[auvgeek]

Thinking about grabbing an HE-6 and an older Pass amp as an upgrade from the Gustard H10 and HE-560. While I know the amp I'm interested in buying isn't TOTL by any means, it fits my (grad school) budget and has been favorably reviewed for use with the HE-6. My question is: what do you guys recommend for cheap(ish) preamp with these older $1k - $1.5k, 30W-150W speaker amps?
 
Yes, I'm being a bit vague about exactly which amp so someone doesn't buy it first.
 
Edit: preamp does not need to be balanced.

 

[ohhgourami]

Thinking about grabbing an HE-6 and an older Pass amp as an upgrade from the Gustard H10 and HE-560. While I know the amp I'm interested in buying isn't TOTL by any means, it fits my (grad school) budget and has been favorably reviewed for use with the HE-6. My question is: what do you guys recommend for cheap(ish) preamp with these older $1k - $1.5k, 30W-150W speaker amps?

Yes, I'm being a bit vague about exactly which amp so someone doesn't buy it first.

Edit: preamp does not need to be balanced.

A lot of the preamps that come with a cheap integrated is pretty crap anyway. I'd say it's hard to do worse.

 

[Jozurr]

  Thinking about grabbing an HE-6 and an older Pass amp as an upgrade from the Gustard H10 and HE-560. While I know the amp I'm interested in buying isn't TOTL by any means, it fits my (grad school) budget and has been favorably reviewed for use with the HE-6. My question is: what do you guys recommend for cheap(ish) preamp with these older $1k - $1.5k, 30W-150W speaker amps?
 
Yes, I'm being a bit vague about exactly which amp so someone doesn't buy it first.
 
Edit: preamp does not need to be balanced.

 
You don't need an active pre-amp. Some people use the Schiit Sys or the Emotiva Control Freak (comes balanced as well). Look into those if you are on a budget. 

 

[ohhgourami]

 
How do you rate the Auralic Taurus 2 vs Ragnarok vs Mjolnir2 vs EF-6 ........... 1st 2cd 3rd 4th driving 6's
And Vega vs Yggdrasil vs Gungnir Multibit
 
I think I know you'll much prefer the Schiit gear but finding second hand Schiit gear 230V is proving impossible,
however there are lots of options for Auralic duo used stuff over here, (around 2,500euro which converts to under £2K for both)
And to top it off the Auralic happens to have a smaller chassis that fits my trolley,
but you're gonna tell me the Taurus 2 is not optimal with 6's right

You're going to have a really hard time finding small form factor gear unless you go for the good Class D stuff. I wouldn't recommend any of the amps you mentioned. You need to check audiogon.

 

[Alexxander]

I will eventually do the power speaker amp thing but I like to do it incrementally, I've a guy waiting on me agreeing to buy his Taurus. Im needing to know how much better if any then hifiman ef-6.
So I'd greatly appreciate your impressions on my list of amps and also dacs please

 

[auvgeek]

   
You don't need an active pre-amp. Some people use the Schiit Sys or the Emotiva Control Freak (comes balanced as well). Look into those if you are on a budget. 

Yeah, I had those two in mind, actually. Will probably start with whichever I can find cheaper.
 
But out of curiosity, is there something in the $500 range that would be substantially better? Obviously, everyone's tastes are different, but I've heard tube preamps do really well with SS power amps. Would something like the Schiit Valhalla 2 or Project Sunrise be worth considering as a pre?

 

[1974]

I will eventually do the power speaker amp thing but I like to do it incrementally, I've a guy waiting on me agreeing to buy his Taurus. Im needing to know how much better if any then hifiman ef-6.
So I'd greatly appreciate your impressions on my list of amps and also dacs please

 
Heard the HE-6 through an EF-6 amp a few years ago, and it wasn't that great. Most people here will agree that the Taurus doesn't quite have the juice to power the HE-6 to it's full potential either.
 
Get a decent 2nd hand speaker amp and be done with it, you'll save yourself money in the long run. You'd be amazed how stunning the HE-6 can sound through speaker amps such as the Odyssey Cyclops/Khartago/Stratos, which are the best modern 'bang for the buck' amps for the HE-6 IMO. If you have extra cash there's also FirstWatt, Pass, Krell, etc.
 
There are headphones amps that power HE-6 well such as the RSA Dark Star, Woo WA5, etc, but they're expensive.

 

[Alexxander]

Cheers for that 1974

 

[SuperDuke]

Recently finished the Elekit TU-8200 and have been surprised at it's performance for the price - tons of power and tube rolling flexibility. this is a speaker amp w/ headphone out as well. More to follow after I've had the amp for a while. It has no problem driving the HE6 from the headphone out w/ plenty of headroom. I've not been a tube amp fan but I am really enjoying this amp w/ the Mullard Re issue EL34s.

 

[Keithpgdrb]

Recently finished the Elekit TU-8200 and have been surprised at it's performance for the price - tons of power and tube rolling flexibility. this is a speaker amp w/ headphone out as well. More to follow after I've had the amp for a while. It has no problem driving the HE6 from the headphone out w/ plenty of headroom. I've not been a tube amp fan but I am really enjoying this amp w/ the Mullard Re issue EL34s.

I find it hard to believe that a headphone jack would power the he6 properly. But kudos!!!

 

[SuperDuke]

I found it hard to believe the headphone jack could properly drive the HE6 also - I don't know enough to comment  on how the phono jack is implemented.  I'll compare to the speaker outs.
 
There are amps like my Burson 160D that can drive the HE6 and sound pretty good until I heard the HE6 properly driven (usually w/ a speaker amp).      More to follow.

 

[Alexxander]

Hi thanks for that 1974 but guess what, I've gone and done just that. I stumped for a pre and power combo full size - Chord and Roksan M2 @ 85 wph 8ohms can't test em yet 'cause im waiting for new Headphone cable and taps adaptor from Bob of 'stinky'
Let you all know how I get on.
Now I have another dillema as I'll be selling on the EF-6 I was thinking of a damn good TOTL closed back cans like LCD XC or Fostex 900 or even an Ether C.
Can any closed back headphones be used on my speaker amp?

 

[Articnoise]

  I found it hard to believe the headphone jack could properly drive the HE6 also - I don't know enough to comment  on how the phono jack is implemented.  I'll compare to the speaker outs.
 
There are amps like my Burson 160D that can drive the HE6 and sound pretty good until I heard the HE6 properly driven (usually w/ a speaker amp).      More to follow.

 

Some speaker amps have the exact same amplifier stage for the phono jack and the speaker taps. I don’t know if it’s like that with his amp.  

 

[taxiq]

Don't know about the closed cans, but I run LCD-2's off a First Watt F3 and they are excellent.  The rub with the speaker amp to HP's is attenuation.  Am listening through an X-1 preamp with only 32 steps at 4 to 8 or so (with HE6's am at 10 to 20).   Can also use a Placette passive with 125 steps, but it looses SQ in comparison to the Pass Labs pre.  
 
Good luck with your combo.

 

[Keithpgdrb]

LCD headphones and the HE6 have nothing in common when it comes to amping needs.