Back to upgrade

[Smychavo]

Hey there! It's been awhile, but I resolved my original ground loop problem with a little isolator plug, but now my headphones are certainly growing long in the tooth, and I'd certainly like to upgrade sooner than later. I'm looking around the $1k range. Coming from the 4XX, I really enjoyed their staging, and clarity, though I'd like a bit more emphasis across the mids/lows. I'm primarily undecided between Ether CX, and LCD-2. A few other choices I've considered, though not as strongly are LCD-2C, Aeon Noire, and HE6SE. I'm admittedly biased towards another planar, and as far as music, I have alittle bit of everything. Classical, Rock, Electronic, Hip-Hop to name off the genres I listen the most of.

 

[Berwhale]

I'd like a bit more emphasis across the mids/lows

You can apply EQ for free on most platforms. You don't need to spend $1k on new HP to get this. The 4XX are quite bulky, I much prefer my HD 660S from a weight and comfort perspective, but they both sound pretty much the same once EQ'd.

 

[Smychavo]

You can apply EQ for free on most platforms. You don't need to spend $1k on new HP to get this. The 4XX are quite bulky, I much prefer my HD 660S from a weight and comfort perspective, but they both sound pretty much the same once EQ'd.

That's a fair point, and I've done so on mine. Problem being is the headband's disintegrating, and one of the earcups are coming loose from its mount and slides laterally when in use which is pretty jarring, and the same earcup's cable socket is semi-inconsistent connectivity wise. If I look at it funny the signal cuts out. On one hand I want a different experience with a new transducer, the other is that my pair are getting there to kicking the bucket

 

[Berwhale]

That's a fair point, and I've done so on mine. Problem being is the headband's disintegrating, and one of the earcups are coming loose from its mount and slides laterally when in use which is pretty jarring, and the same earcup's cable socket is semi-inconsistent connectivity wise. If I look at it funny the signal cuts out. On one hand I want a different experience with a new transducer, the other is that my pair are getting there to kicking the bucket

Fair enough. The build quality on my HE-4XX is not great either. The little rubber rings that stop the ear cups from flopping around perished, I managed to find some replacements (from a coffee machine service kit!). However, removing the allen screws that held the cups was a challenge... They were so stiff, that I managed to 'round' the hex part of one of the screws. Luckily the screw stuck out enough to get some pliers on it and I was able to replace it with a fairly similar one from my collection of odd screw.

I also have fenestrated sheepskin earpads on mine (bought from China). I find them much more comfortable than the half velour, half vinyl stock pads.

 

[Smychavo]

Fair enough. The build quality on my HE-4XX is not great either. The little rubber rings that stop the ear cups from flopping around perished, I managed to find some replacements (from a coffee machine service kit!). However, removing the allen screws that held the cups was a challenge... They were so stiff, that I managed to 'round' the hex part of one of the screws. Luckily the screw stuck out enough to get some pliers on it and I was able to replace it with a fairly similar one from my collection of odd screw.

I also have fenestrated sheepskin earpads on mine (bought from China). I find them much more comfortable than the half velour, half vinyl stock pads.

Ah, very nice, I'm glad to hear it worked out for ya! I find the stock pads pretty meh for durability, I bought a set and they hardly lasted a year.

On the flipside I see reviews for LCD-2 and it fascinates me plenty meanwhile. The more colored frequency response that's almosr what I'm looking with a cool looking build, and still being open back planars.
Or maybe the neutrality of the Ether CX with some more EQ to work with thanks to its lack of distortion would do well, along with them being a nice closed-back to make them a nice set to use for hours on end. It's tempting to me at least!

 

[DVDdoug]

I'm looking around the $1k range.

Of course (almost) everybody has an upper budget limit but with headphones there is very little correlation between sound quality and price.

Headphones are difficult to measure and different people with different measurement set-ups will get different results. And personal preferences vary. So IMO it's best if you can listen for yourself. Comfort is also a "personal" issue.

With headphones "sound quality" is mostly about frequency response and of course you can compare the standardized ASR measurements if you have an idea of what you're looking for. For the most part you can EQ frequency response, but sometimes boosting the bass can push the headphone into distortion.

 

[Smychavo]

Of course (almost) everybody has an upper budget limit but with headphones there is very little correlation between sound quality and price.

Headphones are difficult to measure and different people with different measurement set-ups will get different results. And personal preferences vary. So IMO it's best if you can listen for yourself. Comfort is also a "personal" issue.

With headphones "sound quality" is mostly about frequency response and of course you can compare the standardized ASR measurements if you have an idea of what you're looking for. For the most part you can EQ frequency response, but sometimes boosting the bass can push the headphone into distortion.

I'm hoping canjam socal can do that for me as far as demoingis concerned. That said it's my first canjam I'm attending so I'm not certain as to whether that'd play out or not. I'm also wondering whether there are any audio shops that offer those two or similar options here, but I'm skeptical all the same as to that possibility. I've admittedly not looked very hard.

 

[Smychavo]

Fair enough. The build quality on my HE-4XX is not great either. The little rubber rings that stop the ear cups from flopping around perished, I managed to find some replacements (from a coffee machine service kit!). However, removing the allen screws that held the cups was a challenge... They were so stiff, that I managed to 'round' the hex part of one of the screws. Luckily the screw stuck out enough to get some pliers on it and I was able to replace it with a fairly similar one from my collection of odd screw.

I also have fenestrated sheepskin earpads on mine (bought from China). I find them much more comfortable than the half velour, half vinyl stock pads.

Say then, if you were to work with a smaller budget for replacement planars, would you think another Hifiman pair would be good? Or something different? I had some time to try Airpods Maxes earlier today while I was at an Apple Store for a iPhone repair, and found them really tonally off, despite being quite warm, so maybe something alot more neutral would really be more what I'm looking for.

 

[Berwhale]

I don't think the build quality of the HE-4XX is necessarily representative of the rest of the HifiMan range as it's manufactured to a price for Drop. However, HiFiMan are not exactly know for their build or quality control! That said, plenty of people are happy with their Sundaras and that's probably what I'd go for as an upgrade for the HE-4XX - I almost bought the Sundaras myself when they were on offer as factory refurbs on Amazon UK last Christmas for well under £200 (they are usually £300 in the UK).

 

[Smychavo]

I don't think the build quality of the HE-4XX is necessarily representative of the rest of the HifiMan range as it's manufactured to a price for Drop. However, HiFiMan are not exactly know for their build or quality control! That said, plenty of people are happy with their Sundaras and that's probably what I'd go for as an upgrade for the HE-4XX - I almost bought the Sundaras myself when they were on offer as factory refurbs on Amazon UK last Christmas for well under £200 (they are usually £300 in the UK).

I've asked around elsewhere and I've been heavily suggested 6XX, but the more I read on Sundaras the more interested I am in them. Plus they seem relatively affordable by comparison to what I was looking at earlier. So I think that's what I'll go for!

 

[Smychavo]

I don't think the build quality of the HE-4XX is necessarily representative of the rest of the HifiMan range as it's manufactured to a price for Drop. However, HiFiMan are not exactly know for their build or quality control! That said, plenty of people are happy with their Sundaras and that's probably what I'd go for as an upgrade for the HE-4XX - I almost bought the Sundaras myself when they were on offer as factory refurbs on Amazon UK last Christmas for well under £200 (they are usually £300 in the UK).

Brief update, despite the better judgement of others on different forums and smaller audio communities, I ultimately landed on the Sundaras as my desktop cans of choice. With that said, I am exceedingly satisfied with them. I didn't expect a neutral/bright signature to land so well with me, but tonally it is more or less what I was really looking for. Seeing as I also attended CanJam SoCal, I also went out of my way to try the alternative I had looked at prior to this, the HD650, of which I enjoyed, but found that I wasn't really missing out on much choosing that over the Sundara. I would like to extend my thanks to you for the suggestion all the same!

While I may complain of the current state of my old 4XXs, they are still a set of headphones I wish to keep, and have been using them lately as a sorta portable set seeing as my phone and laptop drives them without issue, so I will do my best to locate some new accessories to see whether they can be semi-restored. I've already seen some replacement Dekoni hybrid pads on sale at Drop's website, but I still need to locate some new O-rings for the driver support, and a headband replacement that can go over the existing one which has been wearing down to the foam. If there happens to be a recommendation for that in the meanwhile, I would also appreciate your time in that as well! Until then, take care!

 

[Berwhale]

My portable HE-4XX (with Qudelix 5K) ...

The fenestrated sheepskin earpads are from AliExpress: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001159400698.html