Trying to upgrade or sidestep from my HE-400i's.
Mar 19, 2018 at 12:19 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 11
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Newtothis142

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I want to either upgrade my HE-400i to the HE-400S or get a K7XX or HD 6XX. Getting the Sennheisers or AKG would be more costly because I would need to get a new DAC/AMP for them. What should I get and is it worth the price to change to the Sennheisers or AKG? I mainly game and listen to music.
 
Mar 19, 2018 at 11:19 AM Post #2 of 11
Newtothis142 said:
I want to either upgrade my HE-400i to the HE-400S or get a K7XX or HD 6XX. Getting the Sennheisers or AKG would be more costly because I would need to get a new DAC/AMP for them. What should I get and is it worth the price to change to the Sennheisers or AKG? I mainly game and listen to music.
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If you didn't get an amp to drive the HE400i properly and thus have nothing to drive the HD6XX or K7XX properly then might as well get the HE400S. At 98dB/1mW sensitivity it's on par with the HD6XX's sensitivity vs the 93dB/1mW HE400i and K7XX. If anything, at 24ohms whatever you're currently using might actually have lower output into it than to the HE400i, butgiven that huge gap in sensitivity, it would have to be a drastic drop in output for it to be a a bigger problem on the HE400S.
 
Mar 19, 2018 at 11:28 AM Post #3 of 11
Newtothis142 said:
I want to either upgrade my HE-400i to the HE-400S or get a K7XX or HD 6XX. Getting the Sennheisers or AKG would be more costly because I would need to get a new DAC/AMP for them. What should I get and is it worth the price to change to the Sennheisers or AKG? I mainly game and listen to music.
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The ones you listed would be a step backwards. IMO. But I also agree with PM above. If you MUST change, go for the 400S.
 
Mar 19, 2018 at 12:32 PM Post #4 of 11
Your preferences will play the bigger role here.

AKG K712 can give you a bigger soundstage, more ethereal and incissive sound.
HD650 can give you warmer tone, more cohessive mids and smoother treble.
DT880 can give you a cooler and brighter signature with tight, unintrussive bass and very extended / sparkly treble.

Upgrade or downgrade at this point is mostly a matter of preference.
 
Mar 19, 2018 at 9:16 PM Post #6 of 11
A higher quality setup (DAC/Amp) will add refinement to the sound, but won't change the sound signature of your headphone.
I would say try to pick the headphone that suits your preferences the best. Then improve your setup around it.
If you feel HE400i gives you what you like (in terms of bass quality and quantity, midrange and treble presentation, soundstage, fit/comfort and finnish, etc.) then sure, there's no need to get a different headphone. Get a better setup and what you already like will get even better. But if you, on the other hand, don't feel the HE400i is the one for you, for one reason or the other, then check those different headphones. Each of them will present sound in a different way and you'll surely enjoy some of them more than the others.
 
Mar 20, 2018 at 12:18 AM Post #7 of 11
Newtothis142 said:
Would it be better at this point to just get a higher quality dac?
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Unless you're using a DAC with certain limitations (or outright design flaws) - too low or too high line output voltage, distortion, doesn't work with a source you want to use due to software or power requirements via USB, etc - just stick with the same DAC.

If you're using a DAC-HPamp now that can't drive the HE400i or it can power-wise but its distortion pattern leans to getting brighter, then maybe get a new DAC-HPamp, because in this case it's not the DAC that's the problem but its amp stage.

That said, if you really don't like the HE400i, might as well replace the headphone along with the DAC-HPamp.

It depends really. What DAC-HPamp you're using now and what exactly do you not like about your current system's sound? Just because the headphone is inadequately driven does not mean that ultimately the problem is just on the DAC-HPamp.
 
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Mar 20, 2018 at 2:26 AM Post #8 of 11
Most of the problems would probably rest on the limitations of the dac, but I also feel that the HE-400i has an unnaturalness in voices and I was wondering if the 400S do better in that department? Just adding something in, are the HD 700's worth the 400-500$? Or would I be better off with the 400S still.
 
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Mar 20, 2018 at 8:48 AM Post #9 of 11
Newtothis142 said:
Most of the problems would probably rest on the limitations of the dac, but I also feel that the HE-400i has an unnaturalness in voices and I was wondering if the 400S do better in that department?
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HE400i overall is technically superior but that dip in the mdrange and treble save for the peak at 3500hz does tend to cause some issues for some (otherwise it's offset by the natural bias human perception has for the midrange). HE400S has non linearities all over but it does have a cleaner response on the vocals, so if that's what you're after without losing too much of the planar bass (it still rolls off early and is far from flat, but being a planar at least it has less issues with bass distortion vs dynamic drivers that have to pump harder), then you don't really have other options.


Newtothis142 said:
Just adding something in, are the HD 700's worth the 400-500$? Or would I be better off with the 400S still.
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HD700 is slightly better in imaging but I'm not paying that much for it when I can just get the HE400S and call it a day.

Or you can get the K712. As long as you have a powerful amp for it then it's not a problem.
 
Mar 21, 2018 at 4:58 AM Post #10 of 11
Sundara is the 500$ point too... Why not that instead of HD700?

Why is the DAC a limiter?

I don't have an issue with vocals on 400i, but out of curiosity, what amp and dac are you using?
 
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