HifiMan HE-400 or Beyerdynamic DT-990

I am pretty torn between these two for my next headphones. I am looking for a fantastic music and gaming experience. Does anyone own both of these and have a preference.

Depends on a few things - what type of music? How much do you like bass, are you going to be amping them? (not essential to amp them but you will need an amp to get the best out of them) and how long at a time will you be wearing them? Also budget - vastly different in price!

If you got the funds consider Audioquest's KnightHawk Headphone. I like to akin as the Noctua of headphones, the engineering that went into the sound and comfort is quite inspiring.

Although, I do have a HE-400 myself. I like it's sparkly and airy highs, and punchy bass, it's a run of the mill v-shape sound signature. You know, the mass consumer thinks it's a good sound.

Highs:
The highs makes everything wide and live sounding which makes it good for rock-n-roll, although, it can be sibilant on tracks with sparkly trebles. It can also sound artificial as a result. Sibilance is also a problem with speech. However, this is great for treble heads out there. Overall, it's uncontrolled.

Mids:
The mids are little bit set back but not so much that it's sounds veiled. I enjoy both female and male vocals here. Although, female vocals have a better presence since the mids lean a little towards the high. Female vocals like Lana Del Rey and Lorde are good here.

Bass:
It has the punch but not the body the I want like from say, Alpha Prime. Sub bass is there but in small portion and don't shine unless a track has an emphasis on sub bass, like Hozier, Lorde, or Random Access Memory.

Gear used:
HiFi-M8
SMSL SD 793II

Artist, and Albums mention are all Flac files.

HE-400S is around the corner why don't you hold off on the comparison for now. I've been hearing good things about the HE-400S.

Vandal85 - I listen to a lot of genres. From 80s rock to 90s hip hop to edm. Lately ive been broadening more and more. What is important to me is clean mids and crisp highs. I dont focus on bass, but I want it to be accurate to enjoy the whole experience. Vocals are very very important to me.

Giulianno - I will look into the audioquests. Thank you so much for the breakdown. I was looking at the he-400 because I found both those and the dt-990s used for a very decent price. I am just now getting into good quality headphones. My first experience so far is the grado sr-80e. Changed my whole music experience. Now I am looking for headphones to marry to my computer. I would like to carry the grado's with me and keep the he-400 or dt-990 here.

Thank you both for helping this noobie.

No, the correct answer will always be sennheiser HD600s.

The dt-990s are too sparkly, the HE-400s sound like crap in general, and the nighthawks sound too thin.

If your budget is a little on the low, then I would just keep the sr-80s and focus on getting a decent amp and dac. That will really improve the sr-80s. Then later on you can get new headphones.