Hifiman HE400SE Review (Headphone)

[vvox]

HE400SE are open, very, very open, you can't compare them with closed ones.

Okay, if not thinking about sound stage, air, and all the stuff that makes open headphones what they are, Is Sundara better?

 

[staticV3]

Want Sundra closed, like the wood) But how does it compare with these other two models?

Out of the box, quite poorly:


It seems to me like Hifiman just slapped some ear cups onto the open-backed Sundara with little concern for the acoustic effects.

 

[Robbo99999]

Sorry for asking out of nowhere but do you bought V1 or V2 pair of HE400se and which one are measured by Oratory1990?

Sorry for the late reply, I missed it, not been logging on much here past week. I've got the Stealth version, so the V2. Re Oratory, when I looked into it he'd measured some of both - he said somewhere on his site (yes it was in the notes by the side of his pda files when you open them), that there was no significant difference in measured response between them. In my experience these headphones are definitely worth a try.

 

[vvox]

Overlay for hifiman he400se for comfortable listening for a long time:

Spoiler: Text

The video at the link above shows how to remove the plastic parts. But I had a hard time putting it back on. So I don't recommend it. I recommend pushing the tongue of the pad with a screwdriver, putting a piece of thick paper on top. So as not to damage the pad with a screwdriver. And at the same time push this piece into the gap for greater tightness. So that it holds. I did one side by removing the plastic. And then adjusted the sealing paper. And the other side the same way, but the tongue of the pad came out half a centimeter. And I pushed it back deeper with the paper. You don't have to worry too much about the plastic or the rim, I twisted, pressed and tortured them, they don't care. Without the sealing papers, the tongues will gradually come out of the plastic.

Spoiler: Photo

What about my sound experience?

IT IS GREAT!)
They looks good. Feal good. And sound...
With Oratory EQ I like it very much. Sometimes it is boring to listen, but it depends on audio material. Films sound ideal. Overall, clarity and detail like in balance armature(Finally, I can understand what they're singing without lyrics). Bass is precise, clear and fast. But not the same as on dynamics. Not so booming and heavy and slow/echoing. It sounds in another way.
Scene is okay. I also like the vocals. intimate)

After my superlux hd330 it is definitely a step forward!
Use it with Jcally jm20 Max. Same specs as fiio ka11.
2.5 Vrms(200mV/32 Ohm)
60% of volume, most of the time.

 

[Oso Polar]

Bass is precise, clear and fast. But not the same as on dynamics. Not so booming and heavy and slow/echoing.

I agree that bass on HE400se is great (with EQ) but to be fare the bass you describe is not a characteristic of dynamic headphones per se, this is just typical bass of mass market closed headphones.

 

[Mookalafalas]

It seems the price of these keeps falling. They are on sale from Amazon Japan for about 10,000 Yen, which is about $70 US. Quite a bargain.

 

[vvox]

It seems the price of these keeps falling. They are on sale from Amazon Japan for about 10,000 Yen, which is about $70 US. Quite a bargain.

$56 from oficial Hifiman store on Aliexpress with free shiping. Already registred my product.

 

[Ste_S]

Is there much difference between the non-stealth, and stealth magnet versions of these? The non-stealth are roughly about half the price of the stealth version on Aliexpress.

 

[oceansize]

Is there much difference between the non-stealth, and stealth magnet versions of these? The non-stealth are roughly about half the price of the stealth version on Aliexpress.

oratory1990's list of EQ presets can be found here.

Someone asks. "What is the version of this HE400SE? Is it the bilateral magnet version or the stealth magnet version?"
oratory1990's responded, "can be used for both, no significant difference in sound."

 

[Merey]

It's really interesting. I can buy these headphones (new, V2) for $62 + $5 for shipping. These headphones are very cheap in China. One question: will these headphones be enough for the Apple dongle (A2049)?

 

[roladyzator]

It's really interesting. I can buy these headphones (new, V2) for $62 + $5 for shipping. These headphones are very cheap in China. One question: will these headphones be enough for the Apple dongle (A2049)?

I've used mine with the Samsung dongle at first. In Europe, the Apple Dongle has 0.5V RMS output, but the Samsung has 1 V - same as Apple Dongle in the rest of the world.

It is enough, but realistically you only get just few dBs of headroom to boost the bass & 2 kHz dip.
Your volume will be limited, but perhaps it will be enough for you.

 

[Heinrich]

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Hifiman HE400SE open back planar magnetic headphone.

I had three at the same time for comparison. According to my halfway proficient, reproducible measurements one was very different left/right, with one side showing a 10dB(!!) resonance around 8kHz. The distortion around 3kHz was also very different with up to 5% at 104dB level.
The second was of good pair equality without resonance, but had strong distortions around 1% in the whole frequency range above 94dB level.
The third was again very different in terms of 8kHz resonance, but with rather low distortion on both sides.

What should we do, accept the - in comparison to the specimen tested here - probably faulty 8kHz resonance? Admittedly, the statistics are based on a tiny population, but I can't see buying this model without measurement options - and with a return, just in case. This attitude is supported by the now really mixed results, even for the manufacturer's luxury models.

 

[Merey]

I've used mine with the Samsung dongle at first. In Europe, the Apple Dongle has 0.5V RMS output, but the Samsung has 1 V - same as Apple Dongle in the rest of the world.

It is enough, but realistically you only get just few dBs of headroom to boost the bass & 2 kHz dip.
Your volume will be limited, but perhaps it will be enough for you.

It might be time to splurge on a desktop amp (with Jcally JM20) or combo.

 

[jkim]

I had three at the same time for comparison. According to my halfway proficient, reproducible measurements one was very different left/right, with one side showing a 10dB(!!) resonance around 8kHz. The distortion around 3kHz was also very different with up to 5% at 104dB level.
The second was of good pair equality without resonance, but had strong distortions around 1% in the whole frequency range above 94dB level.
The third was again very different in terms of 8kHz resonance, but with rather low distortion on both sides.

What should we do, accept the - in comparison to the specimen tested here - probably faulty 8kHz resonance? Admittedly, the statistics are based on a tiny population, but I can't see buying this model without measurement options - and with a return, just in case. This attitude is supported by the now really mixed results, even for the manufacturer's luxury models.

Having the HE400SE and liking it very much, I also wonder if this sample-to-sample variation is more common for planar drivers or just for Hifiman, or for this model only?

Mine has a minor L/R driver mismatch. I will order a couple more pairs from Amazon. Will measure all three..

 

[Oso Polar]

if this sample-to-sample variation is more common for planar drivers or just for Hifiman

Hifiman quality control is notoriously bad. Even if you'll get everything working properly out of the box, it doesn't mean that some poorly soldered wire will not suddenly detach tomorrow somewhere inside. And it seems that this is the same for all their models independent of price. I absolutely love my HE400se but IMHO buying their expensive models is not wise.

 

[Heinrich]

It might be time to splurge on a desktop amp (with Jcally JM20) …

As already mentioned more voltage/current may be beneficial especially when listening to music with elevated dynamics, good orchestral recording for instance. The Fossi DS2 appears to be current limited, and with the he400se may feel just right without too much left beyond.

On quality control, I think the term doesn‘t fit quite right. Engineering is about prototyping first, but also about production with reliable results. I was surely unlucky with receiving three bad devices out of three. But look at those tested devices here, different models, showing astounding frequncy responses, hot spots of distortion and undue left/right imbalances. It sems to be a general production issue through all its portfolio—or with qc in charge, how many would they discard?

A specimen tested may not represent the average or median of a set for different reasons.

 

[Ste_S]

Splurged on these from the Hifiman Aliexpress store, and just to echo everyone else, they're pretty great. At £70 shipped (including VAT), you can't go wrong.

I've got them plugged into the headphone out on a 2015 MacBook Air, and them seem reasonably undemanding on being driven.

 

[musichunter1x]

I manage to find an used one for dirty cheap with stealth magnets, so I had to try them out.
They work fine with qudelix 5k high gain, with EQ pregain -9.0 and there is still >11db of free room in most normal tracks. Even the Brothers in Arms album from 1985, which is very silently recorded is loud enough, but you may go up to max with -9.0 pregain. I still have 3.5db room in the pregain, to not use it at full power.

For now I am playing with Maiky76 EQ, but I prefer some auto EQ preset from Q5k in most tracks. They sound different enough from Zero2 to find a usecase for me...
But their comfort if far from perfect. Probably I need to softmod them in some way... I still remeber my akg k612 from years ago, and they were much more comfotable.
Oh and build quality seems poor, left case of speaker sometimes cracks when I move.

Is there still a point in buying AKG k612? I never used them with EQ, so I may need to try them out again. I like harman bass and low mediums, but I still looking for my taste in high mids and trebles.

 

[Johnny2R]

Got a pair of these a few days ago, the non-Stealth ones, 25 ohm, from AliExpress for just under £60 inc. taxes. The Stealth Magnet ones would have been £100 or so, but of course since getting the non-Stealth ones I'm wondering whether I should have gone for Stealth!

Anyway, I'm delighted with them and think they sound fantastic. Effectively they are to replace a pair of AKG K702s I have, which, while being undoubtedly impressive in many ways, I have found myself not enjoying listening to as much as I might, for reasons I've never been able to put my finger on. I've played around with equalization on them, but somehow the sound always proves maybe a little fatiguing. To me the Hifimans sound more 'musical' (yes, I know that's a rather meaningless term in this context). 80%-90% of the music I listen to is classical, which has its own special requirements.

I'm listening to them via a Fiio KA11 dongle with my Android phone (listening mainly to Spotify Premium). I very rarely go above 65-70% on the Android volume control, even when using Oratory's EQ (with PowerAmp Equalizer), so I'm wondering whether I do in fact need any more amplifier power than the KA11 provides, although everybody talks about these headphones needing serious amplification. The specs are: 245mW@16Ω. 200mW@32Ω.

What do people think? Will I get a benefit from more amplification? In which case is there a dongle or other easily portable option I can go for which has similarly excellent price/performance ratio?

 

[Heinrich]

Got a pair of these a few days ago, the non-Stealth ones, 25 ohm, from AliExpress for just under £60 inc. taxes. The Stealth Magnet ones would have been £100 or so, but of course since getting the non-Stealth ones I'm wondering whether I should have gone for Stealth!

Anyway, I'm delighted with them and think they sound fantastic. Effectively they are to replace a pair of AKG K702s I have, which, while being undoubtedly impressive in many ways, I have found myself not enjoying listening to as much as I might, for reasons I've never been able to put my finger on. I've played around with equalization on them, but somehow the sound always proves maybe a little fatiguing. To me the Hifimans sound more 'musical' (yes, I know that's a rather meaningless term in this context). 80%-90% of the music I listen to is classical, which has its own special requirements.

I'm listening to them via a Fiio KA11 dongle with my Android phone (listening mainly to Spotify Premium). I very rarely go above 65-70% on the Android volume control, even when using Oratory's EQ (with PowerAmp Equalizer), so I'm wondering whether I do in fact need any more amplifier power than the KA11 provides, although everybody talks about these headphones needing serious amplification. The specs are: 245mW@16Ω. 200mW@32Ω.

What do people think? Will I get a benefit from more amplification? In which case is there a dongle or other easily portable option I can go for which has similarly excellent price/performance ratio?

Hi Johnny, there‘s a simple rule. Every multiplication of power by ten yields +10dB more sound. That 10dB is told to be „double“ the volume, subjectively.
Taken 1milliWatt as the basis, for which the He400 hands out like 93 dB, we get

10mW = 93 + 10 = 103 dB pretty darn loud
100mW … = 113 dB pretty very much effing loud
and for the step to 200mW add just another 3dB …

You fall definitely not short in power.

Problem is dynamics and accepting the clean sound of a headphone as loud enough, what it most probably is.