HIFIMAN HE-400I Over Ear Full-Size Planar Magnetic Headphones (2020 Version)

1st thing's 1st - the stock cable is ATROCIOUS. It's extremely stiff. The build quality overall is pretty good. The earcups and yokes feel solid, and the earpads are really nice and soft. The clamping force is just perfect for my head, but your mileage may vary. The only real problem regarding the build is the headband design - the foam isn't as soft as I'd have liked, and creates hotspots on top of my head after about an hour of use. It isn't too bad though, readjusting the position every so often fixes that. Better padding or a suspension strap would've been nice but considering the price and the overall build quality, It's an acceptable flaw. A cheap headband cover with softer foam would probably fix that issue right away. It's a minor inconvenience, but you get what you pay for. What isn't acceptable however, is the stock cable - definitely going to swap them out for some decent aftermarket ones.

As for sound - overall, it's actually quite nice. I found the bass to be a bit lacking out-of-the-box, but after some EQing things improved a lot. It still lacks in "quantity" for certain genres, but it is quite punchy. I had to boost the low end quite a lot and there's still no audible distortion or earcup rattle, so that's great! If you're a basshead - look elsewhere. If quality is more important than quantity - these will do just fine. The mids were pretty good as well. Distorted guitars, acoustic guitars, pianos, violins, pretty much all the instruments used in the genres I listen to the most have good clarity and separation. Vocals sound great as well. I did boost the 500-2k region very slightly to suit my taste, but even without EQ these sound good in the mids. The treble wasn't as harsh as some reviews lead me to believe, nor did I hear any sibilance - I'm not particularly sensitive to high frequencies, so take that with a grain of salt. If you do find them harsh and grainy, I'm sure EQing will make them manageable, they respond quite well to it. These are a bit power hungry, so using an amp is highly recommended. I tested them on my phone and they had zero low end - phones aren't gonna cut it, unless you have an external dac/amp or if you have something like the LG V series.

Overall - other than the horrible stock cable, not much to complain about. They sound great for the price. Any issues regarding comfort and sound have easy fixes as well. A very good set of entry level planars!

There were some issues out of the box, in my opinion. I noticed the hi-hats and sibilants were quite piercing, bass was present but relatively unimpactful. However, these headphones respond very well to EQ, so the issues were easily resolved. Very good clarity and separation, tight, punchy bass, and satisfying rumbles. No distortions. A very good listening experience after some tweaks. Also, the delivery packaging was done very well, with some external padding for the box. Thank you Gears For Ears.