & why the discrepancies? Could it be explained in equipment differences? Just thinking it through. The new HE400i 2020 is using the same driver which you can find in the old version of the 400i. I think that’s brilliant news, having in mind how popular and just great the original was. Also, having in mind that almost 3x price reduction, I’m still amused how on earth did they manage to put the same driver in these and to reduce the price that much without any sacrifices in other regards. Well…I might never find out, but it’s surely some kind of dark magic of their accountants. 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.

Full-Size Over Ear Headphones: Best and High End Planar

Bass is really nice with this version. It doesn’t have the same amount of body and impact as the 2020 version, but it still has more than good weight and presence. Bass isn’t the very tightest but it’s very easy on the ears. When needed and called upon, bass can go deep and it will for sure impress, though in a civilized way. The bass presentation has a nice softness and smoothness to it, not ot be mistaken with warmth.Mid Freq: This is a warm-ish headphone and I say that because this headphone sounds quite like my HD6xx from the low to low-mid frequencies and then it starts to differentiate itself from the high-mid to high frequencies. The Vocals are very clear and everything exists within the boundary of “mids” but there is no emphasis in any specific areas. Everything from vocals to instruments retain that smoothness through this frequency. For example; while listening to the Small Bump by Ed Sheeran, the bass was almost euphoric while the guitars and vocals retained its beautiful harmony 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.

HiFiMAN HE400i 2020 Review • Deserves to be in your collection HiFiMAN HE400i 2020 Review • Deserves to be in your collection

I can not fault the build or comfort at all. It is by far the most comfortable I have used. The pads are great, the overall aesthetic is very sturdy and tough looking. I like it I think @jerg summarized it perfectly in his review, that these are a "compromise between musicality and technicality". On one hand, they are detailed and accurate, have great separation and for acoustic music, there's good layering. On the other, listening through them simply isn't immersive enough, as if they are too detailed, soul left outside the box. It's kinda hard to explain in words, but if you ever get the chance to listen to a pair of Shure SE535 (*) or something with a similar audio profile, you'll understand what I'm talking about. Imagine the audio equivalence of drinking just enough to feel the effect. note: I am playing them out of an Objective2 amp with no external dac, only the crappy one from my HTC one m8 and my Lenovo notebook. So maybe that's the reason for my impressions.He400i + Oppo ha 2 se: This was by favorite combo. Sounded phenomenal, even took it out for a drive in my car and although it may not have been the best idea, I have no regrets. The bass boost in the Oppo ha 2 se with the He400i is just mouthwatering. The mids became more emphasized with the highs retaining that clarity and detail. HE-400i is a headphone with a very balanced sound signature, nothing really stands out, although in comparison to other cans HE-400i is significantly warmer than DT 990 and less dark than LCD-2. Overall I would say HE-400i is neither dark nor bright headphone. To me the sound signature is neutral/ slightly warm what also happens to be my preference. As for the timbre - vocals and instruments sound naturally across all the frequencies. There is a slight dip in the upper midrange /lower treble (around 1 to 3 kHz) and then a slight dip between 4-5 kHz , but this is OK for me and might be even beneficial because it helps to avoid unpleasent shrillness, wonkiness or sibilance (especially in less than stellar recordings). Bass extension as well as treble extension is fairly decent ( http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/HiFiMANHE4002014.pdf) and that is certainly helpful for the headphone to sound considerably realistic. Of course there are even better headphones which are able to portray vocals or instruments in even more realistic way ( e.g. LCD-X or HE-6). But to me these differences are actually subtle and thus would rate HE-400i in this regard (timbre + overall tonality) very high. Positives in HE-400i tonality are obvious from the very first listening - you get typical planar qualities also in these entry level orthodynamic headphones such as: smoothness, linearity (no unnatural bumps or dips across the frequency range) and overall transparency. Other aspects which I like on HE-400i tonality and which are maybe a bit underappreciated are also 1) non-fatiguing and 2) practically sibilance free sound (this is by no means an integral part of a high quality headphone – for instance HD 800 is a tremendous headphone, but with its huge soundstage and analytical kind of sound it tends to be far more fatiguing and prone to sibilance than HE-400i). So despite being a bit behind in „realism“ in comparison to top cans (HE-6, LCD-X, HD 800) HE-400i gets in this section (overall tonality/ timbre) due to its listener-friendly, well balanced sound, a high grade: 9/10 After burn in (150 hours and more) it seemed to me that the sound was generally smoother and the bass was a bit more impactful/extended. Otherwise I have not felt, there has been significant changes. Of course, YMMV... According to Hifiman, the HE400SE offers outstanding audio at a very affordable price. Superior sound and realistic spatial separation bring out the best in any source. Let’s find out if that makes sense.