HE-6 Loaner Program
Jul 8, 2010 at 4:13 PM Post #121 of 903


Quote:
You are on the west coast list, Kevin. Whatever happened to our swap?

 


What list?
 
I have to get my butt to the post office. 
wink_face.gif

 
Jul 8, 2010 at 5:03 PM Post #122 of 903
Thanks for the impressiond Arron. Rank those babies past 100 hours :). If these things are THAT good my wallet is in mortal fear for it's life. Please Fang treat us loyal owners well. :)

I eagerly await my turn in line.
 
Jul 8, 2010 at 10:36 PM Post #124 of 903
Now I am posting the list in US. Our distributor, SievekingSound, will take care of Euro Loaner program. Headfiers in Europe can PM him. I will arrange China (include HK) and Australia loaner program later in the summer.
 
East:
1-Immtbiker        NY
2-baka1969         NJ
3-El_Doug           NJ
4-dannyb            NC
5-Peli_Kan          NC
6-warp08            VA
7-jageur272        VA
[size=13.3333px]8-Frank I            NJ[/size]
[size=13.3333px][size=13.3333px]9-Natural Music   NJ[/size][/size]
10-mrarroyo        FL
11-sambones      FL
[size=13.3333px]12-ishcabible      IL[/size]
13-digger945      IN
14-fishski13       MN
 
West:
1-HeadphoneAddict  CO
2-Edwood                CA
3-skylab                 IL
4-monsieurguzel      CA
5-mckinectic           CA
6- rhythmdevils       CA
7-kool bubba ice      CA
8-priyajeet               CA
9-grokit                   PNW
10-kwkarth              OR
11-maxvia               OK
12-momomo6789     TX
13-dBel84                WI
 
HiFiMAN Innovating the art of listening. Stay updated on HiFiMAN at their sponsor profile on Head-Fi.
 
http://hifiman.com
Jul 8, 2010 at 11:34 PM Post #128 of 903
Nankai,
thanks a lot!  i can't wait.  i'll add my Nelson Pass B1/F5 into the mix too. 
 
Jul 9, 2010 at 12:11 AM Post #129 of 903
I just closed a deal on a WA22 with a couple of extra Sylvania 7236 power tubes that are supposed to double the output wattage; I should be ready for this power-sucking monster!
 
Jul 9, 2010 at 2:08 AM Post #130 of 903


I just closed a deal on a WA22 with a couple of extra Sylvania 7236 power tubes that are supposed to double the output wattage; I should be ready for this power-sucking monster!





The WA22 with Sylvania 7236 can drive a K1000 so you should be okay.

Also, the HE-6 I got from Hong Kong have the cables with 4-pin XLR, a 1/4" adapter, and speaker terminal adapter with banana plugs. I didn't get an extra speaker adapter with tinned wires (won't need it). I have 56 hours of burn-in on them but I was in Denver all day and will listen more tomorrow. I'm leaving them running day & night.

I agree with Immtbiker's initial impressions as well, which seem to match my initial impressions posted 2 days ago. I really like my HE-5 LE, but these are an upgrade in the bass and highs, without sacrificing the the wonderful mids.
 
Jul 9, 2010 at 5:19 PM Post #131 of 903
Hey Larry, the prototypes (from Canjam) came with 4 tinned terminations.
Those were the black ones. Sorry I wasn't more explanatory guys.
 
What I should have said, is that the banana plug adapter termination, can
be unscrewed and then you have a small steel circular o-ring (that goes
around the screw for the banana plugs that can be used for anyone who doesn't
have banana terminals and just have spade screw downs. This is good for my
Adcom.
 
So basically, any speaker terminal amp with more than 3 watts should be able
to be used with what comes in the box. Very smart. Nothing extra to buy.
 
Quote:
Aaron, stop teasing us all. Now post some pictures! 
biggrin.gif

 
Pictures??? Won't that take away from at least a half an hour of burn-in time?
Think man, think! 
tongue.gif

Pictures tomorrow (if it doesn't rain).
 
No, but seriously, I already have a pair on order, so I'm just holding onto theses for 5 days,
to put on 100 hours, and then getting them out to you guys as fast as possible.
 
Listening to Metallica's "Reload" right now.
 
"Give me fuel, give me fire"!  
 
Jul 10, 2010 at 12:37 AM Post #133 of 903
x2 dBel84
 
If these sound like biker and HPA have indicated, my wallet might be hurting in, say..  11 weeks
angry_face.gif

 
Jul 10, 2010 at 2:19 AM Post #134 of 903


Quote:
OUT OF THE BOX IMPRESSIONS:
 
The HE-6 are here and I started burning them in about 60 minutes ago.  Out of the box I noticed that they have better treble presence than the HE-5 LE.  Bass impact was maybe slightly less than a stock HE=5 LE, but in just 45 minutes of play time the bass impact/quantity has increased very noticeably.  They seem to be quite a bit less efficient than the HE-5 LE, but a few of the "normal" amps that I've tried so far can drive them.  
 
I haven't had time to warm up any tube amps yet or head down to the basement to try the ZDT.  So I first went to the SAC-KH1000 amp which is always warmed up.  The SAC is made for 120 ohm 74dB K1000, and it's a class A amp that's idled up all the time and the on/off switch actually behaves more like a mute switch.  It's takes balanced XLR inputs and has a 4-pin XLR jack along with a 1/4" jack.  The SAC amp does have enough power to drive them at volume levels higher than I like to listen.  Normal listening levels for me would be with the volume at 11 o'clock, where 12 o'clock is pretty loud, and distortion begins at about 1 o'clock or higher (with Apogee mini-DAC set at max output).  The SAC amp can drive both the HE-6 and HE-5 LE at the same time, and the difference in volume levels between the two headphones is very noticeable. (similar to when I use the HE-5 LE and more efficient LA7000 at the same time)
 
The Nuforce HDP can drive them with the volume set at max (5o'clock) without distortion, at a level that's just a little higher volume than I would normally listen (so adequate power, but would be better if it had more).  However, it's pretty apparent that the HE-6 will need an amp that plugs into the wall to drive them properly.  I tried the HE-6 with my ALO amphora and balanced Protector, and I can get normal listening volumes but nothing that I would call loud, while the DACport plays them at fairly quiet listening levels and is totally inadequate.
 
I'll post more as I burn them in, but so far I think they are good sounding and can't wait to see how they develop with more hours.


I'm trying to put 150 hours on the HE-6 by Monday night, where I can do more serious listening.  With 80 hours on them, so far I have to say the HE-6 via SAC KH1000 amp in my bedroom is more enjoyable than my HE60 via the stock HEV70 amp.  But the HEV70 is not that great of a Stat amp, so even the HE-5 LE on the Woo WA6 sound better than the HE-60/HEV70.  I have all three rigs running at the same time with the same source (CD5001 > Apogee mini-DAC), and all 3 rigs are using ALO SXC interconnects. (XLR into SAC, mini-RCA into HEV70, loop out with RCA into WA6). 
 
Note - the HE-5 LE sound really good with the Woo WA6 which drives them better than the original HE-5, but the WA6 is not powerful enough for the HE-6.  Even though with most other NON-ortho phones the WA6 is a noticeably better amp than the SAC, the HE-5 LE on the WA6 is still not quite as good as the HE-6 on the SAC amp.  The SAC amp just has the power and drive with hard to drive orthodynamic phones that the WA6 with it's superior balance and refinement can't match.  
 
I still prefer the HE-6 on the SAC amp despite having to crank up the volume an extra hour or two on the volume knob vs the HE-5 LE.  Where I might listen to the HE-5 LE with the SAC amp volume knob at 9:30 - 10 o'clock, the HE-6 require me to turn it to 11:30 - 12 o'clock.  The HE-5 LE on the WA6 sound good with the volume at one o'clock, while I have to crank the WA6 to max 5 o'clock with the HE-6 and still not reach loud enough levels to match the HE-5 LE levels playing at one o'clock.
 
The HE-6 are detailed, fast and transparent, but with a slightly smaller soundstage than HE-60/HEV70.  The HE-6 are more grounded sounding with better bass impact and presence, while the HE-6 are a little more etherial sounding and less grounded in the real world.  The HE-6 bass is better than with my HD800, but the HD800 soundstage is still as massive as ever.  I'm really not finding anything to complain about with the HE-6 on a sub-$1K SS amp so far, except that the SAC amp is holding back the level of transparency possible, and soon I need to move up to my best amp to see if the HE-6 transparency can match the HD800/HE60 on a good amp.  
 
So, I plan to be spending more time with the HE-6 on my ZDT amp Saturday and Sunday night, after I have 100 hours on the phones.  I've been running them 24/7 since I got them.  At the same time I'll be comparing to the HE-60 on my Woo WES amp, which gives them much better bass, soundstage and transparency.  So that should be an interesting comparison when moving both phones up to my best amps.  At that point I can also compare them to the O2 Mk1, Jade, HD800 and LA7000.
 
In response to a question above - I have never heard an LCD-2, and likely wont have one in my hands until after the 19th or 20th of July.  Unless I can keep the HE-6 an extra week, that will be a week after the HE-6 have already been shipped to the next person.  Sorry.  I can still compare the HE-6 to several of my phones now and note the differences, and compare the LCD-2 to those same phones, but I wont be able to compare them directly.
 

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