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HE-5..initial musings - Page 2

post #16 of 1667
10/17/09 at 2:04am
Quote:
Originally Posted by achristilaw View Post
Wire it up and go for it!! What do you have a Firstwatt?
I have a Manley Stingray.
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Gear mentioned in this thread:

HiFiMAN HE-5
post #17 of 1667
10/17/09 at 2:11am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by takezo View Post
the "heaviness" or "slow" attack is noticeable in the first hour of warm up...
not sure if it's the hp or my tube amp... but improves significantly there after.
there's a spring to the bass and even the lowest E on the piano is fleshed out
impressively. been listening to mussorgsky's pictures at an exhibition on piano
with these phones and is even better than the gs1000 with only 10+ hours
of burn-in. my wife thinks it carries the piano timbre more faithfully. not perfect
but better than my other phones.

comparatively, the dynamics are not as punchy as the d7000 but it may be
more or less the weakness of my tube amp in that department. but fortunately
for me, dynamics is lower in my priorities when it comes to playback quality.
I'm using the HD800 as a comparison. And tubes don't exhibit the utmost authority on the bottom octaves as the best of solid-state can. The WA6SE is a favorite but it does have limitations at the very bottom. Even with the Princess in tow and all the upgrades it is itself, not as agile as it can be down below. Don't forget the source is in the equation and has to be accounted for.
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post #18 of 1667
10/17/09 at 2:14am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by moonboy403 View Post
I have a Manley Stingray.
Is it the latest "Ipod" version? Do you know the story of how the name came to be? It's a great little amp!
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post #19 of 1667
10/17/09 at 2:17am
i haven't hit the threshold of clipping with the 6de7, 6ew7, 6dr7 and 6fd7.
they seem to handle the he-5 demands rather well. but no go for the other
dual triodes like 6sn7, 7n7, and it's relatives...


* no go for the 6cy7 as well. current draw is lower than the others at top.

** after meddling with the impedance of the powersection i've managed to
find a sweet spot utilizing the 6sn7 and it's relatives to drive and power the
he-5 using the wa6 and wa6SE. outstanding results. better soundstage and
the bass impact and resolution are great out of the he-5 now, without any
clipping.
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post #20 of 1667
10/17/09 at 2:23am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by takezo View Post
i haven't hit the threshold of clipping with the 6de7, 6ew7, 6dr7 and 6fd7.
they seem to handle the he-5 demands rather well. but no go for the other
dual triodes like 6sn7, 7n7, and it's relatives...
That is good to know! I have some of the various "big bottle" 6EW7's and they want to come out and play.
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post #21 of 1667
10/17/09 at 2:23am
Quote:
Originally Posted by achristilaw View Post
I'm using the HD800 as a comparison. And tubes don't exhibit the utmost authority on the bottom octaves as the best of solid-state can. The WA6SE is a favorite but it does have limitations at the very bottom. Even with the Princess in tow and all the upgrades it is itself, not as agile as it can be down below. Don't forget the source is in the equation and has to be accounted for.
you can fiddle with the cathode plate total resistance to go lower with better
quality as well, at the expense of the high freq. of course... total upgrade isn't
necessary, as i've found out; changes at the cathode plate caps/resistors,
cathode bypass caps/resistors is really all that's needed to improve the SQ on
the wa6SE, imo.
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post #22 of 1667
10/17/09 at 2:29am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by takezo View Post
you can fiddle with the cathode plate total resistance to go lower with better
quality as well, at the expense of the high freq. of course... total upgrade isn't
necessary, as i've found out; changes at the cathode plate caps/resistors,
cathode bypass caps/resistors is really all that's needed to improve the SQ on
the wa6SE, imo.
For all the folks that haven't heard the WA6SE...it's a wonderful amp! Have you got to look inside the WA22 yet?
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post #23 of 1667
10/17/09 at 2:36am
no, i haven't seen the insides, but i can guess what it looks like. it's the big brother
to the wa6SE with balanced topology. less total power output, supposedly, but with
more tube-rolling options, or more specifically the power tubes. but with the 7236
triode used as the power tube it should be more than a power house.
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post #24 of 1667
10/17/09 at 2:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by achristilaw View Post
Is it the latest "Ipod" version? Do you know the story of how the name came to be? It's a great little amp!
I have the older version.
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post #25 of 1667
10/17/09 at 5:27am
Thread Starter 
Just started the process of hunting down a cable replacement for the HE-5.

Drew (Moon Audio) and Heli (Apuresound) and also two other private parties have been contacted for the constructing of something Balanced. I think these phones are a prime candidate for a little something extra. Probably will have to use the existing connectors for the early adopters of an aftermarket cable replacement. Oh, just thought of another party to ask! Gotta go!
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post #26 of 1667
10/17/09 at 9:31am
Quote:
Originally Posted by achristilaw View Post
Just started the process of hunting down a cable replacement for the HE-5.

Drew (Moon Audio) and Heli (Apuresound) and also two other private parties have been contacted for the constructing of something Balanced. I think these phones are a prime candidate for a little something extra. Probably will have to use the existing connectors for the early adopters of an aftermarket cable replacement. Oh, just thought of another party to ask! Gotta go!
Alan, let us know what you find out here. I just got my HE-5's yesterday, and have been breaking them in. They sound great generally, with some obvious planar goodness, although any real analysis is too early. But I do have one complaint - the cable is very stiff, and very microphonic. Assuming they continue to sound good, I will want to replace the cable for sure.

But I was very pleased with the out of the box sound - very encouraging!
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post #27 of 1667
10/17/09 at 9:59am
yes, i find it very microphonic as well. during heavy passages it's not noticeable, but
during soft passages or silence the cable can pick up any slight bumps or rubbing. i'm not
sure if a cable change is in order but at least some soft nylon sleeve is...
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post #28 of 1667
10/17/09 at 10:08am
Hey Rob (Skylab), which amp you're using to drive these?
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post #29 of 1667
10/17/09 at 10:12am
Any details ? It's fabricated by the same Mr.HE who makes Jade?
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post #30 of 1667
10/17/09 at 10:22am
Quote:
Originally Posted by vkvedam View Post
Hey Rob (Skylab), which amp you're using to drive these?
I don't have any sort of definitive answer to this question yet

For now, for the break in, I'm using them with the J Sound Lab - it's transformer coupled so it can deal with the low impedance of the HE-5. Once broken in, though, they will spend a bunch of time with the Audio-GD Phoenix, which is a more neutral sounding amp than the J Sound Lab.
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Gear mentioned in this thread:

HiFiMAN HE-5
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