I've had my HE-6 for about a week now, probably mostly burned in. Does anyone else find that HE-6 bass is a little aggressive compared to the Audezes? It seems just a touch fatiguing to me, a little too punchy.

Slow down. As you may have eventually noticed, we agree with each other. My first post was essentially saying, "it must take more than power to properly drive the HE-6 because there are so many powerful amps that don't sound good." You said said very few amps have "what it takes to properly...

Hmm, it's okay, but when I say I'm a classical guy, it's not that I like classical instruments. That's a more surface aspect of the music. I'm interested in deeper patterns--how rhythm, melody, and harmony work together to create a sophisticated impression. Part of that is whether the...

By any chance are you familiar with, and would be able to tell me, how these factors are different in the LCD-3 (note I have upgraded to the LCD-3) and the HE-6? 

I already own Black Sabbath, I don't know the album title but it's the one with Paranoid. I didn't know Black Sabbath was a metal genre. I like them.   Also listening to some Metallica and think it's pretty darn cool. And I'm a classical music guy! There is a sense of fun in metal that reminds...

What kinds of negative effects do you get with an inadequate amp for the HE-6?    I noticed a thin sound lacking bass with the Woo WA6SE. The EF5 sounded pretty good, however. I don't know what type 12AU7 was in the EF5 but it was not stock, and seemed a good match for the HE-6.   Mark

Interesting. Certainly the bass on the HE-6 is very deep and powerful. I'm starting to think it's a little overly punchy however. There's a bit of fatigue with it--however, it might be in the recording, or it might be in the CD player I'm borrowing (a Cambridge Audio) while I've loaned out my...

That's exactly what I said. You are just repeating what I said. "What it takes" must be more involved than power levels, because so many headphone amps can make them loud, but so few do them justice.

@potterma: plenty of headphone amps can drive the HE-6 to very loud levels. The Hifiman EF5 can do it, fer gosh sakes! I'm quoting your phrase "what it takes"-- and saying that "what it takes" must be more involved than power levels.    You might have noticed a few pages back someone said that...

That makes sense, but I'm just reaching I guess for some reason why the HE-6 are so hard to match with an amp and why people favor speaker amps for them when many headphone amps have more than adequate power. 

I just got "No Frontiers" from Amazon. I previously heard the track Columbus on that album and was impressed. I just listened to the entire album and unfortunately Columbus may be the only track I like. There seems to be a taste problem. I especially can't stand that "smooth jazz" saxophone that...

Thanks for checking that. Interesting, they have almost the same impedance. I think that the part about being a straight line is typical for planar magnetic headphones.

Yes the output impedance of the headphone output (or speaker amp output)-- I suspect it needs to be close to zero in order to drive the HE-6 effectively.

Thanks everyone. I'll try downloading a track off Reign in Blood and see what I think.

I listened to "Yes" in high school and liked them okay. I'll try downloading a track off Relayer and see if I like it.

Yeah, I'm starting to think that it's not about about power but about output impedance. People favor many speaker amps with the HE-6 and those are going to have very low output impedance. The HE-6 impedance curve must be very low, or perhaps uneven.

Discovering Metallica. Listening to my first Metallica piece ever, "Enter Sandman." Pretty exciting and clever stuff, even from my perspective as a classical guy.

I should add that I'm learning that the HE-6 need an amp with very low output impedance to have good bass. They must have a very low impedance curve in the bass region. I borrowed a Woo WA6SE (tube amp) to try with the HE-6 and the bass was anemic.

On driving the HE-6 with tube amps. Regarding the Woo WA6SE I borrowed, at first I thought it was fine because it got loud without clipping, but I did eventually realize the bass was very lacking. I attribute this to the output impedance which is usually a little higher in tube amps than in...

Good idea, but of course they are so different in the mids and highs it's like comparing apples to oranges. Not to mention need different amps generally. Well, I could always try some representative music and see what jumps out at me.    Mark

I heard a few of Mary Black's other albums. For instance, "Without the Fanfare"... the problem with that album is that I find the music in bad taste. This is a bit frustrating. Here I find Mary Black who may very well be the finest female vocalist I've ever heard, and she records so much pop and...

The Audeze LCD-2 is known for its bass, being one of the largest physical planar driver phones out there. (I should really be talking about the newer LCD-3 but I just don't own one. I am informed the bass is similar.)    In both phones, the LCD-2 and the Hifiman HE-6, the bass is extremely...

Classical music guy here, on a quest to put good demo music on my laptop for the next meet... as previously posted in certain places.. my interests have turned to Progressive Rock... can I get some suggestions for THE essential progressive rock album? Note that I'm looking for good MUSIC above...

I'm setting up demo music on my laptop for the next meet. I am mainly a classical guy and know very little about other genres. I would be interested in knowing what THE essential metal album is. Note that I am saying I want to "demo" my headphones but that doesn't mean I want a "well-recorded"...

Oh, have you heard the Live Recording of Alison Krauss and Union Station? That's my reference.    My reference for worse recorded Alison Krauss voice I've ever heard is her children's album "A Hundred Miles Or More." Yuck, and I don't mean the music (which isn't that great either).   Mark