[DeweyCH]

Hey all, I have a pair of HiFiMAN HE6se V2s on the way, and everything I've read says "Get a speaker amp adapter." What actually is that? I've Googled, but I'm confused about what I actually need to connect these to the speaker taps on my Luxman R-117? I presume when people tell you to get a speaker amp to power hard-to-drive phones, they don't mean you should just plug it into the 1/4" jack on the front.

Also, my better SS amp is a Monoprice Monolith THX 887 which puts out about 6 WPC into a 32 ohm load (balanced), and my hybrid is a Monoprice Liquid Platinum which puts out about 4 WPC. Would these be powerful enough to get good sound out of the HE6se (50 ohm, so I figure about 5 and 3.5 WPC respectively)?

I had forgotten how low the output is on my SMSL SU-8. Yeesh.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Hey all, I have a pair of HiFiMAN HE6se V2s on the way, and everything I've read says "Get a speaker amp adapter." What actually is that? I've Googled, but I'm confused about what I actually need to connect these to the speaker taps on my Luxman R-117? I presume when people tell you to get a speaker amp to power hard-to-drive phones, they don't mean you should just plug it into the 1/4" jack on the front.

They mean something like this:
https://www.hifiman.com/products/detail/84

...or a Robinette box, which are kind of like some of the Stax units that don't have native power but just convert speaker amp output to what you can more conveniently use with an electrostat (something people hook up to the Speaker B output when adding to an existing speaker system) except this one is not exclusively for electrostats.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/robinette-box-speaker-amp-to-headphone-interface.706029/

Also, my better SS amp is a Monoprice Monolith THX 887 which puts out about 6 WPC into a 32 ohm load (balanced), and my hybrid is a Monoprice Liquid Platinum which puts out about 4 WPC. Would these be powerful enough to get good sound out of the HE6se (50 ohm, so I figure about 5 and 3.5 WPC respectively)?

Will it still get loud enough to give you hearing damage? Very likely.

Will it have more than enough power overhead so you can crank it up for a few tracks sometimes and not have any distortion much less clipping? Not really.

Would I recommend getting a new amp? Not really if you have other headphones and you have to sell those amps as the speaker amp via adapter might have noise with higher sensitivity headphones. Now if you really like them as is and wouldn't keep your other headphones anyway or not most of them but open to upgrading the amp to one with a preamp output you can then use a speaker power amp (unless you need an integrated amp's full preamp features, like multiple inputs). This way if you're keeping for example a high impedance Sennheiser or Beyer you can just get a good OTL amp and then have its tube preamp drive a power amp if not two monobloc power amps and then run the adapter for the HE6 off those.

I had forgotten how low the output is on my SMSL SU-8. Yeesh.

Are they actually not running as per the spec? Because the specs say 2V SE and 4V balanced. That's as high as they should be until you run into something like an Eclipse car stereo with 8V or a SuperPro 707 DAC that kicks out way more voltage when plugged in but using USB input (as it also takes power via USB) that you run into noise. You can't even use the former normally since you're just gonna pull back on the amplifier gain anyway - the only time people actually use anywhere near that 8V is when they're not setting up a car for listening inside the car, but to park the car, hit Play, then stare at a screen display "160dB" then people cheer when the windows break because it's not their car.

 

[Monsterzero]

There are two ways that a headphone can be attached to speaker taps. First being the product listed above, or something like the Can Opener, which AFAIK, is no longer made.

The 2nd way is to do away with such devices and literally connect straight to the taps themselves, using a custom cable that terminates in 4 speaker wires. I chose this method and had a custom cable made by Peterek, before he disappeared.

There are plenty of posts regarding the pros and cons of straight to taps vs. using an intermediary device. IIRC many members claim that the Can Opener and the Hifiman product degraded the sound substantially.
I ended up blowing two drivers on the HE6 while using the straight to taps method. Whether that was due to poor QC on Hifiman's part or my 125wpc Kenwwod Eleven Deluxe pumping too much power into the headphones, I do not know.
Hifiman honered their 1 year warranty, I had the bad driver replaced for a third time and immediately sold the HE6. I simply got tired of the headaches and hassles of owning such a power hungry headphone. I wish you luck.

 

[iFi audio]

but I'm confused about what I actually need to connect these to the speaker taps on my Luxman R-117?

You could connect your cans directly to your amp's speaker taps via a suitable cable, of course as long as that amp can safely work with loads of a higher impedance than usually.

As for boxes that can go in-between speaker amps and headphones, our iESL was designed to do that and also work with electrostatic headphones:

https://ifi-audio.com/products/pro-iesl/

 

[Whitigir]

It is a tricky question, but directly connected to speaker outputs should only be done with headphones that have low sensitivity like below 90db or so. Even so, the output may be too powerful, and possibly damage the headphones. Especially with SS amplifier and the DC offset from the speakers output. It is recommended to have an adaptors, which is usually some resistors and possibly capacitors to act as a safety measures. Because these stuff are directly at the signals chains, it heavily influence the sound being produced by the headphones.

In the end, your best bet is to get a properly designed headphones amplifier that has a heck load of power of your headphones is below 90db sensitivity, period.

 

[DeweyCH]

Are they actually not running as per the spec? Because the specs say 2V SE and 4V balanced. That's as high as they should be until you run into something like an Eclipse car stereo with 8V or a SuperPro 707 DAC that kicks out way more voltage when plugged in but using USB input (as it also takes power via USB) that you run into noise. You can't even use the former normally since you're just gonna pull back on the amplifier gain anyway - the only time people actually use anywhere near that 8V is when they're not setting up a car for listening inside the car, but to park the car, hit Play, then stare at a screen display "160dB" then people cheer when the windows break because it's not their car.

I'm not sure... Drop's spec list for the SH-8 says at 64 ohms the output is 377mW SE and 835mW balanced.

EDIT: I'm a dingus. I meant the SH-8.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

I'm not sure... Drop's spec list for the SH-8 says at 64 ohms the output is 377mW SE and 835mW balanced.

EDIT: I'm a dingus. I meant the SH-8.

SH-8 isn't really all that powerful. It's just powerful for its size. The Schiit Lyr3 spits out 4watts at 50ohms and it's not even a huge amp, plus you don't even need a balanced cable to get all that power our of it. It just looks huge next to the SH-8.

And then there's the Schiit Ragnarok that can turn the HE6 into desktop speakers with 15watts into 50ohms.

 

[walker.777]

Can someone please advise if Headphones (HIfiman Susvara, HE1000SE, LCD4z, ZMF Atrium) can be safely plugged to the Triode Lab 2a3 Mini???? (http://www.triodelab.com/mini-integrated)

• Class A Auto-Bias
• 3.5W - 5W Before Distortion
• Input Sensitivity 350 mv @ 2W / Ch

 

[Green Carpet]

Hello all!
As this is my first post, I thought I would make it interesting...
New to this headphonary and quite impressed as it goes, but unfortunately encountering a slight difficulty, issue, problem.
I would like some opinions on my fantastic, unique, incredible solution as it's quite strong.
Today, I had delivered a pair of Hifiman HE6s V2. I also have an Ifi Diablo that I assumed would be ample to drive the Hifiman's.
Sadly, I was entirely wrong. It's the first time the amp has beyond half, let alone turned up to max. While in the "turbo" mode, the setting of highest power output.
Now, I will admit that I'm not using the balanced output due to the lack of the 4.4mm jack and cable I would need.
This is the "problem" presented to me.
The solution.
I have cables here that could be crafted, repurposed, savaged to the desired format necessary to overcome the problem, but sadly, that's not what life's about.
Life is about engineering, fabricating, and giving birth to the necessary cables needed to overcome the problem while including, involving, and embroiling. Two Cyrus monoblocks, 100w per channel. These Hifiman things have a thirst for power.
Will the amps be quenching?
The amp's output being XLR also gives the bonus of not just being 100w output. It's Marks & Spencer's finest, free-range, balanced, 100w per channel output.
I have everything here, all the willingly sacrificial cables, silver'ish solder, the what and the not.
What are the community's thoughts and opinions on such an idea, endeavor, quest?
I fancy it will work.
What do you fancy it might sound like? What do you fancy the TH-900s will have to say about it?
I mainly listen to jazz, dnb, techno, and Zappa. (Zappa goes in his own genre)
All at volumes equal to that of a running Rolls Royce turbine occupying a phonebox with you.
Thank you for reading, and I look forward to hopefully reading your feedback.

Green Carpet

 

[Green Carpet]

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/amps-that-can-drive-the-hifiman-he-6-planar-headphones.529873/

Thank you for participating.