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HiFiMAN HE400i Over Ear Full-Size Plannar Magnetic Headphone

£9.9£99Clearance
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It is simply impossible that you have not heard of Hifiman. They are China-based personal audio company led by Dr. Fang Bian and they have been around for like 10 to 15 years. This is not the case with the current model, which despite some accentuations at the upper mid range area it sounds much more restrained and controlled without being sharp. Until I did this test and developed the EQ that you saw, I rarely used the HE400i But now, I am actually anxious to listen to it more! I can't get over how "high fi" it sounds with equalization!

HIFIMAN HE400i Over Ear Full-Size Plannar Magnetic Headphone HIFIMAN HE400i Over Ear Full-Size Plannar Magnetic Headphone

I am using PEQ (PK) as from my experience the definition is more consistent across different DSP/platform implementations than shelves. Bass: The bass on these are in a word, stellar. My god...my mind gets blown away every time I listen to heavy bass music like Zenith by Dannic. On songs by Lindsey Stirling (Transcendence or Electric Daisy) the bass creates such a pleasant sound I start to question reality. It's just so involving! Now, both the HE-400 and M50 have more bass impact and slam but not the same amount of refinement. The bass on HE-400 and M50 bleach into the other parts of a sound spectrum. Bass on the HE-400 and M50 along with the V-shaped frequency curve created the fun factor but these are different. They just do their job and reveal what needs to be revealed. There's no exaggeration or emphasis without reason. On songs that call for bass, these deliver. I know these won't satisfy hard core bass-heads but are more than ample for your average guy. The first thing I noticed with these from the HE-400 is how much less slam and impact they have but with enough time I realized that it's actually a good thing. For slam and impact: HE-400 (9) > M50 (8) > HE-400I (7)... But for refinement and accuracy: HE-400I (9) > HE-400 (8) > M50 (7) Bass extension and quantity is the same as is the quality with both headphones sounding clear and layered but the Deva is offering a more visceral presentation with better overall dynamics. Bass quality on the HE-400i is better. The 400’s bass was more basic and had more body while the 400i’s bass is more detailed and layered: a better quality bass. Treble wise the 400 might be a little further extended but the 400i’s treble is more textured and detailed than before. The sharp side has been filed of.

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Distortion overall is good but we see a lot of wiggles and bumps in there which I think again indicate resonances: As for the distortions we saw in the graphs, I could tell you that I hear them but I am not sure at all. The highs sound a bit shrill at moderate levels. Turning the levels up accentuates this. But this could just be me not trying to EQ above 8 kHz. A shelving filter may help there. Unfortunately I think I’ll have to let these go as they don’t really scratch the itch. This is not going to be an overly negative review just heads up While these headphones both use the same headband system, the HE-400i clamps fairly tight on the side of your head but it still is very comfortable and you can wear it for hours without any issues.

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

Last but not least let's not forget that the Deva can be easily transformed to a high quality bluetooth headphone with the addition of the extra BlueMini. I am OK with someone buying the HE400i 2020 and use it without EQ. Personally I would only recommend it if you EQ it. The instrument’s separation is brilliant, every single sound source is well defined and pronounced. The vocal is coming from the front of the listener, resulting in a natural and mature staging. Amped: Amping the HE-400i reveals how inefficient it is. Right away I had to go to the hi-gain setting on my desktop amp. Almost all other headphones run on medium gain A good tube amp, like Schiit’s Valhalla 2, will further mellow the somewhat direct sound of the HE-400i and provide plenty of voltage into this voltage hungry can.Once again Hifiman somehow managed to make their planar magnetic headphone pretty lightweight, which was pretty impossible a couple of years ago. The original HE-4, HE-500 or HE-6 was sharing a somehow similar design to these, and they were quite a lot heavier. This is based on the older version EQ which I found to be just as good for this revision. But I spent some time refining it more. Once done, the sound is very good and enjoyable. The mids have that same touch of softness the bass has. Compared to the 400i 2020 version, the mids are also lighter in body and sound less warm. In exchange you get enhanced clarity and a very clean sound. The mids here are a bit less airy and spacious as with the previous model, and the note extension isn’t as elaborate. What you do get is great vocals, excellent clarity and a higher energy level. Where the 400i 2020 version’s mids were more edgy (with the upper part and the vocals), they in the se version are more balanced and linear. 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 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.

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