Hifiman HE400se Owner's Thread.

[TiborG]

I have had both the FiiO FT1 Pro and the Hifiman He400 for about 2 months. The FiiO is definitely better technically made and especially equipped, although it had problems with the joint on the head bridge. I received an updated version from the European FiiO dealer in Bulgaria. No problem with either model in my case.
The FiiO sound is more accurate, smoother, no extra demands on the amplifier, but the Hifiman is more interesting to me. Probably also more bass. The main source is the Topping D50 III and Sabaj A20H, or Tempotec V3 Blaze, USB dongle DAC Tempotec HD Pro or AkLIAM PD4, or the first DX3 Pro. Any source is sufficient for quality and volume.
Neither headphone will leave me.
And I've been addicted to the AKG 712 so far, which plays great with Sabaj.

 

[TiborG]

Hello, could anyone recommend earpads to make he400se sound warmer? I've heard that sheepskin does this, as well as perforated leather, which would be better? And I can only buy it from Aliexpress, so recommendations would have to be from there, thanks!

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004595818168.html?spm=a2g0o.order_list.order_list_main.10.21ef1802lHDSsc

Grey Mesh variant.
Until the fourth try. Neither velour nor leather will clarify the highs exactly according to my 65 year old ears. Ib this combination.

 

[Crook]

HE400se Right channel died at the weekend, 1 year and 6 days. Sent back for repair/replacement/refund, so no issues.

 

[Robbo99999]

I've really liked these HE400SE headphones with a slightly modified Oratory EQ, but I've not been using them much recently - I feel that they fatigue/abuse my right ear (kind of like the right ear feels a bit blocked after using them). I don't know what's causing it, I mean measurements of my unit on my miniDSP EARS don't really show differences between left & right that would explain that.

Maybe there's something about the anatomy of my right ear that interacts to cause a short sharp treble spike somewhere. The right ear fatigue doesn't always happen when I use them but happens often enough that I think it's related. Since I've stopped using them I've not noticed right ear fatigue since then. They're still the best sounding headphone out of the box for me when used with an unmodified Oratory EQ, so they're super reliable on that front, just this right ear fatigue seems to have slowly come to light. I know short sharp treble spikes have been noted with some other users on this forum with this headphone.

 

[DazST]

HE400se Right channel died at the weekend, 1 year and 6 days. Sent back for repair/replacement/refund, so no issues.

The HE400SE headphones i ordered during the amazon sale arrived today and there is no sound from the right channel. I tried it connected to 3 seperate sources with no luck. Swapped the cord between left and right and still nothing. Could be faulty cord I guess but am fairly sure its the actual headphones. And I don't have another cord to try so its going back to Amazon. Unsure now if I'll try the hifiman again or maybe go with something else. Pretty bummed about that.

 

[Robbo99999]

The HE400SE headphones i ordered during the amazon sale arrived today and there is no sound from the right channel. I tried it connected to 3 seperate sources with no luck. Swapped the cord between left and right and still nothing. Could be faulty cord I guess but am fairly sure its the actual headphones. And I don't have another cord to try so its going back to Amazon. Unsure now if I'll try the hifiman again or maybe go with something else. Pretty bummed about that.

I think I had the same problem - it was just a faulty 3.5mm to 6.35mm converter. So try a different converter. But you swapping the left & right & still the right was dead, then that goes against what I'm suggesting. You could just try it I guess because I'm not 100% sure what you meant by the swapping & the result you got.

 

[DazST]

I think I had the same problem - it was just a faulty 3.5mm to 6.35mm converter. So try a different converter. But you swapping the left & right & still the right was dead, then that goes against what I'm suggesting. You could just try it I guess because I'm not 100% sure what you meant by the swapping & the result you got.

Yeah that is what I meant about swapping the left and right cord. I hoped it might just be the converter but tried with a different one and just with 3.5 into the wiim ultra but still no sound from right channel. Thanks for the tip though mate.

 

[DazST]

Received my refund from Amazon so have reordered from a local hifi outlet. Hopefully this pair will work!

 

[Crook]

Received my refund from Amazon so have reordered from a local hifi outlet. Hopefully this pair will work!

Good to hear. I'd bought from established UK retailer, so I got a new pair in the post direct from China that are working fine. At £99 cost, I can't complain, there has to be some quality corners cut somewhere for the price. Hopefully if the second pair die, I can just send them back for a 3rd

 

[Spiral_Architect]

I can't for the life of me find stock replacement pads for the HE400SE. There are some pads sold at the official store (https://eu.hifiman.com/) but none of it is labelled as being the stock HE400SE pad, am I missing something ?

 

[zonk]

I can't for the life of me find stock replacement pads for the HE400SE. There are some pads sold at the official store (https://eu.hifiman.com/) but none of it is labelled as being the stock HE400SE pad, am I missing something ?

They are called PaliPads.
https://eu.hifiman.com/products/hifiman-pads?_pos=9&_fid=85e04b604&_ss=c

They are for SUNDARA, HE400SE, 400S, 400i, 300, 400, 500, 4, 5, 6, 5LE.

 

[Spiral_Architect]

They are called PaliPads.
https://eu.hifiman.com/products/hifiman-pads?_pos=9&_fid=85e04b604&_ss=c

They are for SUNDARA, HE400SE, 400S, 400i, 300, 400, 500, 4, 5, 6, 5LE.

Thanks a lot. Don't know why I didn't notice them. But perhaps I was confused by the pictures because the stock one do not look asymmetric. From what I remember when new they had uniform thickness along the circumference. Whereas those PaliPads look strongly asymmetric, or at least more than what the stock pads appeared to be.

 

[zonk]

Thanks a lot. Don't know why I didn't notice them. But perhaps I was confused by the pictures because the stock one do not look asymmetric. From what I remember when new they had uniform thickness along the circumference. Whereas those PaliPads look strongly asymmetric, or at least more than what the stock pads appeared to be.

The original pads for HE400SE, Sundara (2020), HE6SE are the PaliPad's. And the PaliPad's are angled (thick part in the back, thin part to the front). Maybe the angle is more visible on the Hifiman Store pictures. If you want the original pads you should buy PaliPads.

There are other compatible earpads in the Hifiman Store available (FocusPad, Focus-Pad-A, protein leather pads).