[kwkarth]

Quote:

The Burson 160D is also worth mentioning. 

Driving the HE-6s proficiently?  I doubt it.
 
 

 

[JIGF]

 
Quote:

Driving the HE-6s proficiently?  I doubt it.
 

Me too.
 

 

[grokit]

Even the Lyr is source-level dependent with the HE-6, a 5-volt or better input level would be ideal according to the chart on this review page:
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/schiit/11.html
 

 

[Wedge]

I am still waiting for my HE-6 but I have heard that the Apex Peak/Volcano can power the HE-6s.

 

[fdhfdy]

+1
 
Quote:

 

Me too.
 

 

 

[winma]

Quote:

Driving the HE-6s proficiently?  I doubt it.
 
 

It does drive the HE-6's and takes the listening experience to a pleasant level. Any experience with it? would like to hear....
 

 

[earerror]

Quote:

Driving the HE-6s proficiently?  I doubt it.
 
 

I know...orthodynamic hp's such as the HE-6's require lots of power to be driven. 
 
Pairing myself the HA-160 with it, i wasn't disappointed at all. It does drive it. (Unless you want to blow up your ears 

)

 

[Wedge]

Quote:

I know...orthodynamic hp's such as the HE-6's require lots of power to be driven. 
 
Pairing myself the HA-160 with it, i wasn't disappointed at all. It does drive it. (Unless you want to blow up your ears 

)

Power has a little bit more impact than just volume in general.  Power is required for those difficult complex passages or very dynamic passages, which can tax an underpowered, heavily loaded amplifier, sure it will be a reasonable volume, but during those transient or not so transient passages, an amplifier that has less power can start to do strange things, enter the world of non-linear transfer functions.  Not all amplifiers deal with operating non-linearly the same way.  So on average I could agree with your statement, that reasonable listening levels can be achieved with less than a watt, but remember the sensitivity of a phone is measured with a single pure tone, and an amplifiers output capability is for total power, so what do you do when the music gets more complex and the collective powers start to add up?
 
I've never heard the Burson, but with the kind of power it offers you really don't have a whole lot of dynamic headroom, take into the account that a stressed active part can do a number of different things to whats going into it.  I'm not saying that power is everything, but believe it or not, there is some measurable science to at least some of audio, and certain things do need to make sense, as we aren't listening to pure tones.  If you look at music through a RT spectrum analyzer you will see many tones simultaneously.  So what it means is that with am amp like the Burson you will be limited to listening to less complex music, in some cases also less dynamic music.  In high frequency world we call this spur free dynamic range, and you will find that in order to maintain a high spur free dynamic range, you need to have lots of reserve power, well over what is required of the single largest signal in the "environment" in our case the music.  Or you will listen at a lower volume, and once you aren't listening to the phones at the same level you are not really comparing apples to apples, so this goes back to kwkarth's statement, profficiently?
 

 

[earerror]

Quote:

I've never heard the Burson, but with the kind of power it offers you really don't have a whole lot of dynamic headroom, take into the account that a stressed active part can do a number of different things to whats going into it. 

 
 
I think you need to listen to it...we can't give our oppinion based only on specs. Unless you have tried it before. What about people using it with the Audeze lcd-2, or the Fostex T50RP? they have the same impedance of the HE-6's. And the Burson drives them very good. 
 
 
Quote:

So what it means is that with am amp like the Burson you will be limited to listening to less complex music, in some cases also less dynamic music.  In high frequency world we call this spur free dynamic range, and you will find that in order to maintain a high spur free dynamic range, you need to have lots of reserve power, well over what is required of the single largest signal in the "environment" in our case the music.  Or you will listen at a lower volume, and once you aren't listening to the phones at the same level you are not really comparing apples to apples, so this goes back to kwkarth's statement, profficiently?

 
Not really, i can throw different kinds of music to it (complex music also), and it does deliver a nice performance. (when cranking up the 160)
The HE-6's are not easy to drive and only by listening you will know if you like the combo or not. 
 
Anyways.. I just wanted to share my experience. 
 
Peace. 

 

[Wedge]

LCD-2 are same impedance, much higher sensitivity.
 
Not picking a fight.  I should have chosen my words more carefully.  Just saying, theres more to power than most people realize.  
 
Peace.
 
Quote:

I think you need to listen to it...we can't give our oppinion based only on specs. Unless you have tried it before. What about people using it with the Audeze lcd-2, or the Fostex T50RP? they have the same impedance of the HE-6's. And the Burson drives them very good. 
 

 

[grokit]

 
Quote:

What about people using it with the Audeze lcd-2, or the Fostex T50RP? they have the same impedance of the HE-6's. And the Burson drives them very good. 

 
Actually Wedge had it right, this is a well-covered fact regarding the HE-6 and it has nothing to do with impedance. The LCD-2 and TR50P do sound like a good match for the Burson but the HE-6 needs a lot more power than the HA-160 can deliver to be driven properly. If you are familiar with the legendary AKG K1000 "earspeakers" the same exact rules apply to the HE-6. Coincidentally, HiFiMAN is the first headphone maker to terminate the stock cable with a 4-pin XLR since the K1000.
 

 
Perhaps if you threw a Buick V-6 in it?

 

[earerror]

Quote:

Just saying, theres more to power than most people realize.  
 
Peace.
 

I know man, these babies are hard to drive. They're tough. 

 

 

[estreeter]

1. I dont own the HiFiMan planars, nor do I own the LCD2. All my cans are 32-ohm or less, high sensitivity and easy to drive.
2. The fullsize amps I have owned have been reasonable DACs with a 'headphone amp' tacked on. In short, crap.
3. The stereo amps I have owned have had reasonable headphone stages, but nothing to write home about (Marantz the best of the lot)
 
Having established that I know very little of which I speak, please feel free to ignore the following rant:
 
I have lost count of the number of times a HeadFier has tried to lump the HiFiMan cans with the other orthos: WHY ??????  I was able to drive the T50RP to reasonable levels with my iBasso D4 portable, but I would never even mention those cans in a thread about the HiFiMan orthos - the only thing they share is a common design principle. Skylab was able to drive the LCD2 from a couple of portable amps he tested, but I doubt that he would even bother with the HE series : whatever came out the other end wouldnt be an accurate reflection of their capabilities. As others have pointed out, you cant just look at an impedance rating and make assumptions, but we seem to do it with monotonous regularity - witness various posts from nitwits claiming that Grados dont benefit from amping.
 
Can we please move on from this ? If the crew at 6Moons can work it out, surely we can.
 
<end rant>

 

[Snips]

Quote:

1. I dont own the HiFiMan planars, nor do I own the LCD2. All my cans are 32-ohm or less, high sensitivity and easy to drive.
2. The fullsize amps I have owned have been reasonable DACs with a 'headphone amp' tacked on. In short, crap.
3. The stereo amps I have owned have had reasonable headphone stages, but nothing to write home about (Marantz the best of the lot)
 
Having established that I know very little of which I speak, please feel free to ignore the following rant:
 
I have lost count of the number of times a HeadFier has tried to lump the HiFiMan cans with the other orthos: WHY ??????  I was able to drive the T50RP to reasonable levels with my iBasso D4 portable, but I would never even mention those cans in a thread about the HiFiMan orthos - the only thing they share is a common design principle. Skylab was able to drive the LCD2 from a couple of portable amps he tested, but I doubt that he would even bother with the HE series : whatever came out the other end wouldnt be an accurate reflection of their capabilities. As others have pointed out, you cant just look at an impedance rating and make assumptions, but we seem to do it with monotonous regularity - witness various posts from nitwits claiming that Grados dont benefit from amping.
 
Can we please move on from this ? If the crew at 6Moons can work it out, surely we can.
 
<end rant>

 
Yup, impedence isn't all that matters. The HE-6's incredible low sensitivity makes it extremely hard to drive, so it's pretty useless to compare the LCD-2 or high impedence cans against it.
 
 

 

[Skylab]

As far as being easy or hard to drive, sensitivity is by far the most important factor. The Beyer T1 may be 600 ohm, but they are actually very easy to drive for the vast majority of amps, since they are very high sensitivity. There are some amps that can't muster much power at all at 600 ohms, but for any halfway reasonable amp, the T1 don't need more than a few hundred milliwatts at the very most. That's what you get from 100 dB + sensitivity.