Amps that can drive the HiFiMan HE-6 planar headphones - Page 7

I'm sure it was just an oversight that you left this part out estreeter, but to be fair and balanced:

"I think the HE-6 ultimately has an edge in scalability. With a good speaker amp, it will give better dynamic range and low level detail than the HE-500."

hehe...i was about to say that too. :-) No doubt HE-500 will probably perform better for most of users (for example EF5 seems to drive HE-500 better than HE-6), but HE-6 is still the ultimate headphone.

For HifiMan, HE-6 is a statement headphone to show their capability of building the best headphone in the world, and HE-500 will be the cash cow. :-)

Quote:

Originally Posted by grokit 

I'm sure it was just an oversight that you left this part out estreeter, but to be fair and balanced:

 

"I think the HE-6 ultimately has an edge in scalability. With a good speaker amp, it will give better dynamic range and low level detail than the HE-500."

Agreed, it was great before but the Sylvania Bad Boys that I rolled into my tube stage kicked them up a notch 

Quote:

Originally Posted by kwkarth 

You are talking about the Concerto, aren't you?
 

No, i wasn't. 

I don't want to start a fight..i just gave MHO. Good luck.

Quote:

Originally Posted by winma 

No, i wasn't. 

Oh, that's kind of what I suspected because the Concerto is what I've been talking about.  Sorry for the confusion.

Originally Posted by grokit 

 

 

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=

 

 

There, fixed it for you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by theleonlion 

There, fixed it for you.

Haha, it's a million dollar sound but all that stuff put together (including upgraded tubes) costs less than half than what the headphones do, it's the bargain of the century 

grokit, for the price difference I'll take the Marantz PM6004  :)

If only I could afford either right now :(

Quote:

Originally Posted by grokit 

 

This looks interesting, $360 shipped from Japan.

I wonder if it would have enough juice for the HE-6; it may be more appropriate for the LCD-2:

"High-power amplifier capable of dealing with low impedance. Maximum output: 12W+12W"

Wow!  Nice looking!  The 12W output is probably peak output (as text says) into 4 or 8 ohms.  This would translate into about 1.4W RMS into 50 ohms per channel at best, and possibly 0.7WRMS.
 

I guess 1.4 would be okay with the LCD-2, definitely not for the HE6. I wonder about that third input, if it's a USB port. I did't come across a picture of the rear or a description at the time.

I can confirm that the Apex Peak/Volcano can drive the HE-6, and I might even add extremely well IMO.  I can also say that the WA-5, using K1K port does an excellent job with these headphones.  Personally when I was using my WA-22 to drive these phones, I thought it was missing the right amount of punch, which seems to be fixed with either of these 2 amps.  I am listening to the Apex P/V combo with HE-6 right now.

I agree about the WA22, and am looking forward to your ultimate verdict re the other two 

There is an interesting new headphone amplifier developed specifically for inefficient orthodynamic headphones like HE6:

SAC Thailand Minute EL34 SE amp

I have not yet heard Hifiman headphones. But I bought it for the even more power-hungry K1000. I could not be happier.

I was told by the manufacturer that this amp was developed in close association with headphiles in Thailand to drive Hifiman headphones.

It seems that Thai headphiles really love this amp, and gave it rave reviews in the Thai headphone forum.