Hifiman HE-6 vs Audeze LCD-3 - Page 4

No, I do not, but have heard the combo fully broken in. 

 

There was no issue with the volume knob on the unit I used, but can understand how an experience like that can leave a bad taste in your mouth.

Out of the Liquid fire it would be no contest, that amp doesn't have near the power to drive the HE6 properly. No wonder it sounded anemic compared to the LCD3.

 

Having said that I can feel my LCD3 resistance weakening

x2. The liquid fire just isn't enough for the he6. And on the bass issue, I thought the bass quantity of the he6(via darkstar) was just a notch behind the lcd3 and a very small notch at that. If someone listened to the he6 on a darkstar and found the bass to be lacking, they would on the lcd3 as well. Can't speak for the ef6, but there are mixed opinions about it. The lcd3 did have better texture, and was a little better defined though. But the lf is pretty special on anything short of the he6 though.

Do the HE-6 really need that much power? Or do they need just enough quality power? I had no problems driving the HE-6 with the relatively flea powered Melos SHA-1 and BA. The HE-6 sounded good out of those two amps.

I've listened to the he6 on at least 15 different amps, and ime, yes. They really do need that much power. Also equally important, they also need very high quality power. That's the big negative about them in my book. Once you reach the power requirement, then you have to reach the quality requirements. And both can be very hard to acquire, which is why many use high quality speaker amps.

And to add, everytime I read about the he6 sounding thin, bass lite, bright grainy etc. I ask(or someone else asks) what amp are you using. And the answer most of the time ends up explaining it all. The he6 when driver properly isn't anywhere near bright, and certainly anywhere near bass lite. On my set up, the he6 is the least bright out of all of my cans, and the bass quantity is just a shade why of a pair of heavily modded d7ks I use to own(but with much, much more control). People don't want to believe what the he6 sounds like with that sort of high quality power. But I have made a believer of some after convincing them to try it.

 

Keep in mind, it's not very hard to get them to play loud. There are a lot of amps that can do that. But as we all know, there's a difference between being driven, and "properly" driven.

Edited by moodyrn - 6/8/12 at 7:41pm

I would chime in that the EF6 would be the bare minimum for the HE-6, as the EF5 was for the HE-5.

 

My WA22 cost 10x as much as my speaker amp and it's no contest, I'll take the speaker amp by a mile over the WA22 when it comes to the HE6. Which is why I added the preamp function to the WA22, best of both worlds now.

 

Think K1000 power for the HE6, I have them both side by side and their driving requirements are quite similar.

Agreed.

 

My DACport can drive the HE 6 loud but the sound it produce like a computer speaker.

 

When I drive it with my speaker amp (it's 125wat @ 8ohm) through headphone output, it still feel not good enough.

 

When I drive it through speaker amp with speaker output, feel good but the lower mid and bass is not punchy and tight enough. No way it justify as flagship.

 

Until I added a automate voltage regulator to my speaker amp...ahhhh, let's enjoy the music. Everything seems balance.

 

Conclusion? HE 6 really need high quality clean power to drive it best.

 

Not sure what the culprit is, but I heard the HE-6 through the WA5-LE and the Trends TA-10.2SE amp (Tripath speaker amp).  The sound was more musical and resonant through the WA5-LE, but during particularly dynamic passages, there was clear distortion.  The distortion was very evident during percussion.  The Trends amp didn't have that nice 300B tone, but it also didn't distort during difficult passages.

I've heard the same thing w/ the HE6 everytime which is why I wanted to confirm on something w/ more ballz.

I've tried the HE6 through several modern speaker amps, Zana Deux, Decware Taboo, Lyr and finally settled on a 85wpc Marantz 2285. I can say there is delightful musicality in this pairing, wherein the Marantz provides much welcomed warmth and the added power has gone to surprisingly good effect (i did like them through the Lyr i own and Sansui I briefly auditioned). With that said, I cannot however say that the bass, either in quantity or texture equals my LCD-2's running off the 6W Taboo. I simply don't hear the bass as standing out, but rather hear it woven into an overall neutral coherency. I don't believe, apart from the UERM's, that I have ever felt an headphone to be so faithfully neutral and this is where I believe the HE6 marvels. It also really digs deep into a recording and provides a more pleasing low volume experience than the LCD's. There is something refined and musical about them, but without an emphasis on any part of the spectrum; something the LCD-2's do not pull off for me (can't comment on the LCD-3's as I've only briefly auditioned them). Despite this they are not as involving with vocals or rock as the LCD's, but more apt with the likes of bluegrass and other instrumental genres. Formerly with the Lyr especially and to lesser effect the others I felt the HE6 had a treble tilt, but with the Marantz I have no such idea.
Edited by ericfarrell85 - 6/8/12 at 11:12pm

Would you consider the Marantz dark or warm?  I noticed most favorable HE6 impressions seemed to be from the Darkstar which seems to be, uh....dark.

Hard to say if it's dark, as I do believe there is some treble rolloff, but I haven't confirmed this. As for warmth, I would say the Marantz is the warmest amp I've ever heard and changes the character of the HE6 to a greater extent than the other amps.
Edited by ericfarrell85 - 6/8/12 at 11:19pm

Despite being the amp that HiFiMan pairs with the HE-6, the EF-6 isn't the best option. I like to run them off the speaker taps of a gutsy stereo amp, something like my Cary SLI-80 or Kenwood M2A. They're more like speakers than headphones and really like lots of juice, otherwise the bottom end has less definition and the mids get a little congested. IMO, with a great amp, they rule everything out there that isn't a `stat.

X2 on everything said.  The HE6 driven by my DarkStar has excellent bass and isn't bright at all.  Where as when driven by my Liquid Fire, the HE6 sounds a bit lean on the bass and not as full sounding.  The DarkStar also drives the LCD3 very well, and I prefer it to the Liquid Fire with the Golden Lion tubes.  I will be getting a set of Siemens E88CC Platinum tubes for my Liquid Fire and that may level field with the DarkStar/LCD3.