TheWuss
Reviewer at Headphone.Guru
since owning the HE-6, i just listen to jazz.
*deep sigh*
After two weeks, my love for the HE-6 has faded... It's hard to admit, but I have been enjoying my music more with the HD600 than with the HE-6.
I have been thinking about getting a better amp for them and a better DAC. But honestly I think I'd better change my system completely to something different...
Technically, the HE-6 is close to perfection, that's for sure, but IMO it is simply too revealing. There are very few recordings which sound flawless. Even in some excellent classical recordings I can easily pick out flaws with the HE-6 - people in the audience sniffing, moving on their chairs, and so on. Other recordings sound dull or flat, mostly due to the large soundstage.
Another thing I noticed is the very hard left/right separation with the HE-6. This makes it very easy to detect even the slightest channel imbalance, and some recordings (especially those from the early days of stereo) completely unlistenable. The HD600 and even the quite revealing K701 suffer a lot less from this problem.
Sure, there are recordings which sound absolutely amazing with the HE-6, but these are few, and so I've spent most of the past two weeks analyzing the music rather than enjoying it. Also, wearing comfort is simply nonexistent... Too heavy and too much clamping force.
Of course this is just my opinion and others may disagree. But after all it's about enjoying the music, and so I'm going to "downgrade" my system. Perhaps the T1? Anyway, the HE-6 has to go.
Quote:*deep sigh*
After two weeks, my love for the HE-6 has faded... It's hard to admit, but I have been enjoying my music more with the HD600 than with the HE-6.
I have been thinking about getting a better amp for them and a better DAC. But honestly I think I'd better change my system completely to something different...
Technically, the HE-6 is close to perfection, that's for sure, but IMO it is simply too revealing. There are very few recordings which sound flawless. Even in some excellent classical recordings I can easily pick out flaws with the HE-6 - people in the audience sniffing, moving on their chairs, and so on. Other recordings sound dull or flat, mostly due to the large soundstage.
Another thing I noticed is the very hard left/right separation with the HE-6. This makes it very easy to detect even the slightest channel imbalance, and some recordings (especially those from the early days of stereo) completely unlistenable. The HD600 and even the quite revealing K701 suffer a lot less from this problem.
Sure, there are recordings which sound absolutely amazing with the HE-6, but these are few, and so I've spent most of the past two weeks analyzing the music rather than enjoying it. Also, wearing comfort is simply nonexistent... Too heavy and too much clamping force.
Of course this is just my opinion and others may disagree. But after all it's about enjoying the music, and so I'm going to "downgrade" my system. Perhaps the T1? Anyway, the HE-6 has to go.
I would change the DAC asap...all your cans would benefit. The DAC Magic, despite the price, sounded very mediocre.
I agree, to some extent, with this. The flipside to this argument is that less revealing/more colored headphones will also not work with all recordings. The level of detail retrieval and coloration will work with some recordings, but sound terrible with others.
I would change the DAC asap...all your cans would benefit. The DAC Magic, despite the price, sounded very mediocre.
Realizing the cups on these phones are plastic, which I am not crazy about, how do they feel in hand? Do they feel quality and appearance in person. I haven't seen many images up close. I wouldn't mind getting a pair but I do know from a friend in China that the phones are doubled in price from what they could sell for in China.
1st post here. Thank you guys and girls for such a wonderful forum full of great info. I have a pair of HE-6's on order. I've read over and over in this thread that high-power, high-wattage speaker amps seem to be ideal for these headphones. I have a Yamaha RX-V3800 integrated amp that I could plug the HE-6 into the speaker outs, but I'm not certain I want to go that route. I have just enough Christmas bonus left over for a Decware Mini-Torii. Is this a great amp for the HE-6, or is there a better alternative for around the same price? Thanks.
Originally Posted by SP Wild /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shahrose /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Quote:
*deep sigh*
After two weeks, my love for the HE-6 has faded... It's hard to admit, but I have been enjoying my music more with the HD600 than with the HE-6.
I have been thinking about getting a better amp for them and a better DAC. But honestly I think I'd better change my system completely to something different...
Technically, the HE-6 is close to perfection, that's for sure, but IMO it is simply too revealing. There are very few recordings which sound flawless. Even in some excellent classical recordings I can easily pick out flaws with the HE-6 - people in the audience sniffing, moving on their chairs, and so on. Other recordings sound dull or flat, mostly due to the large soundstage.
Another thing I noticed is the very hard left/right separation with the HE-6. This makes it very easy to detect even the slightest channel imbalance, and some recordings (especially those from the early days of stereo) completely unlistenable. The HD600 and even the quite revealing K701 suffer a lot less from this problem.
Sure, there are recordings which sound absolutely amazing with the HE-6, but these are few, and so I've spent most of the past two weeks analyzing the music rather than enjoying it. Also, wearing comfort is simply nonexistent... Too heavy and too much clamping force.
Of course this is just my opinion and others may disagree. But after all it's about enjoying the music, and so I'm going to "downgrade" my system. Perhaps the T1? Anyway, the HE-6 has to go.
I would change the DAC asap...all your cans would benefit. The DAC Magic, despite the price, sounded very mediocre.
X2
immtbiker said:/img/forum/go_quote.gif
Quote:jamato8 said:/img/forum/go_quote.gif
Realizing the cups on these phones are plastic, which I am not crazy about, how do they feel in hand? Do they feel quality and appearance in person. I haven't seen many images up close. I wouldn't mind getting a pair but I do know from a friend in China that the phones are doubled in price from what they could sell for in China.
But they're shiny plastic and they're mighty purty. There's nothing cheap looking about the HE-6's although I agree that I wish that they were in a wood finish like my HE-5's. The finish of the prodo HE-6's is a class act. I prefer it to the the fake carbon fiber finish to the HD-6XX's, but that's just me. At one time, 8 yeas ago, I thought that my HD-600's were the most attractive headphones available, but technology has changed so much, that they fall into the middle of the line looks wise, now.
No resistor box needed and no issues with heating or any such issue. Works very well.
Speaking in general regarding the use of amplifiers such as the Leben; No, a resistor box is not necessary. The tubes will not overheat, as the impedance of the HE-6 is considerably greater than the impedance (8 ohms) where the Leben power rating is achieved. The higher impedance will result in less current being delivered from your amplifier rather than more.
Realizing the cups on these phones are plastic, which I am not crazy about, how do they feel in hand? Do they feel quality and appearance in person. I haven't seen many images up close. I wouldn't mind getting a pair but I do know from a friend in China that the phones are doubled in price from what they could sell for in China.
Quote:Realizing the cups on these phones are plastic, which I am not crazy about, how do they feel in hand? Do they feel quality and appearance in person. I haven't seen many images up close. I wouldn't mind getting a pair but I do know from a friend in China that the phones are doubled in price from what they could sell for in China.
Your friend's information might be false. The official price of HE6 in China is 6500 RMB (980 USD) now and 7600 RMB (1150 USD) after 15th Jan, for this I'm 100% sure. And of course the postage inside China is way cheaper than from China to US, so the price you can get in US is actually cheaper than in China (In fact Chinese headphone cycle is complaining about this).I guess we can't get a HE6 for half price in China after all.