HIFIMAN HE-400i REVIEW

INTRODUCTION

now

biased

SOUND ASPECTS

NON-SOUND RELATED ASPECTS

SUMMARY

POST SCRIPTUM

First of all I would like to stress this is purely subjective review of HE-400i as I amanowner of these cans and my experience with headphones is limited. Nevertheless I have heard some of the better headphones on a decent rig and thus will try to compare HE-400i with other cans as that might be helpful to give you a better perspective of what HE-400i may offer. First time I heard these headphones was during the December 2014 in Bratislava (Slovakia). Thanks to a very kind reseller, I had an unique OPPOrtunity to listen and compare a set of high quality headphones such as Hifiman HE-6, Hifiman HE-560, HE-400i, Oppo PM1 and Sennheiser HD800. The source was MacIntosh MCD 1100 CD/SACD player, the headphone amp was Oppo HA-1. The session lasted for 2 hours, I was making notes and decided to buy HE-400i. My previous headphones were Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro. My home rig is quite modest, I use HE-400i with a laptop and Audioengine D1 as a DAC/head amp or with my iBasso DX90 player. Other quality cans I have heard and compared (but this time without the possibility of a direct A-B comparison) with HE-400i include Audeze LCD-X and Audeze LCD-2 (fazored 2.2 version). I listen mostly rock, hard rock and pop, occasionally classical and metal, and rarely blues, jazz, new age and electronic. Recordings that I used for this review were approximately of 90% of lossless formats (flac, wav, ape, dsf ) , other 10 % were mp3s (from 192 to 320 kbps).I decided to give a certain score to various aspects of HE-400i, 10 of these aspects refer to the sound, while few others refer to the non-sound related qualities like appearence, comfort, efficiency, value etc. All aspects have range from 1 (the worst grade) to 10 (the best grade). Virtually the perfect headphone (for the sound alone) would naturally be 100/100 in my scale book (haven´t heard such one yetBecause of that I decided to give HE-400i two kinds of score. The first one is just for the sound alone and the second one is my overall score (it includes both sound related and non sound related aspects) of the product.DISCLAIMERPlease bear in mind all grades (used for both sound and non sound related aspects) are based on my subjective opinions. As I am an owner of HE-400i and my experience with other compared headphones has been relatively short, my opinions might be biased or inaccurate.I am not an expert, I just wanted to share my thoughts on HE-400i. HE-400i had more than 150 hours of burn in, at the time of this review. With the exception of Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro (which had about 200 hours burn in) I don´t know how much burn in had the other headphones to which HE-400i has been compared to in this review. My HE-400i was reviewed in stock form ( as well as all other headphones mentioned in this article.)1) TIMBRE AND OVERALL TONALITYHE-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: 9/102) BASSBass quality is usually a strong point in the catalogue of „planar virtues“ and here HE-400i delivers too: tight and punchy bass response, impressive texture and solid extension are adjectives which come to mind when thinking about bass on HE-400i. Initially I found the bass impact a bit softer on some songs but that impression was largely affected by the fact, that I used to listen music a lot of years through my vintage SonyEricsson W810i phone with the option „megabass“ happily turned on and...with some „bass heavy“ IEMs happily on, as well. Oh well...Being spoiled with such „bass treatment“ for so long, no wonder some ugly basshead took its toll... Yes, there are headphones with better bass extension, viscerality and better bass impact than HE-400i – for example Audeze LCD-2, ( which have some of the best bass I have ever heard) but HE-400i still offers the bass that I would call „accurate“. Probably not enough weight for „ bassheads “, but certainly a plenty of punch or slam when the recordings call for it and all that with the beautiful, trademark Hifiman texture – overtrumping even Oppo PM1 in that regard, dare I say. When I was listening some of the SACDs (e.g. dsf files via iBasso DX90), namely Sting´s bass guitar on The Police album Synchronicity, I never had a feeling that I am missing something from the bass line. Especially on SACDs I found the bass quality from HE-400i outstanding. Also on headphone amp from Oppo (HA-1) or Audioengine D1 the bass came alive, particularly on lossless material. The situation was a bit different when you were listening mp3´s – there was less viscerality, worse layering, less bass oomph. Subjectivelly speaking, due to the planar nature and gentle mid-bass hump I found the bass on HE-400i even more engaging and musical than let´s say the bass on HD 800. And after listening to some well recorded SACDs or other lossless files, I ´ve got a better idea how able is HE-400i to produce high quality bass. It´s pretty capable. 9/103) MIDSMidrange on HE-400i is very transparent and yet, at the same time musical, which for me is a rather attractive (and addictive) combination. Particularly the lower midrange is sweet and very pleasant to listen. The mids on HE-400i are indeed richer/lusher sounding than the mids on HE-560 and it was one of the reasons I decided to buy HE-400i instead of buying HE-560. Vocals ( especially male, but female too) sound stellar, you can feel the emotions emanating from the singer. Vocals seem even slightly forward (although this depends also on specific recordings) and as such HE-400i is a very fitting headphone for vocal genres (rock, pop). I like melodic rock a lot and that´s why for me it is very important how capable is headphone to portray electric guitars – here on HE-400i the guitars (both electric and accoustic) sound great. It has just enough crispness/edge to sound lifelike and just enough smoothness to sound ear-friendly. Guitar grandmasters like Eric Johnson or Joe Satriani sound simply fabulously. Even on bad recordings these instruments never sound too screechy, which happened to be the case with DT 990 (and to a degree with HE-560). Other instruments like piano or keyboards also sound very naturely. But as some top cans have even more midrange creaminess (LCD-2), glamour ( Oppo PM1) or bloom ( HE-6) while maintaining midrange transparency on par or even slightly better than HE-400i, I decided not to give here 10/10, but 9/10. But nevertheless midrange quality is also a strong point of HE-400i sound and is really close to the very best headphones.4) TREBLETreble on HE-400i is reasonably extended with a gentle spike around 9-10 kHz, which for me provides just the right amount of sparkle. There is less treble energy on HE-400i than on HE-560 or DT 990 but a bit more than on LCD-2 or Oppo PM 1. Cymbals, percussions, organ or string instruments like violin sound detailed and clear. There is no exaggerated focus on treble (like on DT 990) which may result into analytical tonality and fatiguing sound. Some headphones somewhat artificially boost treble which can give a listener sense of ultra detailness but usually such headphones (like DT 990) have V-shaped sound and that is not my preference. On the other hand HE-400i doesn´t sound artificial in treble but quite natural, sufficiently detailed and smooth. Treble is well integrated with other parts into frequency spectrum and contributes to the balanced tonality of HE-400i. OK, there are headphones which have slightly more detailed and still perfectly natural treble, namely HD 800 and HE-6 (these two headphones have the best treble I´ve heard so far), but on the other hand HE-400i offers (at least for me) sufficient treble oomph without harshness or sibilance. Sibilance or treble harshness/hardiness may occur very very rarely and only on pretty bad recordings ( usually badly mixed, highly compressed remasters in mp3 format) On decent recordings, even on compressed, modern date music with poorer dynamic range, there is virtually no sibilance or excessive glare. I am sorry for a comparison to speakers, but my Dynaudio Focus 110A (1800 € expensive) are in no way so forgiving of poor recordings while Hifiman HE-400i is in that regard much more listener-friendly audio product. What already sounds harsh or overly bright on my speakers is still perfectly listenable on HE-400i. Among headphones HE-400i is more forgiving of bad recordings than DT 990, HE-560, HD 800 or HE-6. In my opinion it even rivals LCD-2 (fazored) and is only slightly inferior to Oppo PM1 in this regard. This is also one of the reasons why HE-400i has non-fatiguing sound and why I am giving such a high grade also in this section – 9/10.5) SOUNDSTAGERegarding 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 wasdifference 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.6) IMAGINGImaging on HE-400i is pretty good. It´s easy to pinpoint where instruments or vocals are located, because of the reasonably big soundstage and great instrument separation. But it´s understandable that some higher end headphones with larger soundstage, better treble and bass extension and slightly better overall resolution/clarity (e.g. HD 800 or HE-6) are able to offer even more precise imaging. But HE-400i is no slouch in this regard. Although HE-400i is on the „warmer side“ of neutral I do not feel it lacks airiness or speed. Despite having more intimate soundstage and less airier sound than HE-560 or HE-6, HE-400i is - thanks to its excellent instrument separation, solid speed /PRaT and resolution - still able to image really really well. 8.5 /107) INSTRUMENT SEPARATIONOne of the sound aspects which in my opinion draws a line between average, good and great headphone is the instrument separation. ( Indeed, what else should „separate“ it, if not the?! ) In this context I would rank HE-400i to the group of great headphones because one of the things which a listener immediately notices is how easy HE-400i separates single instruments, main and background vocals. HE-400i is able to stay focused even during the busiest musical passages. This ability is naturally further enhanced by high quality recordings and high-grade rig. HE-400i takes full advantage of high quality lossless material like DSF/DSD files. Separation on SACD type of audio files is particularly impressive. Also for modern compressed rock/metal recordings is HE-400i a fully-fledged headphone as far as instrument separation goes, but here HE-400i clearly shows the drawbacks of recordings with poor dynamic range. Highly compressed nowadays albums with a dynamic range under 7 - in a direct comparison with older recordings - usually sound flatter,which negatively affects subtle nuances left in music. From my point of view, this is also harmful for presenting instrument separation in an effortless way. However, you can´t blame the headphone for not making compressed 320 kpbs mp3´s sound like SACD files with a dynamic range of 12 or higher... I can imagine that some higher end cans like HD 800 or LCD-X would - due to their better soundstage, better treble or bass extension - sound more effortless in this aspect and that´s why I´m giving 9/10 here.8) PRaTI have to admit, this term was initially new to me and only thanks to this site ( http://www.head-fi.org/t/220770/describing-sound-a-glossary and http://www.head-fi.org/t/371771/what-is-prat ) I became familiar that it is an acronym for pace, rhythm and timing. That´s fine, but what is it actually supposed to mean ?! I´m not going to reinvent the wheel by saying that it obviously is connected with the headphones quality to present music in its full dynamics, in its ability to appropriately render even subtle, „ hidden“ microdetails such as decay, texture, attack (see the aforementioned glossary) etc. I came to an understanding that to have superior PRaT it is essential to have high quality transducers - which provide excellent damping (to prevent resonances), fast transient response (to achieve superb resolution) and extremely low distortion. To make it short, HE-400i does have all of this... to a certain level, which seems to be (at least for me) rather high. Thanks to the planar nature of the HE-400i transducer, these cans are able to „ decipher “ also such „ hidden“ microdetails like decay or texture considerably quickly. This show ups in an articulate sound which is presented in HE-400i across the whole frequency spectrum. However there are headphones which are even more agile in this ability to portray attacks, with even better transient speed, leading to a more precise sense of timing in music and generally better resolution. I haven´t had a pleasure to hear electrostats but these are said to have that special agility ( thanks to the nature of their transducer). There is no reason to be doubtful here. The best headphones in this regard (PRaT), from the cans that I´ve personally heard, were the Audeze LCD-X. First think that struck me when I heard them was: „wow, what a fast sound !“. They were incredibly dynamic sounding cans through their balanced stock cable. But despite having a bit more relaxed sound than LCD-X on the balanced cable (which from my impressions is enhancing, besides other things, particularly the PRaT factor) HE-400i consistently offers, already through the unbalanced stock cable, a very fine sense of attack, fast decay and solid transient speed, that´s why I´m giving 8.5/10 here.9) MUSICALITYProbably the most difficult sound aspect to measure - if it´s any possible - is „musicality“. What is this so called „ musicality“ all about ? Well, for me it is quite subjectively perceived sound quality usually connected with a sense of cohesion, ability to present music as a whole, or in other words, great reproduction of macrodetail. It´s a sound which is „pleasent to ears“, often perceived as lush or euphonic, or sometimes kind of coloured in a subjectively postive way. This is the area where HE-400i truly shines. You simply stop checking or analysing every single microdetail and instead you feel „immersed into music“. With HE-400i you can clearly feel how much emotions are left in music, let it be passion, joy, sorrow, softness, regrets or commitment. Slightly warm/neutral sound signature of HE-400i is also very fitting for longer listening sessions. Up to this time I´ve heard only 2 headphones with maybe a touch more „musical“ approach, namely Oppo PM1 and the „pesky“- „ how could they make such a relaxing sounding can with such an „unrelaxing“ comfort ?! “- LCD-2. These two cans would get 10/10 for musicality, while HE-400i gets 9.5/10 here.10) OVERALL TRANSPARENCY/ RESOLUTIONLast, but certainly not least important sound aspect I´m going to briefly analyse in connection with HE-400i is the overall transparency and resolution of the headphone. These sound aspects are closely linked, and while they are not absolute synonyms (see http://www.head-fi.org/a/describing-sound-a-glossary ), it´s obvious you can hardly have great transparency without having great resolution and vice versa. Headphones with great transparency (should) have optimal clarit, low distortion and sound free of significant peaks or unwanted resonances. Headphones with great resolution (should) have superb detail retrieval, ability to render even subtle information in music. As mentioned in PRaT section HE-400i have appreciably fast transient response which helps a lot in deciphering subtle details. Together with impressively low distortion across the whole frequency spectrum (see THD graph on http://www.innerfidelity.com/images/HiFiMANHE4002014.pdf ) and generally smooth and cohesive „planar“ sound, we get, in my opinion, a headphone with a high grade overall transparency/resolution. However some headphones may have more accentuated or extended treble, which may lead to a sense of more detailed sound. Some listeners may prefer this and it´s usually a desirable quality for some genres like e.g. classical. Some headphones may have better bass extension (HE-560, LCD-2, LCD-X) with similar or better transient speed and that also leads into more detailed or textured presentation in bass/ sub-bass. On the other hand HE-400i, also maybe due to its warm/neutral sound signature, does not feel overly analytical. It does not present music like „all details are in your face“ but chooses more musical approach – it tries to present music as a whole, while keeping more than sufficient clarity. At least for me. 9/10.That is for the sound – related aspects...Now briefly to the non-sound related aspects...APPEARENCE / DESIGNHE-400i are in my opinion very nice looking headphones. They have modern look with a newly designed headband and specific FocusPads (combination of velour and pleather) Cups are of a very attractive deep purple/ deep grey colour (depends on light and angle you look at). Only drawback seems to be they are a bit fingerprints prone so I would recommend to clean them regularl, if you want to keep them intact. I like the appearence/design of these headphones very much. But, be aware: If you look at yourself in the mirror wearing them, you may look as an alien from a very distant galaxy... As known, HE-400i are of open back design and as such they naturally leak a lot of sound.My score: 9/10COMFORT/ ERGONOMICSThe construction of HE-400i feels rather solid, but the headphone is quite flexible in a positive way, as you can easily adjust the position of these cans on your head. After you place them on your head they stay firm and stable. New headband and Focus Pads are in my opinion also contributing to a better overall comfort. Some users have reported certain unpleasentness from the clamp pressure but I personally find it fairly comfortable. I´m a fan of FocusPads too, they are soft and pleasant to wear as your ears don´t get hot. Biggest impact in comfort department (in relation to the older Hifimans or other planars) was obviously achieved by weight reduction. HE-400i, being at 13,05 ounces or 370 grams, is substantially lighter than the older Hifimans (HE-500, HE-400, HE-6) or Audeze LCD- series. This contributes (and in a big way) to a very good overall comfort of HE-400i, which is miles ahead against LCD-2, about on par with Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro and a bit worse than on Sennheiser HD 800 (probably the most comfortable headphones I´ve ever worn) As far as other ergonomics goes I did not find anything particularly bothering, besides of the cable connectors which are not the easiest to screw and the length of the cable, which might be a tad short ( only 5 feet or 1,5 meter long, but of a very good quality) for a comfortable home listening - especially if you are using HE-400i with your main audio rig.Summary: wearing comfort 8.5/10, other ergonomics 7.5/10 Overall comfort/ergonomics 8/10EFFICIENCYHE-400i are one of the most efficient headphones among planars. Their relatively mediocre sensitivity ( SPL at 93 dB/mW ) and low impedance (at 35 Ohms) mean these headphones should sound sufficiently loud and reasonably well also through a cell phone or an iPod. However, it does not mean HE-400i needs no amplification. It is still harder to drive than the average over the ear headphone. You would get much better results by using headphone amplifier. I´m using HE-400i with iBasso DX90 and Audionengine D1 (DAC/headphone amp). Built in head amp in iBasso DX90 is sufficiently powerful to drive them to the high level even on medium gain. HE-400i is even touch more easier to drive than DT 990 ( SPL at 96 dB/mW and 250 Ohm impedance). With HE-400i I can get comfortable listening at 210-225 volume level on medium gain on lossless material of good dynamic range (11 and higher, usually older recordings from 80´s). With DT 990, in comparison, I have to crank the volume to around 220-235 level with the same recordings. When listening louder modern recordings (lower dynamic range) the volume level around 195-210 is usually sufficient for me. Audioengine D1 is also capable of handling HE-400i. It´s not the most powerful amplifier but it has no problems to drive these headphones really well. Overall I would say Hifiman HE-400i is quite an efficient over-ear headphone and can be also used with portable players.My score: 8.5/ 10PRICE/PERFORMANCE AND VALUE (I´ll admit this is a kind of ambiguous aspect)This is the aspect where I can give 10/10 without hesitation. Why ? HE-400i offers tremendous price/performance ratio, for 500 dollars (euros) you get a headphone which can hold its own very respectfully against some of the best headphones in the world and is even pretty competitive (with them) in some sound aspects. Despite being a bit worse in overall sound quality vs HE-560, LCD-2, Oppo PM1, HE-6, LCD-X or HD 800 the difference is actually much tighter than the price tag would suggest. While spending 500 dollars/euros for a headphone is not a „bargain“, it is in fact a very generous price for this audio product – taking into account its impressive sound quality and also prestigious looking leather box, which comes in a package with HE-400i.But the overall value of HE-400i goes further than just to „respectful sound quality for 500 bucks and a nice box“. Thanks to its non-fatiguing yet at the same time engaging sound and impressive wearing comfort is the Hifiman HE-400i literally a perfect headphone for longer listening sessions. HE-400i, as a fairly efficient headphone, can also be used with decent portable players, which allows you to get (back) into the world of high quality sound within a few seconds... These valuable assets were also taken into account when giving my overall score for this product.By counting all 10 grades from all 10 sound aspects I got the number 88.5/ 100. That´s a pretty high score, but to me it seems subjectively fair. Yes, maybe HE-400i did not quite excel in any of the aforementioned sound aspects (In none of the ten analysed sound aspects it got 10/10 ! ) but I felt these headphones offered very solid performance in all examined areas. Maybe small compromises were here and there, but the overall versatility and consistency in sound quality was apparent in all sound aspects and for all examined genres (rock, pop, classical, metal, blues, jazz, new age and electronic). Although I have compared HE-400i with higher end headphones only for a relatively short amount of time, I feel confident in saying that HE-400i is very very close to the top level headphones (grade 90 and above). Well, for me HE-400i is a kind of „entrance gate“ to high end sound. And while the asking price is not cheap - around 500 dollars/euros - it´s easy to recommend these headphones to all audiophiles on a „lower“ budget, because the overall price/performance factor is even better than 8.85/10...If it was only for the sound quality alone I would give HE-400i four and a half star. But taken into account also the price/performance ratio, the level of comfort and fairly good efficiency (for a planar headphone) I decided to give this audio product five stars.4,5/5 stars (or to be more precise 88.5/100) - for the sound quality 5/5 stars - overall rating for the audio productAfter 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...The sound potential of HE-400i can be probably further enhanced by modification ( http://www.head-fi.org/t/698974/hifiman-he-400i-impressions-and-discussion/3510 or by using a balanced cable ( http://www.head-direct.com/Products/?act=detail&id=211 ). After the modification has been done, some users reported improvements such as: better soundstage, better imaging, bass or treble extension... However, I don´t know how much of an overall improvement can be achieved by modification. Nevertheless, I am not interested in any modification of HE-400i because I am already satisfied with the sound quality and the sound signature from the stock model. Besides of that I do not feel technically competent „for the job“. On the other side in the future I would like to buy a balanced cable and Oppo HA-1 – a highly capable headphone amplifier /DAC offering XLR connectors, enabling to use HE-400i in a balanced mode. I guess this is a way for me to go...That´s it. Thank you for reading ! Kudos to your staminaGreetings from Slovakia, Martin