[cheuh]

I currently own the HE-400 I like them very much. I enjoy their  open sound, mids, detail, instrument separation, imaging, and speed. I listen to a lot of EDM, house, vocal  trance, melodic dubstep, rap/hip hop...  although their bass is very good when called for, I sometimes crave for a harder hitting bass. I guess that means I'm a basshead? This is not to be confused for bloated bass. I heard some closed back ultrasones and they sounded bloated and messy to me. Is the HE-400 the best open back headphone with deep clean hard hitting bass under $500?  
 
 
I can wear the HE-400 with velour pads for many hours without discomfort. The only thing that bothers me is that I listen to them in my living room at a very high volume and they can leak sound like crazy. I guess this is the trade off for a more natural open sound? I was wondering if I should go with one open headphone and one closed one? My concern is that the two headphones will be of lower quality and will I lose the  detail, instrument separation, imaging, and speed that I already have with the HE-400? In other words, would I be 'downgrading' from the HE-400? What would you guys recommend? Keep the HE-400 or look into buying a pair of open and closed headphone? My budget is $400-$500 and I would have to sell the HE-400 if I got two new headphones.
 
 
I currently have an Objective 2 amp and I was interested in the DT 880 600ohm as the open headphone and maybe the DT 770 LE Anniversary Edition or Mr. Speaker Mad dog as the closed headphone. Please suggest any headphones that can match the HE-400 in bass, open sound, mids, clarity/detail, instrument separation, imaging, and speed.  Thanks!

 

[chewy4]

If you're craving more bass, the HE-400 is extremely responsive to bass boosts via equalization, given you've got the power headroom. If you give the bass a hump around the 100Hz area they can get really punchy.
 
Unless you want a totally different sound signature I suggest you keep them and get a new closed pair.

 

[cheuh]

Thanks man! I'll go ahead and give the EQ a try. It's best to eq down correct?

 

[chewy4]

Yep, that prevents clipping.
 
A good EQ software is electri-q for winamp, also available as a vst plugin for foobar or anything else that uses vst(http://www.aixcoustic.com/index.php?id=13). It's what you see is what you get, rather than with most graphic equalizers where you're just guessing. Although for something broad like a bass boost it might not make a big difference.

 

[TMRaven]

If you have the O2 amp, you can afford to do some reductive EQ to give your HE-400 a bass-boost. Its bass can get pretty ridiculous when EQ'd.

 

[wje]

Seriously?  You're asking the general public here to vote if you should keep the HE-400s?  Oy Veh.  

 

[cheuh]

Well I was looking for some advice if I should keep them or look for a different open + a closed headphone when I don't want my sound to leak. I have seen some good reviews for the Beyerdynamic DT 880 600 ohm, Mr. Speaker Mad Dogs, DT 770 LE Anniversary Edition, and I was wondering how do they compare to the HE-400? Would it be a 'downgrade' to get two cheaper headphones instead of staying with the HE-400?

 

[jerg]

Quote:

Well I was looking for some advice if I should keep them or look for a different open + a closed headphone when I don't want my sound to leak. I have seen some good reviews for the Beyerdynamic DT 880 600 ohm, Mr. Speaker Mad Dogs, DT 770 LE Anniversary Edition, and I was wondering how do they compare to the HE-400? Would it be a 'downgrade' to get two cheaper headphones instead of staying with the HE-400?

Only one way to really find out 

 

[cheuh]

I have been playing around with the EQ and I can finally get a satisfying amount of sub bass for rap and hip hop music.

 
So if anyone can convince me if there are any open headphones under $500 that can beat the overall sound quality of the HE-400 for electronic, house, trance, rap/hip-hop, I think I might have to look for a separate closed back headphone when I want some isolation. 

 

[MattTCG]

If you're looking for good bass with isolation, I like the maddogs a lot. The bass seems to be wonderfully natural and layered depending on the recording. The heavier the bass line in the music, the more this hp will give you.