So as agreed with the conditions of Fang on this loaner program, I have kept these headphones for a week and will write my impressions on them during this time.
 
First of all, let me say that my current headphone line-up consists of solely the LCD-2 since I have gotten rid of all my other high end headphones in favor of this (HD800, T1, O2 MKII, HE-5...), meaning that I was able to tweak my system very well to create a synergy that I absolutely love with the LCD-2.  My ICs, power cables, tubes, and headphone recable have all been recently upgrade and all created a sound that truly opened up the LCD-2s while still keeping their killer midrange and bass to die for.  My system consists of PPP > iMac (Amarra v.2) > PWD > WA5
 
As mentioned previously by others, these headphones come in a nice and durable packaging which is probably not finalized.  The construction of the headphone is exactly that of the HE-5LE except that the plastic is wrapped in some nice(ish) leather and the headband adjustment is wood instead of plastic.  Overall they are a step up from the HE-5LE but they feel a lot more like $6-800 headphones from build quality.  When taking off the ear pads, the construction and arrangements of magnets/diaphragm assembly seems exactly the same as the HE-5...so my guess is the HE-6 only has the gold diaphragm and some minor tweaks from what I can tell.  The headphone connectors are also the same as the HE-5, which I am not a huge fan of since they don't secure as nicely and don't seem as durable as the mini-xlr cables of the LCD-2.
 
 
The fit on the is quite nice and they are relatively light and with less clamping force than the LCD-2.  I prefer the headband of the LCD-2 due to the great padding on the head and the earpads are angled, resulting in a much better seal on the ears.
 
As you all know, the HE-6 probably have to be one of the most demanding headphones in terms of power.  I played with connecting them through headyones jack, K1000 jack, and speaker taps.  I got the best performance out of the speaker taps and the K1000 output, where the sound was a lot fuller than on the headphone jack.  Despite my amp being a 10W per channel speaker amp, I still didn't feel that it had enough to fully drive the HE-6 properly, which is a little ridiculous.  So at the end of the day, you really need to like you HE-6 and invest in a real speaker amp since none of your headphone amps, no matter how great, will drive them properly.
 
What really matters in the end is the sound of it all, and in that department, I would say that they on par with many top end headphones.  Earlier this week I said that they sound more open and airy than the LCD-2, which I think is partly due to the absence of the thick bass and midrange that the LCD-2 excels in.  To me, the HE-6 portrays the music in a leaner way than the LCD-2...all the frequencies of the spectrum are pretty similarly emphasized ecxept of a little extra treble.  The only problem is that because they are airy, the music doesn't feel as engaging and head-bobbing to me, and to me the sound never feels as realistically portrayed as on the LCD-2.  A lot of these problems mostly occur at low and medium level listening, while higher level listening becomes more engaging but quickly fatiguing due to the treble.
 
So in conclusion, I am glad I was able to try out these headphones for a week and get a better feel for them than at Canjam.  When hearing them in the show setting I wasn't a huge fan of them...but was now able to appreciate them better on my own equipment.  They have a lot of positive aspects such as a very even sound spectrum which sounds quite good with most musical genres.  The detail retrieval is close to that of LCD-2 and HD800, and the soundstage is somewhere in between both headphones.  Where I find them lacking is in their midrange, which feels slightly distant, and the bass which is nowhere near as satisfying as the LCD-2 (which goes very deep and had amazing decay).  So because of these issues, I actually found me listening to my LCD-2 most of the time in the last week and almost forcing myself to try the HE-6 for the sake of the loaner program.  They are great headphones and some might prefer them to the HD800 and LCD-2, but to my musical tastes, the LCD-2 is a very tough headphone to beat.  If I were to price these based on construction and sound I would go between $900 and $1200 as a suitable price for these.
 

Thanks monsieurguzel, that's very helpful!
 
That said, I wonder what would happen if you put in the same customization effort all the way up the sound chain as you put into perfecting the LCD-2.  You did try a speaker amp, but I wonder if some of the other components could be swapped synergize better with the HE-6.

Possibly, but I frankly don't see enough that I like with the HE-6 to transform them into something I would enjoy more than the LCD-2 right now. Also, these would all be tweaks and not drastically change the synergy of a headphone-amp combo.
 
Quote:

zoide said:

Thanks monsieurguzel, that's very helpful!
 
That said, I wonder what would happen if you put in the same customization effort all the way up the sound chain as you put into perfecting the LCD-2.  You did try a speaker amp, but I wonder if some of the other components could be swapped synergize better with the HE-6.

Click to expand...

It is not fair to review HE-6 prototype on WA-5, a 1.5W output headphone amp. I am not sure how much potential of HE-6 you can get from WA-5, but I believe it will be less than 70%. We have improved efficiency of HE-6 in the final version, in addition.

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nankai said:

It is not fair to review HE-6 prototype on WA-5, a 1.5W output headphone amp. I am not sure how much potential of HE-6 you can get from WA-5, but I believe it will be less than 70%. We have improved efficiency of HE-6 in the final version, in addition.

Click to expand...

This is a fair point. In the conditions of the original loaner program, recipients were asked to review the headphones using a power amplifier's speaker outs, with between 5-30 wpc.

Where's the problem? Monsieurguzel mentioned with K1000/speaker outs he was at 10W. Am I not seeing something right?
 
 
Quote:

Despite my amp being a 10W per channel speaker amp, I still didn't feel that it had enough to fully drive the HE-6 properly, which is a little ridiculous.

Click to expand...

i believe he used the speaker outputs which puts out 10w per channel. I am using a 100W receiver when I get mine on the speaker terminals.

My WA5 is a 10W per channel amp, not 1.5W.  But that is great to hear the the final version will have improved efficiency!
 
Quote:

nankai said:

It is not fair to review HE-6 prototype on WA-5, a 1.5W output headphone amp. I am not sure how much potential of HE-6 you can get from WA-5, but I believe it will be less than 70%. We have improved efficiency of HE-6 in the final version, in addition.

Click to expand...

Has the efficiency improved enough to allow it to run from a headphone amp? Because otherwise I don't see how its going to compete with the LCD-2 and the T1/HD800 all of which can be run out of a headphone amp. If people already own a very good headphone amp I don't see them wanting to effectively throw it in the garbage and get a speaker amp just to play with the HE-6 if they have no other use for the speaker amp. If it completely bettered the current headphones on the market then most people would be willing to make that sacrifice but based on the impressions it hasn't done anything revolutionary and is just a different flavour from what we currently already have. Aesthetically it doesn't have that 'wow' or x-factor to really differentiate it, it doesn't look like a 1.3k - 1.6k headphone, it just looks like a slightly updated HE-5LE. 
 
Excuse my criticisms I am just damn curious how you intend on positioning your product w/o any big redeeming features in the competitive high end headphone market.    
 
Quote:

nankai said:

It is not fair to review HE-6 prototype on WA-5, a 1.5W output headphone amp. I am not sure how much potential of HE-6 you can get from WA-5, but I believe it will be less than 70%. We have improved efficiency of HE-6 in the final version, in addition.

Click to expand...

That's a very good point. But in defense, most people who would spend this amount of money on a headphone probably already have a good speaker amp. However most of them also have a good headphone amp as well.

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tisb0b said:

Has the efficiency improved enough to allow it to run from a headphone amp? Because otherwise I don't see how its going to compete with the LCD-2 and the T1/HD800 all of which can be run out of a headphone amp. If people already own a very good headphone amp I don't see them wanting to effectively throw it in the garbage and get a speaker amp just to play with the HE-6 if they have no other use for the speaker amp. If it completely bettered the current headphones on the market then most people would be willing to make that sacrifice but based on the impressions it hasn't done anything revolutionary and is just a different flavour from what we currently already have. Aesthetically it doesn't have that 'wow' or x-factor to really differentiate it, it doesn't look like a 1.3k - 1.6k headphone, it just looks like a slightly updated HE-5LE. 
 
Excuse my criticisms I am just d curious how you intend on positioning your product w/o any big redeeming features in the competitive high end headphone market.    
 

 

Click to expand...

While I appreciate your viewpoint I have to wonder if you share the same criticism of the K1000, a universally praised headphone that shines best with very high power headphone amps or better yet, speaker amps.
 
Someone buying an HE-6 won't be throwing away a headphone amp. If they have other headphones to use it will be used for those. If not, they can sell it to fund the speaker amp purchase, if they don't have one already (who doesn't?).
 
As for impressions, they are about 50/50 with some notable reviewers announcing their plan to purchase one as soon as they can. You aren't going to find a landslide victory in this price range.
 
Aesthetically I think they are gorgeous. Very classy and elegant, understated, even. I've seen the HE-5 in person and thought those were nice looking but these are far better.
 
Don't apologize for asking pointed questions, constructive criticism is how products get better before they are released. Your questions are just as valid as anyone's. We could do without the language, though as it's explicitly against forum policy. (Not that I particularly care)
 

If you are one of the people like me that are wanting to make the jump into the 1k+ headphone world, the HE-6 in the face of the LCD-2 gets crossed off the list pretty fast.   
 
Quote:

moodyrn said:

That's a very good point. But in defense, most people who would spend this amount of money on a headphone probably already have a good speaker amp. However most of them also have a good headphone amp as well.

Click to expand...

Quote:

tisb0b said:

If you are one of the people like me that are wanting to make the jump into the 1k+ headphone world, the HE-6 in the face of the LCD-2 gets crossed off the list pretty fast.   
 

 

Click to expand...

Based on?
 
HeadphoneAddict used the HE-6 with a low end Yamaha 55Wpc receiver and said it was the best results he's had. $1200-1500 headphone + $100 amp is sure cheaper than LCD2 with a high end headphone amp.

1. Price, I'm estimating the LCD-2 is going to cost me around $1200 AUD once shipping and exchange rates have been taken into account. Which is cheaper than the HE-6 is going to retail for so in my mind it isn't going to warrant the premium. 
 
2. I already own the concerto which is known to do well with LCD-2 and I bought it with the intention of being able to take advantage of the T1 or HD800, so I don't want my investment to go to waste. 
 
3. Desk space, I don't have enough room on my desk for a receiver dedicated to power the HE-6. 
 
Quote:

maxvla said:

Based on?
 
HeadphoneAddict used the HE-6 with a low end Yamaha 55Wpc receiver and said it was the best results he's had. $1200-1500 headphone + $100 amp is sure cheaper than LCD2 with a high end headphone amp.

Click to expand...

Quote:

tisb0b said:

1. Price, I'm estimating the LCD-2 is going to cost me around $1200 AUD once shipping and exchange rates have been taken into account. Which is cheaper than the HE-6 is going to retail for so in my mind it isn't going to warrant the premium. 
 
2. I already own the concerto which is known to do well with LCD-2 and I bought it with the intention of being able to take advantage of the T1 or HD800, so I don't want my investment to go to waste. 
 
3. Desk space, I don't have enough room on my desk for a receiver dedicated to power the HE-6. 
 

 

Click to expand...

Not good enough reasons, IMO. The speaker amp doesn't have to be a receiver. There are small amps the size of headphone amps that are just engineered for speakers also. I only mentioned the receiver route because most everyone will already have one (of any quality apparently) or they are very cheap to pick up.
 
Just because you already own something doesn't mean the HE-6 isn't a good deal with an inexpensive speaker amp. It might be not as good of a deal for you, but you state it like Nankai is personally out to get you because you already own a nice headphone amplifier. Think bigger than yourself, please.
 
How do YOU know if the HE-6 isn't worth the premium to YOU? And for the record it isn't a premium at all. LCD-2 ~$1000, Concerto ~$700 = $1700 USD. HE-6 $1200-1600, good quality used vintage receiver $100 (or use the one in your home theater (free) = $1200-1700.