Unboxing, Overview & Initial Impressions of the Denon AH-C400 Earphones

Here is my Unboxing Video:

Here are the pictures:
Click on them, to open them and see them in a larger size, enjoy!

 

Initial Impressions

First impressions of the Denon AH-C400 are extremly positive:
-Excellent highs
-Good lows
-Accurate, and slightly warm mids
-Were a little sibilant at first listen, especially with the stock ear tips (solved with burn-in and comply TX-100’s)
-Very flat response (as advertised), throughout the frequencies
-Good soundstage and imaging
-Excellent crossover between the two BA drivers
-Needs to be driven (amp might be necessary for some, like myself)
-Great carrying pouch
-Excellent packaging and design
-Small selection of tips
-Anti-tangle wire, and good wire quality with barely any microphonics (straight down)
-Mic controls are rendered useless on Android (would prefer to see a non-mic version)
-Comfortable to wear over the ear, and straight down

Hope you enjoyed the unboxing, pictures & the initial impressions!

My final review has now been published – Click here

TotallydubbedHD

12 thoughts on “Unboxing, Overview & Initial Impressions of the Denon AH-C400 Earphones

  1. nuno

    Hi Chris,

    been reading your great reviews for a long time now

    Since both are dual BA how would you rate and compare the sound signatures of the Denon and the TDK ba200 ?
    Also did you not find the ba200 cable to be an hassle to wear over the ears ?

    thks

    Reply
    1. TotallydubbedHD Post author

      Hey there!
      You know that’s a very good question – so much so that I unpacked my BA200’s to compare.
      I think I need to re-visit my BA200 review and the mid ratings.
      The BA200’s as said in the review itself are warm, and veiled in the mids. The lows are definitely missing too.
      The C400’s on the other hand, are in a superior league to the BA200’s, however one should note the price difference too. Around £200 different in price, thus one would expect better sound from a more expensive earphone.
      As for the similarities, both are warm – the BA200’s more so than anything, but the C400’s are slightly warm too. The biggest difference between the two is the fact the C400’s have a great low end response with clear highs. No as good as the PFE232’s highs and lows though, but very close, especially in the highs department 🙂

      Hope that helps!

      Reply
      1. nuno

        thks,

        I just wanted your hands on point of view since I´ve been delving on head-fi lately and there´s not a lot of love for denon stuff over there.

        On the other hand the rrp of the denon´s enter not only on pfe232 territory but into customs as well…

        best rgds

        Reply
        1. TotallydubbedHD Post author

          Very true indeed.
          But customs, don’t mean perfect audio quality – just great seal and isolation.
          Just because an earphone is CUSTOM doesn’t make it better than a universal.
          If anything, if a universal is as good, if not better than a custom, then it is a much better earphone (as it isn’t made just for you, but for anyone)

          Long story short:
          If you want great/amazing audio quality, custom earphones aren’t always the answer.
          I got custom ear tips with my PFE232’s and sure they are great, but fit was an issue for me, and thus rendered them a little useless to have.

          Reply
  2. nuno

    Totally agree upon

    Just as an example I got a perfect seal on sony mh1c 19 euro phones so no complains here
    Had some fisher dba02-mkII from a HF member but had to turn them back as I could not get around the metallic / unnatural sound of BA earphones although most people do praise these a lot.
    Guess I will have to try a few more, bad thing is options are nowhere to be found to demo around here so for the time being I´ll refrain my wallet lol

    Reply
    1. TotallydubbedHD Post author

      Well the dbas are special. They excel in mids, however are quite bright earphones, and don’t really suit much music.
      The pfe and c400s are in another league really. The pfes, for me being the cream of the crop.

      Reply
  3. nuno

    ok great thks

    I am currently waiting for a 50 hours used IE80 and I have some quite high hopes for them to finally suit me as dynamic drivers IEM´s, shame you did not have the chance of evaluating those (you did on the IE8 though) but most people say it does improve on the IE8 and I do have a wide collection of tips to try, also waiting for a comply ts series order (not available on eu retailers), let´s see what my ears say lol

    Reply
    1. TotallydubbedHD Post author

      Well the ie8 and ie80s are similar in terms of sound signature.
      I found them absolutely terrible, not to mention the silver jack over the golden one…don’t know what’s the reasoning behind it, but whatever it is, it pissed me off so much when using it on the go with my phone.

      Reply
  4. nuno

    For the sole reason of so many disparate opinions (some love them some hate them) on the IE8/80 I have to try them myself and rely on my ears. That´s the beauty (and malediction) of portable headphones business lol

    Reply
  5. Koh Zhi En

    Hi! I want to buy a new in ear headphone, but I’m very confused don’t know which is better between logitech ue 900 or denon c400… And you tell me the pros & cons?

    Reply

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