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HiFi Man HE-4X
- Thread starter JoeESP9
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DavidZak
Well-Known Member
Did you receive your new cans?
DavidZak
Well-Known Member
Have you compared the HE-5xx's to The Sundara's?
Snade
humble AK member
RE: Order status of HE-4X from Drop
Nope. No shipping date given yet from Drop. I only placed my order a week ago. Last cans I ordered from Drop took over two weeks.
DavidZak
Well-Known Member
Keep us posted.
JoeESP9
ESL's & tubes since 83
It was a two month wait between ordering my HE-4X's and the next scheduled "drop". That was before they changed the name to just Drop.
Tedrick
Infinity-phile
No, haven't had the opportunity to try the Sundara's yet.
Snade
humble AK member
I've had the HE-4X from Drop for a couple of days. They have about 12 hours on them before I tested them out.
I'm running them with my Schiit Vali 2 amp with a Matsushita / National PCC88 / 7DJ8 tube and Modi 3+ DAC and I mostly stream from Amazon Music HD.
Quick summary - I like these headphones. They have excellent dynamics, great detail and a solid low-end.
I had a credit at Drop, so I got them for $120 - they are a huge bang for the buck at that price.
I've been using the Sennheiser HD6XX headphones, and the HE-4X have a more live sound from the planar design. But it's a subtle change to my ears.
The really appreciate the Sennheisers for their beautiful, warm midrange and the tone to vocals. You get a little more clarity from the HE-4X and at times it sounds a tad harsh in the high-end, but they may need some break-in.
The build quality of the HE-4X is very average, but you expect that at this price point. I find them fairly comfortable.
I look forward to spending more time with the HE-4X - a great value and the SQ is pretty amazing on some of my favorite recordings.
Cheers,
Snade
I'm running them with my Schiit Vali 2 amp with a Matsushita / National PCC88 / 7DJ8 tube and Modi 3+ DAC and I mostly stream from Amazon Music HD.
Quick summary - I like these headphones. They have excellent dynamics, great detail and a solid low-end.
I had a credit at Drop, so I got them for $120 - they are a huge bang for the buck at that price.
I've been using the Sennheiser HD6XX headphones, and the HE-4X have a more live sound from the planar design. But it's a subtle change to my ears.
The really appreciate the Sennheisers for their beautiful, warm midrange and the tone to vocals. You get a little more clarity from the HE-4X and at times it sounds a tad harsh in the high-end, but they may need some break-in.
The build quality of the HE-4X is very average, but you expect that at this price point. I find them fairly comfortable.
I look forward to spending more time with the HE-4X - a great value and the SQ is pretty amazing on some of my favorite recordings.
Cheers,
Snade
DavidZak
Well-Known Member
Glad to hear that you like them.
Once you get them broken in 100 hrs you will really apreciate them. I have the HE-400I'S and find the 8-9 KHz spike to be a bit fatiguing. I'll digitally eq that area about -2.5 db and it's Musical Bliss. They are my favorite critical listening HP'S. They definitely have more detail and soundstage than my HD58Xs. Enjoy them and get back.
Snade
humble AK member
DavidZak
Well-Known Member
What's your opinion after 3 weeks?
Snade
humble AK member
My score after three weeks with the Drop HIFIMAN HE-X4 planar headphones :
Sound quality: B+
Quality of Materials / Build Quality: C
Comfort / Lightness: C+
Value / Bang for Buck: A
Quality of Materials / Build Quality: C
Comfort / Lightness: C+
Value / Bang for Buck: A
I spent about two hours last night listening to the HE-X4 and thoroughly enjoyed them. I plan to keep them and alternate from time to time with my Drop Sennheiser HD6XX.
Note, Drop now calls these headphones the HE-X4 for $129.
I also replaced the cable with the ones below based on recommendations here with good results - a 6 foot cable and better build quality.
Cheers,
Snade
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Can you quickly score the Sennheiser 6XX? I'm looking to get another pair of headphones to complement them, and was thinking about getting a pair of planars. I have a JDS Atom amp, that only outputs 1W of power, so I'm not sure what planer would even work well, but I assume it has enough power for the HE-4x. Also I don't want a pair of headphones that will fall apart within a couple of years of normal use.
My biggest complaint about the 6xx is that they seem kind of slow and not dynamic, and the soundstage seems poor. The bass seems to be a bit boomy to me as well, perhaps a spike in the mid bass range? But I still like them for acoustic music.
Snade
humble AK member
If you forced me to pick one right now, I would pick the Sennheiser 6XX. But both are an incredible value at the price.
I would agree the planar HE-X4 have a bit more dynamics and wider soundstage. But the Sennheiser have a very pleasing tone and deep midrange to my ears and they have good detail - just very listenable and impressive. I think the female voice is a bit more refined with the 6XX and that makes it more engaging for me. The 6XX and my Schiit Vali 2 amp with upgraded tube are also a perfect match, IMO.
But a lot of this is subjective, personal preference of course.
Cheers,
Snade
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Kaveman Karl
Active Member
I have and do agree with most reviews pulished about the Sundara: it's in a different league than the 4's, 5's and the now OOP 6's. Contrary to my initial assumption that Sundara was a slightly augmented successor to the HE650 it turned out to be part of the few phones thst belong to the extreme upper tier of the mid-range realm, bordering true high-ends most notably the Focal Clear to which it is often compared. Build quality is based on the simple principle that less is best when design efficiency is taken into account during developement and is based on that of the double-sided HE6se which costs over $2,000.
Mids are prominent and often cause fatigue during break-in which can be quite long upwards to 300 hours at reasonably modest volume but you can oreo them between pillows in a closet and feed them energetic streams 24/7 for 10 days with same result. They become less airy and develop a full-bodied sound featuring a tight yet deep bass, neutral mids and pleasant highs that won't scream at you. I'll conclude with a quote from Hertsens "damn good phone this one. grab it while you can"
