[Frank I]

Well we will just have to wait till it comes out for the specs. the good news is that he is not rushing this product as he had the prototype last year and wants this to be right before they release the product a good thing iMO and I am sure it will an interesting design. Three months and we will know.

 

[ohhgourami]

I hope the EF6 is not just going to be single ended. Seems very counterintuitive to not have the amp fully balanced. It seems that it is balanced looking at pictures from the Munich meet.

I also hope audio-gd releases a new high output headphone amp.

 

[Shahrose]

Quote:

I think the musicality depends on the actual design of the amplifier and its implementation. I have herd SE system that are very musical as well as balanced systems. In my case I am powering the HE-6 with a Threshold T50 speakers amplifier 50 watts Class A in 8 ohms. It is a fully balanced design but it can also be used in SE. This specific amplifier sounds a lot more musical and with better presentation when use in a fully balanced system.
 
 

 
x2
 
 

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

I'm still a bit baffled about how my RSA SR-71b portable is able to drive the HE-6 so well in balanced mode.  It just doesn't make sense to me.

 

[grokit]

Good source voltage, adequate power, and a perfect impedance match?

 

[ardgedee]

I'm cobbling together some additional connectors, and couldn't find a conclusive description of the pinouts in this thread. So here's a diagram for future reference, based on the XLR - TRS cable:
 

 
(edit: Diagram revised based on sunneebear's comment below.)

 

[sunneebear]

XLR4 pins are: 1=L+
                      2=L-
                      3=R+
                      4=R-
The numbers are on the connector so you don't need to remember male or female, from left to right or right to left.

 

[jamato8]

Quote:

I'm still a bit baffled about how my RSA SR-71b portable is able to drive the HE-6 so well in balanced mode.  It just doesn't make sense to me.

You'll get used to it, I did. :^) In comparing the 71B to the Lyr, there is a certain quality that the 71B has that I find very musical. I enjoy them both. But I agree, I really am surprised and glad. 
 
 

 

[ardgedee]

Quote:

XLR4 pins are: 1=L+
                      2=L-
                      3=R+
                      4=R-
The numbers are on the connector so you don't need to remember male or female, from left to right or right to left.

You're absolutely right. I couldn't tell they were numbered until you pointed that out. I need a better working lamp, probably.
 
I've revised the diagram based on your comment. Thanks.

 

[LarsHP]

Quote:

I'm still a bit baffled about how my RSA SR-71b portable is able to drive the HE-6 so well in balanced mode.  It just doesn't make sense to me.

Thanks for sharing this.
I thought I might be "banned" when I stated that my Arrow drives the HE-6 very well - especially in terms of volume(!)
That slim little amp plays the HE-6 much louder than I dare (while wearing them).
Maybe 15-18 dB louder than the M-Stage I had.
 
 

 

[grokit]

I think that the HE-6, like the K701 to a lesser degree, responds well to a high level of gain as well as a high level of power. That's what my ears are telling me anyways.

 

[Frank I]

Quote:

I think that the HE-6, like the K701 to a lesser degree, responds well to a high level of gain as well as a high level of power. That's what my ears are telling me anyways.

They love power feed them off the 80W speaker amps and they are great. The problem there is no great tube amps that will drive them to capability and as Rob said running them off speaker taps can damage the transformers. My Taboo with the CSP-2 which has lots of gain could drive them well but with classical demanding recordings ther amp clipped and I prefer tube amps but this SX650 drove them well. Great headphones if you have the amps

 

[grokit]

I'm using a tube pre stage with a solid state speaker amp, no problems there.

 

[Wedge]

The WA-5 is all tube and has plenty of power out of the K1K port to drive these headphones with ease.

 

[Happy Camper]

I'm using a tube pre stage with a solid state speaker amp, no problems there.

Tube dac into ss speaker amp for pretty good sound. You could get some really robust tube speaker amps but if you are going for a tube sound with low E drivers, it's cheaper to flavor the source and use the advantages of ss amps. IMO