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OUT OF THE BOX IMPRESSIONS:
The HE-6 are here and I started burning them in about 60 minutes ago. Out of the box I noticed that they have better treble presence than the HE-5 LE. Bass impact was maybe slightly less than a stock HE=5 LE, but in just 45 minutes of play time the bass impact/quantity has increased very noticeably. They seem to be quite a bit less efficient than the HE-5 LE, but a few of the "normal" amps that I've tried so far can drive them.
I haven't had time to warm up any tube amps yet or head down to the basement to try the ZDT. So I first went to the SAC-KH1000 amp which is always warmed up. The SAC is made for 120 ohm 74dB K1000, and it's a class A amp that's idled up all the time and the on/off switch actually behaves more like a mute switch. It's takes balanced XLR inputs and has a 4-pin XLR jack along with a 1/4" jack. The SAC amp does have enough power to drive them at volume levels higher than I like to listen. Normal listening levels for me would be with the volume at 11 o'clock, where 12 o'clock is pretty loud, and distortion begins at about 1 o'clock or higher (with Apogee mini-DAC set at max output). The SAC amp can drive both the HE-6 and HE-5 LE at the same time, and the difference in volume levels between the two headphones is very noticeable. (similar to when I use the HE-5 LE and more efficient LA7000 at the same time)
The Nuforce HDP can drive them with the volume set at max (5o'clock) without distortion, at a level that's just a little higher volume than I would normally listen (so adequate power, but would be better if it had more). However, it's pretty apparent that the HE-6 will need an amp that plugs into the wall to drive them properly. I tried the HE-6 with my ALO amphora and balanced Protector, and I can get normal listening volumes but nothing that I would call loud, while the DACport plays them at fairly quiet listening levels and is totally inadequate.
I'll post more as I burn them in, but so far I think they are good sounding and can't wait to see how they develop with more hours.
I'm trying to put 150 hours on the HE-6 by Monday night, where I can do more serious listening. With 80 hours on them, so far I have to say the HE-6 via SAC KH1000 amp in my bedroom is more enjoyable than my HE60 via the stock HEV70 amp. But the HEV70 is not that great of a Stat amp, so even the HE-5 LE on the Woo WA6 sound better than the HE-60/HEV70. I have all three rigs running at the same time with the same source (CD5001 > Apogee mini-DAC), and all 3 rigs are using ALO SXC interconnects. (XLR into SAC, mini-RCA into HEV70, loop out with RCA into WA6).
Note - the HE-5 LE sound really good with the Woo WA6 which drives them better than the original HE-5, but the WA6 is not powerful enough for the HE-6. Even though with most other NON-ortho phones the WA6 is a noticeably better amp than the SAC, the HE-5 LE on the WA6 is still not quite as good as the HE-6 on the SAC amp. The SAC amp just has the power and drive with hard to drive orthodynamic phones that the WA6 with it's superior balance and refinement can't match.
I still prefer the HE-6 on the SAC amp despite having to crank up the volume an extra hour or two on the volume knob vs the HE-5 LE. Where I might listen to the HE-5 LE with the SAC amp volume knob at 9:30 - 10 o'clock, the HE-6 require me to turn it to 11:30 - 12 o'clock. The HE-5 LE on the WA6 sound good with the volume at one o'clock, while I have to crank the WA6 to max 5 o'clock with the HE-6 and still not reach loud enough levels to match the HE-5 LE levels playing at one o'clock.
The HE-6 are detailed, fast and transparent, but with a slightly smaller soundstage than HE-60/HEV70. The HE-6 are more grounded sounding with better bass impact and presence, while the HE-6 are a little more etherial sounding and less grounded in the real world. The HE-6 bass is better than with my HD800, but the HD800 soundstage is still as massive as ever. I'm really not finding anything to complain about with the HE-6 on a sub-$1K SS amp so far, except that the SAC amp is holding back the level of transparency possible, and soon I need to move up to my best amp to see if the HE-6 transparency can match the HD800/HE60 on a good amp.
So, I plan to be spending more time with the HE-6 on my ZDT amp Saturday and Sunday night, after I have 100 hours on the phones. I've been running them 24/7 since I got them. At the same time I'll be comparing to the HE-60 on my Woo WES amp, which gives them much better bass, soundstage and transparency. So that should be an interesting comparison when moving both phones up to my best amps. At that point I can also compare them to the O2 Mk1, Jade, HD800 and LA7000.
In response to a question above - I have never heard an LCD-2, and likely wont have one in my hands until
after the 19th or 20th of July. Unless I can keep the HE-6 an extra week, that will be a week after the HE-6 have already been shipped to the next person. Sorry. I can still compare the HE-6 to several of my phones now and note the differences, and compare the LCD-2 to those same phones, but I wont be able to compare them directly.