Hifiman HE400se V1 planar magnetic headphones at what appears to be an all time low price.
Comes to USD$59.90 after an automatically applied spend and save of USD$3 per USD$20 spent.
Drops another USD$5 for those that are eligible for the AENY5 code to bring it down even cheaper.
Possibility these are fakes?
The store has a 99% rating, so doubtful they are fakes.
99% rating on what? AliExpress??
roflmao, excellent point
If they can make a fake planar headphone for around 80 bucks then it's still worth it.
Arrived quickly, and not fakes.
So yeah - store is worth its 99%, despite the cynics.
Was wondering the same thing. The price is nearly a bit too good to be true.
its aliexpress, what do you think? lol
got it from last deal. way uncomfortable compared to the philips x2hr and sen hd599
yeah, but x2hr is one of most comfortable cans under $1000 imho
Don't really care about all time low price but are these good pair of headphones compared to other well known models like those Sony and Bose?
If you're talking wireless ANC headsets, Sony and Bose are pretty bad. Anything even modestly and cheaply 'audiophile' will be better. But these have cables.
Sony and Bose are pretty bad?
That's why the WHM1000XMs and Quiet comforts are top 3 in most reccomendations lists.
Yes. Audio quality of both the Sony and Bose ANC wireless headphones is pretty poor. But you don’t buy them for audio quality, you buy them for convenience and battery life and connection strength and nose cancelling. Which is why they top recommendation lists for wireless ANC headphones.
It’s not hard.
@ZuluOz: I’ve had both, ended up keeping the Sonys annd giving the Bose to my wife.
Got a pair of Focal Bathys and haven’t touched the XMs ever since.
But the guy’s point was that it depends on your use case. Techbros reviewing ANC wireless headphones aren’t comparing them to wired headphones.
Sony and Bose are pretty bad?
That's why the WHM1000XMs and Quiet comforts are top 3 in most reccomendations lists.
They sound like shit compared to headphones that are specifically designed for audio reproduction. The Sony and Bose models are designed for convenience, for ANC, size (they have very small earcups) and bluetooth. All of these things compromise sound quality.
The Bose NC700s are some of the worst headphones (outside $10 cheapies) I can remember trying, but then again Bose is generally known for muddy-AF bass. The only worse headphones I recall are an earlier version of the Marshal Majors.
Top X recommended lists from Tech-Lite review sites like Wirecutter or The Verge are written for people who are very inexperienced with the product domain.
Anyway, the portable ANC headphones are a totally different use case to these HifiMan ones. They sound 'okay' if you're not used to good equipment, they are incredibly portable and convenient- they're designed for walking round the city or public transport. I use a pair for convenience and for working in high noise environments.
Dedicated audiophile style headphones will blow them out of the water for sound, but at the expense of being huge, clunky, leak sound like crazy, and need cables.
Bose/Sonys will have drivers literally the size of a 10c piece. Off memory, headphones in the OP are planars, which means the drivers are (at a guess) probably about 5cm in diameter and have 5 times the surface area. They are totally incomparable.
All the people who get butthurt about their precious Sony/Bose headsets, please feel free to downvote :D
@rumblytangara: The OG comment was about the quality of ANC Wireless headphones as a category not vs all headphones.
@ZuluOz: This entire thread is about wired, open headphones. Then some guy asks how they compare to wireless ANC.
Answer is: Not at all.
The other poster who posted the Simons pic is spot on.
Wireless ANC headphones are a completely different market to wired headphones often run with dedicated DACs / AMPs.
Those recommendations lists are not considering wired headphone setups because that's not what buyers are looking for, it's a relatively niche market.
You can get much better sound quality from wired setups but of course you trade convenience, and with a dedicated DAC / AMP, the price adds up.
Hifiman are well known. Don't let the fact that this seller is on AliExpress make you think otherwise. For example, the Hifiman sundaras are extremely popular headphones.
These are pretty good headphones for the price. There's a lot of reviews out there for these particular ones.
Worth noting though that these are open back. So they leak sound. They are not good for listening to around other people as you'll hear them and they'll hear your music. They would be terrible on a plane, public transport or an open office. Though in isolation, like in your own office space or listening in a quiet room, they are great. There are advantages to open back over closed back. It's worth doing some research before you buy to make sure they are for you.
they'll hear your music
Sharing is caring.
Very different demographics and use cases, especially if you're comparing Sony/Bose wireless, noise cancelling etc pairs.
i don't mean to be rude (honestly!), but… this comment is to headphones as the below hypothetical is to cars.
an ozbargain deal for a low price on a new caterham 7
a user comments: "don't really care about all time low price but are these a good car compared to other well known models like those Toyota Corolla and Mazda 3?
honestly, 'good pair of headphones' is arguably way more subjective than 'good car' tbh.
perhaps the more apt comparison would be this lmao
Would like to try these. V2 worth it over V1?
Amazon price history for comparison (I think it's right/same cans)
Average price $219
Lowest price $196.24 (Apr 27, 2022)
https://au.camelcamelcamel.com/product/B08Z2SK5C4
I have these, think the SE on the whole is stealth. That's what made it SE.
I don't own these and don't know anything about them.
Found a current Amazon listing with both V1 and V2 with quite a big price difference so I don't think that reddit post is wrong.
The product description from Hifiman also states the same about the "stealth magnet" version being the global version.
Regardless, this is a very good price, but it's not totally correct comparing the pricing of v1 vs v2.
Are these good for gaming? Have a Sennheiser game one (open headset) not sure if it will be an upgrade…
I have Hifman HE-X4s.
They are extremely flat in response so they can sound a bit sterile. they also lack bass response compared to traditional drivers. That is to say, the bass tails off earlier than it should and they could use a bit more bass response to be truly flat. you can EQ this out if you know what you're doing.
Where planar magnetic drivers excel, for me at least, is sound stage and separation. really feels like I can close my eyes and pluck the bass guitar/drums/cymbals/singer out and really listen to that specific part of the music, and hear exactly where it is in the 'room' in front of me.
they generally can be powered by a phone or controller but they perform best with a headphone amplifier. full volume on my phone gets them to just about 'loud' listening levels. my headphone amp makes them go a lot louder and that head room is good to have.
I prefer my (now ancient) Astro A40s for gaming. lighter, less clamp, bigger cups, integrated microphone and the frequency response isnt flat but I can hear good detail and explosions are immersive.
What makes something 'good for gaming'?
I mean, they are headphones…
Depends on the game, generally you want a lot of comfort since gaming sessions can last a long time, a good sound stage to allow for spacial effects (not just left and right, but distance, and height). Some games having good bass is advantageous others it's not that important.
You've also the other side of things, do they enhance the story and help with immersion so things like the cup seal are important too.
For computer games, I think that sound stage depends far more on the audio engine than on the headphones.
I say this as someone who used to use the HD 800S.
@rumblytangara: I say this as someone who uses different headsets pending if I need a mic, the headset absolutely contributes to the spatial sounds you get.
How do these differ to the original HE-400 from like 10 years ago, the blue ones?
Tweaks. Like the magbet design.
Plenty of reviews and opinions on reddit and Headfi.
Would it be ok to use with laptop/desktop without amp? What is reasonable amp will pair well with this one if I need one? Thank you guys.
These run absolutely fine without needing a amp. If you were buying these then your money would be much better spent on a DAC and not a dedicated amp.
I have the ifi zen air DAC. For $150 I'm very happy. Sounds amazing. I definitely notice a differene when pairing with high quality music stream.
the collection grows ever larger…
As an added bonus, the Koala freebie cables will fit these :)
Where do I find these cables? I need a new cable.
Edit: holy shiz. Thanks for sharing. I found em on the website. So good.
link?
How will these do being directly into my pc audio port? Also are these for gaming? I do need a good pair of cans (alrdy have a mic)
Aenys
I can guess its some kind of fake , Aliexpress as official Hifiman store with very different prices for the same model .
Where do people source their music when buying headphones such as these?
Many years ago when I had a reasonable wifi setup, it included a turntable, tape deck, receiver/amplifier, Sennheiser headphones, and big speakers. Later, a CD player was added.
Now I have none of these, with all my music (90% classical) being downloaded or streamed.
Is streamed music of a quality that justifies these headphones, plus probably a DAC/amplifier?
At the moment, I listen through Soundpeats earbuds, and Sony WH900N headphones.
Streamed or downloaded, either should be fine. Obviously there are some services that now offer lossless/hi-res if you were really pedantic, but realistically you probably won't be able to hear the difference just based off whether it's lossless or streamed on these headphones, or any other headphones for that matter.
Probably more pertinent to not fixate on the file format, and rather make sure the music itself you're listening to is well-mastered/mixed etc., and not some loud, low dynamic range crap (because that's where the better headphones start to shine/you'll start hearing the difference). If you were looking to just find some more enjoyment in your listening, these should be worth/be a good upgrade.
These will benefit from higher quality music. I do hear the difference between poor quality streams and the hifi options offered by my steaming services.
Lossless is overkill but if you are on the apple ecosystem, then apple music is well priced and offers lossless audio. Otherwise, tidal also offers high quality streams (bit more pricey). Ive now gone back to using Spotify on high quality. The bit rate of streams isn't as large as the other two platforms mentioned, but I can't tell the difference (if using Spotify make sure to turn off 'normalise volume' in the settings - it's a stupid filter that is on by default and ruins the sound quality).
I also use a $150 DAC (ifi zen air DAC), which has greatly improved my listening experience.
Something else to keep in mind is that hifiman have notoriously bad QC. At this price I'd be willing to roll the dice but not everyone might. For example last year the hifiman HE6SE v2 was on sale for something like $499 usd from Adorama (roughly 1/4 the rrp and 1/3 their regular price) but many people (myself included) still didn't take the chance on them.
Agreed- HiFiMan has a terrible rep for QC, terrible rep for CS and treating their customers like marks. Probably the worst rep in the industry.
I'm rolling the dice on these as a late Christmas gift for a nephew. No way would I buy any of their products full price (or even anything heavily discounted but over $100). Most my headphones are boring Sennheiser for exactly the opposite reason- very good QC and very good product support.
Great headphone, really shines with and amp and some EQ. (if you're a basshead like me you can make em thump)
Kinda glad this expired. It took the decision out of my hands.
Purchased with a Moondrop Dawn Pro DAC for US$94 total.
See how the DAC goes - may need to upgrade in the future.
DAC arrived and set-up today.
Not much increase in volume - which is sufficient - but a huge boost to clarity. I don't think I will be upgrading.
My aged ears are not sufficiently attuned to hifi wank, so that's about as far as I can take it.
Mine just arrived.
Pleasant mids, not overly treble-skewed. A fair bit more detail than generic wireless headsets.
But wow, they are so totally lacking in bass that I had to check that my system isn't running some long-forgotten EQ program. Just running these through a PC as they are low impedance (25 Ohms) and will end up being powered by a laptop anyway.
They're going to be a gift to a nephew who composes/mixes and is currently using another of my planar sets, but I don't think they'll be good for that as they are so unbalanced.
Nice cheap casual listening headphones, but I am surprised are like this given that they are planars- no idea what HiFiMan were doing when they designed these. Maybe EQ can fix them, but they're going back into the box after a couple of tracks.
Edit: Just compared these to the HD59X, and yeah, this is definitely a case of you get what you pay for. If I can be arsed, I'll hook them up to an amp later because out of a PC jack as they are only impressive compared to wireless headsets.
Came in a plain brown box with limited packing. Is it genuine?
That is amazing bang for buck. Thinking of buying just for the hell of it.