[Lorspeaker]

Hi Spud, i am looking for a possible tube option to the he6 too.
how does the sound change on LO MID HI gain on your icon? 
how does it handle more complex music with the HE 6?

 

[khaine1711]

Quote:

Hi Spud, i am looking for a possible tube option to the he6 too.
how does the sound change on LO MID HI gain on your icon? 
how does it handle more complex music with the HE 6?

It's not a Gain switch, it's the tap on winding of the tranny, which affects the output impedance of the amp -the setting corresponds to 32/300/600 ohm. I just used the Low since it's closest to the 6 impedance.
 
The sound change is interesting though, the higher the impedance, the louder the sound is (very slight, like 3db each)

 

[Lorspeaker]

i seen an old ad for the icon, around 300pounds.. Not often on sale this amp. 

 

[khaine1711]

 
Quote:

i seen an old ad for the icon, around 300pounds.. Not often on sale this amp. 

The one on wigwam? I'm pretty sure (guessing) I know who snatched that =p. There was one for sale last month here in HF too (110V)
 
 
The thing (new one with copper plate) looks so cute me think.

 

[AbsoluteZero]

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@ AbsoluteZero. As stated earlier, I can vouch that the Icon Audio HP8 powers the HE-6 easily on a budget....

 
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for guys on a humbler budget, i recommend the Cambridge 340A, or the variants around this model. 
the he6 was producing v strong imaging on this amp paired with cabledyne powercords.

 
Thanks guys for the input, both the amps seems good and specifically the Icon Audio looks amazing but both of them do not seems to have a dealer in where I currently am.
Both probably will increase in price by almost 1,5 (from experience) times if I used a third party to bring those amps here...
 
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If you drive HE-6 from a solid state amp, you need no tinkering with resistors. Included in the HE-6 set you get a female 4XLR to TRS plug adapter cable. Just cut off the TRS (stereo-jack) plug and use the female 4XLR and the rest of the cable to connect to a speaker amp. That's it: your speaker-to-female 4XLR adapter.
 
However, if you want to use a traditional headphone amp, then there isn't many to choose from, and those that are powerful enough, are not cheap. Burson Soloist and Violectric HPA V200 are about US$1000, are headphone amps and drives it very well. I have the Soloist myself and I have read at Headfonia that the V200 also drives it very well. They aledgly have quite different sound signatures.
 
This is a quote from the Headfonia review of Burson Soloist:
 
- and here a quote from the Burson versus Violectric review:
 
 
Note that Conductor is a Soloist amp with built-in DAC.
 
http://www.headfonia.com/burson-vs-violectric-conductor-vs-v200v800/
http://www.headfonia.com/less-blockage-more-music-burson-soloist/
http://www.headfonia.com/violectric-v200-the-german-solid-state/  (Note that in this review HE-6 is not used, but in the above Violectric - Burson comparison, it is)

 
Didn't know previously that we do not need tinkering for SS amps, opens up a lot more option for me but I would rather stick with a more "plug-and-use" type of amps.
Yes, I've been monitoring the V200 and the Burson line of product but from what I've read here I can see mixed opinions about the amp, some saying it does not have enough juice to run the HE-6 adequately.
Personally I am looking at the HE-6 as a future buy and I think buying an amp first will be a win/win situation for my current headphones.

 

[khaine1711]

Quote:

 
 
Thanks guys for the input, both the amps seems good and specifically the Icon Audio looks amazing but both of them do not seems to have a dealer in where I currently am.
Both probably will increase in price by almost 1,5 (from experience) times if I used a third party to bring those amps here...
 
 
Didn't know previously that we do not need tinkering for SS amps, opens up a lot more option for me but I would rather stick with a more "plug-and-use" type of amps.
Yes, I've been monitoring the V200 and the Burson line of product but from what I've read here I can see mixed opinions about the amp, some saying it does not have enough juice to run the HE-6 adequately.
Personally I am looking at the HE-6 as a future buy and I think buying an amp first will be a win/win situation for my current headphones.

I'd say always buy the headphone first, as it will have the most dramatic change on your system. As for temporary amping, you could look at small footprint speaker amp. With some basic soldering skill - and extremely limited budget, you could put together a t-amp (with toroidal tranny) at around 100 bucks. If you want ready-made stuff, there's always the Emotiva/Various T-amp (Topping Tp60, Trends Ta-10.2, HLLY)/Vintage receiver as a temporary solution. Those can also easily power a small pair of speakers if you want to expand later on.

 

[Lorspeaker]

the audiogd NFB10.32 in balanced mode..actually powered the HE-6 quite well, for 90% of my albums. 
cept recordings that are usually soft.  Kingwa said he can boost the "power/current" with some added resistors.
u need to tell him in advance. 
 
this amp puts all my other cans on steriods...love this amp.

 

[citadel]

The audio-gd nfb-27 works very well for me too.
 
It's the same amp as the ref 10.32 with a Sabre DAC instead.

 

[citadel]

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The audio-gd nfb-27 works very well for me too.
 
It's the same amp as the ref 10.32 with a Sabre DAC instead.

 
I should also mention that this is in balanced mode.

 

[Solude]

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Yes, I've been monitoring the V200 and the Burson line of product but from what I've read here I can see mixed opinions about the amp, some saying it does not have enough juice to run the HE-6 adequately.

 
This comes down to listening level preference.  I listen at ~80dB so only need an amp that can put out 2mW given the HE-6 take 20mW to hit 90dB.  Now if you want 120dB peaks... you'll need 20W.  Pretty sure they fry before that though

 

[gjc11028]

I had a violectric 200 when I got the he-6 and it was pleasant enough, but I find a lot more depth and imaging with a speaker amp. It is not about being loud enough -- the violetric probably never got past 1 o'clock or so, but the music was not that engaging. Going to a well put together tube amp added depth and staging and really brings the headphones to life.

 

[Lorspeaker]

Quote:

I had a violectric 200 when I got the he-6 and it was pleasant enough, but I find a lot more depth and imaging with a speaker amp. It is not about being loud enough -- the violetric probably never got past 1 o'clock or so, but the music was not that engaging. 

 
x2....my speaker amp was clear-ly better than my headfone amp, not about listening vol...better DEPTH n IMAGING 

 

[AbsoluteZero]

Really appreciate the thoughts coming guys, should have asked a long time ago if the crowd was really this responsive

 
Quote:

I'd say always buy the headphone first, as it will have the most dramatic change on your system. As for temporary amping, you could look at small footprint speaker amp. With some basic soldering skill - and extremely limited budget, you could put together a t-amp (with toroidal tranny) at around 100 bucks. If you want ready-made stuff, there's always the Emotiva/Various T-amp (Topping Tp60, Trends Ta-10.2, HLLY)/Vintage receiver as a temporary solution. Those can also easily power a small pair of speakers if you want to expand later on.

 
The only thing that worries me if I buy the headphones first is that my current amps would not do them justice.
Yep, already looking for a path to entry level speakers actually but probably not in a while.
 
Also I think I quite understand that it is not a matter of loudness, heck even I tried running a demo HE-6 with Apex Glacier at high gain and it reached ear deafening volumes for me.
The Audio GD looks huge and its price is quite out of my range but thanks for the input though, surely they are great for their price point 

.

 

[Lorspeaker]

http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/Headphoneamp/NFB-10.1/NFB10.1EN_Use.htm   $550 plus freight plus remote..650?
big tall soundstage u gonna get..clear, slightly warm side of neutral..a quality that made me sell off my LYR n LDMK4se tube amps.. v nice.

 

[khaine1711]

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Really appreciate the thoughts coming guys, should have asked a long time ago if the crowd was really this responsive

 
 
The only thing that worries me if I buy the headphones first is that my current amps would not do them justice.
Yep, already looking for a path to entry level speakers actually but probably not in a while.
 
Also I think I quite understand that it is not a matter of loudness, heck even I tried running a demo HE-6 with Apex Glacier at high gain and it reached ear deafening volumes for me.
The Audio GD looks huge and its price is quite out of my range but thanks for the input though, surely they are great for their price point 

.

Most of the time you won't know what you're missing until you have demoed/owned something better. Even if you have then it's all for the better - motivating yourself to save up for the big rig 

 
I would not worry about "do them justice". I see the whole matter as "What can buy me the best sound quality improvement with my current budget?" - and I'm still saying that a He-6 + a 200 bucks T-amp/Vintage receiver/Speaker amp will sound better than a He400 + a Burson Soloist or a V200; or any other amps for that matter.