How does it stack up?

[Donnyboy98]

How does the Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro, Philips Fidelio X2, HiFiMAN-400i and HiFiMAN HE-400 stack up against the bigger brother of the HE-400 the HE-500?

 

As there is a huge difference in price range i was wondering is it worth that jump up to the HE-500 from any of the others or will the other ones be just as good?

[Cheesebaron]

Having owned HE-400 and now having the HE-500, I'd say the price jump is worth it. However, you won't notice a night and day difference between the two, but they have their differences.

 

Bass wise the HE-400 wins, the representation in the lower regions is very good. Very tight and full.

Mids are slightly forward on the HE-500 while on the HE-400 they have a dip in the upper mid region, which for me makes vocals less attractive and they loose some of their flair.

Treble on the HE-400 can be sibilant and "tizzy" while the HE-500 are more neutral.

I would say the HE-500 are more neutral, while the HE-400 are a bit on the fun side. Additionally the sound staging is a bit better on the HE-500 as well.

 

I haven't heard the DT 990 Pro's, only the DT880 and DT770 and COPs. Of those I like the DT880's most and they were actually my first good pair headphones. However, having heard a lot of other headphone since, I've found out the Beyerdynamic sound does not really appeal that much to me. I find them too analytic and in many cases a bit thin and boring sounding. Don't get me wrong, they are fantastic headphones in a lot of areas, but I just prefer another sound.

 

I've heard the Fidelio X1, and they are actually quite good. They remind me a lot of the Sennheiser HD650, although a bit less dark and they have that bump in the upper bass region which make them a fun headphone.

 

Have you heard any of them?

[Donnyboy98]

Having owned HE-400 and now having the HE-500, I'd say the price jump is worth it. However, you won't notice a night and day difference between the two, but they have their differences.

 

Bass wise the HE-400 wins, the representation in the lower regions is very good. Very tight and full.

Mids are slightly forward on the HE-500 while on the HE-400 they have a dip in the upper mid region, which for me makes vocals less attractive and they loose some of their flair.

Treble on the HE-400 can be sibilant and "tizzy" while the HE-500 are more neutral.

I would say the HE-500 are more neutral, while the HE-400 are a bit on the fun side. Additionally the sound staging is a bit better on the HE-500 as well.

 

I haven't heard the DT 990 Pro's, only the DT880 and DT770 and COPs. Of those I like the DT880's most and they were actually my first good pair headphones. However, having heard a lot of other headphone since, I've found out the Beyerdynamic sound does not really appeal that much to me. I find them too analytic and in many cases a bit thin and boring sounding. Don't get me wrong, they are fantastic headphones in a lot of areas, but I just prefer another sound.

 

I've heard the Fidelio X1, and they are actually quite good. They remind me a lot of the Sennheiser HD650, although a bit less dark and they have that bump in the upper bass region which make them a fun headphone.

 

Have you heard any of them?

None, ive just got into this stuff and as im new to this its hard to understand what people sometimes say like "fun" which makes it hard to get a good understand of a review. I do know where these headphones stack up in sound quality though giving what people do say DT 990 then X2 but get alot of people saying they are better (Prefer them over) than something like the HD 700 or Audeze LCD-2. which makes me think why do people prefer them and praise them over something that is worth 2 or 3 times the price?

[Donnyboy98]

Having owned HE-400 and now having the HE-500, I'd say the price jump is worth it. However, you won't notice a night and day difference between the two, but they have their differences.

 

Bass wise the HE-400 wins, the representation in the lower regions is very good. Very tight and full.

Mids are slightly forward on the HE-500 while on the HE-400 they have a dip in the upper mid region, which for me makes vocals less attractive and they loose some of their flair.

Treble on the HE-400 can be sibilant and "tizzy" while the HE-500 are more neutral.

I would say the HE-500 are more neutral, while the HE-400 are a bit on the fun side. Additionally the sound staging is a bit better on the HE-500 as well.

 

I haven't heard the DT 990 Pro's, only the DT880 and DT770 and COPs. Of those I like the DT880's most and they were actually my first good pair headphones. However, having heard a lot of other headphone since, I've found out the Beyerdynamic sound does not really appeal that much to me. I find them too analytic and in many cases a bit thin and boring sounding. Don't get me wrong, they are fantastic headphones in a lot of areas, but I just prefer another sound.

 

I've heard the Fidelio X1, and they are actually quite good. They remind me a lot of the Sennheiser HD650, although a bit less dark and they have that bump in the upper bass region which make them a fun headphone.

 

Have you heard any of them?

As the HE-500 went up $100 it leaves me no other choice but to now look at the 400i unless it comes down in price again

[Cheesebaron]

None, ive just got into this stuff and as im new to this its hard to understand what people sometimes say like "fun" which makes it hard to get a good understand of a review.

 

With fun in this case I mean the bass and treble are kind of dominant, making them not neutral sounding and colors the sound coming out of them.

 

 

I do know where these headphones stack up in sound quality though giving what people do say DT 990 then X2 but get alot of people saying they are better (Prefer them over) than something like the HD 700 or Audeze LCD-2. which makes me think why do people prefer them and praise them over something that is worth 2 or 3 times the price?

 

Wow, super incoherent sentence. Consider some punctuation and re-reading the sentence... Anyways, you can't know anything from what people say as most of the time they are expressing their subjective opinion of the product. The best way to know is to listen to the product yourself and make your own mind up on the product.

 

 

As the HE-500 went up $100 it leaves me no other choice but to now look at the 400i unless it comes down in price again

 

You have the choice of buying used, you might save a lot of money doing that.

[Donnyboy98]

With fun in this case I mean the bass and treble are kind of dominant, making them not neutral sounding and colors the sound coming out of them.

Wow, super incoherent sentence. Consider some punctuation and re-reading the sentence... Anyways, you can't know anything from what people say as most of the time they are expressing their subjective opinion of the product. The best way to know is to listen to the product yourself and make your own mind up on the product.

You have the choice of buying used, you might save a lot of money doing that.

Sorry I'm dyslexic