lisnalee
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2007
- Posts
- 2,707
- Likes
- 15
Firstly i’d like to say a big thankyou to Nankai and SievekingSound for organizing this EU HE-6 loaner program . All too often theres a big ‘Conus Only’ on these try outs and the majority of us across the pond tend to miss out on the opportunity to try out new flagship products. I certainly hope this will be the first of many more to come 
Speaker amp
Unfortunately with the delays of the original pair getting returned for repair then exchanged to the current production version i no longer have my K1000 to do a direct comparison with so my comparisons to those are from memory. My only flagship headphone i have at the moment is the ultrasone Ed. 8 and i compared it directly to them later on in the review. I pretty much listen to a little of everything and as i only had these for a week to try i used a wide range of genre’s from pop to rock, jazz to rnb, dance and even a bit of classical. All of the tracks i used were was in Aiff format .
The setup i used is the same one i had for the K1000 comprising of :
iMac > Puremusic software > PS audio DLIII > Technics Receiver (Class A)
These are heavier than i was expecting, they look quite light but have an a good weight to them when you pick them up but are not heavy enough to give you neck trouble while wearing them. They have a similar clamping force to the HD650 but i’m sure the headband could be bent a little to reduce it if necessary. There was no 4pin xlr to banana plugs cable with these so i had to use the impedance box designed for amps throwing out 75w or more. I have no idea if it does anything to the actual sound but in this case it was the only option for me.
The vintage technics pushes out a nice 30 watts per channel and i was very happy of how it drove the AKG when i had them. As for driving them they are just as hungry as the AKG with the volume dial sitting at the same 10 o’clock position. But that does mean there is a ton of headroom on this amp as full volume is about 4 o’clock on the dial. I really noticed the bass on the HE-6 especially coming from a bass light pair of K1000. Its very tight and goes very deep, drum beats have an almost 3D quality really separated from the other instruments. At no time does it feel bloated and its just as much or little as the track needs. The mid range is very impressive, plenty of detail and vocals are are just slightly forward from centre which for me is just right. The highs are well represented here as well and without any trace of sibilance. The overall sound of them is very musical and probably on the warmer side of neutral.
I thought the sound stage is quite small for an open headphone, its not congested and stuck in your head like a pair of iem’s but it doesn’t throw a concert wide feel that the K1000 can easily produce. For me the AKG was supreme at live acoustic tracks and Jazz (especially with the likes of Diana Krall, Rebecca Pidgeon, Michael Buble and Claire Martin) but didn’t do so well with modern rock, pop or dance music. The HE-6 is just as good with the live and jazz tracks but in another league altogether when it comes to the modern pop or DJ sets. They are as close as i have come in my few years at head-fi to a headphone that is pretty much suitable for nearly all genres. It may not be the most perfect headphone ever created but its a close as i’m ever to need.
Headphone amp
For this used my office rig comprising of:
Macbook Pro > Puremusic software > Matrix cube dac/amp
For most people they will be running these from a standard headphone amp, the matrix cube is a nice little budget combo unit that i bought to replace my nuforce uDac. Once i plugged in the HE-6 i noticed a slight difference in SQ, it was almost as if the music lacked weight behind it and no amount of extra volume could fill it out so that it felt full and engaging as they sounded on the technics speaker amp.
It is worth pointing out that the only thing in common between the HE-6 and the Ultrasone Ed 8 is that at full price both cost over well $1000. So the following bit is pretty worthless in terms of comparison but as they were at hand i done it anyway. For normal listening i have the volume dialed in at about 9 o’clock when using the Ed 8 but for the HE-6 it needs cranked up to about 2 o’clock to get a similar level of sound ( sorry i don’t have an spl meter to measure them exactly) In terms of bass they are more or less a tie both deliver well defined and plenty of it when needed. The mids in the HE-6 do seem more focused and more separated from the rest of the track with the Ed 8 almost seeming a little veiled in comparison. Not wanting to stir up the whole amp issue causing this type of problem i just want to say its just something i haven’t noticed before but just when comparing both of these HP side by side.
Both headphones have well extended highs and neither have any sign of sibilance that i could detect. The soundstage is also a close call between them, both offer a decent amount of outside of your head performance but nothing spectacular. The K1000 have ruined me in that aspect & i doubt any other hp will ever improve on them in that area.
Of course when it comes to sound isolation and portability running from the likes of an an ipod the HE-6 don’t stand a chance against the ultrasones, which of course is what they were primary designed for. At full volume the music is just audible on the HE-6 and lacking any sort of decent SQ, just flat and dull. They don’t block out any background noise which is perfectly normal for open cans but it is sometimes quite hard to get a pin quiet environment to use them properly and without annoying others in the vicinity. Horses for courses and all that...
The Bad?
The only negatives i have are really nitpicking at best. For anyone with a normal to small sized head the cups could be sitting lower down than you would like. Even with the cup pushed fully up on the slider bars i had to pad out the headband to bring them up to a more central position over the ears. Of course there will be some that might feel at full extension its too small so i guess its trying to find a happy medium to suit everyone.
As for the new paint finish, i much preferred the look of the leather on the prototype enclosures, it exuded class which was very fitting of a flagship product. The finish on the cups is ok but it seems identical to the much cheaper He-4. Of course it’s all about the sound and for that it could be easily forgiven.
The frame does make a few squeaks here and there when moving your head about, now this could be just because this pair has been through the wars while traveling across Europe and perhaps even fixed in the production models but in IMHO any metal on metal contact is always going to suffer from this type of problem. A few extra rubber spacers would cure it.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that the HE-6 is right up there amongst the flagship headphones i’ve heard, for me its more comfortable than the K1000 with much improved bass without losing any of the finer details of the music. Sure it doesn’t quite have the life like soundstage of the AKG but overall i feel its still a better all rounder.
Its not really fair to compare it with the Ed 8 as they are like chalk and cheese, but used in a home amp setting and if i only had one pair to choose from it would be the HE-6.
In the 2 setups i tried these on the speaker amp won hands down in terms of SQ. Now i’m sure there are plenty of desktop amps that could drive these fine but i bet you there are going to cost in the region of $500-1000. A nice vintage amp from the 1980’s like the technics that i used can be picked up on ebay for around $100.
Going out on a limb these are the closest i have come to the Omega II mk1 run from the Woo Audio GES amp . The HE-6 are very immersive and really draw you into the performance with pin point accuracy in instrument placement and on stage vocals. I have a few tracks that have sounded phenomenal with the stax and i have never really be able to get them to sound just right with other headphones i’ve owned in the past. But the HE-6 does them justice, which is remarkable considering its about 25% of the cost of the stax rig
Of course i’m not for one minute suggesting every BHSE and Omega 2 owner out there flogs them for a pair of these, but certainly for anyone coming up the upgrade path, these are probably going be be the sweet spot as far as headphones go.
Speaker amp
Unfortunately with the delays of the original pair getting returned for repair then exchanged to the current production version i no longer have my K1000 to do a direct comparison with so my comparisons to those are from memory. My only flagship headphone i have at the moment is the ultrasone Ed. 8 and i compared it directly to them later on in the review. I pretty much listen to a little of everything and as i only had these for a week to try i used a wide range of genre’s from pop to rock, jazz to rnb, dance and even a bit of classical. All of the tracks i used were was in Aiff format .
The setup i used is the same one i had for the K1000 comprising of :
iMac > Puremusic software > PS audio DLIII > Technics Receiver (Class A)
These are heavier than i was expecting, they look quite light but have an a good weight to them when you pick them up but are not heavy enough to give you neck trouble while wearing them. They have a similar clamping force to the HD650 but i’m sure the headband could be bent a little to reduce it if necessary. There was no 4pin xlr to banana plugs cable with these so i had to use the impedance box designed for amps throwing out 75w or more. I have no idea if it does anything to the actual sound but in this case it was the only option for me.
The vintage technics pushes out a nice 30 watts per channel and i was very happy of how it drove the AKG when i had them. As for driving them they are just as hungry as the AKG with the volume dial sitting at the same 10 o’clock position. But that does mean there is a ton of headroom on this amp as full volume is about 4 o’clock on the dial. I really noticed the bass on the HE-6 especially coming from a bass light pair of K1000. Its very tight and goes very deep, drum beats have an almost 3D quality really separated from the other instruments. At no time does it feel bloated and its just as much or little as the track needs. The mid range is very impressive, plenty of detail and vocals are are just slightly forward from centre which for me is just right. The highs are well represented here as well and without any trace of sibilance. The overall sound of them is very musical and probably on the warmer side of neutral.
I thought the sound stage is quite small for an open headphone, its not congested and stuck in your head like a pair of iem’s but it doesn’t throw a concert wide feel that the K1000 can easily produce. For me the AKG was supreme at live acoustic tracks and Jazz (especially with the likes of Diana Krall, Rebecca Pidgeon, Michael Buble and Claire Martin) but didn’t do so well with modern rock, pop or dance music. The HE-6 is just as good with the live and jazz tracks but in another league altogether when it comes to the modern pop or DJ sets. They are as close as i have come in my few years at head-fi to a headphone that is pretty much suitable for nearly all genres. It may not be the most perfect headphone ever created but its a close as i’m ever to need.
Headphone amp
For this used my office rig comprising of:
Macbook Pro > Puremusic software > Matrix cube dac/amp
For most people they will be running these from a standard headphone amp, the matrix cube is a nice little budget combo unit that i bought to replace my nuforce uDac. Once i plugged in the HE-6 i noticed a slight difference in SQ, it was almost as if the music lacked weight behind it and no amount of extra volume could fill it out so that it felt full and engaging as they sounded on the technics speaker amp.
It is worth pointing out that the only thing in common between the HE-6 and the Ultrasone Ed 8 is that at full price both cost over well $1000. So the following bit is pretty worthless in terms of comparison but as they were at hand i done it anyway. For normal listening i have the volume dialed in at about 9 o’clock when using the Ed 8 but for the HE-6 it needs cranked up to about 2 o’clock to get a similar level of sound ( sorry i don’t have an spl meter to measure them exactly) In terms of bass they are more or less a tie both deliver well defined and plenty of it when needed. The mids in the HE-6 do seem more focused and more separated from the rest of the track with the Ed 8 almost seeming a little veiled in comparison. Not wanting to stir up the whole amp issue causing this type of problem i just want to say its just something i haven’t noticed before but just when comparing both of these HP side by side.
Both headphones have well extended highs and neither have any sign of sibilance that i could detect. The soundstage is also a close call between them, both offer a decent amount of outside of your head performance but nothing spectacular. The K1000 have ruined me in that aspect & i doubt any other hp will ever improve on them in that area.
Of course when it comes to sound isolation and portability running from the likes of an an ipod the HE-6 don’t stand a chance against the ultrasones, which of course is what they were primary designed for. At full volume the music is just audible on the HE-6 and lacking any sort of decent SQ, just flat and dull. They don’t block out any background noise which is perfectly normal for open cans but it is sometimes quite hard to get a pin quiet environment to use them properly and without annoying others in the vicinity. Horses for courses and all that...
The Bad?
The only negatives i have are really nitpicking at best. For anyone with a normal to small sized head the cups could be sitting lower down than you would like. Even with the cup pushed fully up on the slider bars i had to pad out the headband to bring them up to a more central position over the ears. Of course there will be some that might feel at full extension its too small so i guess its trying to find a happy medium to suit everyone.
As for the new paint finish, i much preferred the look of the leather on the prototype enclosures, it exuded class which was very fitting of a flagship product. The finish on the cups is ok but it seems identical to the much cheaper He-4. Of course it’s all about the sound and for that it could be easily forgiven.
The frame does make a few squeaks here and there when moving your head about, now this could be just because this pair has been through the wars while traveling across Europe and perhaps even fixed in the production models but in IMHO any metal on metal contact is always going to suffer from this type of problem. A few extra rubber spacers would cure it.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that the HE-6 is right up there amongst the flagship headphones i’ve heard, for me its more comfortable than the K1000 with much improved bass without losing any of the finer details of the music. Sure it doesn’t quite have the life like soundstage of the AKG but overall i feel its still a better all rounder.
Its not really fair to compare it with the Ed 8 as they are like chalk and cheese, but used in a home amp setting and if i only had one pair to choose from it would be the HE-6.
In the 2 setups i tried these on the speaker amp won hands down in terms of SQ. Now i’m sure there are plenty of desktop amps that could drive these fine but i bet you there are going to cost in the region of $500-1000. A nice vintage amp from the 1980’s like the technics that i used can be picked up on ebay for around $100.
Going out on a limb these are the closest i have come to the Omega II mk1 run from the Woo Audio GES amp . The HE-6 are very immersive and really draw you into the performance with pin point accuracy in instrument placement and on stage vocals. I have a few tracks that have sounded phenomenal with the stax and i have never really be able to get them to sound just right with other headphones i’ve owned in the past. But the HE-6 does them justice, which is remarkable considering its about 25% of the cost of the stax rig
Of course i’m not for one minute suggesting every BHSE and Omega 2 owner out there flogs them for a pair of these, but certainly for anyone coming up the upgrade path, these are probably going be be the sweet spot as far as headphones go.
