[daltonlanny]

Just completed all of ohhgourami's mods to my HE-6...Vegans with hair screens removed, adhesive felt ring from Michaels inside the pads over the leather, grills removed, double-sided tape, blu-tack.
Wow. Unbelievable!
The soundstage is 5 times wider, the treble peakiness is virtually gone, the clarity, detail, focus, definition, punch, and bass is outstanding.
Now, with the stock velours, the sound is more edgy, closed in, and less refined.
100% improvement in sound, and in comfort, IMHO

 

[Canadian411]

Just completed all of ohhgourami's mods to my HE-6...Vegans with hair screens removed, adhesive felt ring from Michaels inside the pads over the leather, grills removed, double-sided tape, blu-tack.
Wow. Unbelievable!
The soundstage is 5 times wider, the treble peakiness is virtually gone, the clarity, detail, focus, definition, punch, and bass is outstanding.
Now, with the stock velours, the sound is more edgy, closed in, and less refined.
100% improvement in sound, and in comfort, IMHO

 
Ya me 2, awesome headphone with mods

 

[LarsHP]

  Hi guys!
It has been a while since I have T1. I'm using it balanced with nfb28 2015 H option. And I have nothing to complain about.
On the other hand, I always wanted to try He6. Especially as people praise it for its bass and how good it could be with rock/metal song. But I have had deep concerns about build quality of those beasts. I have seen many people have their he6's drivers replaced. Many have their cable replaced too. As I live in a country that using warranty from Hifiman is somehow impossible, I can't risk on having an unreliable product. My question from you is that how reliable do you think the latest production batch of he6 is? Do you think that they are as reliable as other flagship headphones like hd800 or t1?

It seems like you have read some posts here, but haven't read them closely enough.
 
The people with these blown drivers have one common thing: They used speaker amps, and for some reason the power amplifier blew the driver(s). In other words, it's not bad manufacturing, but an overload of power into the driver.
 
Regarding replacement of cable, I think it's the quest to upgrade the sound (and perhaps loooks) which is the reason for all - or almost all - these replacements.
 
Reliability, build and finish-wise, I think HiFiMan generally might be a step down from Sennheiser and BeyerDynamic. However, I think it's good enough. In short, if you prefer reliabiltiy, design and looks over sound quality, HiFiMan is not your kind of brand. In my opinion of course.
 
HiFiMan has a reputation for high sound quality for less money - or had at least. With HE1000 and other newer products that profile seems to fade a bit.

 

[nc8000]

The silver cables have had a fair number of breakages. Alone in Denmark on the Danish headphone site I think there have been 3 or 4 broken ones. They all break in the smc connector on the cable.

 

[Tobes]

It seems like you have read some posts here, but haven't read them closely enough.

The people with these blown drivers have one common thing: They used speaker amps, and for some reason the power amplifier blew the driver(s). In other words, it's not bad manufacturing, but an overload of power into the driver.

Agreed, some power amps can produce nasty turn off/on thumps that, while not an issue for speakers, could damage more delicate headphone drivers. Given that some folks have reported broken drivers that have seemingly just 'failed' - ie not while listening to music - I suspect this cause.
People should bear this in mind when choosing/using a speaker amp.
For instance the Khartago I use has relays at the output - fast off at shutdown/power loss, delayed after switch-on to allow for circuits to settle. No nasty pops/thumps.

Edit: another cause is possibly wrong power up/down sequence ie power up amps last and off first to avoid switch on/off transients from the preamp.

 

[rusengineer]

Hi guys.
I've made the RobinetteBox for my Int. amp. My amp. gives 140W in 8 Ohm and 100W in 4 Ohm. So I've bought 4 resistors and made the box using 2.2 Ohm 5W and 6.8 Ohm 10W (closest ones that were available in stock). Also I've bought 2 10 Ohm 10W. The Box itself gives volume control up to ~9 o'clock. Box+10 Ohm 10W (on amp terminals) gives volume control up to ~11 o'clock so I'm using this option now. But there is one thing... My 2.2 and 6.8 Ohm resistors are pretty hot (I think it's 50-60 °C after 1 hour+ of listening). Is it OK for normal use or should I change resistor nominals to lower the temperature?

 

[LarsHP]

The silver cables have had a fair number of breakages. Alone in Denmark on the Danish headphone site I think there have been 3 or 4 broken ones. They all break in the smc connector on the cable.

Okay, haven't seen that, but that's probably because the silver (plated) HiFiMan cables are shipped with HE-500 and other headhones, and not the HE-6 which is shipped with pure copper cables. Several of the latter cables (with clear plastic) has shown oxidation, mine included. However, I don't remember reading anyone saying that they can hear a loss in sound quality because of this.

 

[heart banger-97]

One of the things that I'm willing to improve over my T1 is the way I feel music. T1 is not engaging enough for me. Especially there is some space between me and band when I listen to music with T1. I can't feel band with my bones 

. HD800 was even worse, so I passed 800 and settled with T1. I want to know whether he6 will satisfy me or not.

 

[nc8000]

Okay, haven't seen that, but that's probably because the silver (plated) HiFiMan cables are shipped with HE-500 and other headhones, and not the HE-6 which is shipped with pure copper cables. Several of the latter cables (with clear plastic) has shown oxidation, mine included. However, I don't remember reading anyone saying that they can hear a loss in sound quality because of this.

Yes you are right, it is the HE-500 cables that have broken

 

[LarsHP]

  One of the things that I'm willing to improve over my T1 is the way I feel music. T1 is not engaging enough for me. Especially there is some space between me and band when I listen to music with T1. I can't feel band with my bones 

. HD800 was even worse, so I passed 800 and settled with T1. I want to know whether he6 will satisfy me or not.

I haven't heard the T1, so I am a bit in the dark about what it actually sounds like. However, HE-6 is by several here in this thread described as sounding "visceral", which might be exactly what you are looking for. To my ears HE-6 has top quality dynamics, frequency extension, transparency, resolution and impulse response. In modded state it also has a near perfect tonal balance, which no other headphone I have heard is even close to. Especially HD800 and LCD-3 are far from balanced sounding. The first is way too bright, the latter way too dark sounding (IMO).
 
In the end, there is only one way to find out if a headphone has the sound you want: Listen to it yourself. This is of course the expensive path, but if you buy it second hand at a good price, it won't be a problem if you don't like it since you can re-sell it for about the same price. It will only cost you shipping and PayPal fees.

 

[nc8000]

I listen mostly to classical music and HE-6 has the best sense of scale and dynamics and presenting percussion of any headphone I have heard over the years

 

[JamieMcC]

  One of the things that I'm willing to improve over my T1 is the way I feel music. T1 is not engaging enough for me. Especially there is some space between me and band when I listen to music with T1. I can't feel band with my bones 

. HD800 was even worse, so I passed 800 and settled with T1. I want to know whether he6 will satisfy me or not.

 
I had the T1 for a couple of years and found it a solid upgrade in performance from the hd650 I was using before. The T1 can sound absolutely glorious with the right amp and there lies the rub get it wrong and it can sound cool and unengaing. It paired amazingly well with a modified OTL Bottlehead Crack and I have also had the Bottlehead Sex and Mainline and I was as happy as a pig in the proverbial with the Mainline and T1 combination and then like a lamb to the slaughter I tried the HD800 with the Mainline and theT1's became instantly obsolete the amount of extra information on that first listen to the hd800 left my brain confused and head hurting from trying to take it all in.
 
My experience with the HE-6 is somewhat similar and I feel it outclasses the T1 in pretty much every way save for the T1's sound staging which at times is pretty much on par with the HD800 and probably may have the edge on pinpoint accuracy but its close to call. The HE-6 for me I think have probably provided my most musical engaging listening experiences so far it might not have the beguiling micro detail and tonality of the hd800 but when amped well it has this visceral raw dynamic nature that can really suck you into music and the moment. Pick up a used HE-6 along with class A speaker amp 5-10W like this one (http://diyaudiostore.com/collections/kits/products/amp-camp-amp-kit) and you will have a really potent combination that will provide an amazing listening experience. I am happy to just swap between the hd800 and HE-6 the pair pretty much fulfil my headfi needs at the moment. Save for the Meze 99 classics which I sometimes use of a evening if needing a bit of isolation.
 
The common thing with all these cans is they require a good sources and synergistic amp matching to shine

 

[negura]

Modded He-6s imo give nothing in stage to the T1 - it's the opposite. I have similar mods to ohhg.

 

[Silent One]

   

That explains the brightness issue. Leather is very reflective which means a lot of etch. If you can, I'd apply adhesive felt on the inner diameter or basically any surface in the "tunnel".

Will give some adhesive felt inside ring of cup a shot this week coming...thanks as always!

 

[TooPoor]

So when I was doing the bluetac mod I slipped like a complete idiot and put a small puncture/perforation in one of the drivers with a small screwdriver. I guess I don't understand well enough how planars work because everything sounds EXACTLY the same as before, if not better (bluetac mod?). The puncture is near the center and very small, but certainly there. Is it worth sending them to HFM for new driver(s) @ $230?