[Andrew_WOT]

@jmillar is right about power delivery. It was expressed in the way that technically fluent person would object, but it is actually an issue. Volts or Amps are also important in the way how it is delivered and whether the amp react to the resonances of the object. Especially amps that use negative feedback to reduce harmonic distortions can react to such happenings on the output and need much higher/lower internal impedance ratio than amps with zero negative feedback to deal with the issue.

 

[sajunky]

Such reaction is expected from those who make purchasing decision only based on scientific tables posted yourself.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

The new Master 9P looks like a big hammer for the HE-6. 14WPC into a 40 ohm load. I'm having a hard time not going into debt for this

 

[dleblanc343]

The new Master 9P looks like a big hammer for the HE-6. 14WPC into a 40 ohm load. I'm having a hard time not going into debt for this

Or you can buy my Master 9 for $600

Can confirm it drives HE6 very nicely

 

[screwdriver]

Or you can buy my Master 9 for $600

Can confirm it drives HE6 very nicely

is your m9 for sale? hmmm ....

 

[Daemos]

Has anyone used HE6 or HE6se with the NAD D 3020 or D 3045? I'm looking for an amp, but don't have the space for a large power amp.

How about the Audioengine N22? Has anyone used this amp?

I'm also considering the Schiit Jotunheim 2.

 

[swva]

I just recently picked up a Topping A90. I have balanced in and out to the HE6se V2 and it does an excellent job driving the headphones. I have it on medium gain and at about 12 o'clock on the volume knob is as high as I want to go before it starts becoming too loud for me.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

I just recently picked up a Topping A90. I have balanced in and out to the HE6se V2 and it does an excellent job driving the headphones. I have it on medium gain and at about 12 o'clock on the volume knob is as high as I want to go before it starts becoming too loud for me.

How loud headphones can get is not necessarily an indication that they drive this or that headphone well. But from the numbers shenzhen publishes on the A90, that's a healthy amp, no doubt. I'm especially impressed with the rated voltage. The rated swing is exceptional.

 

[Articnoise]

I really have no idea what you are talking about.

Power = V*I

Sensitivity = SPL/W

It's just one way to refer to the different parameters. And we don't keep mentioning power for no reason. The spec states 83 dB/mW

The important bit to look for in an amp is the power output at different impedances.

I wouldn't say that's the whole true. For HE6 and other magnetic planar current is almost always the limiting amp factor for obtaining optimal SQ, after reaching the basic power/SPL level of course.

For reference: electrostatics has voltage as the limiting factor (and need a special amp) and for conventional woofers it is normally power/watts that is the limiting factor.

 

[SilverEars]

My mistake for bringing up relevant equations to an audiophile website. My post has the answers if one understands things beyond hearsays about currents and voltages they get thrown all the time. There are different ways to refer to the parameters. All the parameters have inherent relationships even if not mentioned. It's in the equations. When one says power, voltage, current, impedances, etc.. are inherently involved. That's where people are confused when they say it's voltage, it's current. bla bla. And this thread is about amps for HE-6, and HE-6 is expressed as 83dB/mW. Measurements tells us how amps performs in terms of power per different impedances. We are given headphone's spec in terms of power. We can know based on amp's measurements, it's performance in term of power (instead of arbitrarily remarks about voltage or current). Please tell us how to figure the same out in terms of current or voltage.

 

[Articnoise]

Nope the electrical current goes through the magnetic field and it causes the diaphragm to move. This is known as Faraday’s Laws of Electromagnetic Induction: First & Second Law. With a conductive diaphragm and an applied audio signal, the planar magnetic driver produces a varying magnetic field around the diaphragm. This magnetic field interacts with permanent magnets in the driver structure to cause diaphragm movement and, therefore, produce sound waves.

 

[SilverEars]

Nope the electrical current goes through the magnetic field and it causes the diaphragm to move. This is known as Faraday’s Laws of Electromagnetic Induction: First & Second Law. With a conductive diaphragm and an applied audio signal, the planar magnetic driver produces a varying magnetic field around the diaphragm. This magnetic field interacts with permanent magnets in the driver structure to cause diaphragm movement and, therefore, produce sound waves.

I really have no idea what your statements are in response to. I'm not talking about electromagnetic theory or care to go there (This discussion is crazy as it is). lol.

 

[Articnoise]

I really have no idea what your statements are in response to. I'm not talking about electromagnetic theory or care to go there (This discussion is crazy as it is). lol.

To you of course. To say that you have no idea what am talking about or dismiss the planar magnetic working principle (electromagnetic theory) is childish.

https://www.audioreputation.com/what-are-planar-magnetic-headphones/

 

[bagwell359]

Has anyone used HE6 or HE6se with the NAD D 3020 or D 3045? I'm looking for an amp, but don't have the space for a large power amp.

How about the Audioengine N22? Has anyone used this amp?

I'm also considering the Schiit Jotunheim 2.

You could try the Ragnarok 1 if the NAD's don't pan out. used these days the Rag is about $850 and it's 15 wpc into 50 ohms I believe, plus it can drive speakers at/over 4 ohms with a real kick and it's pretty small. Mine has run a HE-6 6 screw and HE6SE v1 very nicely for a few years.

 

[fortunate son]

I will list here all the amps I tried with my HiFiMan HE-6 planar headphones. (I will update this over the next few days until I have tried all the amps I can get my hands on )

These headphones want some power and so not every amp will drive them.


Dedicated Headphone Amps (unbalanced 1/4 inch TRS jack)

1. Beta22 - YES. Drives them very well. Sounded great. (3-channel Beta 22)
2. Audio-GD NFB-10ES - YES. Plenty enough power. You may want to use a little EQ to reduce the highs some... the DAC in the NFB-10ES is merciless and any HF flaws in the mix will sound too bright. (Using NFB-10ES balanced headphone output.) Great sound.
3. Audio-GD FUN - NOT OPTIMAL. Drives them to a good volume level but bass is a little lacking. The FUN will do in a pinch but I'd say it doesn't have quite enough oomph to drive them all right and proper. Doesn't sound strained, just not quite....there.
4. Bottlehead Crack - NO. Cannot produce enough power into a low impedance load. Distorted sound and not very much level. (This amp not intended for low impedance 'phones)
5. M³ - NOT OPTIMAL. Drives them but not very loud. If you are listening at moderate or moderate-to-low levels, this amp works fine. Turn it up just a little more... obvious clipping on vocals, etc.(ELPAC PSU for this amp, not a Sigma.)
6. Cavalli-Kan Kumisa III - YES. Will drive the HE-6 to loud levels without clipping.
7. Ray Samuels Hornet portable amp - NOT OPTIMAL. Drives them pretty loud but ran out of steam before I did; I wanted it a little louder, but the Hornet said "no!" (I tried HIGH and MED gain settings.)
8. Bijou - NOT OPTIMAL. Turned the NFB up to get some more gain and the Bijou played pretty loud... but I wanted more. Bass was not quite as good as it should have been, but the overall sound was not "thin." Sounded good, within limits.
9. Little Dot Mk III - NOT OPTIMAL. Sounded fine at low-to-moderate levels. Bass clipping when played moderately loud. Good sound at moderate levels, though.
10. Musical Fidelity XCAN V3 - YES. Will drive the HE-6 to loud levels without clipping. Bass was maybe a little less extended than with the Beta 22 but otherwise sounded good.

"Speaker" Amps (HE-6 connected directly to speaker output terminals of these amps)

1. Sugden A25 - YES. Treble a little harsh sounding compared to Beta22; deep bass not quite as good as Beta 22. Overall, though, not bad.
2. Dynaco Stereo 70 16 Ohm Tap - YES. Bass was a little wooly and sounded a bit rolled off at the lowest frequencies. Highs very "sweet" and tubelike but lacking detail. The Stereo 70 sounded just like it did on my Quad ESL-57's.
3. AMC CVT-2030a - YES. The AMC CVT-2030 is an under-rated Class A hybrid amp- MOSFETs driving EL34 tubes. I really like the sound from this amp on the HE-6. There were audible differences over the Beta 22. The AMC amp had good bass extension - maybe not quite what the Beta offers, but was no slouch either. There was a little of that midrange and lower-midrange "roundness" that EL-84's are supposed to be noted for, it sounds like just a tiny bit of extra level and added dynamics from say 225 Hz to 800 Hz. Something like that. Just a touch of emphasis. This was coupled with a "sweet" sounding treble range. The overall effect was a kind of "lush" or "romantic" sound. For example, on cello the lower frequency aspects come through just a bit more and there is no steeliness at all in the treble so you get an effect of heightened "texture" of the bow rubbing on the strings. Or, on Fender Rhodes piano or Hammond B3 there was just was just a little extra punch to the percussive attack of the notes that gave the sound a kind of of palpability. The Beta 22 sounded more transparent, not clinical exactly, but lacking the romantic (coloration?) of the AMC. The overall sound of the AMC went very well with the treble emphasis of the HE-6.
4. Tim Rawson F3 clone- YES. This is a copy of the Nelson Pass First Watt F3 amplifier, somewhat exotic. Tim Rawson, as far as I understand it, is a DIY amp builder that builds an amp then sells it to build another. Some criticize him for "stealing" Nelson Pass' ideas; Mr. Pass is gracious enough to provide schematics of his designs to the DIY amp builder community, with the understanding that folks will not grab his designs and go into manufacturing. So some people see Tim Rawson as a small manufacturer, and apparently he got enough static that he no longer builds clones of Nelson Pass designs. This is my understanding, I might be confused about all or part of this. At any rate, the amp I have is a Tim Rawson F3 clone. The F3 is a POWER JFET DESIGN. Currently, to the best of my knowledge, the F3 is the ONLY power JFET design currently available. JFETs have a much more triode-like curve than MOSFETs, and with longer flat areas and better load-line characteristics they offer lower distortion than a given MOSFET design. Nelson Pass likes very simple, low device-count designs. He likes low feedback and designs with inherently low high-order harmonics in their output. I've read that people say the F3 sounds like a very good SET amp, but with bass and clear treble. I don't know about that. But I will say that this amplifier designed around a silicon-carbide semiconductor (the power JFET) does drive the HE-6 very well. The sound was excellent. I couldn't A/B it against my reference Beta 22 at this point because I can't A/B balanced or "speaker" amps driving headphones yet. (Another box to build!) I will report more after I do the A/B. Suffice it to say that I really like what I heard from the F3 clone. The F3 is a Class A design; it is a 15 watt per channel amp that draws 200 watts off the AC line. Even though it is only a 15 watt/ch amp, it has very large heatsinks and it gets HOT. (See pictures below)

RATINGS
YES = drives them well, no evidence of clipping.
NOT OPTIMAL = you can listen through this amp.... up to a point. All the "not optimal" amps played well to at least moderate levels. Some, like the Bijou and FUN played to moderate-to-moderately loud levels.
NO = Just can't handle the HE-6

NOTES:

1. Just because I rate an amp as a "YES" does not mean it is a great SOUNDING amp for the HE-6. I am not trying to judge that. All I am trying to do is see how well the amount of power produced by the amp suits the power needs of these headphones.
2. The "NOT OPTIMAL" amps might be fine if you never listen loud. Try it and see. What's moderate loudness for me might be just right for you. I tend to like music a little louder than some folks, measurements I've made show that I like to listen at 85~87 dB sometimes maybe even 90 dB.

Sugden A25





Dynaco Stereo 70




AMC CVT-2030a

CVT-2030 insides


Tim Rawson clone of First Watt F3 power JFET amp - looks like he builds his own cases by careful home-shop metalwork. Well done but not as fancy as some DIY casework I've seen. Does the job.


Inside the F3 - not much in there. Still, even with all those square inches of heatsink this puppy gets HOT.

Thanks for this. The lowly S.M.S.L. HO200 has ample gain and power and is not horrible sounding. If you are adventurous and have a banana speaker plug to female 4 pin xlr adapter cable, the Aiyima A08 PRO TPA 3255 can do the job and has tone controls as well. But you have to be very careful not to turn the volume on the Aiyima up too high or you'll destroy your headphones.