Hifiman HE400SE Review (Headphone)

[delta76]

Might be worth swapping out the cable or using a different 6.35mm adapter (rather than the one bundled with the headphone) to rule out it's not a cable/connection issue. Simplest yet maybe just unplug & replug all the adapters & each of the wires into left & right side to make sure everything is plugged in properly & just to "renew" the connections. I received a dodgy 6.35mm adapter with my HE400SE headphones, and problem was solved by using a new adapter.

I did think of cable and tried to swap the side. can confirm that it's the left one is getting noise, regardless of cable, so probably bad thing on that side. Will try to tear it down if I find anything obvious

 

[GM3]

been using he400se for a couple of months, it works "well", but sometimes with static noise on one side. As I used it for works (team calls) so I just assumed it's because of the others' mic. But listen to this

clearly demonstrates the static noise. I thought the recording was problematic, so I asked a friend to check, and he said no he could not hear the noise. Switched to my HD650 and the noise disappears. Switched to my Bose QC and no noise neither. So it's clearly the HE400se that is problematic.

that highlights one point
- Hifiman QC is a hit or miss, this has been widely reported

Is there a way for me to remedy the issue? I bought it in 2023 (and left it in box for ~2y because of reasons), so no warranty left (and it's from Aliexpress so even if it was under warranty, probably no help)

Could be lots of things, and it depends on what exactly is "static noise".

I can confirm that there is static noise in that recording, it's like background noise. When you listen to it at normal levels, you don't really hear it but as you bump up the volume, the background noise (static noise?) is definitely there, probably more than other recordings. You can hear it at 1:12 or 1:18 for instance, when he's playing softly.

Thing most speakers/headphones have spikes and dips, so if the recording has a spike too at a certain frequency and it matches the spike of the specific headphone/speaker, the issue compounds, and it'll become very audible. Whereas, if another headphone has a dip in that spot, then it'll cancel the bump of the recording and you'll hear it 'normally'; so it's always a challenge to know wtf is going on with recordings vs gear.

HFM are known as somewhat bright; they have 'spikes' in their FR, so they might make some "static noises" sound more obvious/evident than other darker headphones. These same spikes can also make them sound 'more detailed', for instance for acoustic guitar with harmonics; you'll hear 'details' you've never heard before.

But yeah, there's definitely something 'funky' in that 480p YT video, which btw affect audio quality, AI:

What changes when you lower quality
At lower resolutions (240p, 360p, 480p), audio often uses a lower bitrate track, which can reduce high‑frequency detail and make sound more “tinny” or smeared, especially on good headphones or speakers.
At higher resolutions (720p and above), audio is typically encoded at a “transparent enough” bitrate for most listeners, so further increases in resolution mostly improve video, not audio.

Video “quality” selected	Typical container / codec	Approx. audio bitrate range
144p–360p	AAC (m4a low profile)	~48–96 kbps
480p–720p	AAC / Opus “medium”	~128–160 kbps
1080p and above	Opus “high” on many devices	~160–250 kbps VBR

Your clip is 480p, and listening via budget studio monitors, you can tell it's quite low quality, be it compression or recording or whatnot. Finding good audio recordings is hard.

Switch your L and R cable connectors to L -> R and R -> L, and see if the problem changes. If the problem changes side, likely driver issue. If so, you can play some test tones at different frequencies to identify the issue clearly.

[edit] Btw between 2:00-2:20 of your clip I think that might be what you're hearing; it might actually be noise from the piano. Mics seem to be placed on top of the open piano, and seems to kinda correspond to his use of the piano pedals, which can move some some absorbent pads to mute the strings, which might generate the noise your hearing. So vibration of the piano strings on the piano's mute pads or whatever they're called, really making noise captured by the mics due to close mic technique used. Or maybe not that exactly, but real noise captured by the mics none the less is definitely a possibility.

Also, some compression is likely applied to the audio, and I've heard that YT might add quite a bit of it, making that sort of noise more prominent vs the original recording, but the original recording also may also have audio compression applied... Again, pointing to the fact it might not be an issue with the headphones themselves.

 

[delta76]

Could be lots of things, and it depends on what exactly is "static noise".

I can confirm that there is static noise in that recording, it's like background noise. When you listen to it at normal levels, you don't really hear it but as you bump up the volume, the background noise (static noise?) is definitely there, probably more than other recordings. You can hear it at 1:12 or 1:18 for instance, when he's playing softly.

Thing most speakers/headphones have spikes and dips, so if the recording has a spike too at a certain frequency and it matches the spike of the specific headphone/speaker, the issue compounds, and it'll become very audible. Whereas, if another headphone has a dip in that spot, then it'll cancel the bump of the recording and you'll hear it 'normally'; so it's always a challenge to know wtf is going on with recordings vs gear.

HFM are known as somewhat bright; they have 'spikes' in their FR, so they might make some "static noises" sound more obvious/evident than other darker headphones. These same spikes can also make them sound 'more detailed', for instance for acoustic guitar with harmonics; you'll hear 'details' you've never heard before.

But yeah, there's definitely something 'funky' in that 480p YT video, which btw affect audio quality, AI:

Your clip is 480p, and listening via budget studio monitors, you can tell it's quite low quality, be it compression or recording or whatnot. Finding good audio recordings is hard.

Switch your L and R cable connectors to L -> R and R -> L, and see if the problem changes. If the problem changes side, likely driver issue. If so, you can play some test tones at different frequencies to identify the issue clearly.

[edit] Btw between 2:00-2:20 of your clip I think that might be what you're hearing; it might actually be noise from the piano. Mics seem to be placed on top of the open piano, and seems to kinda correspond to his use of the piano pedals, which can move some some absorbent pads to mute the strings, which might generate the noise your hearing. So vibration of the piano strings on the piano's mute pads or whatever they're called, really making noise captured by the mics due to close mic technique used.

static noise is probably the wrong word, maybe distorted sound. As I said I tried my HD650 and bose at same loudness level and could not hear it. A friend could not hear it. And only one side of the headphone.

I opened it up but could not see anything obviously wrong. Now I'm back to my trusted (but somewhat boring) HD650

 

[GM3]

static noise is probably the wrong word, maybe distorted sound. As I said I tried my HD650 and bose at same loudness level and could not hear it. A friend could not hear it. And only one side of the headphone.

I opened it up but could not see anything obviously wrong. Now I'm back to my trusted (but somewhat boring) HD650

Edited my post with more details, make sure you reread! IMHO, bad recording to test headphones.

I did think of cable and tried to swap the side. can confirm that it's the left one is getting noise, regardless of cable, so probably bad thing on that side. Will try to tear it down if I find anything obvious

Ha... Ok yeah you can try test tones, I had a pair of 400i which had a sort of rattle / distortion at certain frequencies and returned them.

 

[delta76]

Edited my post with more details, make sure you reread! IMHO, bad recording to test headphones.

Ha... Ok yeah you can try test tones, I had a pair of 400i which had a sort of rattle / distortion at certain frequencies and returned them.

not to test, was just listening to it doing other works (i.e. background music). because I was talking with a friend I sent to him to see if he can hear it (I always assumed it was the clip). turned out just bad headphone

probably never buy a Hifiman again, not from any other dealers than Amazon, at least

 

[Robbo99999]

I did think of cable and tried to swap the side. can confirm that it's the left one is getting noise, regardless of cable, so probably bad thing on that side. Will try to tear it down if I find anything obvious

Oh yeah, that was a good idea, and yep you've diagnosed it!

 

[ZööZ]

static noise is probably the wrong word, maybe distorted sound. As I said I tried my HD650 and bose at same loudness level and could not hear it. A friend could not hear it. And only one side of the headphone.

I opened it up but could not see anything obviously wrong. Now I'm back to my trusted (but somewhat boring) HD650

There could be very tiny hairs stuck between the magnets and the membrane which can cause all kinds of buzzing with oddly specific things. They can be very hard to spot, using a flash light helps.

 

[solderdude]

Use a low frequency sine (say 20Hz) as a test signal. If there is something hitting the membrane you should hear that as at low frequencies the excursion of the membrane is largest and the hearing is insensitive for low frequencies so anything touching the driver will become audible.

 

[douteiful]

Hi guys,

Since I've had the Sundaras for a year (no issues with them) I found the HE400SE for cheap ($60) on their AliExpress store and decided to gift them to my girlfriend.
After 4 months though, the right driver stopped working for some minutes, and then it fixed itself. 2 months later (today), the right driver stopped working again and it fixed itself after around 30 minutes. Then it happened again, and the music could be heard very quietly.

What could be causing this? I ask because I hear Hifiman makes you pay the warranty shipping and that'd be around $35 for me, which doesn't make sense considering the price I paid for it, so I might need to try and see if I can fix it myself.

 

[solderdude]

Have you swapped the cable left to right cup ?
When you do and the fault appears on the left channel it is the cable, when it stays on the right side it is either the driver or the socket or a solderjoint.

 

[staticV3]

What could be causing this?

Bad contact between the Amp output and driver membrane.

Could be the cable, the headphone cup audio jack, or the internal wiring between jack and driver.

 

[DazST]

I've been trying out IEMs a bit lately and realised last night that I hadn't given my HE400se a proper spin with my Topping DX5ii since I got it. What an enjoyable listening session that was and a reminder of how good these sound.