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Replace my vintage1980's Sennheiser HD400 with.........?????

trumpetman

trumpetman

pfm Member
I am using headphones a lot more recently. My HD400s still work, but they are old getting tatty and require ' a lot up em' to hear stuff to my liking.
Suggestions please for suitable replacements, prefer on ear and open back, not heavy and have no objection to used. Mrs Claus is pushing for my suggestions. No idea on budget as the HDs were bought in the 80s, not silly money though.
Most of my headphone listening music is Big Band Jazz (trumpet of course!!). Amp is a Hegel 190 with built in headphone socket.
Thanks, and early festive greetings!!
 
hifi-dog said:
id be looking at sennheiser 600,650,660..but they are over ear
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Agreed, and 'over ear' is more comfy, i.m.o. I use tatty HD450s (on ear) from the 80s with my desktop but comfy they're not. Even the 5 series of Senn. would be an improvement. ou could try a lower Focal (Elear, e.g.) which prob. have the edge on 600/650 (which I have) but is a little heavier; still comfy though.
 
trumpetman said:
I am using headphones a lot more recently. My HD400s still work, but they are old getting tatty and require ' a lot up em' to hear stuff to my liking.
Suggestions please for suitable replacements, prefer on ear and open back, not heavy and have no objection to used. Mrs Claus is pushing for my suggestions. No idea on budget as the HDs were bought in the 80s, not silly money though.
Click to expand...

I take it your HD-400 are the original type with yellow ear-pads like the classic HD-414? If so you will never find anything as light and comfortable!

I’ve got no recommendations, I just thought it useful to clarify this point as Sennheiser seem to have made a HD-400S which is an entirely different thing and may be confusing some here. The 400S look like a much larger and likely less comfortable thing.

PS I have a pair of HD-414, Momentum 2 and HD-600. If I could have the sound quality of the latter with the comfort of the former and the efficiency of the middle pair I’d be more than happy! Sadly that doesn’t seem to exist.
 
Do these specs for HD400 look right?:

Transducer principle: dynamic
Frequency response: 20 - 18000 Hz
Nominal Impedance: 600 Ω
Sensitivity at 1kHz: per driver 94 dB
Power handling capacity (max. continuous power): 0.1 W
Distortion: < 1.2 %
Coupling to the ears: supraaural (exchangeable foam ear pads, open, on the ears)
Headband pressure: 2.5 N
Weight: approx. 80 g (without cable)
Cable: 3 m long steel cable with 1/4" phone connector

I would also suggest either HD600 or HD650 (HD660 not so much).

Then there's Grado that has a lot of on-ear models (that I don't know much about) and of course Koss Porta Pro that are very light and inexpensive.
 
@Tony L "I take it your HD-400 are the original type with yellow ear-pads like the classic HD-414?"
Yes they are the ones - bought from Laskys in Leicester in 1981 - they have served me well!!
a link to the model is here
 
Tony L said:
If I could have the sound quality of the latter with the comfort of the former and the efficiency of the middle pair I’d be more than happy! Sadly that doesn’t seem to exist.
Click to expand...
Do I detect a DIY bodge coming on? :D

My HD450s, which were used by my college's audio-visual dep't in the 80s look similar to the 400s above, but I can't remember the colour of the pads because they're long gone.
 
Mike Reed said:
Do I detect a DIY bodge coming on? :D
Click to expand...

One would need a large hammer to fit those parts together!

I wish Sennheiser would reissue the HD-414 with higher-efficiency lower impedance drivers as they were really good headphones, plus arguably the most iconic design of any. They can sound surprisingly good, but they need a lot of amping. I’ve been surprised how good with kit of their era, e.g. the headphone socket of the Sony TA-1140 integrated I’ve been trying to restore sounds great into them, and a Walkman Pro is pretty good, but an iPhone just runs out of steam. They are great off a proper headphone thingy like a Chord Mojo, and I guess that is how a lot of folk listen these days. The HD-600s are stunningly good, but I’d never describe somethung of that weight and size as comfortable. I can’t use them for long periods. The Momentums are fine for travel use, very good in fact, but have that modern bass-boosted/hyped sound that just isn’t right for home listening.
 
Tony L said:
The HD-600s are stunningly good, but I’d never describe somethung of that weight and size as comfortable. I can’t use them for long periods.
Click to expand...
Surprised, Tony, as my 650s are the lightest cans I have and I can and do wear them for hours watching TV; no weight at all and I thought they were identical to 600s in that respect.
 
Weren't many vintage HP's 300-600 ohms? I wonder if many HP outs on vintage amps/receivers prioritized voltage over current?
 
My first headphones were HD400s and I later bought a pair of HD580s which I had for years. I still have Sennheisers (650s and HD800s) and I would always recommend the HD range to anyone looking for a pair of reasonably priced headphones with accurate sound representation.
 
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