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The Problem with Reviewing Popular Headphones
This is the Hifiman HE400se, a pair of planar magnetic headphones that launched last year. It’s the latest in a long line of popular and relatively affordable audio gear to bear the “HE400” family name, and its $110-$150 street price means it is accessible both to mainstream listeners and curious audiophiles. I’m one of the last people online to weigh on in this pair, since I was more patient and didn’t run out and buy it right when it launched. I’m working on a review that should be out in the next week or so.
Whether I end up liking it or not, people will almost certainly show up to accuse me of being paid to feel that way. This weird reaction is most common when I talk about something with a wide market reach, and it’s a symptom of a prevalent sickness in the online audio community.
The headphone community is essentially split down the middle into two large conceptual groups: objectivists and subjectivists. Objectivist audiophiles chase after pristine gear measurements and new audio technologies in the pursuit of sharpening their proverbial audio knife to an increasingly fine point. They value target curves and accuracy above all other things, and will tolerate uncomfortable headphones and high prices to get there. The rise of the objective community has…
