HifiMAN HE-6 Planar Magnetic Headphone - Page 69

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maxvla 

You need your own island just to store your audio gear. Need something? Row over and pick it up.

That is about right. I have some stuff in Nevada stored and then about 5 thousand NOS tubes, test equipment and audio equipment in Arizona. That is the way it goes. Need any metal base NOS GZ34's or  NOS, yes new old stock, 1929 to 1932 Sylvania balloon mesh plate 27 tubes. :^) 

Well if I get some of these, a regular amp will have to suffice. 

Why are there cheap, decent sounding speaker amps with tons of power, but the high power headphone amps (still much less power than the speaker amps though) are all really expensive?  Seems like there must be a reason for that.

It's strange that a K1000 can sound great from a 200 dollar speaker amp, but to drive it with a headphone amp you have to lay down quite a bit of cash.  1000+ ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by TruBrew 

I know that a speaker amp is no longer necessary for these cans, but is is also not a bad idea. Does anyone have suggestions of a very good speaker amp for them. I am guessing it needs to be an integrated amp, so it has volume control. I am not opposed to a headphone amp, I just want to make sure I am getting everything out of them I can. I would like something fully balanced if possible.

When the cable arrives next week, I should be able to tell you how they sound from the Leben CS300xs speaker taps.

I am sure it has to do with the market. Very few people require very powerful headphone amps. A 50wpc speaker amp on the other hand, is run of the mill.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rhythmdevils 

Why are there cheap, decent sounding speaker amps with tons of power, but the high power headphone amps (still much less power than the speaker amps though) are all really expensive?  Seems like there must be a reason for that.

 

It's strange that a K1000 can sound great from a 200 dollar speaker amp, but to drive it with a headphone amp you have to lay down quite a bit of cash.  1000+ ?

Would you put a semi-truck engine in a volkswagen? Somebody did and the rest is history (427cid in an AC Cobra).

But seriously, hps have higher impedance and need low power. So hp amp were created for hps' special needs. That box that Fang is making should make this possible. But you are right, why are hp amps so expensive? Well, its actually the same for speaker amps. They get very expensive too, much much more than hp amps.

I know, I'm not asking what the point is of expensive amps.  I know they tend to sound good. 

I'm just asking why, for headphones like the K1000 and HE6, do cheap speaker amps seem to compete with expensive headphone amps? 

Well I don't plan to buy a $1K > hp tube/ss amp for my HE-6. All I'm buying is a little mosfet amp that I asked somebody to make for me for about $250 that I can even roll opamps.

A good portion of the price is in boutique parts and refinements in sound. Your $200 speaker amp will certainly power them nicely, but will the sound be as refined as say a ZDT?

You hit it. $0.2k to drive it adequately, $2k to drive it refinely. I agree, with you 110%. I love refine sound but ...

Quote:

Originally Posted by wuwhere 

You hit it. $0.2k to drive it adequately, $2k to drive it refinely. I agree, with you 110%. I love refine sound but ...

You can hear music from iBuds, but...

This made me laugh, good one. Interesting impressions so far on the HE-6, keep them coming.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maxvla 

You can hear music from iBuds, but...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maxvla 

You can hear music from iBuds, but...

Now that is low

Well as I feared my WA22 drives the HE-6 with the high gain tubes, but just barely. I have it pegged and the volume is loud but still listen-able, so obviously there is no headroom with that combo. I hope they scale up with my 50wpc power amp like the protos did, as this is similar to the experience that I had with the loaners. Unfortunately I am in the same boat as HA and am without a pigtail adapter atm, but I am working on it.

One thing is clear so far, the HE-6 is not a good compliment to my HD800 out of the WA22. Their power requirements are too different, and with the WA22 amp even single-ended the HD800 wins as the HE-6 is under-driven. Also their sound signatures are quite similar when compared this way; the HD800 has better soundstage and bass texture/extension, while the HE-6 is exhibiting a bit of a lower-mid bulge but yes very smooth upper mids and treble. But between the two headphones there is not enough sonic contrast, like there would be between the HD800 and the LCD-2. 

When my pigtail adapter materializes it should be a different story and I expect the HE-6 to re-take the lead. And yes, with a $350 power amp compared to a $1900 balanced Woo with upgraded tubes, based upon my experience with the protos in the loaner program. Also now I am planning a hopefully bad@ss iPad rig for the HE-6 with that Alesis speaker amp and a Devilsound v2 DAC cable that I just picked up on the cheap off of fleaBay.

The jury is obviously still out for me on the prodo HE-6, but I think that a couple of things may have been overblown in regards to the changes from the proto version. The prodos may be easier to drive than the protos were, but only very slightly. And the differences in sound are perhaps more apparent when they are  less than optimally driven but that could be hopeful optimism on my part. I am looking forward to that same speaker amp upgrade magic that I experienced with the protos when I finally hook the prodos up to the Alesis.

Next up is comparing the HE-6 single-ended to the HE-5 out of the EF-5 amp, probably later tonight. I will also drag the HD800 up to that rig to be able to more fairly compare them to the HE-6, with both getting enough juice out of the same amp. The HE-6 is already compelling me to change a few things around, but I already knew that would happen.

So, I was listening around my library when I hit some Juno Reactor. It was then that I realized just how incredible the treble from the HE-6 is. On a particular song I traded my HE-6 and HD600 back and forth and the difference was really no contest. The extension and clarity was amazing. Among all these electronically created treble bits were no hints of scratch, etch, sibilance, or any other problematic treble trait. Ultra smooth, yet high resolution and revealing.

Even in mp3 form this song combined with the HE-6 is a dream. I tried putting it on youtube, but the quality was terrible. Hope it doesn't ruffle feathers by linking it. If it does, a mod can just edit it out.

Wonder when can I have enough money to buy this. I really what to sample it. Is there any Hong Kong HE6 owner here?