A bit of background:
Now to my review:
I think my demo of the HifiMan RE-400 was one of the fastest purchasing decisions I have made. Compared to the other in ears I was testing, they just sounded so "right" with a flat midrange and such natural timbres! I have had other similarly quick demos but those mostly involve me ripping headphones off my head because of how badly coloured they are, but that is another story. RE-400's were clearly the most faithful earphones I had heard that day regardless of price (I had listened some earphones costing 20x the price of RE-400!)
Anyway I think it is customary to break reviews down into sections, maybe BASS, MIDS, TREBLE etc. so I might do the same:
BASS: Flat. Not elevated or rolled. Just flat down to 20 Hz like a planar. Tight. Not boomy. Detailed. Acoustic. Fast. A little shy when not driven with enough power. Excellent.
MIDS: No peaks or dips. Clear. Perfect timbre. Fast and clean. Resolving - this is not the same kind of (overly) airy sense of resolution you get with BA earphones, and subjectively there is not as much finer microdetail as some of the multi BA solutions, but the overall faithfulness of timbre is higher and resolution is hardly lacking*. *Actually I think part of the subjective impression of resolution might be down to the frequency balance which I will discuss that later.
TREBLE: Good timbre, moderately good extension. I can still make out all the cymbals and acoustic instruments all sound remarkably lifelike. There is some lack of air due to rolloff in the high treble. Mid treble also needs some boosting with EQ. I added +6dB centered at 6kHz and +10dB centered at 16kHz, however you may find different adjustments more to your taste.
I use these earphones with my Sony ZX2 DAP, which from experience may be slightly lacking the power to make the bass wake up but, interestingly the RE-400 are not holding back this high end DAP. The RE-400 will improve with better gear such as Chord's Mojo, or even some other higher powered DAPs. The RE-400s are incredibly transparent and revealing. Colourations in source components or amplifiers are laid bare. They are not harsh (though there is some very slight sibilance splash). Yes it makes sense to use this (USD) $100 earphone with high end portable gear like Chord Mojo, Sony ZX2, Astell & Kern AK240 etc.
I mostly listen to classical and jazz, however I still listen to some heavy metal. With classical and jazz the technical prowess of these earphones is hard to beat at any price. For heavy metal, the technical ability and truthfulness is usually also good, however poorly recorded material will sound however it sounds. I can just back off the treble EQ to compensate if the recording is too harsh for high volume listening. When playing acoustic music you want to be able to appreciate the full performance in all it's nuance and dynamics. Timbres are very convincing.
Anyway I could continue to waffle about the technical ability of this earphone, however at the end of the day it will be up to the listener and his gear, music and tastes to determine if they like this earphone or not. I almost overlooked these earphones, firstly because of the price (I think many others do as well), but secondly because I was not aware of just how good they are regardless of lack of hype. I am sure that the few listeners with good ears who have discovered these gems are happy that their performance is not widely hyped. It's a small miracle that this level of sound quality can be found for so little money, especially considering the general trend in the market towards more costly designs. I recommend for everyone to try these earphones, especially audiophiles who value neutral, transparent, and low distortion sound. Do NOT make the mistake to overlook these earphones because of the low price.
I have never really been that into portable gear. I have already sunk a lot of money into my home setup, it is more comfortable to use than in ears, more conducive to critical listening, and generally I like to be aware of my surroundings when walking around in public. I am however well past the point of diminishing returns with my home setup, and occasionally its nice to tune out from the unpleasantness of public transport, plane travel etc. and still have an acceptably engaging and truthful sound quality from portable equipment.
In any case I am used to over ear desktop sound. Relative to my desktop gear in the price range I am looking at is compromised in one way or another. More often than not with multi balanced armature in ear monitors there are certain colourations due to the BA drivers themselves, crossovers, peaks and dips in frequency response. More often than not the BA headphones I have tried exhibit an airy sound quality that sounds nice and detailed, have excellent separation and detail. More often than not though you know you are listening to a multi BA earphone. The JH Layla was an exception, showing little of the usual BA colourations (not airy or soft), having excellent dynamic impact and incredible imaging. Eventually though I tired from the lack of micro detail resolution and poor fit, and incredible local cost (our currency in Australia has dropped in value). I sold them and went back to my Westone 4's.
Anyway the trend with multi BA earphones seems to be stacking more and more drivers to develop a more forceful detail presentation and dynamic impact, and get away from that sort of vapid airy BA sound. This however is very costly and more often than not still results in peaks and dips and phase irregularities and other colourations to the sound. Coupled with the weakening Australian dollar, chasing high sound quality using multi BA based earphones is getting expensive.
Recently my Westone 4's died, so I went on a search for replacements. I tried a lot of the new multi BA options. They are making progress in sound however IMO are still quite compromised in sound quality versus full sized earphones. I also tried some of the new extremely expensive dynamic in ears (I won't mention names). They had some nice qualities but again have substantial coloration to the sound mostly due to uneven frequency response and ringing distortions. I am always happy to see new research and development in dynamic in ears but I don't fancy spending big money on (still) flawed products.
In any case I am used to over ear desktop sound. Relative to my desktop gear in the price range I am looking at is compromised in one way or another. More often than not with multi balanced armature in ear monitors there are certain colourations due to the BA drivers themselves, crossovers, peaks and dips in frequency response. More often than not the BA headphones I have tried exhibit an airy sound quality that sounds nice and detailed, have excellent separation and detail. More often than not though you know you are listening to a multi BA earphone. The JH Layla was an exception, showing little of the usual BA colourations (not airy or soft), having excellent dynamic impact and incredible imaging. Eventually though I tired from the lack of micro detail resolution and poor fit, and incredible local cost (our currency in Australia has dropped in value). I sold them and went back to my Westone 4's.
Anyway the trend with multi BA earphones seems to be stacking more and more drivers to develop a more forceful detail presentation and dynamic impact, and get away from that sort of vapid airy BA sound. This however is very costly and more often than not still results in peaks and dips and phase irregularities and other colourations to the sound. Coupled with the weakening Australian dollar, chasing high sound quality using multi BA based earphones is getting expensive.
Recently my Westone 4's died, so I went on a search for replacements. I tried a lot of the new multi BA options. They are making progress in sound however IMO are still quite compromised in sound quality versus full sized earphones. I also tried some of the new extremely expensive dynamic in ears (I won't mention names). They had some nice qualities but again have substantial coloration to the sound mostly due to uneven frequency response and ringing distortions. I am always happy to see new research and development in dynamic in ears but I don't fancy spending big money on (still) flawed products.
Now to my review:
I think my demo of the HifiMan RE-400 was one of the fastest purchasing decisions I have made. Compared to the other in ears I was testing, they just sounded so "right" with a flat midrange and such natural timbres! I have had other similarly quick demos but those mostly involve me ripping headphones off my head because of how badly coloured they are, but that is another story. RE-400's were clearly the most faithful earphones I had heard that day regardless of price (I had listened some earphones costing 20x the price of RE-400!)
Anyway I think it is customary to break reviews down into sections, maybe BASS, MIDS, TREBLE etc. so I might do the same:
BASS: Flat. Not elevated or rolled. Just flat down to 20 Hz like a planar. Tight. Not boomy. Detailed. Acoustic. Fast. A little shy when not driven with enough power. Excellent.
MIDS: No peaks or dips. Clear. Perfect timbre. Fast and clean. Resolving - this is not the same kind of (overly) airy sense of resolution you get with BA earphones, and subjectively there is not as much finer microdetail as some of the multi BA solutions, but the overall faithfulness of timbre is higher and resolution is hardly lacking*. *Actually I think part of the subjective impression of resolution might be down to the frequency balance which I will discuss that later.
TREBLE: Good timbre, moderately good extension. I can still make out all the cymbals and acoustic instruments all sound remarkably lifelike. There is some lack of air due to rolloff in the high treble. Mid treble also needs some boosting with EQ. I added +6dB centered at 6kHz and +10dB centered at 16kHz, however you may find different adjustments more to your taste.
I use these earphones with my Sony ZX2 DAP, which from experience may be slightly lacking the power to make the bass wake up but, interestingly the RE-400 are not holding back this high end DAP. The RE-400 will improve with better gear such as Chord's Mojo, or even some other higher powered DAPs. The RE-400s are incredibly transparent and revealing. Colourations in source components or amplifiers are laid bare. They are not harsh (though there is some very slight sibilance splash). Yes it makes sense to use this (USD) $100 earphone with high end portable gear like Chord Mojo, Sony ZX2, Astell & Kern AK240 etc.
I mostly listen to classical and jazz, however I still listen to some heavy metal. With classical and jazz the technical prowess of these earphones is hard to beat at any price. For heavy metal, the technical ability and truthfulness is usually also good, however poorly recorded material will sound however it sounds. I can just back off the treble EQ to compensate if the recording is too harsh for high volume listening. When playing acoustic music you want to be able to appreciate the full performance in all it's nuance and dynamics. Timbres are very convincing.
Anyway I could continue to waffle about the technical ability of this earphone, however at the end of the day it will be up to the listener and his gear, music and tastes to determine if they like this earphone or not. I almost overlooked these earphones, firstly because of the price (I think many others do as well), but secondly because I was not aware of just how good they are regardless of lack of hype. I am sure that the few listeners with good ears who have discovered these gems are happy that their performance is not widely hyped. It's a small miracle that this level of sound quality can be found for so little money, especially considering the general trend in the market towards more costly designs. I recommend for everyone to try these earphones, especially audiophiles who value neutral, transparent, and low distortion sound. Do NOT make the mistake to overlook these earphones because of the low price.