Amps that can drive the HiFiMan HE-6 planar headphones - Page 56

What does it matter if it was 30 or 300?  Since we're talking about headphones, our ears would should give out before cooking something...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Face 

What does it matter if it was 30 or 300?  Since we're talking about headphones, our ears would should give out before cooking something...

Phonitor drives HE-6 and I doubt it puts out anything in double digits -- although I don't know for sure. Still to piggy back on Preporman's earlier point, you need some power but other parameters also come into play. I can't give a scientific explanation for this -- not my field -- and all I have to rely on is my ears (and little to compare to) but the I think the phonitor drivers the HE6 just fine with little wattage.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Face 

What does it matter if it was 30 or 300?  Since we're talking about headphones, our ears would should give out before cooking something...

Well you have to ask Fang that..  

Quote:

Originally Posted by Face 

Why?  My understanding is that the adapter is only really needed for tube amps...to compensate for the HE-6's impedance.

I believe that Fang has recommended the adapter for tube amps and any solid state amps that put out > 70wpc.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Face 

What does it matter if it was 30 or 300?  Since we're talking about headphones, our ears would should give out before cooking something...

Though to be fair, this hasn't necessarily stopped people from cranking it that high before.

Something with that much power might also risk damage with a short, or even turn-on/off pops, and any input DC offset multiplied by a high gain could be dangerous. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cante Ista 

Phonitor drives HE-6 and I doubt it puts out anything in double digits -- although I don't know for sure. Still to piggy back on Preporman's earlier point, you need some power but other parameters also come into play. I can't give a scientific explanation for this -- not my field -- and all I have to rely on is my ears (and little to compare to) but the I think the phonitor drivers the HE6 just fine with little wattage.

I friend of mine once drove his he-6 with a phonitor. At that time, he ranked it below his T1, and lcd 2. Also, he thought the phonitor drove it really well, and thought it was a pretty good pairing. So thinking he had an idea about how the he-6 sounded, he was about ready to give up. He even mentioned to me he thought about selling them.

Now after pairing them with the dark star, he prefers them over his hd-800, and lcd-3. And now it would be one of the last headphones he would sell. 

Hi LarsHP, if i may add, the HE-6 is not bright in any sense of the word (to these ears) but well-balanced across the frequency range, when it is well-amped. No offense meant but i believe both your 50W and Soloist amps are not driving it adequately. I used a 9W into 50 Ohm Class A transformer-coupled tube amp and yet it did not drive the HE-6 adequately. Not even my vintage Kenwood KA-5500 with 55W from the speaker taps. Now, i find musical bliss with the Pioneer SX-1280 and that's with 185W @ 8 Ohms. The HE-6 sounded well-balanced and full bodied with this amp (even through the headphone jack). I haven't had the opportunity to try other amps though.

Quote:

Originally Posted by moodyrn 

I friend of mine once drove his he-6 with a phonitor. At that time, he ranked it below his T1, and lcd 2. Also, he thought the phonitor drove it really well, and thought it was a pretty good pairing. So thinking he had an idea about how the he-6 sounded, he was about ready to give up. He even mentioned to me he thought about selling them.

 

Now after pairing them with the dark star, he prefers them over his hd-800, and lcd-3. And now it would be one of the last headphones he would sell. 

I had the exact same scenario but all I had to do to elevate the HE6's from 3rd choice to 1st choice was upgrade the stock cable to the Silver Poison.

Hell of a lot cheaper than the Dark Star

Quote:

Originally Posted by nigeljames 

 

I had the exact same scenario but all I had to do to elevate the HE6's from 3rd choice to 1st choice was upgrade the stock cable to the Silver Poison.

Hell of a lot cheaper than the Dark Star

I drive the he-6's with both the emo-mini-x ,and the mjollnir/gungnir combo,& I do not consider them bright at all.,with the emo,I get dark,rich strong bass.

Recently ,I have been using a Moon Silver Dragon  cable,and as Nigel has said,it just adds to the overall SQ

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rossliew 

Hi LarsHP, if i may add, the HE-6 is not bright in any sense of the word (to these ears) but well-balanced across the frequency range, when it is well-amped. No offense meant but i believe both your 50W and Soloist amps are not driving it adequately. I used a 9W into 50 Ohm Class A transformer-coupled tube amp and yet it did not drive the HE-6 adequately. Not even my vintage Kenwood KA-5500 with 55W from the speaker taps. Now, i find musical bliss with the Pioneer SX-1280 and that's with 185W @ 8 Ohms. The HE-6 sounded well-balanced and full bodied with this amp (even through the headphone jack). I haven't had the opportunity to try other amps though.

You are most likely not familiar with my 50W class A amp. It is a dual mono with two 500VA trafo's and it has 240.000uF caps in the power supply. It doubles the power in both 4 and 2 Ohms load, and in 1 Ohms it is stable giving 300W. The bass is the tightest and strongest even when comapring it to 200W amps costing around $2500. It in fact sound warmer than the Master-6.

If you check both InnerFidelity and HeadRoom measurements of the HE-6 and their comments about them, they directly (IF) and indirectly (HR) both say that the HE-6 has too much treble.

For reference, I think the LCD-2 is about just as dark sounding as the HE-6 is bright. For female voices and classical music HE-6 has the upper hand for sure, but for rhythmical music the LCD-2 is better. IMO of course.

Ah, point taken 

Just that to my ears, when driven off the SX-1280, they sound full bodied, heavy and non the more bright although with all other amps I tried, they sound thin and bright (most likely due to the rather weak mid and sub-bass frequencies). At the end of the day, it's all about synergy and what sounds good to one's ears. To each his own! 

Quote:

Originally Posted by LarsHP 

You are most likely not familiar with my 50W class A amp. It is a dual mono with two 500VA trafo's and it has 240.000uF caps in the power supply. It doubles the power in both 4 and 2 Ohms load, and in 1 Ohms it is stable giving 300W. The bass is the tightest and strongest even when comapring it to 200W amps costing around $2500. It in fact sound warmer than the Master-6.

 

If you check both InnerFidelity and HeadRoom measurements of the HE-6 and their comments about them, they directly (IF) and indirectly (HR) both say that the HE-6 has too much treble.

 

For reference, I think the LCD-2 is about just as dark sounding as the HE-6 is bright. For female voices and classical music HE-6 has the upper hand for sure, but for rhythmical music the LCD-2 is better. IMO of course.

Just because they say this, does this mean it "HAS" to sound that way in your system?  Again.  I'm not sure what amp they used to get those results.  A less than adequate amp will certainly provide bright harsh treble.  A amp that's pushing the HE-6s to it's limits will provide smoother less bright treble.  

This is in my experiences with this headphone.  and IMO, your choice of music plays a part as well.