HE-6 Loaner Program

[Edwood]

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What amp are you using, Ed?

Grace m902.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

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Western US HE-6 Loaner has arrived safely in my hands today. 
 
Sound has definitely improved a bit from the already excellent sounding prototypes at CanJam.   Most noticeable changes are better imaging, tighter bass and treble.  Will post more as I get some quality quiet time to listen.  Along with pics as well. 
 
-Ed

I did put over 300 hours on the HE-6, so they are fully burned in.  

 
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Any updates Larry? Your opinion is valued.

Well, I feel the HE-6 are more airy and transparent and open sounding, but with a little bit smaller but well focused soundstage.  The HE-6 and HE-5 LE soundstage isn't too small, but it's not as large as the K1000, HD800, HE-60 or LCD-2.  It's closer to the O2 Mk1 or LA7000.  
 
The apparent detail of the HE-6 is better, while the LCD-2 and HE-5 LE have slightly less but still very good and similar levels of detail.  The LCD-2 has a warmer and slightly darker flavor than the HE-6 or HE-5 LE, but slightly better depth and width of the soundstage.  The LCD-2 improved a little bit with burn-in, but changes are not huge and about as much as an HD600 changes, rather than being like an Ultrasone with roller coaster changes over time.  Pianos are not as drilling into my head with the LCD-2 now, but I prefer the HE-6 and HE-5 LE presentation more with those.  The HE-5 LE are still more delicate and airy than the LCD-2, but the LCD-2 are not overly dark any more than the O2 Mk1 on a good amp.
 
I'd have to say I like all three phones, but they have different flavors and times when I would listen.   As far as pairing - I liked the HE-6 on the Yamaha receiver in my bedroom the most, followed by the Jade on my eXStatA, LCD-2 on the EF-5 amp or HE-5LE on the SAC amp.  The HD800 and HE-60 will still reside in my main headphone rig in the basement, driven by the ZDT and WES amps, but the O2 Mk1 and HE-6 would likely get a bit of ear time down there as well.
 
I'm still not done evaluating the LCD-2.  It does work better with portable amps than the HE-6 and HE-5 LE or HE-5, unless I am using the RSA Protector in balanced mode, and then the LCD-2 fall behind the others.  Also, the DACport which is one of my favorites sounds thin with the LCD-2, which I cannot explain.  The uDAC is my favorite portable with the LCD-2.

 

[Shahrose]

Thanks for shedding light on the topic. How does the LCD-2 fair with your main tube amps? I saw reports of the Audez'e benefiting from good quality sources/amps.

 

[kwkarth]

Let's try and confine the topic in this thread to discussion (particularly questions) of the HE-6 sounds please.  We can always start another comparison thread.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

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Let's try and confine the topic in this thread to discussion (particularly questions) of the HE-6 sounds please.  We can always start another comparison thread.

Good point - I'm done discussing the HE-6 vs LCD-2 comparisons here anyway.

 

[Pyriel0]

For anyone else on the loaner list that has an LCD2, how does the HE6 compare to it?

 

[Pyriel0]

Describing how a headphone sounds will naturally take comparisons to other headphones. I, for one, am interested in how the he6 sounds compared to the lcd2, along with all the other high end headphones out.

 

[kwkarth]

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Describing how a headphone sounds will naturally take comparisons to other headphones. I, for one, am interested in how the he6 sounds compared to the lcd2, along with all the other high end headphones out.

Everyone is more than welcome to compare, but it is not appropriate to spend more time discussing competing headphones in this thread than discussing the HE-6 itself.
 

 

[kwkarth]

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Thanks for shedding light on the topic. How does the LCD-2 fair with your main tube amps? I saw reports of the Audez'e benefiting from good quality sources/amps.

ANY decent headphone will benefit from using good quality sources and amps. 

 

[Frank I]

We are at end of week three and no impressions from the people who have them now. Would be nice to start seeing some more impressions on the people who took them last week.

 

[baka1969]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank I  
" We are at end of week three and no impressions from the people who have them now. Would be nice to start seeing some more impressions on the people who took them last week."


My thoughts exactly

 

[Maxvla]

Who has them presently? I thought western pair was delayed a week for LCD2 comparison by Larry?

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

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Who has them presently? I thought western pair was delayed a week for LCD2 comparison by Larry?

Edwood got them a few days ago.

 

[baka1969]

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Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict  


"Edwood got them a few days ago."

I gave El_Doug the HE-6 this past Saturday.

 

[Edwood]

Yup, I have the Western HE-6.  Speaking of which, I see that Skylab is next on the list for the Western HE-6?  Uh, isn't he in Chicago?  Last I checked Chicago was in the Eastern half of the USA.    Not that it matters really to me, it'll just slow down a bit with the extra transit time.
 
I'll likely ship via FedEx ground.
 
-Ed