[Gneiss]

How much power does the GS-X put into the 50 ohms of the HE-6? The only information I see is "2 Watts" which is much less than what I always see recommended for the HE-6.

 

[fishski13]

Quote:

I did a 10 hours listening session with my 3 channel b22 and he 6 and the conclusion of this epic journey is that the b22 has been officialy put to rest by the he 6.  b22 is fried. d'ont know yet what I am gonna do with the thing, but it is totaled. I am probably gonna keep the cases and that is it. maybe one day I will rebuild a b22 in the same configuration. the power supply is fine but the amp is fried. I am not impressed with rockhopper audio build quality though. they are kinda cheap b22 builds. even the cases are crappy. but, it was my first experience with the famous b22. even though it was not the best of the breed amongst b22 I have very much loved this amp and will certainly get my hands on another b22 amp. but next time a much better built one.
 
I hope my ef6 will not suffer the same fate. my lyr has been an incredibly tough amplifier. I have to give that to schiit audio. I have tortured that thing with the he 6 quite a bit and it has always did the job, even though it is a barely adequate amp for the he 6.
 
he 6 is an amplifier torturer.

 
sorry to hear that.  how did you determined it's fried?  were the outputs accidentally shorted with the TRS plug?

 

[Happy Camper]

I did a 10 hours listening session with my 3 channel b22 and he 6 and the conclusion of this epic journey is that the b22 has been officialy put to rest by the he 6.  b22 is fried. d'ont know yet what I am gonna do with the thing, but it is totaled. I am probably gonna keep the cases and that is it. maybe one day I will rebuild a b22 in the same configuration. the power supply is fine but the amp is fried. I am not impressed with rockhopper audio build quality though. they are kinda cheap b22 builds. even the cases are crappy. but, it was my first experience with the famous b22. even though it was not the best of the breed amongst b22 I have very much loved this amp and will certainly get my hands on another b22 amp. but next time a much better built one.

I hope my ef6 will not suffer the same fate. my lyr has been an incredibly tough amplifier. I have to give that to schiit audio. I have tortured that thing with the he 6 quite a bit and it has always did the job, even though it is a barely adequate amp for the he 6.

he 6 is an amplifier torturer.

That EF6 is absolutely a keeper with the 6. Plenty of volume. The stepper volume switch had some noise on the one I listened to but there is plenty of power for this combo. The highs weren't harsh and plenty of authority.

 

[erikfreedom]

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sorry to hear that.  how did you determined it's fried?  were the outputs accidentally shorted with the TRS plug?

I did a 10 hours listening session non stop with the b22 and he 6. then after 10 hours I started smelling a bizarre odor but I did not pay attention at first. I checked the top panel of the amplifier and the odor was very strong. very strong odor of fried circuits. the amp still work, but barely. the damage is done. I might try to build my own b22 anyway. I have the cases and the power supply is in perfect condition. but the amp is toasted.

 

[Lorspeaker]

thats another milestone to a trueblooded headfier......burning in and burning OUT. 

 

[fishski13]

Quote:

I did a 10 hours listening session non stop with the b22 and he 6. then after 10 hours I started smelling a bizarre odor but I did not pay attention at first. I checked the top panel of the amplifier and the odor was very strong. very strong odor of fried circuits. the amp still work, but barely. the damage is done. I might try to build my own b22 anyway. I have the cases and the power supply is in perfect condition. but the amp is toasted.

 
that's a bummer.  hard to say what could have happened.  a properly functioning B22 shouldn't crap out into the HE6 load.  you probably already know this, but the volume pot should always be turned all the way down before removing or inserting the TRS plug.  the high current bias output stage doesn't like to be shorted.   

 

[Cante Ista]

Quote:

It's ok to disagree....that's a Head-fi tradition. 

 I have never found a dynamic or ortho headphone as revealing of upstream gear as the HD800s. They are the toughest nut to crack so to speak. But with regards to details, I simply can't agree with you...the HD800s are detail monsters and only beat (quite thoroughly as it turns out) by the SR-009s. That's not saying the HE-6's are bad, as mentioned, they are in my top 5 headphones of all time with the LCD-3s and TH-900s. But in the end, the SR-009s stand at the top of the heap.

overall it looks like we agree more than not. I wonder whether the F3 may have something to do with it, or certain type of amps.

 

[preproman]

Quote:

OK. I have followed your posts for a while and totally respect you and your opinions so I feel a little bad about saying this but I disagree. IME HE6 has all the detail HD800 have. I have both cans and did the comparison a number of times as the issue has come up in the past. To me off an amp like F3 their detail retrieval is totally comparable and sometimes on some tracks HE6 is even better. HE6 is more up front and immediate IME. ALL this is by a fraction, but it is there. 
 
I agree though that 009 and BHSE is the system to be beat but I have not heard HE6 off Sim Audio moon series amp that some say is just amazing. Time will tell. 

 
 
Viktor, I agree with you 100% on this.  Those First Watt amps just does something special to the HE-6.  
 
For Peter to say "I have never found a dynamic or ortho headphone as revealing of upstream gear as the HD800s. They are the toughest nut to crack so to speak" 

  Is loco 

 
The HE-6 has to be the toughest headphone to get right and is very revealing and scales to upstream gear like no other.  This is after hearing these on a boat load of different amps.  
 
The HD800s are pretty hard to get right.  But where the GS-X mk2 does a damn good job with the HD800s I would say not so much with the HE-6.  So that's the same amp and the HE-6s are not really right on it when compared to other amps.  Man that $8K SimAudio amp put the HE-6 in a space I never heard them before.

 

[potterma]

Quote:

Has anyone tried the Parasound Halo amps that were designed by John Curl? I'm curious how they fare compared to the First Watt stuff. I'd be looking at Pass Labs amps but these things are just way over what I want to spend on amps unless I was also looking at building a 2-channel speaker based system around them too.

I've been looking at the Parasound line, as well.  Can anyone comment on how they sound?  First Watt class?

 

[MacedonianHero]

How much power does the GS-X put into the 50 ohms of the HE-6? The only information I see is "2 Watts" which is much less than what I always see recommended for the HE-6.

That's the original GS-X. The new one is about 8W in balanced mode methinks.

 

[MacedonianHero]

Sorry man, can't agree with this. Get a used $200 NAD speaker amp and viola, you get about 95% of what the HE-6s have to offer. Changing out sources is hard to detect with the HE-6s, but very easy with the hd800s.

The only thing hard about amping the he6s is getting enough juice. That's it IME.
Sorry man, but this area we clearly diverge.

 

[moodyrn]

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That's the original GS-X. The new one is about 8W in balanced mode methinks.

I don't know if that's 8 watts @ 50 ohms though. I demoed one a few months ago. It sounded fantastic with most cans, but really struggled with the he6. I had to go to about 2-3:00 on the dial to get a decent but not very loud volume. And at that point they began to really loose their composure.

 

[MacedonianHero]

I don't know if that's 8 watts @ 50 ohms though. I demoed one a few months ago. It sounded fantastic with most cans, but really struggled with the he6. I had to go to about 2-3:00 on the dial to get a decent but not very loud volume. And at that point they began to really loose their composure.

Balanced mode on a MKII? Was the source only 2V? Running the volume at 3 is perfectly fine btw.

 

[Solude]

Quote:

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I don't know if that's 8 watts @ 50 ohms though.

 
Power thing is way over blown.  preproman's F1J for instance is a little over ~3W into 50ohm.  Anyone think it's underpowered?

 

[preproman]

8W into 50 seems a bit much to me.  
 
A $200 NAD amp gets you 95% there  Ha...  I got the F1J, F3, J2, that 8K SimAudio and other higher quality speaker amps saying different.  
 
I have a $200 speaker amp right here (may not be as good as the NAD).  While it's ok and a good starter amp for the HE-6.  There's much better out there.  This $200 amp I have does not get you no where near 95% of the capability the HE-6 is capable of.