[jerick70]

What's are some amps in the same price range that you think would be better?

In the price range of the Emotiva I would think a Garage1217 Project Ember II with the right tube may get you to where you want to be with the treble. I haven't used the Project Ember with the HE-6 but Garage1217 touts that it will run the HE-6. I would contact the guys over at Garage1217 before you buy and tell them your needs and have them recommend what they think will work. They make top notch products from what I've seen.

http://www.garage1217.com/garage1217_diy_tube_headphone_amplifiers_004.htm

 

[elwappo99]

In the price range of the Emotiva I would think a Garage1217 Project Ember II with the right tube may get you to where you want to be with the treble. I haven't used the Project Ember with the HE-6 but Garage1217 touts that it will run the HE-6. I would contact the guys over at Garage1217 before you buy and tell them your needs and have them recommend what they think will work. They make top notch products from what I've seen.

http://www.garage1217.com/garage1217_diy_tube_headphone_amplifiers_004.htm

2W isn't going to cut it. Underpowering the HE-6 like that will make them sound ever brighter.


If anyone is going to canjam, I could bring my 6 screw HE-6 if they'd like a comparison.

 

[jerick70]

2W isn't going to cut it. Underpowering the HE-6 like that will make them sound ever brighter.


If anyone is going to canjam, I could bring my 6 screw HE-6 if they'd like a comparison.

How do you know it's not going to work? Have you tried it? Garage1217 seems to think it will work.

 

[cskippy]

Project Ember will reach loud SPL but IMO doesn't cut it. It synergizes well as you can make it sound earm and thick ro offset the HE-6 inherent brightness but because it's under powered it looses dynamics and smears transientd and generally doesn't resolve as well as a dedicated power amp.

I bought Vidar to circumvent this and it worked well but then pairing a quiet low gain preamp became key. Saga ended up working well but in the end I was never satisfied with the sound and finally sold HE-6.

 

[jerick70]

In the $300 - $350 price range it may be difficult to find something that will tick all of the boxes with the HE-6. You may have to make a sacrifice somewhere. Best advice I can give is keep trying different amps and see what you like. Everyone has different preferences. If you are not happy with your current sound by all means try something else. The Ember II is worth a try I would think. FWIW, I've read a few positive posts around the web that really liked the Ember II / HE-6 pairing.

 

[Keithpgdrb]

How do you know it's not going to work? Have you tried it? Garage1217 seems to think it will work.

2W will not cut it. yes it will make sound, likely even loud sound, but the he6 requires a good amount of big power. as I said, hifiman recommends 5, I believe 7 sounds better. but it depends on the amp of course.

 

[Keithpgdrb]

I have not come across a dedicated headphone amp that drives the HE6 better then my speaker amp. I honestly dont think anyone makes one. making an amp that powerful is expensive, and there is only one headphone that needs it. so amp makers wont bother. for best results, IMHO, get yourself a nice speaker amp used. you can easily find a nice one for the same cash or less. just watch your specs.

 

[elwappo99]

How do you know it's not going to work? Have you tried it? Garage1217 seems to think it will work.

2W will not cut it. yes it will make sound, likely even loud sound, but the he6 requires a good amount of big power. as I said, hifiman recommends 5, I believe 7 sounds better. but it depends on the amp of course.

I agree with ZMF here. I had the Audio-GD NFB-10 with the HE-6 which were at like 7W. When a song had a large dynamic range, the I would have the volume totally maxed out and it still woulnd't be loud enough.

Plenty of amplifier manufacturers will claim to "power the HE-6" as a benchmark, but over the years with the HE-6 very few can. It's one of the downsides of the HE-6. You basically need a dedicated amplifier for it.

 

[Benny-x]

In the $300 - $350 price range it may be difficult to find something that will tick all of the boxes with the HE-6. You may have to make a sacrifice somewhere. Best advice I can give is keep trying different amps and see what you like. Everyone has different preferences. If you are not happy with your current sound by all means try something else. The Ember II is worth a try I would think. FWIW, I've read a few positive posts around the web that really liked the Ember II / HE-6 pairing.

In that range, and even without it, I'd be looking at vintage, used speaker amps! They have watts for days, sell cheaper than new amps, look cool if you're into that, and are a relatively small investment that can be resold for little loss.

For me, I also came to the power conclusion with my HE-6 and went out and bought a 60W Class A speaker amp. Sounds beautiful, haven't looked back since. BUT, I also use it for my HEKv1 and found they too seem to sort themselves out when not connected to headphone map. I've found with planars, they LOVE power.

I haven't connected my HEKv1 or HE-6 to my LAu yet, so we'll soon have to see how a monster headphone amp fares against a real speaker amp for those special cans.

 

[Liu Junyuan]

As has been stated countless times by senior HE-6 users, it is NOT a downside that the HE-6 requires a speaker amp. Headphone amps are laughably overpriced in comparison for the sound you can get from a speaker amp. You can power the HE-6 for less than 500 dollars or spend 2k for a headphone amp that won't do it justice. Or, you could spend that 2-3k on a really good speaker amp, and blow away every headphone amp in existence. It is usually funny for those with good speaker amp rigs to look upon 2-5k headphone amps. And I'm 100% guilty of this, owning an EC amp.

 

[Benny-x]

As has been stated countless times by senior HE-6 users, it is NOT a downside that the HE-6 requires a speaker amp. Headphone amps are laughably overpriced in comparison for the sound you can get from a speaker amp. You can power the HE-6 for less than 500 dollars or spend 2k for a headphone amp that won't do it justice. Or, you could spend that 2-3k on a really good speaker amp, and blow away every headphone amp in existence. It is usually funny for those with good speaker amp rigs to look upon 2-5k headphone amps. And I'm 100% guilty of this, owning an EC amp.

I'm not at the "I know this is how it works now" stage yet, but I'm edging closer and closer to your level of conviction to this idea that good speaker amps sound better with headphones than comparably priced/good headphone amps. When I got the speaker amp I mentioned above, a Chinese (I'm in China) Xindak A600e, it trounced every headphone amp I'd ever heard with any of my headphone until then. In every category except the size of the amp itself (it's like 55kg unpacked).

I'm still willing to try headphone amps, and especially so at my office, but when space permits, there's a very good chance I'll be using a speaker amp in the headphone system.

Soon I'll try facing off my LAu against the A600e and then I'll have a much better reference point for my conviction to that idea. And so far, the 60W A600e has been dead quiet with my HE-6 and HEKv1. As far as I can figure, besides the space requirements, I haven't been giving up anything to the headphone amps...

 

[Liu Junyuan]

I have a 4 screw He6 that I've felt the treble was always too hot for me on. I've had them stock with Focuspad-As for a couple years and recently did the grill mod and bought a pair of ZMF Ori Perforated Lambskin pads for them. The treble has come down slightly but is still a little too hot. What would be the next mod to tame the treble? I was thinking about doing the fuzzor mod with creatology foam. Is there something else I should try first? Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

I'm not at the "I know this is how it works now" stage yet, but I'm edging closer and closer to your level of conviction to this idea that good speaker amps sound better with headphones than comparably priced/good headphone amps. When I got the speaker amp I mentioned above, a Chinese (I'm in China) Xindak A600e, it trounced every headphone amp I'd ever heard with any of my headphone until then. In every category except the size of the amp itself (it's like 55kg unpacked).

I'm still willing to try headphone amps, and especially so at my office, but when space permits, there's a very good chance I'll be using a speaker amp in the headphone system.

Soon I'll try facing off my LAu against the A600e and then I'll have a much better reference point for my conviction to that idea. And so far, the 60W A600e has been dead quiet with my HE-6 and HEKv1. As far as I can figure, besides the space requirements, I haven't been giving up anything to the headphone amps...

Yeah, I wasn't responding to you in the last message, as it was clear you get it. I also had a Xindak amp, which was very nice, and I miss it, to be frank. You must be enjoying yours. I wouldn't be surprised one bit if it was a better match than the LAu. Many options open up with the HE-6.

 

[JamieMcC]

fwiw a Bottlehead Quickie with the PJCCS $129 (DHT preamp) and a Nelson Pass ACA $129 (Jfet Class A power amp) make for a really fine pairing with the HE-6

https://diyaudiostore.com/collections/kits

https://bottlehead.com/product/quickie-1-1-battery-powered-directly-heated-tube-preamplifier-kit/

 

[LarsHP]

Sorry to say but these will always sound very hot and bright. The 4 screw is very bright. The 6 screw one has a much more even treble response and fuller bass.
No amount of modding or amp swaps will make the 4 screw sound less sibilant.

Now, that's simply not true by any standard. Any mod taking the treble down will make any headphone less sibilant.

In addition, I can say that my 4-screw version with current mods and pads is more leaning on the dark side of neutral than on the bright. Depending on the amp it is either neutral or slightly on the dark side. Even directly out of my HM901s (with balanced amp card) it is not sibilant or bright.

 

[Shazb0t]

Now, that's simply not true by any standard. Any mod taking the treble down will make any headphone less sibilant.

In addition, I can say that my 4-screw version with current mods and pads is more leaning on the dark side of neutral than on the bright. Depending on the amp it is either neutral or slightly on the dark side. Even directly out of my HM901s (with balanced amp card) it is not sibilant or bright.

Can you share some more detailed instructions on how you performed your mods?