[jerick70]

I want to buy a amp for 3k $, what do you recommend? I have A90 and a crappy Burmeister 933 clone from Weilang audio ATM. The Weilang amp blew my second pair of HE6SE, and I want to spend real nuggets on a TOTL amp for my HE6 (already ordered a third pair of HE6SE)

The Benchmark AHB2 is an incredible amp:

https://benchmarkmedia.com/collections/all-products/products/benchmark-ahb2-power-amplifier

I also like the FirstWatt / Pass Labs J2. Great amp but may be bit over your price range.

https://www.firstwatt.com/j2.html

Get one of these so you have a better chance of not blowing your headphones:

https://hifiman.com/products/detail/84

 

[ksorota]

Get one of these so you don’t blow your headphones:

https://hifiman.com/products/detail/84

As a point of clarification, this will not prevent you from blowing your drivers. It is more meant to protect your amp…and mainly a tube amp.

 

[Sebbai]

Yes the HE-adapter doesn’t protect the headphones only the amp…. Isn’t there more safety in headphone amps? I was looking at the Ragnarok, which has a headphone out, but I can’t understand how headphone amps are different from speaker amps, why do people say they are safer to use??

EDIT: I am also considering building my own Pass lab amp with instructions from the diy forum, I have no experience with building amps but my soldering skills are good and I’m a master at LEGO (following detailed instructions)

 

[Sebbai]

What I found on google about Ragnarok and HE6 are metallic sound, don’t know what that means, but for me sub bass/bass is the highest priority

 

[ksorota]

Yes the HE-adapter doesn’t protect the headphones only the amp…. Isn’t there more safety in headphone amps? I was looking at the Ragnarok, which has a headphone out, but I can’t understand how headphone amps are different from speaker amps, why do people say they are safer to use??

EDIT: I am also considering building my own Pass lab amp with instructions from the diy forum, I have no experience with building amps but my soldering skills are good and I’m a master at LEGO (following detailed instructions)

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/diy-he-adapter.603433/#post-9230849

Reasons why discussed here

 

[ksorota]

What I found on google about Ragnarok and HE6 are metallic sound, don’t know what that means, but for me sub bass/bass is the highest priority

You will be very pleased with a vidar (or two) and a freya S (if you can find one)

 

[chrismoyer]

What I found on google about Ragnarok and HE6 are metallic sound, don’t know what that means, but for me sub bass/bass is the highest priority

I've got the Ragnarok 2 and for me I think this is the best possible solution. I have all my inputs (turntable, cassette, digital) running into a single amp that drives my stereo speakers (LS50 Meta/Rythmik F12) or any headphones I'd want to use. The HE6 and HE6SE V2 both sound fantastic, with plenty of power to EQ and still get too loud to listen to. At a touch of a button I can switch between inputs or outputs without moving cables, waiting for anything to power up. People say "use a speaker amp", but the the balanced headphone output of the Ragnarok 2 is the same output as the speaker taps... and it's a speaker amp powerful enough for my needs.

(One thing I don't understand is how I can have both the headphones and speakers on at the same time... does it use twice the power? For that matter, what about using SE output and balanced output at the same time... I often run SE and Balanced at the same time and bounce between them.)

Are there better speaker amps? People thing so (I dunno, this is the best I've owned) Are there better headphone amps? People think so (I dunno, this is the best I've owned). But is there anything else that brings everything together so well and drives everything with no fuss?

 

[weicheheck]

Agreed with a 3k budget you could really go wild and run two Aegir's as monoblocks being fed by the balanced out of a Freya+ and you would likely get some incredible bass as well as general great sound.

I run Gungnir A2 MB to saga to Vidar and I already get very powerful, deep, and articulate bass as it is.

 

[Sebbai]

Aegir looks sweet class A, but wonder how it would compare to topping A90 4.8W. Aegir will deliver lower Wattage, but maybe more Current?

(Thinking)

Shiet, I don’t know maybe I’m asking for volume levels that isn’t possible with the HE6. But I definitely got louder volume and better bass control with the Burmeister 933 Clone from AliExpress compared to the A90. Wondering if the sole issue with the driver blowing was because I turned the volume pot too fast.. When I checked with the multimeter afterwards… the spikes only showed when turning the volume pot fast, very low spikes when turning slowly

 

[weicheheck]

Aegir looks sweet class A, but wonder how it would compare to topping A90 4.8W. Aegir will deliver lower Wattage, but maybe more Current?

(Thinking)

Shiet, I don’t know maybe I’m asking for volume levels that isn’t possible with the HE6. But I definitely got louder volume and better bass control with the Burmeister 933 Clone from AliExpress compared to the A90. Wondering if the sole issue with the driver blowing was because I turned the volume pot too fast.. When I checked with the multimeter afterwards… the spikes only showed when turning the volume pot fast, very low spikes when turning slowly

Running Aegir in Monoblock configuration gives you 4x the power. Mono is single channel so instead of splitting up 1/4 of the power into two channels when using a single Aegir in stereo configuration (left and right driver), you will be using two Aegir's in mono configuration (one dedicated Aegir for each driver in mono mode). This will give you 8x more power. Pretty sure you won't feel any need for more watts or current at that point. I've read very good things about the Aegir in general, although I can't find anyone who has written about trying out two Aegir in monoblocks mode for the He6

 

[Bhk1004]

Been using the CFA3 for about 5 months, its easily the best I have heard with my HE6. 15w @50ohm. lovely stuff.

A little bit obscure amp, so link below to the CFA3 thread.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/kg-cfa3-headphone-amp.938064/

 

[Oregonian]

I want to buy a amp for 3k $, what do you recommend? I have A90 and a crappy Burmeister 933 clone from Weilang audio ATM. The Weilang amp blew my second pair of HE6SE, and I want to spend real nuggets on a TOTL amp for my HE6 (already ordered a third pair of HE6SE)

Have you considered a vintage speaker amp? I have run them exclusively (8 different systems in use between me and my daughters) and will never go away from them to a headphone amp personally. You can get a good amp for under $500 and many have been recapped already.

 

[Sebbai]

Have you considered a vintage speaker amp? I have run them exclusively (8 different systems in use between me and my daughters) and will never go away from them to a headphone amp personally. You can get a good amp for under $500 and many have been recapped already.

Yeah still wondering, a friend of mine recommended the primare 30.1A. It’s available for 800$ here recapped. Have you heard that amplifier?

I’m also borrowing the Burson Soloist 3x and didn’t notice that huge difference from my friends mcintosh mha 150 (from speaker taps 50W to 8ohm) and his Ragnarok 2. Might go with the Burson for safety issues too LOL already blown 2 pair of HE6 after I started my head-fi journey 1,5 years ago

 

[jerick70]

Well just to follow-up on the HE-Adapter. I contacted Hifiman and their tech support said the HE-Adapter will somewhat protect your amp and headphones on tube amps and solid state. I know what has been said, but why would the manufacture tell you something different? If you look at their website it even says that the HE-Adapter will protect your headphones.... Whatever the truth, if you blow your headphones I'm guessing that Hifiman will replace them if they are connected to the HE-Adapter...

"HE-Adapter is a device to protect amplifiers and headphones when using a speaker amplifier to drive HE6, HE5LE and HE4 headphones."

 

[paradoxper]

Been using the CFA3 for about 5 months, its easily the best I have heard with my HE6. 15w @50ohm. lovely stuff.

A little bit obscure amp, so link below to the CFA3 thread.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/kg-cfa3-headphone-amp.938064/

CFA3 is clearly the best solid state headamp not on the market. Niimbus, AMP-13R all fall behind.

Comparing the CFA3 to tube headamps gets a little more interesting.

So let's build the CFA3 hybrid.