Music

Here are some individual music tracks and how I felt the HE-400's coped with them. Most tracks were listened to in CD format with lossless compression. All tracks are also available on Spotify, which on the 'premium' service are maximum quality MP3s and I find these highly acceptable.

• Jesper Kyd: "State Of Decay Main Theme" - I actually don't know what this is a score for, I just follow the Danish composer because I love some of his other game soundtracks.   One of reasons the HE-400 is so good with Classical and soundtracks is it's nicely flat response, although flat can sometimes mean a bit boring, it certainly doesn't here. There is a quality and emphasis to the bass and treble, while not being offensive and that really makes these headphones special!

• Excision: "Deviance - Original Mix" - With the HE-400's superb upper bass body I had to try some nicely powerful Electronic / Dubstep type tracks. This one has some great & dynamic bass! The HE400s do a stunning job of rendering it without any mid-range contamination. This is one of those headphones that can be addictive for bass as well as agile and powerful, yet delicate for something like classical.

• Jason Mraz: "I'm yours" - The bright and crisp vocals are beautifully presented, produce zero harshness and have a great sense of air. I want to say that these headphones make a compelling argument for vocals, but again it's their versatility that seems to really stand out.

• Fear Factory: "Replica" - The HE400s transition from delicate vocals into aggressive death metal with ease. There's great attack and speed from the guitars, while aggressive vocals are clear and nicely separated as possible. This is as good as I've heard this music. 

• Amy Winehouse: "Back To Black" - This track has nice sense of smoothness and good emphasis on vocal clarity. It's as entertaining with slow or simple music as it is with fast, densely packed instruments fighting for attention. 

• Orishas: "A Lo Cubano" - This latin pop is extremely enjoyable through the HE400s. It's a nicely mixed, dynamic sound that will have you foot tapping at the very least and these headphones bring out the full soul of the music. 

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Competition

Comparing these headphones to others can be rather difficult. There are clear differences and advantages to orthodynamic drivers and the problem with comparing the HE-400s to other orthos is that there's nothing else in quite the same price bracket. On the low end there's Fostex's most expensive orthodynamic headphone - the T50rp (£100). The best option here is to compare the HE-400s to a modified T50rp, like the Mr. Speakers 'Mad Dog', there are several others, but this is one that I've reviewed. At around £300 this is a much closer price to the HE-400 and luckily I still have them here to compare. The only other orthodynamic manufacturer around is Audeze, but their cheapest model is twice the price of the HE-400 and is a lot harder to find. This means that the next most expensive ortho after the HE-400 is HIfiman's own HE-500 (priced at £700), so you can see the problem. So for this reason I will open the comparisons up to some dynamic driver headphones as well.

Mad Dog - This is the only other orthodynamic headphone that I've had the fortune to try so far. Although it's based on a headphone costing 1/4 of the HE400, the external changes that Mr. Speakers have added to it (additional leather headband and new Alpha pads) make it feel infinitely more comfortable than the original, or indeed anything else around that price. In fact this is one of the nicest headphones I've worn and it clearly bests the much heavier HE400 in the comfort arena too. Apart from weight the big enemy of the HE400 is clamping force (which it probably needs to stay on your head), it's a little too tight. This is made worse by the ear-cushioning being rather hard, which being symmetrical doesn't hug the head nearly as nicely as the Mad Dog's 'Alpha' pads. So the HE400 doesn't seal quite as well, but being open-back it doesn't really need to and here we reach our next problem comparing the sound. The original Fostex T50rp was a semi-open headphone and it isolated reasonably well, but the Mad Dog modification has made it isolate better than most closed-backs. 
The air and separation of the Mad Dog may not be quite as impressive as the HE400, but the soundstage is stunning with both. The tonality of the two presentations seem pretty similar, especially now that the Mad Dog is using the new Alpha pads, they're both a little on the warm side, but both manage a staggering lack of colouration into the mid-range, shine for vocals and have very well controlled upper ranges. Both headphones need nice, powerful amplification to flourish, but I would say that the HE400 comes out a bit ahead on pure versatility of sound quality (possibly more for Classical and Jazz) because of the few open-back qualities. If you find yourself sitting on the fence between these two headphones I would recommend mostly using the need of isolation to steer your decision. There are trade-offs to a closed back headphone, but the Mad Dogs display very little of them and are one of a very few that can compete with a headphone like the Hifiman HE-400 or Sennheiser HD600. 

Sennheiser HD650 - This is a classic, well balanced dynamic headphone and it's price is close to the HE-400 (£330 vs £400). Comfort wise the HD650 pretty much wins. Not only is it very light, but the ear-cushioning is fabric, which makes makes it a bit more comfortable and less hot. The HD650's clamping force is similar to the HE-400, a bit too much relative to weight, but since the weight isn't there it's less of an issue. Like the HE-400 the HD650 has dual entry removable cable, although the Sennheiser's push fit might be much easier to use it also seems more problematic under constant use. 
So tonality wise the HE-400's sound seems to sit neatly between the Sennhseiser HD600 and the HD650. With the dynamics the more neutral HD600 seems to be what most audio enthusiasts & pros  prefer and I agree. The HE-400 is a little warmer than that, The upper bass has a substantial weight and kick to it, but it doesn't poison the mid-range as many lesser headphones do. By comparison, even the HD650 is a bit bloated for some music, although it's saved somewhat by being in the realms amplification tonality balancing, which is why I think it's loved so much. 

I wish I could say more about the Audeze range and how it compares here, but unfortunately I haven't had the chance to try them yet. Since the price is so far different from the HE-400 to the LCD-2 I'm too worried about this right now, if I get my hands on the HE-500 it will be more of an issue

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