Your review is spot on. I have a pair of the latest gen ones like you have in this video. They are now my favourite headphones by some way (compared to HD6xx, K702, K7xx, Beyer 990, Philips fidelio X2HR) but like you say I cannot keep them on my head for too long without having short breaks due to the clamping pressure. I use them through a Zen DAC with TIDAL. amazing.
@@phillipnunya6793 Yup, they are pretty nice, had them just a little under a year now, they actually fit me just fine with minor tweaking and sound great. Been running them off a Asus Zonar mk2 USB sound card and a Xduoo MT-602 tube amp and have lots of fun in pretty much all use cases
I've been using them with a laptop and a USB DAC for over 2 years now. It's true that the bass is absolutely fantastic. Their only real flaw is a "spike" or rather "rise" around 7-8 kHz that can be annoying. Hence, I lowered these frequencies using a software equalizer. This fix alone made them stunning headphones :)
Solid review you brought up some real issues that are present. I got this headphone a bit over a year ago and the main negative for me on it is the weight, I have a small head and it is sometimes a bit uncomfortable. Not a negative for me but these leak sound massively, noticably more than my sennheiser 58x's. These can be a little bright, I added a little extra foam to mine and now I hardly ever notice any sibilance but if you are very sensitive to this it may not be the headphone for you. Good points on them being good at seperation and not sounding congested at all, that was noticeable on these. These also need a dedicated headphone amp imo, I used to have a rather weak old amp I used for them but then got an ifi zen and they came alive on those.
1st L shape connector is nice if your using a dap or something with the connector on top thats more natural to put in your pocket with the connector facing down. Mostly iems
I just bought them on drop and I'm relieved by your comments on updated build quality on newer batches, thank you very much! I have a question, do you think they would play nice with my zorloo ztella? would it give these cans enough juice? thanks!
I like the sound of the sennheiser hd650 / hd6xx because it is warm-dark, that's my sound preference. How much do they sound like this he4xx? Would you recommend them to me? Or are they too bright?. Great review btw :D
This is just a general question to you sir Talking about the Khadas Tone that you recommended. From where did you get the best sound output in the Khadas Tone Board. USB input or SPDIF input or Direct 40 pin GPIO input. Also your suggestions for the best output possibilities and input possibilities are appreciated. Thanks Praveen Leen
You have to review the E1DA Powerdac. I have owned many Dac/Amps (like the Loxjie d10, Fiio q1 + btr3, Topping nx4+5, Earstudio es 100, Dragonfly Black + Red, 02Amp/Dac) and this one blows all of them away. It ain’t even close. And all of that for 59$!
Thank you for another great review, Srboljub! I need you advice. Right now I’m looking for good headphones for listening to metal music. I listen to wide variety of metal sub genres, from heavy to death metal, with prevalence of power and metalcore. From what I have read on forums, planars are good for extreme metal such as death metal. However the recommended models are quite heavy for my pocket. So now I look at more budget Drop’s 4xx and 5xx and wonder if they will fit my needs, and if so which of them will be better. Thanks in advance, Aleksandr.
Hi! I'm not a huge metal fan, just some good old Iron Maiden, GNR, Metallica... music of my childhood. :) That said, I don't see why not. Hifimans have a kind of neutral voicing, very decent punch and energy if you drive them with a good amp. So if you feed them with a good DAC/AMP these should serve you just fine for Metal. Cheers! 🤘
Hi Srboljub. Thank you for another good review. It’s a pity that HiFiman have created a reputation for poor quality control from their earlier releases. They are well regarded by reviewers for their sonic capabilities though. I am currently considering purchasing the Sundara, but they are a step up in price and the quality issues are a worry at that price point. Maybe I would be safer with the Fostex/Dekoni Audio Blue at half the price. They too have had good reviews. Any thoughts?
Yeah, it's tricky paying that kind of money if you doubt the quality. That said, I haven't really seen any complaints about Sundara quality so far, that's good I guess. I suppose they learned from their mistakes.
@iiWi Reviews: You are probably correct; but I would like to see a pain free period free from manufacturing defects before I commit. For now I am trying the Fostex / Dekoni blue phones which also are well regarded by reviewers. I should receive them in a week or so as I have ordered locally. I may receive my Burson Conductor at about the same time as that is also local and ships on 15 May. Thanks for introducing me to Burson! :)
Thank you for great videos! Did you listen to Gold Planar gl600? People say its really good build but unfortunatly are not over ear but on ear.. How would these compare to hifiman he4xx? what do you think? Thanks
I might be a bit late but can you measure how deep the ear cup is from the top of the earpad to the driver? I'm quite sensitive to my ears touching the drivers.
@@iiWiReviews thank you! I know that the pads are angled so is 25mm at the deepest point? And how hard would you say that the foam is on them? They are probably going to be my next headphone purchase as I'm really interested in Planar magnetics, and affordable ones at that. I just wanted to know if they were going to be comfortable for me and my ears.
@@tacticalpotato5665 Yeah, I tried to measure the deepest point as well as I could... I find foam to be medium soft and them to be fairly comfy. They're weighty but comfortable. I have pretty big earlobes and for example, AKG K92 was like a torturing device for me but I don't have comfort issues with these. Hope this helped but we all have different heads and ears I suppose.
@@iiWiReviews This definitely helped and i think these are my next purchase. 25mm with medium/soft foam sounds like it should be enough. I have a couple of headphones which are about that deep so i think that these will fit without any problems. Thank you for your help!
Mine literally just arrived. And I agree they can be driven by laptop but you can tell it needs more. Which amp or DAC do you recommend? Ideally keeping cost low and portability high. Is there anything more affordable than the dragonfly that does the job?
@@iiWiReviews Wow! That looks impressive for the price. Thank you for your time. Which amp would you recommend pairing it with? Or is there a better Dac/amp combo I could get? Again this is for the 4xx.
I have one of the earlier revisions .. the screws on the yoke began protruding after 2 weeks of normal usage. 1:05 these covers for the sliding mechanism fell off not much later, they were just lightly glued on. I was sad to see that even a co-production with Massdrop didn't prevent these things from being contaminated with the usual Hifiman quality control issues. Right now I have to buy a 30$ ifixit set just to screw the yoke screws back in (with the help of some silicone glue) because Hifiman used non-standard screws. For how long did you use yours ?
This is interesting, how about something more power efficient like the 58x but still marketed as 'can be run on your phone'? I am really confused as now I have Takstar PRo 82 and Koss ksc/kph using onboard and whether I should get a DAC/Amp first.
I would definitely get decent DAC/AMP first before going to more expensive headphones. If nothing else, Lusya Fever DAC at least or FX-Audio X6 maybe...
I agree that they sound really, really bad without a basic DAC/amp. Compared to a set of Grado SR80x or Meze classic 99's, they sound awful coming out of my laptop or galaxy S21 ultra /w small, unamplified dac dongle. I also don't like them coming out of the headphone jack from my yamaha receiver. But they really don't need a LOT more to be great. I have some old Fiio E5's, the cheapest little amp/dac they made, and they sound good again. But another big bump came from a fiio BTR5, which also lets me use them wirelessly over bluetooth. I'm only a LITTLE bit into critical listening, but definitely can tell how precise these are compared to the meze's or grados, but aren't tiring either. They're my "do everything" headphone, and I really don't forsee myself needing another upgrade over these anytime soon (honestly the mezes were just a gift to myself. The sound quality is good, but not something I was "missing out" on.) I also spent damn near as much as the headphones themselves cost on a way nicer custom TRS cable with an extension, 3.5 and balanced 2.5 ends, which was also a noticeable improvement. I just wish I could get some custom earpads that match the yellow/black I went with for the cord.
I bought the k5pro based on your review, but unfortunately the power supply was defective so I had to wait for replacement. Can I drive this he4xx optimally with fiio q5? Mainly I use the q5 for my portable setup with iem. And also i am still torn on this hifiman he4xx or takstar hf580, what do you think?
Yes, K5 pro is powerful enough to drive them without a problem. Haven't heard HF580 though so can't really comment on that matter. Hope they send you the replacement soon.
No luck on the k5pro, so I have to return them. Wondering how will this he4xx combine with hybrid tube amps? Please review one of them, especially like xduoo ta-05 and other entry level tube / hybrids
@@iiWiReviews i just bought it too for my hd 6xx,i'd say the soundstage is further improved and i am hearing more details that i havent heard or noticed before when i was using fx audio dac x6,the ample power coming from it also improves the bass
