[Thujone]

  Respecting what you hear, I have to ask, have you tried the 6 on a speaker amp?
 
I love the 4, but it does nothing as good as the 6 paired with the J2, the bass is the best I have heard and the air and sound stage are only matched by maybe the HD800.
 
I was actually a bit disappointed when I picked up the 6, I tried many combos including vintage, the Lyr, Emotiva mini and etc. I then got lucky finding a Firstwatt amp at a decent price and it sounds better then I thought a headphone can sound. All IMHO(of course).
 
Not a speaker amp zealot, just a guy saying what he hears . 

Nope, haven't had the privilege of trying a speaker amp yet, but I will when I can. I had the Emotiva mini with my HE-4 at one point and while it had more bass it was pretty terribly grainy across the spectrum. I'm sure a good speaker amp would be much better.
 
I can easily see someone preferring the HE-4 over the HE-6, they're just very different and both excel in different ways.
 
How much did you manage to grab the Firstwatt for? They seem pretty favored amongst HE-6 users. Have you tried any of your other headphones (HD800, HD600, etc.) with the Firstwatt?

 

[Fearless1]

 
Nope, haven't had the privilege of trying a speaker amp yet, but I will when I can. I had the Emotiva mini with my HE-4 at one point and while it had more bass it was pretty terribly grainy across the spectrum. I'm sure a good speaker amp would be much better.
 
I can easily see someone preferring the HE-4 over the HE-6, they're just very different and both excel in different ways.
 
How much did you manage to grab the Firstwatt for? They seem pretty favored amongst HE-6 users. Have you tried any of your other headphones (HD800, HD600, etc.) with the Firstwatt?

 I was searching for an F5 when the J2 fell in my lap and I got it for under 2k (lucky I guess....). It sounds amazing, even at low volumes (an experience I could not achieve with the 6 before it).
 
I agree with the Emotiva, while I do like it with the 500, the more revealing 6 and or 4 really shows it's treble flaws.
 
I use a single ended amp for the HD800, when I heard it, I was done with that setup so I never got balanced cables for it.  The 600/650 sound great on it, a Nelson pass amp is music to a new level IMHO.
 
To describe the J2, it is like owning the best tube amp I have heard, and preamping it to the best solid state amp I have ever heard.

 

[Thujone]

Very sweet. I'm hoping I'll get that kind of impression from the Beta22. I'm not ready for a 2k amp investment... yet. Hard to pass up deals like that though.

 

[Makiah S]

 
Nope, haven't had the privilege of trying a speaker amp yet, but I will when I can. I had the Emotiva mini with my HE-4 at one point and while it had more bass it was pretty terribly grainy across the spectrum. I'm sure a good speaker amp would be much better.
 
I can easily see someone preferring the HE-4 over the HE-6, they're just very different and both excel in different ways.
 
How much did you manage to grab the Firstwatt for? They seem pretty favored amongst HE-6 users. Have you tried any of your other headphones (HD800, HD600, etc.) with the Firstwatt?

 
 

 
 I was searching for an F5 when the J2 fell in my lap and I got it for under 2k (lucky I guess....). It sounds amazing, even at low volumes (an experience I could not achieve with the 6 before it).
 
I agree with the Emotiva, while I do like it with the 500, the more revealing 6 and or 4 really shows it's treble flaws.
 
I use a single ended amp for the HD800, when I heard it, I was done with that setup so I never got balanced cables for it.  The 600/650 sound great on it, a Nelson pass amp is music to a new level IMHO.
 
To describe the J2, it is like owning the best tube amp I have heard, and preamping it to the best solid state amp I have ever heard.

Any of you guys had a chance to compare the HE 4 with the Ether C or Ether, I might go that way for a simple'r upgrade [without all the modding] 

 

[Fearless1]

Very sweet. I'm hoping I'll get that kind of impression from the Beta22. I'm not ready for a 2k amp investment... yet. Hard to pass up deals like that though.

I have only heard the Beta22 once at a meet paired with the 650, it was fantastic sounding.

 

[Akemi Homura]

Hey, I was recently thinking about my age while hanging in this thread a bit....come to think about it, am I probably the youngest in this thread? Or... possibly the youngest of all Headfi itself

 

[Rozenberg]

Hey, I was recently thinking about my age while hanging in this thread a bit....come to think about it, am I probably the youngest in this thread? Or... possibly the youngest of all Headfi itself

In this thread, yes.
In the entire forum, probably not, I think I've seen a profile claiming he's 15 or 16.
 

---

 
Last night I tried fiddling with my HE-4 again for a night music before sleep. Trying to use pleather pads again, and I realized how much soundstage I lost compared to Alpha Pads... The bass felt inferior though, couldn't get the vibrating feel on ears. Now it made me think whether I should buy Focus Pads and sell the Alpha? Though I don't wanna let go of the Alpha considering how much trouble I've gone thru

 

[Makiah S]

  In this thread, yes.
In the entire forum, probably not, I think I've seen a profile claiming he's 15 or 16.
 

---

 
Last night I tried fiddling with my HE-4 again for a night music before sleep. Trying to use pleather pads again, and I realized how much soundstage I lost compared to Alpha Pads... The bass felt inferior though, couldn't get the vibrating feel on ears. Now it made me think whether I should buy Focus Pads and sell the Alpha? Though I don't wanna let go of the Alpha considering how much trouble I've gone thru

yea no scratch that, TmRaven brought out a nice point about the HE X having some mid range distortion... an after listening to a good bit of Metal, I'm starting to see why he says that. The HE X lacks a sense of clarity that the HE 4 has, though it's a tad deeper an Wider than the HE 4, though with a very "busy" track you can start to hear the lack of clairty
 
the HE X is reminding me of the LCD 2 Fazor in that Sense, the Fazor was AMAZING for anything with 2-3 instruments or vocalists, how ever through a full orchestral ensemble an you start to hear it's lack of clarity 
 
mmm yea 7 hours later an that's still what I'm hearing an feeling, though the HE X lacks the LCD 2s linear sub bass, it's rolled off at the bottom end 

 

[pbui44]

When I heard the Fostex TH500RP at CanJam@RMAF 2014, I felt the sound was held far back from the stock ear pads, as the edges touched parts of my ear lobe. After seeing a TH500RP used with Hifiman connectors for a good price, I jumped on it and I was right. I put my Audeze pleather ear pads on them and the bass/treble extensions are restored and soundstage at least doubling in width and length. However, I was wrong on the stock ear pads no longer being useful with such a small ear opening. After serious angling, the ear pads give my ears just enough room to fit and bring my ears closer to the planar array, making the soundstage even larger with speaker-like instrument separation, which is something I never heard from the HD800, Abyss, or SR-009.

The closest to coming to this sound was the Sony MDR-F1 and the HE-4 with TH500RP ear pads still has much better instrument separation, so I hope to hear a AKG K-1000 with a very, very special amp at CanJam@SoCal 2016 to compare. Also, I like the TH500RP complimenting the HE-4, especially after switching ear pads.

 

[Makiah S]

When I heard the Fostex TH500RP at CanJam@RMAF 2014, I felt the sound was held far back from the stock ear pads, as the edges touched parts of my ear lobe. After seeing a TH500RP used with Hifiman connectors for a good price, I jumped on it and I was right. I put my Audeze pleather ear pads on them and the bass/treble extensions are restored and soundstage at least doubling in width and length. However, I was wrong on the stock ear pads no longer being useful with such a small ear opening. After serious angling, the ear pads give my ears just enough room to fit and bring my ears closer to the planar array, making the soundstage even larger with speaker-like instrument separation, which is something I never heard from the HD800, Abyss, or SR-009.

The closest to coming to this sound was the Sony MDR-F1 and the HE-4 with TH500RP ear pads still has much better instrument separation, so I hope to hear a AKG K-1000 with a very, very special amp at CanJam@SoCal 2016 to compare. Also, I like the TH500RP complimenting the HE-4, especially after switching ear pads.

very nice! Sadly I have... a growing collection of Closed Backs to compliment my HE 4 xD 

 

[pbui44]

very nice! Sadly I have... a growing collection of Closed Backs to compliment my HE 4 xD 

Yeah, closed-backs to compliment the HE-4 are tough to find. A Denon D5000 works well as an example.

Still thinking about going to CanJam@SoCal 2016? Do it! Do it, do it, do it!

 

[Makiah S]

Yeah, closed-backs to compliment the HE-4 are tough to find. A Denon D5000 works well as an example.

Still thinking about going to CanJam@SoCal 2016? Do it! Do it, do it, do it!

Bwah I'm going to have to pass, I bought some plane tickets for Macedonia earlier this week, an I totally forgot about the cost of a Pass Port <.< so long story short I didn't have the cash for both trips [Tickets into Cali where like $450 even now!] 
 
I did how ever, manage to add to me collection of Closed Backs, I grabbed a very VERY modded ATH ES10 with some custom Wood Cups [Thanks Bill-P I've been talking about buying these from him for A YEAR...] additionally I found a Denon AH A100 WITH ORIGINAL BOX an goodies for $300 so :/ I jumped on that... though in retro spec I could have paid for a plane ticket with the money I spent on those two headphones <.< oh well, the ES10 was bought months ago an the A 100 was very SPUR of the moment! I might take 2016 as a year to finish all of my modding, an invest in some nicer Interconnectors an Power Cables for my Dac/Amp /Computer before I drop some cash into a Plane Ticket an a TOTL, I'd imagine it'll be at least around $500 to finish getting all my Full Sized Headphones Swapped into XLR Cables, in addition to getting some better inconnectors for my Project Starlight /pc/NFB10ES2 

 

[Makiah S]

I'll also say this
 
some people complain the HE 4 doesn't have the bass that they like... an I can agree with that
 
I find that with a nice -5 DB Shelf starting at 156 hrz an a volume output of around 90dbs these things REALLY FREAKING SLAM for some EDM, better an cleaner than my LA D5k or TH X00, though the treble get's kinda bothersome after like an hour
 
still though... planar bass me gustah 

 

[pbui44]

OMG...After owning the HE-4 for nearly three years, it has finally proven it's dominion for my musical preferences over the HD800 and everything else that is more expensive than the HD800. All I have to say is: thank you Thujone for posting your stuff on your profile that leads others to make better purchases. You definitely have a PM.

 

[pbui44]

And yes, I did have a break-up this past Valentine's Day...with my tax refund, as I now owe the IRS money. This is why I enjoy my HE-4 and Head-fi. :rolleyes: