HE6se vs Arya stealth vs Meze 109

[leManu]

Hi,

I currently have a Stax L500mk2 with L700 ear pads and a Stax 323S amp. I like the speed, technicality and tonality of it. Lack some punch, but for non amplified instruments it's a gorgeous sound. I EQ it with Roon to remove any extra sibilance that I can't stand.

I'm now looking for a secondary headphone to listen when I'm at my girlfriend house. When I'm there I'm currently using a pair of Audio-Technica ATH-M50x. I bought those 15 years ago to listen in an office and never liked them. Dark, slow, constrained and really bad tonality.

I have a Linn Majik DSI that I'll use as source and ideally to power the headphone. The headphone output is OK, but not enough to drive the HE6se.

I'm limited my choices to the HIFIMAN HE6se, Arya stealth or the Meze 109 pro. If I'm going with the HE6se, I'll buy a basic amp like the Schitt Midgard.

I found an open box HE6se for 420$ + 200$ for an amp (640$ total), open box Arya Stealth for 600$ and a used Meze for 550$, so pretty much all the same. They could all be EQ in Roon too.

I like the sound of my Stax, but I'm open to have something different to enjoy. More punch and bass would be fun, but I still want accurate tonality and an open sound.

I also want something that can be gracefully EQ to remove sibilance if needed.

I've read really good comments about HIFIMAN bang for the box, but really bad comments about quality issues. I normally take really good care of my stuff, but I really want a product that will last me.

What would you recommend and why?

 

[msing539]

Is that Linn an integrated amp with speaker outputs? If so, you could run the 6SE off those.

 

[dunring]

If it's got to be one of the three, the Arya Stealth is better out of the box for tuning. The HE6se really needs EQ and then it's clearly better. You'll need a 5 volt DAC and even my SMSL H400 and Topping A70 Pro are pushed to the limits with a -6.9db preamp reduction to EQ them, and on quiet recordings or using Replaygain you'll need all the power you can get. Stock tuning is good, and then most amps 3 watts into 32 ohm can handle it with a 5 volt DAC, it's doable. Thing is, when you hear the HE6SE equalized it so good then power/volume can be an issue.

I've got the HE6se and just sold an Arya Stealth, the best overall is the Hifiman Edition XS. Pair it with a $50 Fosi DS2 and $20 for Youkamoo balanced 4.4mm cables on Amazon and you'll feel like you stole it, sounds so good. I never needed to equalize them, and the Fosi has plenty of power for them on the 4.4mm plug (117 SINAD so no audible distortion). For the PC I just got a 3ft USB C cable to sit the DS2 close by, since the volume buttons are on it.

 

[leManu]

Is that Linn an integrated amp with speaker outputs? If so, you could run the 6SE off those.

Yes it's a Linn integrated amp with an headphone output. I'll use the headphone output as the speakers post are in use for speakers. I don't think the headphone amp give more than 2v.

 

[msing539]

Yes it's a Linn integrated amp with an headphone output. I'll use the headphone output as the speakers post are in use for speakers. I don't think the headphone amp give more than 2v.

What I meant was that the HE6SE can be run off the speaker taps if you're up for swapping. If not, I think you'd be better off with one of the other headphones mentioned.