[Magick Man]

That the vast majority of 'professional' reviewers have declared the HE-500 the better HE-6, I've not had interest in HiFiMAN for a while.

They run the HE-6s with the Dark Star and the like. They need to use a good speaker amp and run them directly off the taps. In that fashion, the HE-6 demolishes the HE-500.

 

[nigeljames]

Quote:

6moons, InnerFidelity, Headfonia prefer the HE-500 on the usual suspects.  6moons and HeadFonia will agree that on a coloured power amp the HE-6 can sound good.  Who you got

 
I have not managed to get to the end of any 6moons review without falling a sleep so I will give that one a miss.
 
Innerfidelity comparison can't be taken as fact because I don't even know what amp's were used in the comparison. The HeadRoom Balanced Desktop was mentioned as the amp they used when initially reviewing the HE6's.Obviously no where near powerful enough and Tyll does state 'many find these headphones fabulous when match carefully with very good amps.' which gives me the impression he didn't.
 
Headfonia used an amp, Burson 160D, totally not suitable for the HE6's and an amp thats a total unknown quantity that may have enough power but IMO looks a bit dubious on quality.
 
Please find me a review from someone who is powering the HE6's correctly with a very high quality and powerful amp and then compare BOTH phones on the same amp to bring out the best of both.
It would probably come down to personal preference then but I doubt you will find anyone who says thet the HE500 is the 'better' phone.
 
On another note most of the complaints of the HE6's seem to be that they can be or are bright sounding. I have never found that to be the case with the Woo6se, my old Audio-gd Roc or the Master-6. Hence the reason I have ordered the Toxic Silver Poison cable.

 

[Frank I]

Quote:

 
   
Please find me a review from someone who is powering the HE6's correctly with a very high quality and powerful amp and then compare BOTH phones on the same amp to bring out the best of both.
It would probably come down to personal preference then but I doubt you will find anyone who says thet the HE500 is the 'better' phone.
 
 

 I owned both and had  amps for both headphones and the hE6 is much better than the HE500 sonically. It a bear to drive bit the hE6 IMO is still very close to being the best of all flagships with proper amplification

 

[nigeljames]

Quote:

 I owned both and had  amps for both headphones and the hE6 is much better than the HE500 sonically. It a bear to drive bit the hE6 IMO is still very close to being the best of all flagships with proper amplification

 
Thanks Frank I
 
I have just managed to read through the 6moons Hifiman review and it was hard work but I want to make 2 points
 
1. They were using the Lyr and the hp out of the Zodiac (I could be wrong to be perfectly honest I did not have the will to go back a read it again) hardly ideal for the HE6
 
2. Also noticed comments like
'the HE-500 is the currently best headphone of Fang's ortho stable if one has no super amp of Lyr or better providence'
 
'while the HE-500 lacks the HE-6's ultra clarity'
 
To me that means the HE6 scale further and is capable of achieving far more than the HE500. That IMO means the HE6 is the better phone.

 

[K3cT]

Quote:

That the vast majority of 'professional' reviewers have declared the HE-500 the better HE-6, I've not had interest in HiFiMAN for a while.

 
I think technically the HE-6 is better than the HE-500 but in terms of tonal balance, I definitely prefer the little brother. It seems to be smoother and more full-bodied while remaining free of those horrible treble etch and ringing. The HE-6 is definitely a direct upgrade over the discontinued, wooden HE-5 as it maintains the same bright, lively sound signature. 
 
I like the HE-6 out of the RSA Dark Star because it helped to tame the brightness a bit but the best I've heard of the HE-6 is out from a hi-gain balanced β22. Even properly amplified the treble was still too hot for me. 

 

[Solude]

I expect Fang to release an HE-600 at some point that drops the gold traces but does stomp the HE-500.  My understanding is the only difference between the HE-500 and HE-6 is the gold trace vs aluminum. 

 

[preproman]

Quote:

 
I think technically the HE-6 is better than the HE-500 but in terms of tonal balance, I definitely prefer the little brother. It seems to be smoother and more full-bodied while remaining free of those horrible treble etch and ringing. The HE-6 is definitely a direct upgrade over the discontinued, wooden HE-5 as it maintains the same bright, lively sound signature. 
 
I like the HE-6 out of the RSA Dark Star because it helped to tame the brightness a bit but the best I've heard of the HE-6 is out from a hi-gain balanced β22. Even properly amplified the treble was still too hot for me. 

 
I have a β22 set at 8X gain.  Set at this gain the HE-6 is not optimal.  I now have a HE-6 rig that consists of duel 300 watt mono blocks.  This is the best possible solution.

 

[Solude]

Which is silly.  About as silly as my idea of using a FW J2 for the LCD-3

 

[Magick Man]

One issue is sensitivity, HiFiMan's claims of 83.5dB for the HE-6 are wishful thinking. Mid to high 70s is more accurate.

 

[Darkbeat]

Quote:

Please find me a review from someone who is powering the HE6's correctly with a very high quality and powerful amp and then compare BOTH phones on the same amp to bring out the best of both.
It would probably come down to personal preference then but I doubt you will find anyone who says thet the HE500 is the 'better' phone.
 

Innerfidelity (Tyll) ran a comparison using an Apex Pinnacle and came to just such a conclusion. 

 

[preproman]

Quote:

Which is silly.  About as silly as my idea of using a FW J2 for the LCD-3

 
 
Silly how?

 

[sridhar3]

Quote:

And you are Who? 
 
I do what I feel gives me the best possible sound at the least possible coast.  
 
I forgot again.  You are??

 
I typically value your posts, but this post is incredibly rude and disrespectful.  The man's entitled to his opinion, even if his opinion doesn't coincide with yours or mine.

 

[Solude]

I'm Solude, its right there above my posts

 

[Solude]

My silly comment was directed at Fang.  No one should need monster speaker amps for a headphone.  That's just a design gone terribly wrong.  Does Fang even include the speaker taps by default?

 

[grokit]

Quote:

Most reviews I have read seem to indicate that the HE-6 is significantly better if amped properly.
I think it would be very difficult though to compare the two phones directly given the differing amping requirements.
I can not recall any review where the reviewer has stated the HE500 is the better phone (preferred maybe,but better no)  when the HE6's have been properly amped.

 
 
Much like the K1000, it's very difficult to compare the HE6 to any other headphone because of this.