Volume or good, strong entry or not, in recent years Sennheiser's investment in professional audio product lines, is more and more, not to mention the traditional broadcast and DJ headphone series, as well as microphones, etc., even the HiFi product line side of the IE and HD series has evolved with pro suffix monitoring headphone series, and the protagonist of this article is such a from the HiFi product line to the professional monitoring headphones - "HD400 PRO".
Personally, I think that HD400 PRO is a very good high-end open monitoring headset, but also a good matching equipment of HiFi open headphones, no matter in which line, there are very good competitiveness and cost performance.
Different monitor headphones
Monitor headphones are a large category, in different aspects of music production of headphones demand is not the same, so subdivided down, HD400 PRO is more suitable for mixing production links, because it is an open structure of headphones, sound insulation effect may be worse, not suitable for when the ear back to use. But also because of the open structure, it can bring better soundstage performance and restore the spatial relationship of materials, which is even more rare in mixing production.
In fact, Sennheiser's "ambition" is even greater, that is, in some scenarios, let the HD400 PRO temporarily act as a monitor speaker, in a non-studio environment, such as: home and out, etc., can also have excellent mixing conditions, anytime, anywhere mixing, the creator is not bound by a huge number of professional equipment. In order to achieve this goal, Sennheiser has a special dearVR MIX (sound field simulation software) software in conjunction with the HD400 PRO, can provide virtual reference stereo sound, simulate a variety of different mixer and non-studio listening, can reduce the head effect, restore the sound space and positioning sense, and even be competent for some high-priced monitor speakers to complete the work.
There is also HD400 PRO is a very lightweight, comfortable to wear large headphones, it is an open structure, better breathability, will not be stuffy, and earcup wearing, there will be no ear pressure problem, for users wearing glasses, the burden is smaller, plus the overall use of lightweight materials, lighter weight. For professionals, it's a headset for long-term work, combining durability and practicality.
Monitor headphones that can hiFi
Theoretically, any headphone can be competent for any type of music, but in fact it is not so, the segmentation of monitor headphones is one of the evidence, for example, I personally often use the iron triangle M50x, which is only suitable for popular vocals, and it is a bit stretched for large classical music with high demand for sound stage restoration, which is limited by the closed structure.
Timbre, HD400 PRO can be said to be a new Sennheiser style, the pursuit of restoration and reference level, so its sound than the big brother HD600 and HD650, to be significantly more neutral, the distribution of the sense of volume between the three frequencies is more balanced, rendering is very small, the real water is fragranceless, for music lovers, although there is no rendering of the correction, but also more obvious the production level of the music itself (recording, singing, interpretation and post-production), the essence of the music interference is also less.
Sound field restoration, HD400 PRO inherits the excellent performance of the Sennheiser HiFi family, the overall open, regular, three-dimensional sense, in the large compilation of tracks, can clearly feel the position and spatial relationship of the instrument placement, orderly and natural, and the sound of different instruments, the level is very clear, the formation is not chaotic, in the same price or higher price of the large headphones, are very strong existence, which is particularly rare.
In simple terms, the HD400 PRO is a large headphone with reference-level performance in the sound, and has Sennheiser's consistent excellent loud field restoration ability, with a dessert-level desktop or a large-thrust portable player, which can have a cross-level performance.
Of course, there is also a disadvantage, Sennheiser does not have a standard 4.4mm plug balance line, coupled with the use of a new unilateral input design, so there is no upgrade line available, the performance under the balance port is unknown.
summary
As mentioned above, Sennheiser HD400 PRO is a reference open monitor headphones, has a fairly good sound field restoration ability, in some cases, can be competent for the work of the monitor speaker, so that the creator anytime and anywhere to mix; the same, because of these advantages, in the Field of HiFi, HD400 PRO also has a good sound-to-price ratio, high-quality reduction ability and soundstage performance, are the existence of the level, the only thing to worry about is to be loyal to the original sound, at the beginning may be unaccustomed, But isn't the essence of HiFi also high fidelity?
April 25, 2022 Stray Reflex