[negura]

  I would consider the AHB2 to be nearly the pinnacle of what one can obtain for the HE-6. Before that, I'd say the Bryston 2B wins for that price bracket. Somewhere in between, the excellent Neurochrome HP-1. That's all just personal opinion though. There are a bazillion choices out there.
 
I've heard some of the older Burson stuff but wasn't really moved by them.

 
 
I am one of those users. As per my signature, I am using not one but two AHB2 power amps in bridged mono. These are the most transparent amps I've heard. Period. With anything I connected to them: speakers or headphones.
 
To give some context the last amp I had here was the extremely expensive MSB S201 power amp. The MSB is an outstanding amplifier and if I didn't hear the Benchmarks I would be considering buying the former. The MSB has a typical big class A sound - a certain liquidity and textured smoothness (my speakers at 96dB won't take this amp out of class A). That said the MSB doesn't match Benchmark's clarity, resolution or imaging and driver control precision. The grip these diminutive amps can have on speaker or headphone drivers is nothing short of amazing. But it's not a brutal sounding amplifier - soft music will play soft and delicate. Switch to something like Infected Muhsroom and you're in for the roller coaster. This is what I call true to recording resolution and transparency.
 
There are a few caveats with using the Benchmarks:
- In terms of resolution/distortion products, for a long long time my problem has been finding a suitably quiet/resolving amplifier to match my MSB DAC V (claimed to resolve ~146 DR). From an objective point of view with 133-135 DR (measured by 3rd parties too) the Benchmark is likely as good as it gets in amplification today. And with incredibly low distortion products. What I think this gives? Extremely transparent and precise to source sound. It opens a further window on true resolution, dynamics and clarity.
- It is only a power amp - adding a lower SNR / higher distortion preamp will put an unpassable veil in front of the Benchmark. Thus the bottleneck for most people I imagine is going to be elsewhere in the chain: source, preamp etc. Unless one has a matching upstream, you MAY not fully hear what the Benchmark(s) are capable of. But it will most likely max out what the source/preamp can give.
- The Benchmark even in dual mono, with max 380W into 8ohms is EXTREMELY quiet. I used these on low/medium gain with Focal Utopia and HD650 and no background noise. I don't know about more efficient headphones. I drives the HE-6s insanely well. In fact the driving ability with any transducers is incredible. Even the HD650 start having almost civilized bass control.
- The output impedance on speaker taps is virtually 0 ohms. This amp won't colour the sound - it's definitely not an amplifier that warms up / adds bloom / liquidity or any other fancy things to the sound. What it is, it's transparent and precise. It is not bright or warm sounding - to any level I could detect. It almost makes it hard to recommend to audiophiles. One better like the sound signature of their source and/or preamp.
- It's balanced ONLY.

 

[cskippy]

@negura Thanks for the wonderful insight into the AHB2.

 

[kxanthop]

Hello I am considering getting a pair of HE-6s. The plan would be to use my speaker amp (a Symphonic Line RG10 mk4) to drive them and I was wondering what would be the better way to connect them to my amp: the Hifiman HE-adapter or a new set of properly terminated cables? Any chance somebody has used the Symphonic Line to drive them?
Many thanks!

 

[Armaegis]

If it's a transformer coupled tube amp, then you might need an adapter or at least parallel some resistors on the outputs. If it's a solid state or an OTL tube amp, then you can go straight from the taps.

 

[kxanthop]

If it's a transformer coupled tube amp, then you might need an adapter or at least parallel some resistors on the outputs. If it's a solid state or an OTL tube amp, then you can go straight from the taps.

Thanks for the reply. It is a "regular" SS amp, In terms of sound quality do you think that the adapter is better than connecting the headphones to the speaker taps? Which would be the best cable in terms of cost/performance to use for connecting the headphones to the amp?

 

[JamieMcC]

Thanks for the reply. It is a "regular" SS amp, In terms of sound quality do you think that the adapter is better than connecting the headphones to the speaker taps? Which would be the best cable in terms of cost/performance to use for connecting the headphones to the amp?

 
This is a handy guide/tutorial for a diy version.
 
http://bottlehead.com/power-amplifier-headphone-adapter/

 

[nc8000]

Thanks for the reply. It is a "regular" SS amp, In terms of sound quality do you think that the adapter is better than connecting the headphones to the speaker taps? Which would be the best cable in terms of cost/performance to use for connecting the headphones to the amp?

Unless you have to use the box the consensus seems to be don't use it as it degrades sq

 

[Armaegis]

   
This is a handy guide/tutorial for a diy version.
 
http://bottlehead.com/power-amplifier-headphone-adapter/

 
I would actually not recommend this project. It is only safe if the amp has a shared ground on the negative terminals. While *most* amps are of this type, unless you know with absolute certainty... don't do it.
 
Even if it were safe to do so, there is a very slight increase in technical performance keeping it straight to a 4-pin XLR connector. Even better though less convenient, don't bother with the adapter at all and connect the headphone wires directly to the speaker taps.

 

[kxanthop]

Thank you all for the advice! I was thinking of buying the Hifiman connectors and then some rather inexpensive speaker cable (maybe this:http://nordost.com/leif/white-lightning/white-lightning-speaker-cable.php) and a set of spades to connect the headphones to the speaker taps. It's this solution safe?
Many thanks!

 

[cskippy]

If your pair came with the 4pin XLR to TRS cable and you don't need it, you can cut of the TRS connector and use those wires to connect to spades or banana plugs.  Just make sure you use the right pinout and have a multimeter to check continuity.

 

[kxanthop]

Many thanks! I didn't know that the HE-6s come with that level of support! The plan is to get them by the end of the month and I am trying to get as ready as possible. Thanks again!

 

[Dubstep Girl]

bored and checkin in! lol still got my HE-6 after a few years, still amazing, still love em, HE-6 + WA5 has never let me down

totally still my endgame

 

[jelt2359]

bored and checkin in! lol still got my HE-6 after a few years, still amazing, still love em, HE-6 + WA5 has never let me down

totally still my endgame

I must have read your review a million times before deciding which OTL amp to go for, Glenn or Teton, and in the end went for both!
 
Sold my WA5 though, these days using my First Watt F7 with the HE6, Code-X and even my Utopia and it is simply sublime.

 

[Jozurr]

  I must have read your review a million times before deciding which OTL amp to go for, Glenn or Teton, and in the end went for both!
 
Sold my WA5 though, these days using my First Watt F7 with the HE6, Code-X and even my Utopia and it is simply sublime.

 
 
I'm still not sure if I should buy the F7 or the J2. I can't seem to find comparisons between them, and both of them have raving reviews. I might end up getting both if I have a chance to compare, and then the AHB2 as well. Keep the one I like.

 

[cskippy]

OMG please do that!  I know I lot of people, myself included, would love to hear the results.