HifiMAN HE-6 Planar Magnetic Headphone - Page 532

+1 on this..

The he-6 connected to my emotiva amp ,gives me a sq that surprises me ,every time I listen to it.

Over bright,I dont think so,,in fact,

Recently bought a new silver/copper cable from DHC,and it is simply amazing , the detail I'm getting, retains the  deep  strong bass.

Most of the music I listen to{with this setup }, is acoustic guitar & classical..so..YMMV

Edited by mikek200 - 1/28/13 at 12:17am

Has anyone paired the he6 with any audio research speaker amps?

 

I've owned a couple of vintage Marantz receivers(2325, and now a 2330B), and can say the Marantz's do have good synergy with the he-6. I now have an integrated that I like better, but still do use my 2330B from time to time. The 2325 has a signature closer to the 22XX series, which is a warm very musical sound. The but the 2330B leans more toward neutral but still warm overall. And it still retains the musicality of the 2325. I really liked both of them with the he-6.

Lovely cans the HE-6 when properly amped and most vintage amps with at least 100+w output into 8 ohms will do it justice. I couldnt take the weight though, made it less enjoyable for long hours of listening. And be prepared for unwavering commitment towards the cans if you want it to reward you with undeniably great musical reproduction.

First of all: I have both the Master-6 amp and the ZAPsolute Mk4 class A power amp and they deliver respectively 7 and 8 watts in 50 Ohm.

Secondly: I have had the HE-6 for more than a year and I have read just about all there is - here and elsewhere - that the HE-6 sounds bright when underpowered. I have even told that to many others here at Head-Fi. Now I have come to a different conclusion.

Thirdly: Take a look at the graphs at headphone.com and innerfidelity.com and read the comments on how a neutral frequency response should look like. The bass response of the HE-6 in the graphs on both sites is extremely good, but in the treble (above 5-6 kHz) there is too much output. In other words: What I am saying.

 

A big wake-up came to me, when I went to an entirely acoustic concert: Then I heard the real thing and that convinced me that the HE-6 is in fact too bright. This was a classical concert, not a bass heavy concert.

 

If you and others hear it differently, then fine for you, but I think you are misled:

When I listen to the bass level on the LCD-2 and HE-6, it is just about the same, but in the treble - hello! - there is a BIG difference.

 

For the record: I have listened to both HD800 and finding it much too bright (and a big disappointment) and the LCD-3 and finding it much too dark. Please also note, that I don't find the LCD-2 to be completely neutral either, but somewhat dark, because of too little upper mids / lower treble.

 

The horse is in fact alive!

 

 

You mean the DIY Zap 

 

By you looking at and relying on the graphs from those web sites tells me you are the one that is being misled.  If you had the HE-6 for over a year and only tried them on those two amps.  You are way behind the curve.  Sorry to say.  

 

It takes lots of piratical experience, not graphs and charts.  It takes amp rolling for lack of a better word.  It also takes - in most cases more than two amps.  

 

If I stopped at the first two amps I tried with the HE-6 - I would have sold them.  I went through mono blocks, DIYs, Very high end amps at audio stores.  The works. 

 

Like I asked you before.  Those charts and graphs was taken on what amps?  Most likely some kind of headroom headphone amp.  Not the same at all.  That's all I'm saying.  

 

I'm guessing that was my Marantz 2385 from the last UK meet.  I didn't find the Little Dot bright at all and felt it represented the HE6 quite well. I normally use my Pioneer SX1980 with the HE6, which has this beautiful tone control which I set to 2.5db boost at 50hz. It gives this depth without clouding the mid-bass.

Yeah that was yours.  I should have said slightly darker compared to the LD but I loved the lush and musical presentation and I wouldn't mind getting a SS amp that doesn't weight a ton and is smaller than a house with that sound signature to complement my tube amp. I am very tempted by the EF-6 but despite reading every reviews available I have no idea if that will get me there. 

 

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Edited by zenpunk - 1/28/13 at 10:21am

 

Lol it wasn't that big  I've been thinking the same thing though, but with tube mono blocks. 

150w RMS continuous per channel•  100 Watts RMS in Triode mode 

 

Oh baby...

 

re the EF6, you should talk to Mark (Electromod). He had the EF6 demo and was suppose to be getting the production model in.

The 6 does require rolling amps. The receiver gives you power. An integrated or straight power amp (imo) has a more profound impact on the soundstage, prat and speed. The depth of imaging is speaker like. I would, get hooked hearing the 009 so for a little more than half the price of one I can buy my rig and feel satisfied.

My ZAPsolute is made by the manufacturer LC Audio, but it was also sold as a kit. It has noticeably tighter and deeper bass than some new 200W amps in the 2500$ range I had home for testing, and it doubles the output all the way down to 200W in 2 Ohm. In 1 Ohm it is stable and delivers 300W. It is dual mono and has two 500W trafos and 240.000 uF of caps in the PSU. It weighs 19,5 kilos. In short it is a beast in terms of bass performance. In addition it is extremely transparent and has a relaxed treble.

 

I am of course not just looking at the graphs, but did you actually study them? If you didn't, then I would recommend it in order to understand this better.

 

You question the power of the amps used to make the graphs on the one hand, and then assume that the graphs are not showing the correct curve, as I understand it. The frequency response at both HeadRoom (headphone.com) and at InnerFidelity show no sign of bass roll-off, but do show excess treble (when interpreting them correctly as described on the sites). If inadequate power was to blame for lacking bass, then the graphs should show decreasing bass, but they are not. HeadRoom's graph actually show INcreasing response from 1kHz and all the way down to 30Hz and at 20Hz it is on level with the 1kHz point. The graph at InnerFidelity is a flat line from 1kHz and down to about 20Hz. This is with what you assume to be measured with amps having not enough power, but they are not showing any signs of lacking bass.

 

Maybe you could benefit from reading the review by Tyll Hertsen of the HE-6 at InnerFidelity? He actually says it has too much treble.

 

I listen at 80 - 90 dB depending on music and mood.

According to Tyll's measurements, the HE-6 needs 19,69mW to reach 90 dB. Do I need to say more?

 

I hate sounding like a theoretical guy, because I am not saying this coming from looking at graphs, reading numbers and reading reviews, but my own impressions during more than a year using overly powerful amps (with low output impedance too). It tells me the opposite of what I have been told here in this thread and the HE-6 amp thread - which I unfortunately have been repeating to others when they have asked about amping the HE-6.

 

There might be other things making us disagree however. For one it could be what we consider neutral. For instance if someone has listened to the HD800 for a long time, then the HE-6 wouldn't sound bright, because the HD800 is even brighter. Also how we perceive a sound to be balanced or neutral. (My previous headphone was K-701, which is even brighter than the HD800.)

 

When I use the HE-6 with the much less powerful Burson Soloist (or Conductor), the HE-6 doesn't sound brighter or thinner. This adds weight to my point, that it is not power issue, when I say that the HE-6 is bright. Please note, that I am not saying it is overly or very bright, just that it is brighter than neutral.

 

No headphone that I have heard has a ruler flat response, so I am not saying that to mock the HE-6.

In fact I LOVE the extremely high transparency and resolution of the HE-6.

i agree, even from the F1, which is the best i ever heard them, i still thought they were a north of neutral headphone in the treble. Its not something that will go away with more power

Wait until you see what the F1J does to them.  Power has nothing to do with it.

Thanks for supporting my view! I was beginning to feel a little "lonesome" here

It looks like some people have been listening to  Audeze cans for too long .

However, I also believe that power is not the main factor affecting synergy with the HE-6, which I found to be very enjoyable through my STX when watching movie.