EQ'ing that bass in is effortless. Got a 4.4mm cable for them with a nice braid.
I do gaming with them and it just feels so freaking wide.
I'm a percussion guy. Drums and intricate percussive ellements, in music, sound blissful.
Try listening to Dinossaur - OTR Remix, close your eyes and have fun.
Could these be run straight off a PC or an apple dongle or not?
I'm going to level with you.
A Dongle is very capable of getting them to a nice volume.
But if you want to play with EQ, you do need a better source.
The dynamics also scale with a better source.
I do have a dongle and it drives them nicely (at least for what it is)
Yeah the HE400se can sound anemic for lack of a better term on a poor amplifier. What I use as a poor source to test a headphone is the 3.5mm output of my Xbox One X controller. The bass sounded a little strange and fell off very fast. 3/4 volume to be listenable. I do use them on my iFi Zen DAC via 4.4mm and it works wonders. I did try them on the unbalanced output but there's barely any difference if I can even say, and it's quieter compared to balanced but all that needs is more on the volume knob.
Regarding your Zen DAC, I have the same experience with my Hip Dac 2.
The 3.5 output drives them nicely already.