Interesting. Yes, I am on the verge of getting a First Watt. I have been abreast of the threads pertaining to the HE-6. That being said it is a headphone and it seems logical to try them out on headphone amps. The original question was about whether any of us have used the HE-6s on the Stratus. My original post acknowledged that SS amps seem to be the way to go. I was merely stating that *to my ears* they sound good with the Stratus - not optimal but good. They also sound good with my 15W George Wright Au-215 I tube amp using the speaker posts. So far, in my odyssey with SS amps for the HE-6s, I have not been able to entirely do away with what I hear as a false treble sibilance and a lack of decay in the higher frequencies in general. There is a combination of linearity and largeness of tone that good tubes bring to the HE-6s that I haven't found reproduced yet by a transistor. But I by no means want to imply I have done exhaustive research. Still, there does seem to be a general dismissal that tube amps can't drive the HE-6s *correctly* that isn't really borne out by mathematics, more by subjective reaction, which I respect and want to understand better.
The difference between "driving them" and merely "playing them" seems quite subjective to me. I was recently called rude for appearing to imply that no one should comment on a given pair of headphones in combination with a given headphone amp unless they have actually spent some real time with that combination in a controlled environment. I am not saying what you have said is rude, but it is a bit dismissive to say that anyone who hasn't heard the HE-6s on the amp you recommend hasn't "really heard them" and that anyone who saying they actually like the HE-6 with a tube amp is "getting old." Funny, seems to me far people are saying that SS amps only can drive the HE-6s so technically that is getting old. It's possible, isn't it, that someone might enjoy the sound of the HE-6s on, say, the Stratus, or the Wright or another tube amp? It's possible that the HE-6s possess many different possible flavors, depending on the amp driving them. You clearly have your preference. The consensus seems to favor SS, although the topologies and wattage of those SS amps varies widely. I have taken this to heart and, like I said, I have been searching for the right SS amp. In fact, it was the guidelines laid out in general in the HE-6 thread that led me to the amps I have tried. But still I miss the tone and, like I said, the treble has never sounded true. The Stratus corrected this, perhaps giving something else up in the process, I don't know. So onward I go in my search, using the only criteria I really can: my ears.