HifiMAN HE-6 Planar Magnetic Headphone - Page 205

Quote:

Originally Posted by odyssey 

Congratulations and nice to know that you are pleased with your NFB10 ES and HE6 combo. I am still searching for an amp. to drive my HE6 and later a LCD2 and this has been giving me sleepless nights thinking about what's best. Might take the route of Oppo 95 (source+DAC)--> Augio-gd Phoenix --> HE6/LCD2 but keeping options open. Ultimately I might settle for a Woo.

 

pheonix wont drive them as well as nfb-10
 

someone (grokit?) reported good results with an inexpensive spkr amp. along those lines i'm wondering if anyone has tried them them with a small adcom, parasound, or nad and had good results. those can be found used rather inexpensively.

i used to own a 60w electrocompaniet, which sounded pretty nice once warmed up and might have been a nice amp to pair with these. another possibility would be my lovely BEL 1001 (great ss amp!)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baird GoW 

Just received my NFB-10 ES non-USB and it make my HE-6 SHINE.
Loving every second.

Good to hear that, more impressions of that duo after the sound settle down please. =)
 

dont know if im contributing to this thread but my buddy dropped by with his HE6 to tryout my vintage amps (thats a yes to am i a vintage gearhead) cos he heard me rave about how good my HE5-LE sounded on a 33yr old Sansui Au-517 65w@8ohm integrated. 

well to make a short story shorter, he's selling hes EF5 asap & scrounging the local market for a identical or similar amp. i didnt have the heart to tell him the 'Sui 517 stands me $50. the next best amp to my ears is also a 35yr amp - a Pioneer SA-7500 45watter which also btw stands me $50.

motto is i think my cheap vintage amps mite be a very fine power source for these orthos. give 'em a chance & u mite save yaself a ton of money so diss 'em at your peril. hehe

O btw i drive them hifimans out of the speaker taps via a diy 4pin XLR - 4speaker pins pigtail adapter. if it means anything, the speaker taps sounds way way better than the headout. O & my HD650 sounds pretty decent too just outta their headout jack.

There is no doubt that is true.  The HE-6 sound absolutely fantastic with two vintage "speaker amps" I bought - a mid-70's Marantz 2275 receiver, and an early 80's Optonica (high-end Sharp) 7305 integrated amp.   I scored the 70 wpc Optonica, which is built like a Krell, for $100.  Absolutely better with the HE-6 than any new headphone amp I have heard that you can buy today for anything close to even 5 times the price. While I have not yet heard the Schiit Lyr, which seems almost tailor made for the HE-6, vintage amps can be a great way to go for the HE-6.

based on the above posts it sounds like my '70s vintage yamaha  rcvr, one of the best of the era, would be a good candidate for driving these beasts.  if some '70s and '80s era ss rcvrs work well then my suggestion above of trying some adcoms or parasounds or nads, which may be available used for $200ish, seems like a good place to start. they're a little more than the ones mentioned in the last 2 posts but may be easier to find and may sound better too.

(btw, nice pics in your sig, Rob)

I use an old NAD integrated amp for these. 40W/ch. It really is the only way. Thankfully its inexpensive. 

I have a Peachtree Decco coming in soon that I hope will work well with my HE-6, but I'm still curious about alternatives. What would you guys speculate about a NAD 7020i? http://nadelectronics.com/content/100603161956-NAD_7020i.pdf

-20w/channel continous (with +3dB IHF dynamic headroom? I'm not exactly sure what that means), or 40w/channel of dynamic power at 8ohms
-High-current output stage delivers peak currents up to 15 ampere

People seem to suggest the rule of thumb is 40w/channel and lots of current, does this seem like a fit?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zida 

I have a Peachtree Decco coming in soon that I hope will work well with my HE-6, but I'm still curious about alternatives. What would you guys speculate about a NAD 7020i? http://nadelectronics.com/content/100603161956-NAD_7020i.pdf

-20w/channel continous (with +3dB IHF dynamic headroom? I'm not exactly sure what that means), or 40w/channel of dynamic power at 8ohms
-High-current output stage delivers peak currents up to 15 ampere

People seem to suggest the rule of thumb is 40w/channel and lots of current, does this seem like a fit?

20w/ch continuous 40w/ch peak means that the amp can supply 40W for a brief ammount of time. 

Due to the impedance of the drivers you are not actually putting very much power into them (or taking much out of the amp... depending on perspective) the headphones just seem to work better with beastly amps behind them. 

Id try it! I bet they sound sweeeet. I only tried my 40W/ch because I had it handy. i tried elsewhere with a 4w/ch amp: it wasn't quite right, but actually closer than many would think. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zida 

I have a Peachtree Decco coming in soon that I hope will work well with my HE-6, but I'm still curious about alternatives. What would you guys speculate about a NAD 7020i? http://nadelectronics.com/content/100603161956-NAD_7020i.pdf

-20w/channel continous (with +3dB IHF dynamic headroom? I'm not exactly sure what that means), or 40w/channel of dynamic power at 8ohms
-High-current output stage delivers peak currents up to 15 ampere

People seem to suggest the rule of thumb is 40w/channel and lots of current, does this seem like a fit?

The NAD 316BEE I heard on the proto was outstanding with them and its only 349.00  If you want an inexpensive speaker amp that great. My Tube speaker amps sound great with the HE6 and I could not be happier.

Thanks, I'll definitely look into that. In your experience is it true what some people say about NAD equipment generally sounding a bit dark?

I would say more to the warm side rather than dark but musical IMO. Hopefully they have the QC worked out but otherwise for the money they will work. Order with the 30 day return and try it

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zida 

People seem to suggest the rule of thumb is 40w/channel and lots of current, does this seem like a fit?

I think you mean 4w/channel and that's pretty much been debunked within this thread. Some people really enjoy them with as little as 1.5 or 2Wpc amps.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by nikongod 

I use an old NAD integrated amp for these. 40W/ch. It really is the only way. Thankfully its inexpensive. 

This is my conclusion as well. Most of us have extra amps. Be they ss, tube or hybrid, they had better bring some current to handle the damping and lightning quick impact the HE-6 can give. A decent receiver/ int. amp/ power amp and you're set.

The quality stat rigs are the final level of performance but for the price of the HE-6 (provided with a quality cable already) and a modest amp, you get the next best thing for about $1500.