Good price. Lowest according to camelcamelcamel. 1c more expensive than last year
CamelCamelCamel.
They are more midrange or vocals forward.
Detail retrieval slightly better and staging would be a bit wider with better imaging, but tonality is rougher in the mid range and mid-treble despite a warmer, more organic sound.
$203 is worth a punt if you think you can judge you're comfort with the tonal balance with a chart from Crinacle or the Headphone Show people, but it just moves it into the same value category as the HE400SE variants.
Should be able to demo these and the HE400SE Stealth at an Addicted to Audio in most captial cities before you open the box. If you're not super competitively gaming-focused, that's the price range I'd suggest the Drop x Sennheiser HD6XX, ideally sub-$300 incl. delivery.
I'd never heard about these Hifiman HE400SE before. They get the stamp of approval from my favourite audio review site:
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/h…
I own a pair of Fidelios and I really like them though.
ASR is not good for headphone reviews, and frankly not good for DAC and amp reviews despite all the measurements thrown around, but there are some helpful data points.
For headphones, I would strongly recommend Headphones.com/The Headphone Show, Crinacle is also good but reviews less often these days. He'd still be across all the headphones I'm mentioning here, however.
I normally only look at their stuff for dac and amp reviews. I'm glad to hear you say they are no good for headphone stuff, because they trashed my Fidelios and I love them.
@Budju: Everyone trashes the Fidelios, because they introduce too much bass distortion and too little treble control to achieve their goals.
Great price for great quality headphones. Really robust build, very comfortable, sound fantastic.
Have one, but the headband has gone all loose, can't seem to find a way to replace it, otherwise great headphones.
https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/j0n71n/a_few_pe…
Just found this. I have borrowed a pair from a mate, also suffers from a badly stretched elastic band. I have literally shoved a small roll of sticky tape between the elastic headband and the metal headband to keep the elastic band from sagging upwards as a temp fix. 🤣
Still one of my favourite value headphones <3 I love recommending it to people.
These are great open back headphones. At this price they are incomparable.
these are obsolete these days. too much distortion and treble
What do you recommend at this price then?
he couldn't :)
You both scrolled past me already doing it…
@jasswolf: you mentioned value.
also, at 175 you would have to be nitpicking to skip this one. I purchased the Fidelio X2 for 399 back in 2014 summer lol, served me well and was worth the price. If the strap didn't fail i would have continued using it.
i'm out of the market for a long time now, but i really don't think the listening experience will vary too much between these options, especially at the price they're selling at.
@dukeGR4: To be clear, every headphone I've mentioned has superior audio quality and technical performance to the Fidelio series. The HE400SE non-Stealth destroys these for value for money.
At $399 in 2014 you would have been far better off with the HD 650 or a HIFIMAN HE-500, it's just a shame that the resources for all this were a bit less prominent on the internet back then.
@jasswolf: HD650 was WAY more expensive than $399 lol, i think it was $500-600. I remember wanting a pair as it was still made in Ireland at that time. Also couldn't get over how ugly it looked compared to the sleek German-made HD700. I don't recall HE500 being an option back in the days… Austrian-made AKG was the only viable option, i remember it had orange accent on it but i can't recall which one.
Also i was a bit risk adverse, having purchased a pair of Bowers and Wilkins P7 and Parrot Zik 2.0, i but wasn't too happy with the comfort. Eventually returned the Parrot Zik 2.0 and i just wanted sth that's not too expensive but still sounds good.
I doubt i'll ever buy another pair of open back now that i've got Airpods Pro 2 for everything from gaming to studying to working.
@dukeGR4: 650 used to go on sale for sub-$400 back then, HE-500 was $900 USD at launch in 2011, by 2014 it would have been in the $500-$600 range new and $400 market for a used pair, given the USD was basically at parity.
AKG don't really have anything that touch either of those, but yeah totally understand you being a bit gun shy of HIFIMAN back then as it would have likely been imported.
KSC75 or HE400SE
Looking for something in the $200 price range, was looking at the Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro, how does this compare?
HD6XX
Don't think those are 200?
They are significantly better than the DT990 Pro since 990 have extremely high treble. The 6XX arguably has the most safe, enjoyable sound that can last you decades for just a bit more
Both have serious treble issues, with the Phillips having more bloated and distorted bass.
Look instead at the HE400SE in its two forms ($120ish and $180ish during sales) if you favour detail and separation, and the AKG K612 ($180-$190 during sales) if you favour strong imaging during busy passages of audio.
The 6XX is a great recommendation though if you're happy to wait for a sale and creep up past $270, and you're not as focused on imaging, otherwise you can try for the Sennheiser HD 560S at $230ish on sale, but it's been 2 years since we've seen that.
had them, sold them. They dont sound anywhere near as good as my Grado MS-1's.
ordered one and then found out X3 is only $239 now … any suggestions if worth paying an extra $50 ???
All the other recommendations I'm posting here remain valid against the X3.
More value to be had from the HIFIMAN HE400SE (AliE) and its Stealth version (Amazon) unless you want to game competitively, then look at the AKG K612 or Sennheiser HD 560S instead.