Hifiman HE400SE Review (Headphone)

[coomean]

Anyone has experience of this and the Sundara?

 

[Maiky76]

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Hifiman HE400SE open back planar magnetic headphone. It was sent to me by online seller, Linsoul and costs US $149.

The HE400Se doesn't look fancy:
View attachment 170519
It is however quite comfortable given its thick and large pads. Weight is a bit on the high side of average:
View attachment 170521

Cups are round and symmetrical. Diameter is 61mm and depth is 21 mm.

The included cord is this thin, horribly coiled wire. I suggest replacing it with something seeing how it uses standard 3.5mm connectors at both ends.

Note: The measurements you are about to see are made using a standardized Gras 45C. Headphone measurements by definition are approximate and variable so don't be surprised if other measurements even if performed with the same fixtures as mine, differ in end results. Protocols vary such as headband pressure and averaging (which I don't do). As you will see, I confirm the approximate accuracy of the measurements using Equalization and listening tests. Ultimately headphone measurements are less exact than speakers mostly in bass and above a few kilohertz so keep that in mind as you read these tests. If you think you have an exact idea of a headphone performance, you are likely wrong!

The large cups made an easy job of mounting them on my fixture and getting good measurements on first try.

Hifiman HE400SE Measurements
Let's start with our usual frequency response measurements:
View attachment 170523

Other than bass and slight shoftall around 1.5 to 3 kHz, response complies with our target well. This means it should be usable without equalization. Developing filters should be easy given the deficiencies we need to fill:

View attachment 170524

Distortion at all but the highest test level is quite low:

View attachment 170525

View attachment 170526

Group delay shows messiness:
View attachment 170527

Impedance is flat as is the case with planar magnetic headphones:
View attachment 170528

Sensitivity is below average but not too bad:

View attachment 170553

Hifiman HE400SE Listening Tests and Equalization
Measurements 100% predict the performance this headphone: it sounds very good out of the box and is definitely usable as is. Correction of the bass response does provide a warmer and more satisfying performance:

View attachment 170530

And filling that dip centered around 2 kHz gave it excellent spatial qualities. Dial these in and you can sit back and enjoy your music as I did.

Conclusions
Headphone testing doesn't get simpler than this when the device itself is not too far off the mark as is the case with HE400SE. Add a bit of salt and pepper in the form of bass boost and lower treble energy and you are in business with a very high fidelity headphone. That it comes at such a low cost is a huge bonus, making the HE400SE one of my best picks for a bargain headphone.

I am happy to recommend the Hifiman HE400SE.

P.S. Linsoul listing says "V2." I am not sure if there is a V2 and if there is, that is what I have. I received this headphone back in July of this year.

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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/

Here are some thoughts about the EQ.

Notes about the EQ design:

• The average L/R is used to calculate the score.
• The resolution is 12 points per octave interpolated from the raw data (provided by @amirm)
• A Genetic Algorithm is used to optimize the EQ.
• The EQ Score is designed to MAXIMIZE the Score WHILE fitting the Harman target curve (and other constrains) with a fixed complexity.
  This will avoid weird results if one only optimizes for the Score.
  It will probably flatten the Error regression doing so, the tonal balance should be therefore more neutral.
• The EQs are starting point and may require tuning (certainly at LF and maybe at HF).
• The range around and above 10kHz is usually not EQed unless smooth enough to do so.
• I am using PEQ (PK) as from my experience the definition is more consistent across different DSP/platform implementations than shelves.
• With some HP/amp combo, the boosts and preamp gain ( loss of Dynamic range) need to be carefully considered to avoid issues with too low a Max SPL or to damage your device. You have beed warned.
• Not all units of the same product are made equal. The EQ is based on the measurements of a single unit.
• YMMV with regards to the very unit you are trying this EQ on.
• I sometimes use variations of the Harman curve for some reasons. See rational here: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...pro-review-headphone.28244/page-5#post-989169 NOTE: the score then calculated is not comparable to the scored derived from the default Harman target curve if not otherwise noted.

Great L/R match.

Default Harman curve.
I have generated one EQ, the APO config file is attached.

Score no EQ: 80.3
Score Armirm: 83.9
Score with EQ: 86.2

Hifiman HE400SE APO EQ Flat@HF 96000Hz
December062021-132602

Preamp: -4 dB

Filter 1: ON PK Fc 32.48 Hz Gain 4.03 dB Q 0.51
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 234.50 Hz Gain -2.60 dB Q 1.21
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 793.29 Hz Gain -1.86 dB Q 2.08
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 2031.96 Hz Gain 4.10 dB Q 2.42
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 4089.48 Hz Gain 2.03 dB Q 5.90
Filter 6: ON PK Fc 8396.84 Hz Gain -2.37 dB Q 5.86
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 12722.13 Hz Gain -6.40 dB Q 5.82

Changing the normalization frequency and/or increasing the biquad count to 11 do not make a significant difference.
The trough @10000Hz is the driving factor, so short of EQing it out the score hits the ceiling.

 

[amirm]

Changing the normalization frequency and increasing the Biquad counts to 11 does not make a significant difference.
The trough @10000Hz is the driving factor, so short of EQing it out the score hits the ceiling.

I know you had this discussion with someone else but I did not keep track of where it ended. I make no attempt to create measurements accurate at 10 kHz and higher. So my suggestion is to not EQ anything from that point on (even a bit lower would be fine). The trough in this case is not minimum phase either so should not be filled in.

 

[aj625]

hidizs s8 with he400se is the combo which can put to shame many much much more expensive set ups, i would say even 10 to 20x priced. reason is the excellent measurements of both s8 and he400se. he400se won't go ear piercingly bright with s8 but has more than enough output for long long highly musical listening sessions. imo one should try this combo and i bet it will be difficult to get back to others.

 

[edahl]

Excellent performance from Hifiman once again

 

[da_mau5]

My friend bought an he400i 2020 last year even after I had told him about the reputation hifiman carries. Neither of us thought any issues would occur with his particular set. We listened on his anemic amp and everything was fine for a while. One day I hooked it up to my desktop amp and had some proper juice flowing... the moment I turned up the volume to slightly above average loudness, a screw or something started rattling inside the left earcup whenever there was bass. Too bad as it was my first experience with a planar headphone & I really liked the fidelity/details in the bass, much more precise than my HD660s. Hopefully hifiman can someday increase prices and up their QC, till then I'd prefer even a much inferior dynamic headphone from a reputable manufacturer over this. Hopefully qc is better in the Sundara & higher models but I'd be wary. With Topping's woes and Hifiman's reputation, Chi-fi needs to introspect and rethink about their business models. Such excellent products marred by problems that shouldn't exist, not in 2022, not from a company as big as what hifiman now is.

 

[dmac6419]

Dont do it. Its like crack. Soon, you will be like me and on to the much harder stuff ... susvara.
You have been warned
Heroin the new crack,that stuff will kill you.

 

[MayaTlab]

I have these along with the Sennheiser HD6xx on my bedside table, and love them both. It is interesting to compare them, however, as even with eq they have a very different flavour so that I will prefer one on a day, another on the other. Anyone else have these and willing to suggest (a) what kind of difference they hear, and (b) why we would hear them?

I have both the HE400SE and HD650.
My copy of the HE400SE has a collection of very high-Q, high magnitude spikes between 8-12kHz located in quite different spots between the left and right channels that I find unbearable to listen to without EQ, and available EQ presets don't correct them. Could simply be a case of sample variation though.
They sound different after application of EQ presets to the same target but for reasons that could entirely be caused by the FR still being different with my on samples on my own head.

 

[pavuol]

Nice headphones, more polished FR as compared to previosly reviewed HE400i... as often, higher price in EU though

 

[solderdude]

Just ordered one. (€ 149.-)
I suppose it is the V1 though (not rounded-off silver colour magnets).

edit: Seller told me it is the latest version.

 

[GeekyBastard]

Damn, it only costs 631 RMB (USD $99 at current exchange rate) today on Taobao, with 24 interest-free installments, that's totally a steal, grabbed it instantly, lol.

Edit: Apparently I somehow got a coupon for the 12.12 Taobao shopping festival, normally it's sold at 759RMB (USD $119)

 

[aj625]

Try it with hidizs s8 another measurement champ.

 

[LoyK]

I owned this headset and thought it was sounding really good for its price.
Comfort though was really bad for me so I sold it.
Also it was kinda slow/untight in the bass I think and the soundstage was very focused, pretty small out of the head soundstage compared to for example my Ananda. Still trying to figure out how to relate this to the measurements but the difference was easy to hear. (Maybe waterfall for slow bass?)

 

[amirm]

Also it was kinda slow/untight in the bass I think and the soundstage was very focused, pretty small out of the head soundstage compared to for example my Ananda. Still trying to figure out how to relate this to the measurements but the difference was easy to hear. (Maybe waterfall for slow bass?)

There is a slight boost in upper bass which you may have been hearing. With a proper sub-bass boost that impact goes away. And spatial qualities are much improved with the EQ in 1 to 2 kHz.

 

[abdo123]

@amirm

Could you please comment on how comfortable these are to wear?

Edit: i just noticed the comment, however feel free to comment further if you wish.

Edit: Since this is my first comment on this thread i'm Editing it and putting my impressions here so the general public can find it easier

Okay these arrived today, I'm listening to them while typing. Btw the headphones come with a fancy black cable, in addition to the afterthought crappy white cable we see in early reviews.

Imaging is amazing, probably the best headphones when it comes to that that i heard. However, this is the first planar that i try, and i have little experience in headphones in general compared to speakers. Perhaps that's why i think so. it's great though no doubt.

I'm using the headphones EQed to Harman. The tonality is correct but the bass sounds different, Not wrong not correct just different. Maybe again that's also a planar thing, not sure. Female vocals have unbelievable clarity and presence, immaculate reproduction. I definitely understand why Amir thinks they're great headphones because they fucking are lol. The clarity is honestly on another level, I'm really hearing things that i didn't hear before.

you're going to need a relatively beefy amplifier for these, we're talking 2 Vrms MINIMUM. Otherwise might as well buy something else. The low distortion and clarity will push you to push the volume a bit louder and you're going to enjoy it.

 

[aj625]

@amirm

Could you please comment on how comfortable these are to wear?

Edit: i just noticed the comment, however feel free to comment further if you wish.

You can feel slight weight on your head but band is comfortable enough to not make too difficult for longer sessions. Ik fact most of the time I listen it in my bed with hidizs s8

 

[abdo123]

Can someone confirm the the V2.0 and V1.0 situation? I'm about to pull the plug but i'm afraid i will recieve V1.0

 

[abdo123]

Incredible alignment with Oratory1990's measurements, the headphone exhbits little fixture variation. looks like a great all around headphone, just the sensitivity a bit on the low side.

 

[vkvedam]

Mightily impressed with HifiMan's engineering efforts

 

[F1308]

Well, imagine it is time to return both, the Stealth and the 400SE.
And now, time to buy one of them with our hard earned money.
Which one ?