[NZtechfreak]

You do not need the adapter for SS amps. Keep the volume knob at zero until ready to listen.

 
I think the issue is that the only way he has to connect to the amps is via the resistor box, as his speaker taps cable didn't arrive in time? 
 
Is using the resistor box I think opinion has been mixed on the effect on SQ, some felt there was no difference and others felt it detrimented the SQ.

 

[preproman]

I sent him a cable, should get there before his audio store visits.  Hope to get some impressions...

 

[NZtechfreak]

  I sent him a cable, should get there before his audio store visits.  Hope to get some impressions...

 
Nice work!
 
Go the HE-6 community
 

 

[svo360]

hi guys got my he-6's couple of weeks ago been using the conductor sl definitely not enough power at 70-80% volume on high can, i been looking around and a couple of s/hand amps the Audio-GD NFB 10.32 and Yulong sa28 can get them at the same price but i have no idea which will best drive the 6's any recommendations or help?from my lack of knowledge the GD seems more powerful? i want this to be my 2nd and last amp purchase. thanks

 

[Joong]

I have Conductor which feeds Krell Ksa5 clone through preamp out.
The sound quality is very good for my ears, and it is so powerful enough that I could not beyond 10 oclock of Conductor volume knob. Because it functions as preamp.
The sound quality is far better than any HPA or speaker amp I have ever been tried including Harman Kardon Hk 870.
The grain free sound quality is produced well balanced across all frequency.
Yes I stabilized the Usb port by Gustard U12 and Usb port type 3, which is far better than usb port type 2.
These set up is also very good with Lcd 2.2, but with some raised noise floor.

 

[Silent One]

 
Nice work!
 
Go the HE-6 community
 

 

[svo360]

I have Conductor which feeds Krell Ksa5 clone through preamp out.
The sound quality is very good for my ears, and it is so powerful enough that I could not beyond 10 oclock of Conductor volume knob. Because it functions as preamp.
The sound quality is far better than any HPA or speaker amp I have ever been tried including Harman Kardon Hk 870.
The grain free sound quality is produced well balanced across all frequency.
Yes I stabilized the Usb port by Gustard U12 and Usb port type 3, which is far better than usb port type 2.
These set up is also very good with Lcd 2.2, but with some raised noise floor.

i have heard alot about the Ksa5 clone very good price compared to what im seeing to drive the he-6.  did u modify yours in any i also read about some issues the clone has?

 

[Joong]

I didn' t change anything from the purchased PCB.
There is no volume control so that it is fed by Soloist.

 

[NoxNoctum]

Ok so these are the hi fi shops that I've found so far by... any recommendations to what to hit priority-wise? I don't have an unlimited amount of time unfortunately and it seems that a lot of these places require appointments in advance so I have to decide sooner rather than later.
 
http://www.abtvaustin.com/about.html
http://www.audiosystems.com/
http://www.austinht.com/showroom.html
http://www.hometheaterstore.com/
http://www.sedonaskysound.com/
http://www.whetstoneaudio.com/
http://modia.com/amplifiers
http://www.pyramid-audio.com/brands.html
http://www.neplusultrainc.com/
 
And thanks again to preproman for the cable

 (arrived yesterday - as in Saturday, up a bit late tonight). 

 

[preproman]

I would try to stay away from multi channel amps (Home Theater amps need not apply) (That's just IMO).  Stay in the 2 channel area.  Also, try to keep the wattage down as low as possible, no need for mega watt amps despite what the nay-sayers and myth riders say..

 

[NZtechfreak]

  I would try to stay away from multi channel amps (Home Theater amps need not apply) (That's just IMO).  Stay in the 2 channel area.  Also, try to keep the wattage down as low as possible, no need for mega watt amps despite what the nay-sayers and myth riders say..

 
Yes, good advice to stay away from those.
 
I guess I would also say, for simplicities sake, to try out integrated amps as much as possible - things are more straightforward there as no need for a preamp. One requisite is that they need to have very fine volume control ideally.
 
Is the cable you got from preproman an adapter for the regular HE-6 cable? If so, best practice is to connect it to the amp, zero the amp volume, turn the amp on, and then connect the headphones and cautiously increase volume. That way the headphone is not exposed to the power-on "thud" that some amps exhibit (these should, I hope, be relatively few and far between, but better safe than sorry). Check and double check to make sure the adapters banana plugs are definitely connected to the correct channel and polarity, incorrect connection is another good way to fry your headphones. If you do these simple steps everything should be just fine. I've used my HE-6 with Merak monoblocks at 200W/channel and had no issues as the Auralic Taurus Pre was the volume control, so very nice volume control.

 

[NoxNoctum]

  I would try to stay away from multi channel amps (Home Theater amps need not apply) (That's just IMO).  Stay in the 2 channel area.  Also, try to keep the wattage down as low as possible, no need for mega watt amps despite what the nay-sayers and myth riders say..
 

Can you be super specific wattage and ohm-wise? Despite my join date here I've only actually been in the whole high fi "world" for like 3 months so I'm a total newbie more or less.
 
I emailed Hifiman and was told that the maximum wattage the HE-6 can bear (with the adapter mind you) was 30watts, so I must be misunderstanding something somewhere. I'm looking at the Master 10 page on Audio-gd right now and it says its output is 250W @ 8ohm and 500 @ 4ohm. Is it really over 10 times what Hifiman recommends? Also from what I've been reading, it seems I'm supposed to match ohm ratings with the "speaker" (in this case... HE-6), or at least the ohm rating of the amp has to be equal to that of the speaker - is that correct?
 
 
 
Quote:

   
Yes, good advice to stay away from those.
 
I guess I would also say, for simplicities sake, to try out integrated amps as much as possible - things are more straightforward there as no need for a preamp. One requisite is that they need to have very fine volume control ideally.
 
Is the cable you got from preproman an adapter for the regular HE-6 cable? If so, best practice is to connect it to the amp, zero the amp volume, turn the amp on, and then connect the headphones and cautiously increase volume. That way the headphone is not exposed to the power-on "thud" that some amps exhibit (these should, I hope, be relatively few and far between, but better safe than sorry). Check and double check to make sure the adapters banana plugs are definitely connected to the correct channel and polarity, incorrect connection is another good way to fry your headphones. If you do these simple steps everything should be just fine. I've used my HE-6 with Merak monoblocks at 200W/channel and had no issues as the Auralic Taurus Pre was the volume control, so very nice volume control.

 
Yeah I've been thinking I'm going to stick with the integrated amps just to minimize the variables. And ya it's an adapter for the regular cable, similar to the one that comes with a balanced end except this ends with bananas.
 
Channel and polarity wise, I just need to make sure white goes in white and + goes into +, - into - right? I'm googling this now but I trust you guys a bit more than my reading about this stuff.
 
Oh and, this is probably a dumb question but, with an integrated amp - I still need to use my DAC right? (Gungnir)
 
Thanks for any help, really appreciate it.

 

[NZtechfreak]

   
Yeah I've been thinking I'm going to stick with the integrated amps just to minimize the variables. And ya it's an adapter for the regular cable, similar to the one that comes with a balanced end except this ends with bananas.
 
Channel and polarity wise, I just need to make sure white goes in white and + goes into +, - into - right? I'm googling this now but I trust you guys a bit more than my reading about this stuff.
 
Oh and, this is probably a dumb question but, with an integrated amp - I still need to use my DAC right? (Gungnir)
 
Thanks for any help, really appreciate it.

 
I don't know the particular adapter you have, most I have seen are black and red colour coded for each channel, so preproman might need to take that query.
 
You will still need to use your DAC with integrated amps (well, there are some that come with DACs inbuilt too, but I think the Gungnir will probably serve you better since you have other headphones to drive).

 

[preproman]

Good looking out with the integrated amps NZ..  
 
Yeah he has the red +, black +, red - and black - cable to a 4-pin XLR female.  
 
30 watts into 50 ohms is a lot (if that's what they're referring to) .  The 250watts the Master 10 has is rated into 8 ohms.  So you have to do some math the get what it is into 50 ohms.  With SS amps, don't worry so much about the impedance with the HE-6 (planers) it will be good.  
 
The Gungnir is good and yes you still need it.  But I bet the Master 10 + the NFB7 will be a blast.  
 
Yes make sure the volume control don't get out of hand when turning it up.  Take it slow.  The Master 10 is really good in that aspect because it's steps are .5db 

 

[NZtechfreak]

So I think he is all good to go! Now he can give back to us with lots of impressions of hitherto unheard amp pairings
 
I suppose a few final words of advice - make sure you have your own reference tracks with you, look after yourself - take regular breaks, pay attention to eating and drinking - it's mentally exhausting doing several hours of critical listening and if you go too hard you'll burn yourself out. I spent most of a day at Addicted to Audio in Melbourne a few weeks back, and by the end of the day my ability to critique things with any authority was in tatters.