Cheapest price according to 3camels. Shipping from the US. Great entry-level audiophile headphones.
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I owned both headphones, I tend to go back to HIFIMAN than then Phillips.
The sound stage of hifiman is much wider for me, I plug mine into dac/amp. But everyone's hearing preferences are different. For me, the Hifiman is as comfy as it can get.
Comfort could be the winner - I currently have the audio technica M50x and the clamping force on them feels like someone is trying to crush my skull with their palms. Just need a decent set of headphones for non competitive gaming. These might have to do especially since they are only like $60 more than the non aliexpress philips.
I have tried on the M50x before in-store, I don't particularly like the muddy bass style headphone, a bit too much bass I would say and the clamp force is good hahaha
I think for gaming the Philips is good for its price!
FYI the Philips on Aliexpress is around $105 shipped… I just ordered it from US Amazon for $116 to Australia. Would have been $139 from amazon.com.au
Do you find that the Phillips improves with amp?
It does a little bit, more clarity I would say.
Seconded, My HIFIMANs are one of my goto from my pile of headphones when it comes to games where i need positional awareness, not a big of the SHP9500s for the same job (game examples cs:go, pubg)
Nice! Really hanging out for a deva/deva pro deal though as I'm sure I can use them for wireless music + wired gaming..
Anyone know how this compares to the original blue HE400.
I don't particularly like these, but god damn that's a killer price on a pair of planars.
HIFIMAN will not cover these under warranty, so be aware you will be dealing with Amazon US for returns.
In my experience Amazon US/UK warranty has been pretty good, if it breaks they pay for you to send it back and give a refund. Probably better than dealing with HIFIMAN from what I've seen on here.
The difference with HIFIMAN via Amazon AU is that they have a local distribution point for returns that will assess and replace faster, calling in stock direct from China on express shipping if needed.
I don't think Amazon AU offer the same local support for US/UK returns.
Drop HE4XX is crap, based on the older HE-400i.
The updated Drop model is the HE-X4, which is similar but doesn't have the stealth magnets. The tonality change is subtle (HE400SE would be brighter), and there would be subtle timbre (better on SE) and imaging (slightly better on SE) changes.
They are compared at a technical and subjective level here in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmMA_Iw6fjA
What's the difference between this and 400se V2?
In the international market, the HE400SE is always the 'v2', using the Stealth magnets.
In China, they release a version of the HE400SE without stealth magnets, which is only really sold internationally via Chinese sellers, or in a modded version via the Drop HE-X4.
Thanks for the detailed response!
Am I right to assume these come with good cables? I think I recall someone saying they made the cables better because the original ones were pretty crappy.
That's sort of addressed in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmMA_Iw6fjA
Basically the cable is just OK, with the Drop model being better. In terms of sonic quality, the HE400SE v2/international model is best, with best comfort.
how would these compare to the Philips SHP9500? - specifically for gaming