I mostly just get annoyed at my ears touching either the bottom or the top of the pad tbh, they fit about exactly in them, but then the headband doesnât really have enough adjustments to actually nail the height, pretty infuriating tbh, sundara Iâm even more skeptic cause they donât even have swivel, interesting how they can nail doing super complex planar magnetic driver but canât get the housing rightâŠ
I donât really care if the 5xx are devas or not tbh(they at least look cooler) Iâm more curious about how they compare with the other ones since they do look way more comfortable, but people claim sound worse at a higher priceâŠ
The 5XX make me curious, as watching several reviews most of them come to the conclusion that theyâre aggressive, but scale really well. And are supposed to just be the best on tubes, like the 6xx.That old school Hifiman headband though puts me off. Lots of horror stories of that plastic mechanism holding tension on where the headphone slides up and down just breaking. Weird choice for them to do considering the DEVA, 400i 2020 and 400se all have the new headband design. That couldâve been a Drop decision and not a Hifiman decision though.
i love all black too. i was just mentioning the deva because you will probably find more info on the sound of those due to their unique bluetooth feature. twice the reviews to read through.
The 5xx is nice although slightly more specific on who itâs for, itâs more similar to the deva (but itâs not a deva) than the 4xx/400i (havenât heard the se yet)
Have some overall thoughts and comparisons to the other hifiman in this post and others below that follow it
I would disagree there, on most budget to midrange tube amps they did not play well imo, hybrids were nice though
Hi guys. I have the Sennheiser HD 560s with a Fiio K3 and I love it. I want to get the Hifiman HE 400i 2020 version or the Hifiman HE 400se 2021 version as my first Planar Magnetic headphone. Which one do you guys recommend? Where I live they are both the same price.
I have the Senn 560s as well. Got my my 400seâs over a week ago and love them. Prefer them over the 560s myself. Having never tried the 400 2020s I canât offer and comparison but I donât think you can go wrong with the SEs for the price.
I got the Hifiman HE 400i 2020 version yesterday and I love them. With my Fiio K5 Pro it is pure class! I"m still going to keep my Sennheiser HD 560s, because they are also a beast on their ownâ:sunglasses: Loving both my phones
Catching up here, thought Iâd address the 5xx. The 5xx has BIG pad openings, much more-so than Sundara/4xx. They are light and very loose. They really feel like earspeakers just kind of chilling there. I like my pair, and though build can not be emphasized as a strong-point, Iâve had zero problems with my set. Like a lot of these Hifiman, they respond very nicely to EQ, and Iâd argue that the Sundara re-dux is tuned well overall, and can just take a few tweaks â the 5xx can really really use EQ. Adding a lower bass shelf, evening out some of the treble response and adding some presence and that normal 2k trough. Their stock personality is fairly airy and neutral, good midrange tuning. I always thought the 4xx was both thicker in mid-bass and had some treble peaks that stuck out. Iâve always advocated for them due to their unique fit/form factor, not my only pair of headphones by a mile, but they fill their nitch. Iâve always wondered how they work for gamers as well, their attributes seem a good fit.
Iâd also argue that the synergy with a lot of HYBRID TUBE amplifiers is nice, but the OTL Tube paring will not be impressive. Iâm sure there is a design out there with very low output impedance and a ton of current, but⊠most OTL Tube amps in this price range are not going to cooperate with this class of planar well at all. Avoid that.
The HE400se is part of their normal product cycle. The HE-X4 is an item for Drop. Assuming Drop comes to you asking for a new model headphone to market why wouldnât you do it?
Got the HE400se today and so far theyre great, gonna write a full review when I have a lot of hours on them.
Quick observations - Initial impressions
Out of every hifiman headband this is the most comfortable one for me, by far. The pads are no doubt also the comfiest pads hifiman has made, not to say they are super high quality but theyre a lot better.
The sound strikes me as a middle ground between the tuning of he400i and sundara, I think it has the best of both worlds but need to listen further.
Itâs strange how all their models are so similar yet the He400i 2020 clearly stands out as the greatest headphone they ever produced. The other pairs all have at least one annoying thing about 'em⊠He4xx sounds stellar but can dismember on your head anytime, He400se has distracting upper mids shoutiness, Deva has kitschy âluxuryâ colors and lethargic mids, Hex4 and He5xx are the former headphones but with worse headbands.
Loving both my phones