What did you wind up getting instead? I wound up getting a brand new set of Anandas and it didnāt take long at all, they even emailed me a shipping label so it wouldnāt cost me shipping. They may have been slow shipping before because a new batch was shipping out, who knows, Iām getting a new set shipped to me in about a day or two.
Thatās awesome! I just keep my beyers (t1.2nd, dt1990). This hobby gets you any way. Now I have 2 amps, 2 dacs and 5 headphones. I might buy the sundara or Ananda down the road. I want to try the he400i 2020 and the deva too!
Not that treble sensitive I see. Iām interested in the Deva as I hear that itās close to sounding like Sundara and itās pretty convenient with all the play options. I just bought the 400i 2020 as Iāve only had the 4xx from Hifimanās entry level cans. For backup and general purposes. If I go higher up any time in the next while itāll be with Arya.
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I just received the 400i 2020 in the mail today. Playing them in as I write this. They sound better fresh out the box than what I remember of the 4xx when fresh OOTB. I remember them (4xx) being sibilant and having a peaky treble. Of course this is from memory so maybe not accurate, just an impression. These have a very slight sharpness but are not sibilant. Not bad for entry level. It has a decent soundstage, voices and instruments have a real type sound to them. Bass is present but not overblown. They need power to have more bass and sound better though. Ananda is in a whole 'nother league but I can hear the family resemblance, even at this price point. Must amp them for best sound, I believe. Iām going to play them overnight for a few nights for burn in then report any changes. -E
I just got the 2020 v. in the mail today. From the 4xx these 2020ās have a comfy plushy headband, pretty comfy. I put my earlobes some of the way into the pads, my whole ear wonāt quite fit but theyāre still very soft. No real issues.
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Was just gonna ask specifically about this after I read your previous post. Thanks for sharing!
I read your earlier post and commented on it. While the headband foam is not the softest itās still for me decently padded, softer than 4xx. Thereās also many headband cushions being sold if the stock headband still doesnāt work. Too good a headphone to dismiss over what is, in my opinion, a minor comfort concern.
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Been listening to my 2020 version for about a week now. My first planar so I have nothing to compare it to other than dynamics.
Comfort - definitely my least comfortable headphone compared to HD600, Elegia, ATH-M40x with aftermarket pads. The round cups and pads feel weird to me and for some reason theyāre the hottest of my headphones.
Soundwise, love the detail but the highs are a bit etched and thereās like zero slam/impact in the bass and midbass region (I realize this is a common trait among planars). Overall a VERY different experience from dynamic drivers. Still getting used to it. May update my thoughts as I get to know the headphones better.
Just for reference, Iām using ALAC files via Audirvana with Bifrost MB & Unison and a Pass Labs WHAMMY amp.
Hi there Mr. Jedi. and welcome to the planar club. Iāve just received my 400i 2020 set after owning 4xx before. Yes, with planars it will be an adjustment coming from dynamic cans. The sound is produced and presented in a different way that most were not used to (self included). Planars are generally more linear in the bass with little to no mid bass hump that gives dynamic cans their perceived bass or āslamā. Planar bass goes deep, flat, and generally more accurate. Keep in mind that these are entry level cans, they will still roll off slightly in the bass but not as much as most dynamics. They may also benefit to some degree from a few days burn in, to allow the new membranes to settle in, to loosen slightly. Try this if you can: Play them at a medium or slightly louder volume overnight for a week. Listen normally daily, see if the treble smoothes out, bass deepens, and soundstage widens. As an owner of several planars (Fostex t50rp mk3, he4xx, Sundara, and now Ananda and 400i 2020) itās been my experience that they all benefited from a gentle burn in process. Also they need power, amp them well. The more current the better (dynamics use mostly voltage), but donāt catch them on fire, haha. Only wishing to help.
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Hi, Iām currently deciding on buying the new 2020 revision of the HE400i. Originally I was planning on HE4XX but I got turned off by the QC problems it was plagued with, especially since I donāt live in America so getting it sent back is more hassle than its worth.
Anyway, on their site, they claim the HE400i 2020 are easy to drive. I donāt have an amp yet but my BTR5 is coming in soon, will it be enough?
Yes. The balanced output on the btr5 will be enough.
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Ah, thank you! I didnāt think Balanced cables affected the power output.
They donāt. Itās the output itself on the amp. The balanced output usually has more power than the SE output depending on the amp, in the case of the btr5 it has 220 mw 2.5mm vs 80 mw 3.5mm @ 32 ohms.
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That was my experience too, but i ignored it for a while because I was so mesmerized by all the detail that planar speed makes possible. Then I made a personalized EQ preset for it that adds 6 dB to everything from 50 Hz all the way down (among other things) and I thought I could live with the bass that way. Then after even more time and some listening sessions with the Superlux HD662-Evo occasionally reminding me what dynamic bass sounds like, I found the 400i bass disappointing again and went shopping again, ending up with the Verum 1, which had better slam out of the box (with stock pads; I donāt think the slam survives a pad change to anything perforated or in any way breathable).
All this, only to find at some point this year that if I A/B my EQād 400i against my non-EQād Verum, powered by the iFi Micro iDSD I find they have pretty much the same bass quantity and slam. 
I guess it took this long to reach those 100-150 hours of burn-in that HFM recommends for them? (I always used them as ācritical listeningā cans, so relatively rarely, when all the conditions were right, when there was silence, when the musical planets were aligned etc.) Maybe this is what it takes for the membraneās edge/suspension to develop enough āgiveā for some minimal pistonic motion, which coupled with the surface area can finally move enough air in one go to produce some amount of that slam weāve been looking for. (I assume dynamics do this so much more easily because they have much more excursion or xmax, whereas planar membranes have practically no suspension to speak of, theyāre just locked in place all around the edge and their free portion in the middle moves back and forth as much as the materialās elasticity allows, which is initially very little.)
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Exactly. The membrane has very little excursion compared to a dynamic driver so it displaces less air (low frequencies need more air to be displaced). This is why planars go for big drivers - in order to compensate for excursion with more surface area.
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Yeah, and itās obviously still not enough. The loss of excursion is waaay more than what surface area they can put in there to compensate. Even dynamics have 50mm drivers in some cases, and a 50x50 planar will only be 27% larger than that. Nowhere near enough to cover the loss of excursion.
Yep. Physics is a biatch lol.
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And my dad always said physics are good for youā¦
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I swear the full review was here, but this is just the first look. Here is Joshua full review.
