In this Video I pull apart some HiFiman sundaras to see the differences between the construction of these vs the HE400se. If you fancy any of the mod kits shown at the start of the video, here is a link customcans.co....
You are doing the most original content in this youtube headphone community at the moment, I really appreciate your work and hope the channel will grow fast!
Just found this vid. It's been a real joy for me to be able to use the cable you made for my dt770,in my DT 880 which you modded about 3wks back. Plus the cables you made for my sennheisers Inc the brilliant hd560s. Beyer cans are a friend for life...they don't make toys.
I love the sound of the HE 400 SE, I have the Sundara too. Frankly for me I always pick up the He 400 SE, to my ears it sounds more natural. It also has more bass and has better high end in my opinion. I also think it equalizes better and I like its sound stage better. Sundara does sound cleaner and has more sub bass, it also has a cleaner high end, however to me it sounds too clinical and extremely tiresome, I do not like the way the high bass sounds on the Sundara and frankly as an alternative I prefer either the He 400 Se or my AKG k712.
So I got a Sundara and found that it was poorly assembled on the left side. Loose screws and improperly installed ear cup. I found that the best way to get better sound of of plainer magnetic cans is to lightly tighten the screws that hold the driver assembly together. Not to tight but tighter than they generally come. Very light tightness with a normal sized screw driver much tightness with a small tech screw driver. The only set of plainer magnetic headphones I got that were properly tightened was the Fostex and the Sivga. But the Hifiman and Monolith were not properly tightened. I was able to increase the base and generally improve the sound just with a little tightening. As far as the Monolith 1070 is concerned I switched the foam pad from the outside to inside underneath the pad and that vastly improved the sound just as much as tightening. I was thinking of removing the dust filter on the Sundara so see if that matters.
Exactly what I needed to see right now. Couldn't be more happier. If it isn't too much, could you check if the HE400SE driver fits onto the Sundara's housing - screw holes, 3.5mm terminal and diameter considered?
I have both those headbands and quality is about the same I feel. The SE band retains the adjustment tightness longer, but the Sandara headband is slightly more comfy. I've done the notch mod on the SE so they arent bad either. Interesting to see the difference!
@@CustomCans I think they sound really nice and are an improvement, but I actually have two complaints unrelated to the sound. (1) Was the added weight - without the cable, the mod turned out to be 530g when printed at 90% infill with 3 perimeters. I ended up re-printing the entire thing at 20% adaptive cubic infill with 1 or 2 perimeters (depending on the part) and it's now a more manageable weight of 470g. It doesn't really seem any less sturdy than the heavier version. (2) I don't know if it would make a difference, or if this is even the issue, but I was thinking that the pivot point for the earcups/headband could've been moved out away from the head a few millimeters. I feel like it's causing the clamp to be a littler tighter than the stock version of the headphones and it's slightly uncomfortable/causing the cups to sit more angled and making a pressure point.
The grille on your custom modded 400se does look really nice, and much more airy. Is it metal? From build quality, the Sundara looks nice. I'd love to see some upgrade mod for the 400se, out of metal. ;) And black, of course. Keep up the great work, and 400se modding! :) /edit Funny, that you teared the Sundara apart, without ever listening to it. :)
This is an interesting comparison, I have both the Sundara and the HE400SE, not sure if I'm planning to keep both though. Definitely interested if you come up with anything neat for the Sundara. Also, a friendly reminder, I sent an email asking for a missing CAD file for the HE400SE mod a few weeks back, I've printed everything else and am rearing to get the last one done so that I can assemble it and have a listen then ;)
Sorry chap, we have been totally over run with orders and emails so I have missed a lot. Unfortunately my solidworks licence has expired but I should have it back on the computer soon and will re-upload everything
@@CustomCans Sounds good, I'm very much looking forward to assembling my modded set, I just got the new headband today. When do you think you'll be able to export the solidworks part? Just as an idea, so I know when I could expect to wrap the project up.
@@cinder88 You should still be able to just print the part you need from the STLs on thingiverse but I should have new files available in a week ( if I can get the new version of solidworks to work... ;)
I still wanna see how you unscrew that damn housing tho. I'd heard too many times that you can't improve sound by swapping pads on the Sundara's and better keep using the original pads (same about Sennheiser's HD600 line). Not to put you in another long mod proyect but a closed-back Sundara's mod would be awesome
Be very careful, that cable looks nice, but it will fail in the first week, you should plan for a replacement ASAP, once you take the cable apart you will see it's actually the worst cable ever.
Is there anyway to mod the headband of the he400se. It hurt my head . It's seriously painful to wear. Just the headband giving me problems as for the clamp all good.
Tricky question as they are very different headphones. It depends want you want / like. If you like a load of detail the 1990s are best but they are super unforgiving of bad recordings. The sundara are a bit more musical. If you are not sure... I would probably go for the sundara as they are good allrounders
