In your case, on the sound card it was a toss up, but to me the DT880 had a better response (non-eq'd), which I believe will be the most common configuration. I´m thinking about this HiFiMan HE-400i whith the EF2A amp (also by HiFiMan) and a Fiio X5 ii as a sourse. The AKG K712 Pro cannot really be balanced without serious modification while the HiFiMAN can be easily balanced which is a plus if you have a fully balanced setup. Treble is well integrated with other parts into frequency spectrum and contributes to the balanced tonality of HE-400i.

HIFIMAN HE400i Ver.2020 - Reviews - Head-Fi.org

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. HIFIMAN ANANDA and SUNDARA are few of their new lineups and it is quite popular in audiophile groups. For the Quality, higher is better as this includes resolution and dynamics while the quantity and positioning are subjective, it actually tells how close and how much the frequencies are. With Steve Guttenberg's volume maxed out on his iPod Classic, the HE-400i was also barely loud enough.I listen mostly rock, hard rock and pop, occasionally classical and metal, and rarely blues, jazz, new age and electronic. Just like with the 400 vs the 500, the 400i could be considered as the more fun sounding headphone and the 560 as the more audiophile reference unit. Here it shows the HE-500 is one of the older generation orthos and the new ones like the LCD-XC/ LCD-X/400i and 560 just play on a higher level with better sound, comfort and build quality. With regards to open back headphones, I prefer the HE400i to the Beyerdynamic DT990, which has an overemphasized treble and sounds less natural to me.

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

Most of that seductive texture is still retained but now it doesn’t just punch weakly, now it attacks you with authority! com/collections/portable-audio/products/geek-out-1000-usb-dac-and-headphone-amplifier or http://marketplace. Of course there are even better headphones which are able to portray vocals or instruments in even more realistic way ( e. The package is just okay, I just hope that there’s a carrying cloth bag at the very least just in case you don’t have any headphone hard case and you want to carry it around from home and your workplace. 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.adapter is crap though, had connection issues so I threw it to the bin (having another 5 laying around). Also on headphone amp from Oppo (HA-1) or Audioengine D1 the bass came alive, particularly on lossless material. Some of the stuff I listen too just isn't produced right and the Hifiman will reveal it to you and shove in it your face. The bass is clear, but not overwhelming, Benni's voice is up-front and delicate and the brush strokes on the drums clearly audible.

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

The HiFiMan HE-400i is a large, full-size headphone that uses planar-magnetic drivers for exceptional sound quality highlighted by first-rate clarity, detail and well-defined bass. From the brief comparison with HE-560 I did not feel that the more expensive headphone had here such a big upper hand. LCD Soundsystem's percussive beats driving "On Repeat" had plenty of oomph but lost some of their attack and crispness on the P7. Despite having pretty intimate sound stage for an open back headphone, it still sounds realistic since imaging and layering are top notch. It's clear the HE-400i is designed for audiophiles, so it only sounds its best mated with an audiophile music player, or at home plugged into an AV receiver or headphone amplifier.

It would be nice to see a 3m cable included that has the straight jack plug, but the short cable was not a problem for my desktop setup. These don’t disappear completely but they don’t keep screaming “hey I’m on your head, does that bother you? My set up is Mid 2012 MacBook PRO with retina display>schiit vali>cable pro freedom upgrade cable> he-400i.