[lmswjm]

Thanks for the tip Lars, but I wound up selling my HE6's a while back. I have the new Fostex TH900's on order now. Hope to have them by next week. As you might have guessed, my tastes lean toward the euphonic side of neutral.
 
BTW, what phone would be widely accepted as neutral then? I suppose that could be a thread all of its own.

 

[drez]

 
Quote:

I don't find the Master-6 unforgiving, just extremely transparent and highly resolving.
I have had the HE-6 for more than a year, and thought it was perfectly balanced until a month or two ago: I attended some classical concerts (w/o amplification), and that made my suspicion clearer. Often when listening to recordings I have felt it was somewhat bright, but I thought that well this is probably how the recording is. Now I am convinced that the HE-6 is in fact bright - or to put it more precisely: it has too much upper mids and treble. Take a look at the frequency graphs at HeadRoom and InnerFidelity and read what they say about how the optimal graph should look. They are indirectly and directly saying that the HE-6 has too much in the upper frequencies.
My amps - both the Master-6 and my 50 Watt class A power amp - are more than powerful enough to drive the HE-6 to it's full potential. And frankly, I am beginning to think that this power issue w/ HE-6 is also because it is bright, and when you have much more than enough power on tap, the brightness lessens. However, it doesn't disappear completely - in my opinion of course.

 
How do you find the two compare in terms of sound signature?  I think I might felt mod my velour pads as well.  On my system some recordings like Deutschegrammophon are great, DECCA on the other hand is too bright and slightly grainy.

 

[LarsHP]

How do you find the two compare in terms of sound signature?  I think I might felt mod my velour pads as well.  On my system some recordings like Deutschegrammophon are great, DECCA on the other hand is too bright and slightly grainy.

The Master-6 is just a hair more transparent than the LC Audio ZAPsolute Mk.4 power amp, which in turn is a little warmer. Not much difference, but it's there on high quality recordings. (I am using the Master-6 as pre amp.)

 

[Larryonfire]

Lars, you will be better of with the Master 8, take one for the team 

.

 

[customNuts]

 
Quote:

i totally agree with drez. I also think that HE-6 needs an amp that has a warm/sweet sound signature. I had a chance to listen to the master-6, and i think that personally i prefer EF6 with my HE-6. 
 
Don't get me wrong. Master-6 is a GREAT amp. I almost ordered one (MASTER-5) until i heard EF6.
 
Compare against EF6 i fee that Master-6 is just a little bit too unforgiving. The source and the recording must have extremely good quality. On the other hand EF6 sounds good even with an iPod as the source. 
 
At the end of the day i decided that EF6 is a little bit more fun and musical to listen to. 
 
If you want neutral and referencing sound, MASTER-6 is a good choice. If you want a warm, sweet and musical sound, EF6 is probably better.
 
just my two cents...

 
I've read quite a few post of people claiming & implying the master 5/6 to be unforgiving, & unmusical so I thought I'd chime in.
I have the Ref 7.1 + Master 5 and I have never head such a sweet, fun, musical & insanely hi-end presentation. I am a self confessed basshead and love romantic musicality.  Now the 7.1/M5 combo is very detailed, transparent & neutral - but it is done in a grain/harsh free musical manner with deep tight bass a plenty. There is a wealth of authority and body to the music but it is done in a way that does not detract from the intent of the recording. This is where the brilliance of Kingwa's ethos is apparent imo. 
The best way I can describe it is - Neutral done properly. 
Goes without saying that I do not believe empty, bright sound signatures like HD800 to be neutral - in fact far from it.
 
 

 

[nigeljames]

I don't know how anyone could find the Master-6 'unmusical'. With the NFB-7, and from other observations the Ref7, its highly musical.
 
I admit the LCD2r2's are more 'fun' than the HE6's but is that not the nature of the phones.
Personally if I had an headphone that is neutral, detailed and transparent, which I believe the HE6's are, then I would not want an amp to color that.
So the Master-6 fits the bill very well indeed.

 

[Currawong]

Synergy between components is definitely important.  I have the same issue with the hybrid Stacker II vs. my Phoenix: It's slightly less resolving but a little more "musical" and pairs best with my Metrum Octave, rather than the Ref 7.1, as the latter seems to boost the bass slightly in combination.
 
lmswjm: Once you've heard treble from a 'stat, you'll be done for. It's rather like the first time you hear mids from an ortho.

 

[Larryonfire]

I agree on the synergy thing, it does matter a lot to find the right balance between the different parts in ones system. I spend some time, a few weeks back with the Metrum Octave in my own setup and it was great fun. Very dynamic sounding, had good control and brought some calmness in the music because of the PSU. In A/B comparison with my Calyx 24/192 DAC, the Metrum was not as transperant but more musical. I could easily live with the Octave and maybe I will buy it, nice to switch between two DAC´s that gives different presentations. Sorry if it was a little of topic, but point is, all parts matters for the synergy. Sometimes you trade of in one area to gain in another and it still gives you a smile on your face.   

 

[LarsHP]

Quote:

Lars, you will be better of with the Master 8, take one for the team 

.

Sure I will !
Just send me the money and I will get this done

 

[lmswjm]

lmswjm: Once you've heard treble from a 'stat, you'll be done for. It's rather like the first time you hear mids from an ortho.

"Give me bass weight, or give me death"

But seriously, stats are high on my list for my next meet.

 

[tim3320070]

I am finding that I like a heavy weighted sound but I do that with headphones and speakers, using a highly resolving source and amp for the "fidelity". I should probably try it the other way around for good measure.

 

[lmswjm]

As long as we are off topic, permit me to continue on with this theme base on MuppetFace's latest musings on the TH900 as I impatiently wait for its delivery:
 
 
"There is a certain weightiness to the TH900's sound---in part thanks to the slight bass emphasis, but also across the entire sonic spectrum---that gives it a definite sense of presence. It conveys instruments as grounded, placing them on a more solid foundation in the sonic space which surrounds the listener. Having lived with the TH900 for several weeks now, I've come to appreciate just how adept it is at imaging; in fact I'd go so far as to say it deserves a spot alongside the most capable electrodynamic headphones in this regard.
 
While these spatial qualities are important to me in their own right, it's the overarching phenomena to which they contribute I find most intriguing: the sense of being there amidst the performance. It's a sense of presence or physical manifestation, a cumulative effect that is more than the sum of its parts and difficult to ascribe with any great degree of certainty to specific variables. Grossly overgeneralizing the strengths of various technologies, it often seems as though orthodynamic headphones excel here more than their electrodynamic counterparts in my humble opinion (though the piezoelectric TakeT H2+ still reigns supreme in this respect). Nevertheless, the TH900 is able to convey music in a fairly lifelike and convincing manner, drawing the listener in with its immersive presentation and sound that pulsates with vital energy. As I've mentioned previously, music just seems to have an organic quality when played through the TH900; it sounds as though it were alive, as though it were natural.
 
I feel a connection to the music, and in this sense I feel as though I'm partaking of it."
 
 
 
Please forgive the OT and my drool, but these should see a lot of time on my Master 6 and Phoenix for relevance sake

 

[colour97]

 
master 6 as a pre amp to pair with 300B tube amp as power amp and  headphone out to senn hd650.

 

[preproman]

This is vary confusing.  I see this for the Master 8 = Headphone amp Output Power - (Balanced , Class A , High power model) = 50 ohm:   7000MW.
 
[size=x-small]How many watts is this going into 50 ohms?[/size]

 

[nigeljames]

7 watts per channel, the same as my Master-6