Closer Examination

If you read my review of the HIFIMAN Arya, especially the section pertaining to the cable, you would know I was not a fan. That was a bad cable for the user experience, especially for the product tier, although it did the job fine in terms of passing on the actual audio signal. The cable that comes with the HE400se is somehow better in some places and worse in others. We saw how it came placed between the headphones in the box, and next to it is a handy 3.5 mm to 6.35 mm (1/4") adapter for a typical desktop or living-room source. I am not going to go into a lot of detail here since I understand HIFIMAN has silently updated the cable that ships with the HE400se, which is seemingly better, too. This particular one could be used as a garrote wire prop in a new Hitman movie if that ever happens, such is the nature of it kinking and getting dangerously sharp with the tight bending radius. Not much is known about the conductor except that is is likely silver-plated copper if going by appearances, and a short note on the product page itself. The cable starts with a 3.5 mm connector with a very substantial housing to distinguish it from the other two used here, and the splitter follows suit as seen above. It is not as microphonic as the Arya cable, which is good. The two thinner sections past the split—there is no physical splitter—lead to the other two "L" or "R" marked 3.5 mm TRS connectors for the two channels. The rings on all three TRS connectors are green, and the connectors are gold-plated for oxidation resistance.


The HE400se is impressively large as a first set of headphones, as it is a full-size over-ear set. I already mentioned that it's a more value-oriented product, so the use of plastic and leatherette throughout on the exterior is not surprising in itself, certainly not given HIFIMAN's history. It's a fairly monochrome colorway with glossy silver and black colors throughout, and weighs nearly 400 g. Overall mass density is low enough for it not to come off too heavy, but it needs to be backed by the headband. This particular one could be better even for the money. HIFIMAN used a single-piece, thick headband with foam lining inside the faux leather cover, and even the stitching is uneven. This is the headband used for HIFIMAN headphones that have a single cable entry to one ear cup and internal wiring connecting the two channels, so using it here is purely a budget decision. I suppose it could have been worse, as HIFIMAN could have used the one for Drop collaborations, which is worse. The headband connects to plastic on either end, which gets a glossy finish with "HIFIMAN" and "HE400se" on the two ends. The actual channels are marked on the inside, and we see the headband actually continue into this housing.


Now we know why, as a steel band inside the headband supports and helps with sizing, with several cutouts in the steel the plastic ends slot into. This means there is no swivel horizontally with this headband, which is another drawback of this particular headband style. Sizing options are plenty, however, allowing these to be used with head sizes small and large alike.


The steel band has support points for the ear cups themselves, with two points on either side of the cups for 360° vertical swivel somewhat making up for the lack of horizontal rotation. This means the HIFIMAN HE400se still provides more fit options for users than many other headphones costing around the same or even much more. Do note that I flipped around the ear cups for the photos only—there is little reason to do so practically since it just adds more wear to the ear pads themselves.


The ear cups employ a more traditional circular form factor and make no effort to hide the open-back nature of the HE400se. It's also very clean in that there is no branding at all, just plenty of holes cut into the plastic grille that might trigger some trypophobia. There is no fancy patented window shade grille as on the Arya, although some viewing angles confirm a finer mesh underneath, so the magnets on the outer side of the driver assembly aren't affected by the external environment too much. The ear pads are quite nice, employing a hybrid design similar to the one HIFIMAN used to good success with its other headphones recently. It's not a perforated set as on the much more expensive Arya though, but does the job by providing decent clamp force and comfort without going past your jawline as with the other egg-shaped HIFIMAN ear cups. The ear pads are deep enough for most ears not to touch the inner fabric lining separating you from the magnets and diaphragm, but some have managed to make a strand of hair poke through the fabric, which you should certainly remove right away lest it touch the diaphragm and create crinkling noises in use.


HIFIMAN has once again gone with clips to secure the ear pads in place, as opposed to glue or magnets. This is a user-friendly approach I support, making it easy for customers to replace the pads while not being so loose as to affect the seal over your ears. The easier replacement system has also led to several third-party replacement ear pads with different material choices, including velour, sheepskin, and full leather. I would say try out the stock ear pads first since they were made with the headphone's tuning in mind, and swap based on your specific needs. The owner's guide illustrates how to swap ear pads, which you can buy original versions of from the HIFIMAN store, by pressing inward in the middle of the two longer sides to simply pull out. Installing one is best done by inserting it at an angle to clip one end in before pushing and clicking the rest of the clips in place. It's a plastic on plastic connection, another benefit plastic brings to the table. The plastic plate on the inside of the ear cups has the serial numbers of each driver engraved; these should match those listed on the warranty card.


Removing the ear pads allows a closer look at the driver assembly, which is always cool in my books. The absence of the window shade on the driver, which is replaced by the fabric cover on the ear pads, means you need to be extra careful when swapping pads. HIFIMAN is using a full-size planar magnetic driver with magnetic traces on the diaphragm and magnets on either side of the diaphragm. A plastic frame holds the components in place, and what appears to be glue for the magnets, of which there are seven per side. It does appear as though the sides of these magnets are curved, albeit more on one than the other, so this might be a place where some of the budget savings showed up. I also don't expect to see the highest magnetic strength magnets here—those are reserved for HIFIMAN's flagship planar magnetic headphones.


On the bottom of the ear cups, facing towards the front, is where we find small cutouts, which host the cable connectors from before. This way, the cable plugs in and naturally shifts away from your neck. The HIFIMAN HE400se uses dual 3.5 mm connectors on the ear cups, which further increases compatibility with aftermarket cables, handy if you don't like the stock cable—be it this one or the other supposedly shipping with newer batches. With the two cables meeting at the splitter on your chest and moving to the source, the weight balance is still centrally placed.