HifiMAN HE-6 Planar Magnetic Headphone - Page 144

since owning the HE-6, i just listen to jazz. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mad Dude 

*deep sigh*

 

After two weeks, my love for the HE-6 has faded... It's hard to admit, but I have been enjoying my music more with the HD600 than with the HE-6.

I have been thinking about getting a better amp for them and a better DAC. But honestly I think I'd better change my system completely to something different...

 

Technically, the HE-6 is close to perfection, that's for sure, but IMO it is simply too revealing. There are very few recordings which sound flawless. Even in some excellent classical recordings I can easily pick out flaws with the HE-6 - people in the audience sniffing, moving on their chairs, and so on. Other recordings sound dull or flat, mostly due to the large soundstage.

Another thing I noticed is the very hard left/right separation with the HE-6. This makes it very easy to detect even the slightest channel imbalance, and some recordings (especially those from the early days of stereo) completely unlistenable. The HD600 and even the quite revealing K701 suffer a lot less from this problem.

 

Sure, there are recordings which sound absolutely amazing with the HE-6, but these are few, and so I've spent most of the past two weeks analyzing the music rather than enjoying it. Also, wearing comfort is simply nonexistent... Too heavy and too much clamping force.

 

Of course this is just my opinion and others may disagree. But after all it's about enjoying the music, and so I'm going to "downgrade" my system. Perhaps the T1? Anyway, the HE-6 has to go.

I would change the DAC asap...all your cans would benefit. The DAC Magic, despite the price, sounded very mediocre.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shahrose 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mad Dude 

*deep sigh*

 

After two weeks, my love for the HE-6 has faded... It's hard to admit, but I have been enjoying my music more with the HD600 than with the HE-6.

I have been thinking about getting a better amp for them and a better DAC. But honestly I think I'd better change my system completely to something different...

 

Technically, the HE-6 is close to perfection, that's for sure, but IMO it is simply too revealing. There are very few recordings which sound flawless. Even in some excellent classical recordings I can easily pick out flaws with the HE-6 - people in the audience sniffing, moving on their chairs, and so on. Other recordings sound dull or flat, mostly due to the large soundstage.

Another thing I noticed is the very hard left/right separation with the HE-6. This makes it very easy to detect even the slightest channel imbalance, and some recordings (especially those from the early days of stereo) completely unlistenable. The HD600 and even the quite revealing K701 suffer a lot less from this problem.

 

Sure, there are recordings which sound absolutely amazing with the HE-6, but these are few, and so I've spent most of the past two weeks analyzing the music rather than enjoying it. Also, wearing comfort is simply nonexistent... Too heavy and too much clamping force.

 

Of course this is just my opinion and others may disagree. But after all it's about enjoying the music, and so I'm going to "downgrade" my system. Perhaps the T1? Anyway, the HE-6 has to go.

I would change the DAC asap...all your cans would benefit. The DAC Magic, despite the price, sounded very mediocre.

X2

Quote:

Originally Posted by csholtmeier 

I agree, to some extent, with this. The flipside to this argument is that less revealing/more colored headphones will also not work with all recordings. The level of detail retrieval and coloration will work with some recordings, but sound terrible with others.

True, a less detailed/revealing headphone will likely not perform as well as the HE-6 with excellent recordings - but these recordings are, from my experience, very rare. And even near-perfect recordings can have their flaws which I simply do not want to hear. During the past two weeks, I often found myself looking at my music library and thinking "I really like this album, but it will sound bad with the HE-6... this one too... oh well, perhaps this one? no...". To sum it up, I'd rather enjoy a recording with a technically less sophisticated system than analyzing it with a perfect one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shahrose 

I would change the DAC asap...all your cans would benefit. The DAC Magic, despite the price, sounded very mediocre.

Yes, the DACMagic has already been on my have-to-replace-list for a while. Instrument separation and resolution are excellent IMO, but in can sound harsh and metallic sometimes (a result of the upsampling?). But even the best DAC won't turn the HE-6 into a different headphone, and I'm not going to force myself to like it.

Don't get me wrong, I still think the HE-6 is awesome, just not with every recording. I'm certainly going to miss it once I have sold it... But for now I want to try something different.

As a result, I'm going to replace my entire system and try something completely new. I have just ordered a StageDAC, Concerto, and a Beyer T1 from Meier Audio - kind of an impulse buy (the Euro is worth nothing at the moment). The T1 and an amp with crossfeed have been on my list for a while now. More of a sidestep than an upgrade, but another step on the way to find the perfect sound
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamato8 

Realizing the cups on these phones are plastic, which I am not crazy about, how do they feel in hand? Do they feel quality and appearance in person. I haven't seen many images up close. I wouldn't mind getting a pair but I do know from a friend in China that the phones are doubled in price from what they could sell for in China. 

But they're shiny plastic and they're mighty purty. There's nothing cheap looking about the HE-6's although I agree that I wish that they were in a wood finish like my HE-5's. The finish of the prodo HE-6's is a class act. I prefer it to the the fake carbon fiber finish to the HD-6XX's, but that's just me. At one time, 8 yeas ago, I thought that my HD-600's were the most attractive headphones available, but technology has changed so much, that they fall into the middle of the line looks wise, now.
 

1st post here.  Thank you guys and girls for such a wonderful forum full of great info.  I have a pair of HE-6's on order.  I've read over and over in this thread that high-power, high-wattage speaker amps seem to be ideal for these headphones.  I have a Yamaha RX-V3800 integrated amp that I could plug the HE-6 into the speaker outs, but I'm not certain I want to go that route.  I have just enough Christmas bonus left over for a Decware Mini-Torii.  Is this a great amp for the HE-6, or is there a better alternative for around the same price?  Thanks. 

Your Yamaha is a fine amp and I would suspect that it should provide excellent performance with your HE-6's.  You might try the headphone out prior to using the speaker terminals.  As the HE-6 does not include an XLR to Spkr terminal adapter, this is something that you might wish to consider adding for possible future use.  It is not necessary to spend a great amount of money for an amp that does justice to the HE-6!
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wolfsong

1st post here. Thank you guys and girls for such a wonderful forum full of great info. I have a pair of HE-6's on order. I've read over and over in this thread that high-power, high-wattage speaker amps seem to be ideal for these headphones. I have a Yamaha RX-V3800 integrated amp that I could plug the HE-6 into the speaker outs, but I'm not certain I want to go that route. I have just enough Christmas bonus left over for a Decware Mini-Torii. Is this a great amp for the HE-6, or is there a better alternative for around the same price? Thanks.

Yamahas have excellent and very powerful headout. Very musical as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SP Wild 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shahrose 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mad Dude 

*deep sigh*

 

After two weeks, my love for the HE-6 has faded... It's hard to admit, but I have been enjoying my music more with the HD600 than with the HE-6.

I have been thinking about getting a better amp for them and a better DAC. But honestly I think I'd better change my system completely to something different...

 

Technically, the HE-6 is close to perfection, that's for sure, but IMO it is simply too revealing. There are very few recordings which sound flawless. Even in some excellent classical recordings I can easily pick out flaws with the HE-6 - people in the audience sniffing, moving on their chairs, and so on. Other recordings sound dull or flat, mostly due to the large soundstage.

Another thing I noticed is the very hard left/right separation with the HE-6. This makes it very easy to detect even the slightest channel imbalance, and some recordings (especially those from the early days of stereo) completely unlistenable. The HD600 and even the quite revealing K701 suffer a lot less from this problem.

 

Sure, there are recordings which sound absolutely amazing with the HE-6, but these are few, and so I've spent most of the past two weeks analyzing the music rather than enjoying it. Also, wearing comfort is simply nonexistent... Too heavy and too much clamping force.

 

Of course this is just my opinion and others may disagree. But after all it's about enjoying the music, and so I'm going to "downgrade" my system. Perhaps the T1? Anyway, the HE-6 has to go.

I would change the DAC asap...all your cans would benefit. The DAC Magic, despite the price, sounded very mediocre.

X2

X3, FWIR the DAC Magic is the problem in that setup. Everything I listened to sounded great with the HE-6 (Compass->EF5) and I never found them "too revealing."

Quote:

Originally Posted by immtbiker 

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamato8 

Realizing the cups on these phones are plastic, which I am not crazy about, how do they feel in hand? Do they feel quality and appearance in person. I haven't seen many images up close. I wouldn't mind getting a pair but I do know from a friend in China that the phones are doubled in price from what they could sell for in China. 

But they're shiny plastic and they're mighty purty. There's nothing cheap looking about the HE-6's although I agree that I wish that they were in a wood finish like my HE-5's. The finish of the prodo HE-6's is a class act. I prefer it to the the fake carbon fiber finish to the HD-6XX's, but that's just me. At one time, 8 yeas ago, I thought that my HD-600's were the most attractive headphones available, but technology has changed so much, that they fall into the middle of the line looks wise, now.
 

I agree, the HE-6's glossy piano black finish actually looks really great, the pictures don't do them justice; they simply exude luxury. My friend couldn't shut up about how much better they look in real life when I took them out of the box.
 

X4 FWIW, I have read too many times about the DAC Magic being the weakest link in the chain even if I haven't experienced it for myself. If you like the basic functionality and form factor of the DAC Magic there are quite a few great mods available for it though. Audiogon usually lists some highly-regarded vendors that perform these mods if you're interested.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamato8 

Realizing the cups on these phones are plastic, which I am not crazy about, how do they feel in hand? Do they feel quality and appearance in person. I haven't seen many images up close. I wouldn't mind getting a pair but I do know from a friend in China that the phones are doubled in price from what they could sell for in China. 

Your friend's information might be false. The official price of HE6 in China is 6500 RMB (980 USD) now and 7600 RMB (1150 USD) after 15th Jan, for this I'm 100% sure. And of course the postage inside China is way cheaper than from China to US, so the price you can get in US is actually cheaper than in China (In fact Chinese headphone cycle is complaining about this).I guess we can't get a HE6 for half price in China after all.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jian 

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamato8 

Realizing the cups on these phones are plastic, which I am not crazy about, how do they feel in hand? Do they feel quality and appearance in person. I haven't seen many images up close. I wouldn't mind getting a pair but I do know from a friend in China that the phones are doubled in price from what they could sell for in China. 

Your friend's information might be false. The official price of HE6 in China is 6500 RMB (980 USD) now and 7600 RMB (1150 USD) after 15th Jan, for this I'm 100% sure. And of course the postage inside China is way cheaper than from China to US, so the price you can get in US is actually cheaper than in China (In fact Chinese headphone cycle is complaining about this).I guess we can't get a HE6 for half price in China after all.
 

No, on these you can't get them cheaper in China but the price is double from what they could be sold for and allowing for a profit. It doesn't matter since it is their price but my source is very reliable. 
 

The same cable for those sold in China? I'll buy another pair for half.

   I got my HE-6's in the mail today! 

   They've only been in use/burned-in 4 hours. At first there was a lot of hiss'es and crackles but it's starting to go down. I think it's the tube in the EF-5 burning in but wanted to double check. Thanks or any help!

   Oh, and rythemdevil was right, that clarinet was amazing. I'm listening to 2L's HarmOrgan Album and I feel like I am right in the church were they recorded it!