Sennheiser HD 6XX VS Hifiman HE400SE for Gaming and mostly EDM listening

Gazb

Gazb

Gazb

Associate
Joined
12 Nov 2008
Posts
1,246
Does anyone have any experience with both of these headphones (Sennheiser HD 6XX VS Hifiman HE400SE) for gaming and/or listening to EDM (Trance mostly with some older harder stuff thrown in for good measure).

The Hifiman HE400SE is surprisingly cheap at the moment and is tempting, but for gaming and dance music use is this gonna be a waste/am I better off just paying a bit more for the HD 6XX instead. (Also worried the planars might be a bit sibilant)
 
Last edited:
The HE400SE are worth a buy just to demo them, I'm assuming you're looking at the rainforest? The Deva Pro are around the same price and you might get on with them more, but I wouldn't say there's much between them really. They're a fantastic introduction to planars to get a feel of what they're capable of, but you do need to spend a good deal more to gain much improvement with that particular tech.

If you don't get on with them it's super easy to return for a full refund.

I will say that they can be quite bright, but they're excellent and very responsive headphones for the price so should be suitable for a wide range of genres (although I'm not really into EDM myself so couldn't say for certain in that regard). They EQ well too mind you, but this all depends on what you plan on plugging them into exactly?

The only thing of note is that the cable they (used) to come with is terrible, very flimsy and while I feel the "upgraded cables/speaker wire" argument in general is largely populated by snake oil salesmen, this is one area where you might actually end up wanting to spend a bit more. That said, I've been told that Hifiman have taken a lot of the criticism of the included cable on board and now ship with a much improved version, and as its been a couple of years since I spent time with them I suspect you'll be fine.
 
Last edited:
I can only talk to the HD 6XX/650 but I love them. They aren't best for gaming, but can do it.

The included cable with the HD 6x0 Sennheiser I've bought have been a bit ropey. The two Massdrop variants use the same 1.8mm (I think) shorter SE cable which is much better than what you get with the HD 650 (10ft heavy cable). Therefore it can be worth considering aftermarket cables to go balanced, or just to get some thing at the length you want.
 
Very different headphones,

HD6XX (HD600/HD600) is one my favourite headphones at any cost, but for EDM music and gaming I would recommend the HE400SE, better 'planar' bass imo which will suit EDM, also another thing to consider is the HD6XX really needs a bit juice (an amp) to sound good, even the HE400SE imo needs an amp but with the HD6XX it's essential, also they sound very different, the 6XX will sound more closed in, intimate, but arguebly the best Timbre on any headphone in the world, I think for a first 'proper' headphone the HE400SE is so cheap for good price to performance it's a no brainer.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the replies.

It's given me more to think about especially regarding needing an Amp. That is something I was already considering.
Currently at my gaming computer I'm either running my Logitech Z5500 5.1 surround. One of the few left who still enjoy surround sound at their pc while gaming it seems.
When I'm on sim racing rig, then I plug my Sennheiser PC350 SE's into the headphone output of the controller for my speakers.

While the PC350 SE's are good, I wouldn't call them ever comfortable even with velour pads installed, and I think even they would like a bit of an amp at times if im listening music.

It seems, at the price the HE400SE's are worth trying and I should get a headphone amp regardless. If I don't like the HE400SE's then if/when I go for a set of HD6XX I'll already have the power they need.

What is a reasonable budget and quality headphone Amplifier these days?
It seems there are a lot more players than what I remember last time I was considering one. So just trying to see where to start.

Surprisingly I've even seen the Qudelix 5K DAC Amp mentioned for use as a headphone amp when I was taking a quick look, and thats something I'd been considering for my portable/IEM needs as my new phone doesn't have a headphone jack.
 
Last edited:
I've actually just hunted out my Qudelix to try on the HD6XX, just been sat hear listening for around an hour and even on single ended low gain (1v) I was actually quite pleasantly surprised how well it powered them!, comfortable levels around between 300-400mV.

Qudelix have a power budget chart on their site for the HD600 which will be very similar to the HD6XX,

docs.google.com

Qudelix-5K Power Budget SENNHEISER HD600

docs.google.com docs.google.com

If you are also looking for a portable device for IEM's as well then the Qudelix will do the job very well and also pull double duty for your headphones, the Qudelix has an amazing software interface for the PC and smartphone App with a ton of options to tweak and a full paremetric EQ with a database built into the software that has a list of hundreds IEMs and headphones with pre-configured EQ settings.

It actually surprises me that after all these years nothing I've seen matches the Q5K software interface and versatility, it puts so many manufactures to shame in that respect.
 
Ive run the HD650s for gaming, didnt enjoy them at all. The H400SE were better, I got them for £40 from China, would recommend buying them this way.

I since moved to the Edition XS and theyre very good.
 
Things change I've changed said:
A planar magnetic headphone for £40 is just insane really, I remember grabbing the original HE400i's for around £380 ten odd years ago, it was like magical experience coming in a big display case!

I think @Angst bought a pair about 10 years ago off MM for a couple of hundred quid.
Click to expand...

I've been running some LCD2's for close to a decade now on a WA7 platform. I have a soft spot for more traditional headphones from the likes of Sennheiser, Beyerdynamic or tuned Grado (Alessandro), but planars are (currently) the end game of headphone technology imo unless you're looking for a very specific sound for a very specific genre.
 
Last edited:
Echo some of the above - as much as I love my HD600 series and they can reveal quite a bit of detail in games they are not a gaming headphone, never tried the HE400s for gaming so no idea how they do though in comparison.
 
Things change I've changed said:
A planar magnetic headphone for £40 is just insane really, I remember grabbing the original HE400i's for around £380 ten odd years ago, it was like magical experience coming in a big display case!

I think @Angst bought a pair about 10 years ago off MM for a couple of hundred quid.
Click to expand...
Found the mm thread, looks like I paid 200 for them. That was insanely cheap for planars at the time. There just wasnt anything that could compete with them for that price.
 
Last edited:
Well, I took the plunge and ordered some HE400SE's which arrived this evening.

After a quick listen later and my opinion so far is... it's interesting.

The sound is good, less bass impact than my modded DT770's, but the 770's almost sound sluggish in comparison (I guess thats the dynamic vs palnar characteristics).
The will definitely need an amp on my PC setup.

Only downside I've noticed so far is, I strangely/surprisingly actually feel some fatigue from listening them for a while. Not sure if it's because they're different to what im used to, or maybe a bit hot in the high frequencies (though I didnt notice it, and no noticeable sibilance from what i listened to).
 
Last edited:
Gazb said:
Well, I took the plunge and ordered some HE400SE's which arrived this evening.

After a quick listen later and my opinion so far is... it's interesting.

The sound is good, less bass impact than my modded DT770's, but the 770's almost sound sluggish in comparison (I guess thats the dynamic vs palnar characteristics).
The will definitely need an amp on my PC setup.

Only downside I've noticed so far is, I strangely/surprisingly actually feel some fatigue from listening them for a while. Not sure if it's because they're different to what im used to, or maybe a bit hot in the high frequencies (though I didnt notice it, and no noticeable sibilance from what i listened to).
Click to expand...
Have you tried eqing these? Probably help with high frequencies
 
Gazb said:
Well, I took the plunge and ordered some HE400SE's which arrived this evening.

After a quick listen later and my opinion so far is... it's interesting.

The sound is good, less bass impact than my modded DT770's, but the 770's almost sound sluggish in comparison (I guess thats the dynamic vs palnar characteristics).
The will definitely need an amp on my PC setup.

Only downside I've noticed so far is, I strangely/surprisingly actually feel some fatigue from listening them for a while. Not sure if it's because they're different to what im used to, or maybe a bit hot in the high frequencies (though I didn't notice it, and no noticeable sibilance from what i listened to).
Click to expand...

Give it time and see if you adjust, brain burn-in is a thing when you change headphones, usually a week is enough.
 
Had the HD650 for some 12 years and used for music and gaming, zero problems. You get great positional sound from them in games without having to EQ, though if you can crossfeed, then you get near speaker-level positional sound as the middle sections are almost faithfully covered. Some games have positional audio options that does this for you, virtual surround etc, and some headphone amps or DACs also have this option (such as the X9 posted about in the audio thread). There are software based crossfeed options too if the out of box experience isn't to your liking.

Have also gamed on various Hifimans and out of the box they have provided a better gaming experience than the HD650 thanks to the massive wall of sound attached to each side of your face vs the much smaller dynamic drivers on the Senns, bass especially where planars come into their own for gaming.

The fatigue mentioned is likely the high end peak which is typical of many planars, especially hifiman, memory foam earpads will help tone that down quite a bit without impacting the other audible parts of the sound so would be worth considering I guess. fatigue is something that can never really go away with time, it is what it is, you either put up with it or work around it by using EQ or better earpads, since hifiman pads are garbage.
 
Last edited:
"Zero problems", ok.

HD650's do not provide great levels of positioning in games, they suffer the classic blob affect with poor imaging lacking the ability pan instruments/sounds well if at all, and I love the 600/650's, they are not a good gaming headphone full stop, also cross-feed does not give you "speaker-level" positioning (forehead slap), it's imposable to get speaker level of positioning on headphones even with cross-feed, it's the reason why studios use monitors for accurate image and panning, both are essential in studio environment for different reasons.

Also, driver size,

"No, bigger headphone drivers are not always better. While larger drivers can offer louder sound and potentially better bass response due to moving more air, they don't necessarily translate to superior audio quality overall. Factors like driver material, design, and the headphone's overall tuning and enclosure play a significant role in the final sound"

Thank you Ai for doing the work for me.
 
Last edited:
Hence why I followed that line with mentioning positional audio settings, and crossfeed exists for that reason too which can do a good job to get the effect on headphones that might not naturally crossfeed so well like others do. This was a topic discussed on the headphones sub most recently in fact.

And yes I had zero problems with the HD650 in any game, that's some 500 hours in L4D2 and TF2 covered over many of those years playing competitively as one example.
 
Last edited:
Cross-feed can help with gaming, but it does not provide "speaker levels of positioning", nope and no.

You may of well felt that you didn't have issues with gaming using your HD650's but I can assure you it isn't the ideal gaming head set and it's imagining capabilities are poor, for gaming today which do you prefer, your Arya's or 650's? because they both can't be the same or perfect.
 
Last edited:
Obviously the Arya is the preferred one for gaming now, they didn't exist back during those days but that's to be expected, a massive planar by comparison so it was always going to be better. Just because the newer model from modern times is better doesn't mean the older one was bad, it certainly wasn't.

That doesn't defeat the fact that I had no problems with gaming on the HD650 and pinpointing where the opposing team were coming or shooting from in online play during those years, as evidenced by my performance in those games at a time I'd consider my prime gaming years.

Edit* that's 1068 hours between both games having just added the numbers up on Steam, almost all of which was with the modded HD650.
 
Last edited:
You really don't give an inch do you, is one better than the other? simple question, they can't both equally provide levels of positioning in games unless you have magic ears, especially when famously the 650's our poor at imaging.

"a massive planar by comparison so it was always going to be better."

no.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom