HifiMAN HE-6 Planar Magnetic Headphone - Page 203

Quote:

Originally Posted by wuwhere 

Network, ethernet or wi-fi, or external hard drive, USB or eSata.

You don't even need a usb to spdif converter.

I'll be using a 1tb portable usb hdd as my music library, mp3s, flac and wav files.

So the USB digital stream output is bit-perfect directly out of the player?

Quote:

Originally Posted by warp08 

So the USB digital stream output is bit-perfect directly out of the player?

The USB is only an input for any external memory access, a USB hub or USB wi-fi dongle.

Thanks for that info. wuwhere, I should have looked into the info. closer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Happy Camper 

Thanks for that info. wuwhere, I should have looked into the info. closer.

What attracted me to this player is I have a collection of CDs, but I also have a collection of MP3s, FLAC, and WAV. So I was looking for a DAC and a CD player. With a DAC, I would need a USB to SPDIF converter also. So with the Oppo, I can access all of my music from my laptop through an ethernet network, I can playback all of my CDs for FLAC them, play SACD, BD and DVD. It has the Saber 32 bit DAC chip and balanced out. So all these features combined, it has everything I wanted. I don't have a really good desktop DAC right now. I'm sure its has limits but I could live with that.

I was looking for a coax or optical in. USB works.

Does it have volume control?

I wouldn't go as far as John E. Johnson, Jr. did in how he praised the 95 because I do think it stumbles just a bit with the upper mids for analog 5.1/7.1. However 2Ch analog stereo is a different matter, the more info the 2Ch stereo track has on it the better the AQ, if the 2Ch stereo track is a mid to low bit rate then the AQ may seem a a bit to airy and bland. The Sabre 32 chip's that the 95 uses are 9018, as far as I know its ESS's flagship chip solution.

Also there are some limitation's streaming from a computer or server and or using the XLR jacks. I would suggest DL a copy of the owners manual and also start reading the BD-95 owners thread on AVS to make sure you can optimize the AQ with want you are trying to do with the 95 and your source what ever that is.

In closing, if you also will use the 95 for Blu Ray (2D or 3D) and its analog 5.1/7.1 RCA outs this player becomes a no brainier, its a buy for sure top of the list. I chose the 95 over my 83SE/NE not only for PQ but for both 2Ch stereo analog and of-course MC analog AQ.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Happy Camper 

I was looking for a coax or optical in. USB works.

 

Does it have volume control?

That's the other thing, it has a volume control. I'm sure it works on the analog out. Not sure about all the digital out.

Heard 'em at the Bay area meet out of an EF5, absolutely my favorite of the flagships, Stax aside.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sillysally 

I wouldn't go as far as John E. Johnson, Jr. did in how he praised the 95 because I do think it stumbles just a bit with the upper mids for analog 5.1/7.1. However 2Ch analog stereo is a different matter, the more info the 2Ch stereo track has on it the better the AQ, if the 2Ch stereo track is a mid to low bit rate then the AQ may seem a a bit to airy and bland. The Sabre 32 chip's that the 95 uses are 9018, as far as I know its ESS's flagship chip solution.

 

Also there are some limitation's streaming from a computer or server and or using the XLR jacks. I would suggest DL a copy of the owners manual and also start reading the BD-95 owners thread on AVS to make sure you can optimize the AQ with want you are trying to do with the 95 and your source what ever that is.

 

In closing, if you also will use the 95 for Blu Ray (2D or 3D) and its analog 5.1/7.1 RCA outs this player becomes a no brainier, its a buy for sure top of the list. I chose the 95 over my 83SE/NE not only for PQ but for both 2Ch stereo analog and of-course MC analog AQ.

The 95 uses Saber's best 32 bit DAC chip. It uses two, one for the 2-channel analog and one for the multi-channel. Since it is an 8-channel DAC chip, on the 2-ch audio, it uses 4 channel/stereo channel. I believe this is how stand-alone DACs uses this chip.

JEJ praised it but what I took noticed of were the comments.

Quote:

Originally Posted by wuwhere 

The 95 uses Saber's best 32 bit DAC chip. It uses two, one for the 2-channel analog and one for the multi-channel. Since it is an 8-channel DAC chip, on the 2-ch audio, it uses 4 channel/stereo channel. I believe this is how stand-alone DACs uses this chip.

Yes isn't that what I said??

Yes when the Saber 32 DAC solution is used for two Ch then yes the application would be stacking 4 dat's per L/R ch. This is the same thing Oppo did with the BD-83SE using the Sabre 32 DAC 9016 for the 2Ch analog side of the 83SE analog board, for the MC side of the 83SE board Oppo used the Sabre 32 Dac 9006.

No its not 4 Ch stereo, its 2Ch stereo, that's why 4dac's are stacked per Ch in a 2Ch stereo application is because yes as you pointed out the Sabre 32 family are 8Ch dac's. Of-course when configured for 8Ch (7.1) then there is no need to stack dacs because the Sabre is used as a real 8Ch dac, therefor this is the reason why Oppo uses two 9018 Dac solutions in the 95 because of the configurations of the 9018 for 2Ch and 8Ch. I guess somebody could play word games when describing the 2Ch side of the audio board , but in the end its 2Ch not four Ch. What the point in confusing the application of a sabre 32 dac 2Ch stereo.

As for the volume control in the 95 set the volume at 100%, It think Oppo says not to lower the volume control below 85 or 90% for best results.

If you are not going to be using the 95 for analog audio (Sabre Chip's) and just keeping your Audio in the digital domain then get a 93 or a different BD-player/CD player.

SS, thanks for the info.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamato8 

I am using the fi.Q with buffers changed from the 634 to the 5002. I had 4 buf634 per channel but am running just one HA5002 per channel and the sound is excellent. Very, very open and dynamic and the volume is around 12 o'clock. As I go higher in volume it gets too loud but does not distort. The bass is solid and well defined. So here is a portable, large yes, that has 24 volts and around .5 watt into 32 ohms. The soundstage is huge, center fill is perfect and I am surprised. The sound is also extremely transparent. 

Jam, how does this compare to your sr71b?

I had one pass aleph 3 for more than 10 years, and wile reading this treat, I thought it should be a wonderful choice to those planar. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by musicman59 

Even that my WA5-LE drives nicely my HE-6 out of the high impedance output I just closed a deal in a Pass Labs Aleph 3 to exclusively drive them with it. It is a pure Class A Nelson Pass designed amplifier with 30 watts per channel in 8 ohms. 

It received in it's time rave reviews form Stereophile and even that it is just 30 watts/Ch it is high current so it should match wonderfully with the HE-6.

I am picking it up Saturday so I will report later.

Quote:

Originally Posted by daveDerek 

Jam, how does this compare to your sr71b?

The reason I haven't answered these questions before is because it is hard to compare. The PB-2 is a moving target. I make changes to the op amps and like the sound but, and this is important to me, I like to make sure there aren't any irritating factors such as frequencies emphasis, flatness of the sound field etc. Now when that is resolved I could compare but then someone makes a suggestion, like Ron, that I should try XX op amp and off it goes again. I will say that no matter what the 71B is very clean, open and fluid with few faults, to my ear. So comparing one to the other would be for me, like comparing to fine teas, it just depends upon what I want to taste, though both are very fine. I will compare though once I cement what I like best in the PB-2. The HA5002 buffer for the PB-2 is an important positive change. 

Anybody have a Lyr on order for the HE-6s?