For such a low price this headphone deserves 5 stars for sheer bargain prowess! So long as this is plugged into a decent amplifier the sound opens up and is terrific! By contrast, anyone expecting to plug this into their cell phone or laptop computer is missing the point, without decent amplification this headphone will not sound as great as it can(more likely dull, actually!). I am driving this through an IBasso Bushmaster D14, which in turn is amped via an RSA Mustang P51 on high gain. I find this combination with the HE4XX heavenly, also because the P51 almost completely eliminates the Sabre DAC's glare. So my recommendation is to buy the HE-4XX, but only if you drive this through a decent DAC/AMP combo!