[bosiemoncrieff]

  Coming up on 100 hours of burn in with the HE-6.  Noticed the mids were sounding a little reserved and the drums and cymbals were recessed.  Looking at the leather ear pads I noticed how dark the cloth was that covers the drivers.  I swapped them out for the vegan pads with a thinner driver cover and voices and instruments (especially drums and cymbals) became more transparent and present.  I just love these phones.  They are my signature sound to a fault.  Goodbye Audeze LCD-X and Sennheiser HD 800.  

Mine arrive in two weeks — we'll see how I like my HD800s by comparison. I'm especially exited to hear the HE6 render piano. It's a tremendously difficult instrument to render convincingly, and I haven't heard it reproduced to my satisfaction. Short of electrostatics, HE6 was my best bet.

 

[musicbuff]

Firstwatt J2 here, and I agree!

Reading through this post I see there are quite a few headphone amps that pair well with the HE-6. For burn in I hooked my 6's up to an old Sony 5 disc CD player and set it on repeat. Listening SE through the CD player the 6's volume could get very loud. Of course the sound quality was inferior to when listening XLR balanced through my dedicated HP amp (Violectric V281) but it wasn't awful. Since the 6's debut in 2012 it's earned the reputation of being the hardest headphone to properly drive. But since then a number of headphone amps have hit the market that can drive them well. Sad to hear Hifiman plans to discontinue making this exceptional headphone. 

 

[essencez]

  i am driving my HE-6 using goldmund job 225

 
I've been running the same setup since the Job 225 first came out! The pairing is amazing! Only con is you'll need to run a pre or a DAC that can act as a pre. JOB did recently release an integrated version of the amp.

 

[Shini44]

   
I've been running the same setup since the Job 225 first came out! The pairing is amazing! Only con is you'll need to run a pre or a DAC that can act as a pre. JOB did recently release an integrated version of the amp.

yeh, i loved it a lot  make me feel like an upgrade is not needed what so ever, i am hearing details which i never heard before, also its very clean and dynamic, super fun as well.
 
if i will go for an amp, it will be the WA5 or WA5 SE, because i want tube sound from time to time, the woo audio sound sig is really nice. 
 
 


btw people, the WA5se and WA5 got same power right?  so i go with speaker tap on WA5? or i go with WA5 SE directly? HE-6 wise ofc. 

 

[punit]

  btw people, the WA5se and WA5 got same power right?  so i go with speaker tap on WA5? or i go with WA5 SE directly? HE-6 wise ofc. 

Yeah, the new WA5 & WA5LE have same power. Only diff is WA5 has speaker taps & upgraded parts by default. With LE you get 2 versions - with or without upgraded parts. So if you want only for HP's then go for LE.

 

[Shini44]

  Yeah, the new WA5 & WA5LE have same power. Only diff is WA5 has speaker taps & upgraded parts by default. With LE you get 2 versions - with or without upgraded parts. So if you want only for HP's then go for LE.

Thanks amigo

 

[rickyleelee]

My bud brought over his he6s for a listen at the weekend. These are standard but on the retro, when you use the x bass setting, it really transforms the he6 into something else that is much meatier and more gratifying.  Bordering on a different headphone. He is considering getting the retro. For now he keeps coming over to ‘visit’ me. I don t mind his visits as I am getting to like the he6 which I always liked, but always felt could be better.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jozurr]

I tried the HE6 on the stereo 50 but didn't feel they sounded that good out of the headphone out. Have you tried the speaker taps? I really think for that price you can do much better. 

 

[rickyleelee]

The he6 needs the x bass to sound like it can. did you use early or later he6? the he6 i heard is the later production version with the black cable. not the white one which is thin sounding. also with no x bass, it sounds like another headphone. I have other headphones here fostex and they sounded much better when set up on the xbass and 3d (with closed). I will email ifi about using the speaker taps if there is any difference. good question.

 

[Jozurr]

 

 
I think these are the old HE-6 but I wasn't aware there were variations in the models? Have you compared the old and the new models side by side? Would love to hear your impressions on the differences. I'm not sure if x bass was on, but the stereo 50 seemed like they lacked power when turned up high on the volume. You can try the speaker taps with a banana to xlr cable or something.

 

[punit]

   
I think these are the old HE-6 but I wasn't aware there were variations in the models? Have you compared the old and the new models side by side? Would love to hear your impressions on the differences. I'm not sure if x bass was on, but the stereo 50 seemed like they lacked power when turned up high on the volume. You can try the speaker taps with a banana to xlr cable or something.

What was the source ? Maybe they had a weak source - like a DAP plugged to the line in ? When I tried it at Koolpep's house (he had a demo unit for trial) HE6 sounded good on it (from the HP out). Source was Retro 50's internal DAC through SPDIF.

 

[rickyleelee]

I don't have the he6. I just listenned them using my friend who is the he6 man. his english not good so he is not on head-fi. but he likes the he6 a lot and is a big fan. I have just had different times with them and that is why I def didn't like the earlier ones. The one he has now is the one with the black cable. The later ones sound the most all round to me.

 

[rickyleelee]

  What was the source ? Maybe they had a weak source - like a DAP plugged to the line in ? When I tried it at Koolpep's house (he had a demo unit for trial) HE6 sounded good on it (from the HP out). Source was Retro 50's internal DAC through SPDIF.

you must use a good source (always). I use macbook with audirvana into the retro. I dont have many fancy dsd recordings but just good cd ones. without the x-bass, the he6 really dont do it for me. the lack of bass is their main issue. i use the 3 stars on the x bass always for he6. but the full tube sound really does come through. the 3d is not need as the he6 has big soundstage i think. just try this class a tube headphone amp. it is not crazy money and is better than solid stete power amps for me. if only my wife let me get a vinyl deck and some records to play with.

 

[Jozurr]

All of you guys who own the HE-6, what IEMs do you own and what IEMs do you think come the closest to sound compared to the HE-6?

 

[jarnopp]

All of you guys who own the HE-6, what IEMs do you own and what IEMs do you think come the closest to sound compared to the HE-6?

That's a great question! I don't have a ton of iem experience, but I feel like the Vsonic GR07 has a similar balance throughout the range and transparency that lets the music flow through.