[TheGadaffiDuck]

Have approximately $1500 to spend on amplification for the HE-6. Currently using an old Yamaha DSP-A2070 receiver from the 90s which puts 80W into 8-ohms.

It does the job but wondering if a Mjolnir 2 or Krell KAV-400XI would be better?

Found a used Krell for £1200 boxed with remote etc. just trying to figure out what the best bet would be for making these headphones sing!

Also is the new Hifiman HE-1000 as hard to drive as the HE-6? Just want to know if my investment in a good amp will be useful once the HE-6 eventually gives up the ghost. 

A dedicated power amplifier would probably prove better than a receiver but i read earlier a lot of people really loved the sound out of some vintage receivers with their HE6s. I dont know much about Krell's stuff but they are uber expensive and well received. In Schiits line, Jude recently made a video mentioning the HE6s comparing the Mjolnir, Ragnarock, and Jotunheim amps. Basically the former 2 have more power, but the Jotunheim is more forgiving of a presentation vs the sometimes too bright sounds of the other 2. If you have speakers, HE6s, and 1500 to spend, Ragnarock would be your best bang for an all in one, but the Jotunheim looks so much better IMO

 

[Armaegis]

  Have approximately $1500 to spend on amplification for the HE-6. Currently using an old Yamaha DSP-A2070 receiver from the 90s which puts 80W into 8-ohms.
 
It does the job but wondering if a Mjolnir 2 or Krell KAV-400XI would be better?
 
Found a used Krell for £1200 boxed with remote etc. just trying to figure out what the best bet would be for making these headphones sing!
 
Also is the new Hifiman HE-1000 as hard to drive as the HE-6? Just want to know if my investment in a good amp will be useful once the HE-6 eventually gives up the ghost. 

 
If you have $1.5k burning a hole in your pocket, yeah sure go shop around. Krells and Brystons are good.
 
If spending that much money is a significant expenditure, then slowly back out of this thread and be happy with what you've got.
 
The HE-1000 and HE-x are much easier to drive than the HE-6. Don't worry about obsolescence though. The headphone landscape is changing far too quickly to make long term plans.

 

[dogbait]

  If spending that much money is a significant expenditure, then slowly back out of this thread and be happy with what you've got.

 
Heheh, amen.
 
The kind folks at Schiit EU loaned me a Mjolnir 2 + Gumby.
 
I warmed the Schiit stack up for 8+ hours. I then volume levelled the MJ and my Yamaha speaker amp so that their volumes were equal. In comparing the two the Yamaha has it by a hair - a little easier to listen to and a little more heft in the bass notes. The MJ has a little more resolution which I'm guessing is due to its lower THD (0.005% vs 0.015%). But to be honest it's so damn close that if money were no object I'd get the MJ purely for the compact size and looks.
 
I can't really imagine anything trumping a Mjolnir short of say a Bryston B100/B135 or something equivalent. All in all, the Mjolnir 2 impressed me greatly. Top marks.
 
(need to find someone to lend me a Bryston stack now...

 

[Armaegis]

@dogbait
 
 

Here's a couple Brystons in EU... (just found them searching online; I can't actually read those)
https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/s-anzeige/bryston-limited-b60r-integrated-amplifier-top-zustand/428725857-172-1432
https://www.hifi.nl/tweedehands/10007959/Bryston-B-60-Integrated-Amplifier.html
http://www.audio-markt.de/_markt/item.php?id=2671921517&audioauktion=08fc75fec0542492a15d3c5677b6f41b

 

[dogbait]

  @dogbait
 
Here's a couple Brystons in EU...

 
Thanks, seen two of those
 
It's actually super frustrating buying Bryston gear in the UK. It's pretty much 1:1 for £ vs $ pricing. The guy at Bryston's UK distributor who does the cost conversion must have the easiest job in the world...

 

[Armaegis]

I'm sure there are plenty of EU based pro audio amp makers out there that aren't common here... there's Lab Gruppen and MC2 Audio off the top of my head.
 
You can probably find Hypex stuff much easier as well (look for the NCore modules).

 

[MrTie84]

Hey First Watt guys I've been trying to search the thread but coming up a bit empty handed, Aleph J, yes or no on the HE-6? 25 watts, but it's def more current limited than the F5, so I'm unsure. Describe the flavor to me if you've heard it.

 

[Chillzone21]

Anyone have a HE6 for sale?

 

[Angaria]

F5 was my 2nd favorite SS amp with the HE6... beat out by a hair by a red wine. Very clean without that nasty typical SS hardness or class D sheen.

 

[musicbuff]

I have a vintage Yamaha Natural Sound stereo amp A-450 bought around 1980 brand new and it still works well.  It has 200 watts per channel per 8 ohms and 60 watts power out.  Would it be a good speaker amp?  If so how would I go about connecting the HE-6 to the speaker terminals?  If so make it simple, I am not electronically savvy 

.

 

[Armaegis]

Hey peoples, there are a couple Bryston B60's floating around on the used market at decent prices right now. Definitely worth checking out; you get all the goodness of the 2B, plus preamp/volume control. Some of them are also the newer SST versions which have improved output devices (worth it; I had mine upgraded).

 

[MrTie84]

F5 was my 2nd favorite SS amp with the HE6... beat out by a hair by a red wine. Very clean without that nasty typical SS hardness or class D sheen.

Ending up passing on the Aleph J as I found a F5 Turbo locally. I am well pleased.

 

[Oregonian]

  I have a vintage Yamaha Natural Sound stereo amp A-450 bought around 1980 brand new and it still works well.  It has 200 watts per channel per 8 ohms and 60 watts power out.  Would it be a good speaker amp?  If so how would I go about connecting the HE-6 to the speaker terminals?  If so make it simple, I am not electronically savvy 

.

It will make a GREAT speaker amp - especially for the HE-6.  I run my HE-6 out of the speaker taps of a Pioneer Spec 2 amp @250wpc.  You will need a XLR-->speaker tap adapter.  Available at many cable houses - Headphone Lounge made me two of them for two different systems. 

 

[musicbuff]

Here's the back of my amp.

 

 
 
 

Saw this  

http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=HMHEADP

and wondered since it's made for the HE-6 if I could just purchase this and connect it directly to my 250watts/8 ohms power amp?

If yes, what precautions would I need to take besides making sure the volume through my preamp is zero before adjusting the volume up (with the headphones on my ears, of course).  Would I need to disconnect my speakers?
 
 

 

 

 

[ohhgourami]

 

Here's the back of my amp.

 
 

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Saw this  

http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=HMHEADP

and wondered since it's made for the HE-6 if I could just purchase this and connect it directly to my 250watts/8 ohms power amp?

If yes, what precautions would I need to take besides making sure the volume through my preamp is zero before adjusting the volume up (with the headphones on my ears, of course).  Would I need to disconnect my speakers?

 
You could drive both in parallel if you want.