[ALRAINBOW]

I know it up samples , but you do not have to. It also does dsd directly too. If you go to there website they explain how it works . The chip,is there's it's custom to them. Almost all dacs work one way there's does not. Is you or somebody here goes there I would very much like to here what they think of how it works. I can only say what I hear. I do not have a great memory for remembering exactly how I heard it two hours later . I have too many other things going on. But when you hear it on this dac it's just like you never heard correct before. And the KRELL amp is solid reall glad I bought one. I have a WOO WA5 All tricked out , I can't wait to test it. As for the resistors I need the attenuation for the hd800. Otherwise there is a low hiss very low. And the volume is loud very fast. But the HE 6. Can go straight to the speaker terminals with 12ohms across with the headphones and it is stellar .

 

[potterma]

Not enough pics on here of HE-6's "in the wild"....
 
 

 

[Xenophon]

  Not enough pics on here of HE-6's "in the wild"....
 
 

I'll certainly recommend you for your taste in whiskies!  Big fan of Islays myself, especially on a cold wet winter night.

 

[potterma]

  I'll certainly recommend you for your taste in whiskies!  Big fan of Islays myself, especially on a cold wet winter night.

Hard to beat a nice Islay!

 

[Austin Morrow]

So, I'm a newbie in this thread (I'm usually over in the HE-500 thread). Anyway, I wanted to ask you all a questions, since I have little expierence in this thread. I heard the HE-6 off the Manly Stingray a couple of years ago and the Cavalli Audio Liquid Fire. I'm thinking of getting another HE-6 soon and was wondering if there are any headphone amplifiers in the $1K range capable of driving the HE-6's somewhat to the performance level of either the Stingray or the LF? Thanks! Sorry, not meaniing to hijack the thread!

 

[Silent One]

This would be a good place to look as well:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/529873/amps-that-can-drive-the-hifiman-he-6-planar-headphones/2265#post_10086034

 

[potterma]

  So, I'm a newbie in this thread (I'm usually over in the HE-500 thread). Anyway, I wanted to ask you all a questions, since I have little expierence in this thread. I heard the HE-6 off the Manly Stingray a couple of years ago and the Cavalli Audio Liquid Fire. I'm thinking of getting another HE-6 soon and was wondering if there are any headphone amplifiers in the $1K range capable of driving the HE-6's somewhat to the performance level of either the Stingray or the LF? Thanks! Sorry, not meaniing to hijack the thread!

For sub $1k I think you should target a good speaker amp.... See:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/649107/speaker-amps-for-headphones
 
Lots of options from < $200 to as much as you want to spend...

 

[Xenophon]

A speaker amp is certainly an option but the question was about headphone amps.  I'll give you my 2cents but beware, I'm not a specialist.  I use a Violectric V800 dac and V200 amp to power them.  The V200 is solid state and the max output into 50 Ohm is 2750 mW at 11.6V.  As far as I know it drives my HE-6 well but:
 
1) The 'headroom', that hard to quantify/qualify variable will be less than with most speaker amps, people on this thread emphasise the point.  They may be right, I simply can't tell as I didn't purchase a speaker amp yet.
2) I listen exclusively to classical=lower volumes but high dynamic range.
3) Sound signature wise I prefer the HE-500.  It's more relaxed, not as detailed as the HE-6 but the 6 tends to be edgy in the treble.  I wonder how long it will take before someone remarks 'of course, they need more power' and can't totally exclude that this would be a factor but prima facie and going by the specs it seems unlikely.  Also, some people who drive them from speaker amps made the same remark about the treble.
4) There are some real speaker amp pushers here...everyone's entitled to their opinion but before you allow yourself to be convinced, research it well as there are also disadvantages.
 
Violectric V200 is about 800 Euro, if you look around on Ebay Germany you can usually score one for around 700 (they keep their value well).  Can't compare with other high power headphone amps, sorry.

 

[goldenSHK]

Not to derail the ongoing discussion, but is there any portable DAP at all that can fully power the HE6? I heard the iBasso DX100 comes close on hi gain but not quite there. Is there any better options or is my best bet the DX100? 

 

[LarsHP]

For a headphone amp under $1000 that drives HE-6 beautifully, I can recommend Burson Soloist. Tonality - bass, mids and treble are all in proper level - and it is very transparent and neutral. It delivers about 1.7W in 50 Ohm, which apparently is just enough to avoid clipping at my listening volumes.

As for a portable player that can power HE-6 FULLY(!), the short answer is a big NO. However, I do really enjoy both my HM-801 and 901 with balanced amp module with HE-6 even though I can't play very, very loud. They are both rated at about 440mW. So, if you already have a HE-6 and want to use it portably at very high levels, then get a super powerful portable amp for it. If you intend to buy a DAP (one box solution) to drive the HE-6, then know that max SPL will be limited.

 

[goldenSHK]

For a headphone amp under $1000 that drives HE-6 beautifully, I can recommend Burson Soloist. Tonality - bass, mids and treble are all in proper level - and it is very transparent and neutral. It delivers about 1.7W in 50 Ohm, which apparently is just enough to avoid clipping at my listening volumes.

As for a portable player that can power HE-6 FULLY(!), the short answer is a big NO. However, I do really enjoy both my HM-801 and 901 with balanced amp module with HE-6 even though I can't play very, very loud. They are both rated at about 440mW. So, if you already have a HE-6 and an extremely powerful DAP, then the answer is easy. If you intend to buy a DAP to drive the HE-6, then know that max SPL will be limited.

Well I wasn't going to buy the iBasso DX100 only to power the HE6, but I was hoping to be able to power them from that as my only source. I don't listen to headphones very loud anyways, so is the loudness the only real thing that suffers here or does the actual performance and detail of the headphone degrade with lower power? 

 

[essencez]

The HE6 pairs remarkably well with the JOB 225. Don't think I have ever heard them sing any better.

 

[LarsHP]

Notice the small edit I did in my previous post.

I can't comment on DX100 since I haven't heard it, but regarding HM-901 (and 801) with balanced amp cards, they do sound stellar directly to HE-6 - as good as portable audio will get, I think. A big and heavy high end amp will sound cleaner, more transparent and higher resolved and it could play louder of course, but you can't use it on the go.

 

[goldenSHK]

Notice the small edit I did in my previous post.

I can't comment on DX100 since I haven't heard it, but regarding HM-901 (and 801) with balanced amp cards, they do sound stellar directly to HE-6 - as good as portable audio will get, I think. A big and heavy high end amp will sound cleaner, more transparent and higher resolved and it could play louder of course, but you can't use it on the go.

Portable set up will be significantly less transparent you say? Hmm I guess then I'll have to see if the HE6 can beat out the detail of the TH900 when powered from a portable player. That will be the deciding factor since I am  going to try to get either TH900 or HE6 + high end DAP. Thanks for the feedback. 

 

[Xenophon]

  Portable set up will be significantly less transparent you say? Hmm I guess then I'll have to see if the HE6 can beat out the detail of the TH900 when powered from a portable player. That will be the deciding factor since I am  going to try to get either TH900 or HE6 + high end DAP. Thanks for the feedback. 

I seriously doubt that the HE-6 would be a good, let alone the best solution for you, given the constraints you choose to place on your setup.  If I connect mine to anything less than my desktop amp, eg to my FiiO/E09K or my O2, performance degrades to the point that it's no longer acceptable.  Very low volumes, sound not fleshed out etc.  As you say, try it and compare but life's all about priorities and compromise.