[musicman59]

Quote:

I wish Head-Direct included a speaker pigtail connector with the HE-6 like they did with the demo HE-6 that was out on loan.  While these are certainly more efficient than the prototype, they certainly benefit from more power than the typical headphone amp.  I'm using a Rube Goldberg setup for running my HE-6 off my Yamaha speaker amp. 
 
A while back I had cut off the dual 3-pin XLR plugs from a balanced SR-325i cable, and re-terminated the phones as single ended for a buyer; But I'd kept the 4" cable remnant with plugs for later.  So I took that cable remnant with the dual XLR plugs and put banana plugs on the bare wires on the cut end.  I then hooked that up to my 55-watt Yamaha speaker amp.  I have a really nice 4-foot APS V3 dual 3-pin XLR to 4-pin XLR cable, so that I could connect all my 4-pin headphones into any amp with dual 3-pin XLR.  So I plugged that into the 4-pin XLR of the HE-6, and connected it to the adapter on the speaker terminals using a pair of female-female XLR connectors between the two male adapters.  I seems kinda excessive using this much stuff between the amp and headphones, but it works and sounds great I guess since the cable length in the cheap adapter is so short.
 
To extend the cable to reach my listening chair without having the cable pulled too tight, I plugged in a pair of 3 meter PS Audio XLR interconnects between the adapters and it sounded pretty much the same.  I was originally going to modify a spare n_maher built Mogami wire dual 3-pin to 4-pin adapter, by replacing the 3-pin XLR plugs with banana plugs so that the HE-6 could plug directly into that one adapter.  But this 1-foot cable is much too short to do anything other than sit on the floor next to my speaker amp (which sits along the wall between my speakers).  So I decided not to mod this adapter unless I get a decent 4-pin XLR extension cable to reach my listening chair.  What I really need to do is go back through this thread and find posts with links to vendors that sell speaker-to-4-pin-XLR pigtails, and see about getting one about 8 feet long.
 
All in all, I get much better dynamic range and effortless sound with the cheap 55-watt amp.  While my balanced SR-71b sounds better with the HE-6 than my other headphone amps, that combo is slightly brighter with them than the Yamaha amp, while the Yamaha amp sounds like a more powerful version of the EF5 but with slightly less bass.  The Yamaha results in a little less micro-detail and smaller soundstage than the SR-71b, but it's not bad for a $200 home theater amp.  I need to get a proper speaker adapter and spend more time listening before I can decide which combo I prefer, but in the end I may end up getting a Mini Tori amp like Skylab, in order to squeeze a little more performance out of the HE-6.  

Dp you think a high quality speaker amplifier Class A with 30 watts per channel and 8 amperes continuous will be enough for the HE-6?

 

[singh]

 
^^ leben cs300x is said to work great with HE6!
 
thats  just 15W in to 8 ohm 
 
I will be receiving my HE6 soon will be trying it out with a class D 70W speaker amp.
 
 
 
ONE quaty people : EHHA  ( not the revA ) is quite powerful amp, has anyone tried the HE6 with EHHA? i want to know how good is it with HE6.

 

[hawkhead]

I think it's been said before that wattage (alone) will not provide a good enough guide to driving these to their full potential. It's useful as a starter but in my own experience with a 70 and 100w speaker amps where you would have thought the differences were minimal nothing could be further from the truth.

 

[musicman59]

 
Quote:

I think it's been said before that wattage (alone) will not provide a good enough guide to driving these to their full potential. It's useful as a starter but in my own experience with a 70 and 100w speaker amps where you would have thought there the differences were minimal nothing could be further from the truth.

 I agree becuase nromally planar speakers are current hungry not much watts. That's whay I specify that the amp produces 8 amperes and 23 volts. Here are some specs:
 
SPECIFICATIONS
Gain 20 dB
Freq. Response - 0.5 dB at 2 Hz, 100 KHz
Power Output 30 watts/ch 8 ohms
                    60 watts/ch 4 ohms
                    60 watts/ch 2 ohms
Maximum Output 23 volts, 8 amps
Distortion (1KHz) 0.2% @ 30 watts, 8 ohms
                            1% @ 60 watts, 4 ohms
                            1% @ 60 watts, 2 ohms
Input Impedance 23 Kohm
Damping factor 100

 

[immtbiker]

I am using a pair of Dared Quasi Mono Block 300b amps that outputs 13 w.p.c.and it is perfect for my HE-6s. This weekend, I received from Vinnie Rossie of Red Wine Audio a Signature 30,2 Integrated which outputs 30 w.p.c.of pure battery output and the sound is sublime. So in effect, I don't believe that t is only the voltage output, but the quality of the output. I am swapping my output of the 30.2 between my HE-6's and Harbeth speakers to see which one that I like better. The one that wins second place will have a new job of powering the speakers.
I have spoken to FrankI and he told me that his Decware tube amp fits the bill perfectly.

 

[Frank I]

The Taboo handled the HE6 with ease. In my short time they sounded open more focused and had very nice bass and highs. I look forward to spending more time to see if they will be a keeper for me and I am waiting for Fang to send me a pair so I can give more detailed impressions but the taboo does deliver big time.

 

[hawkhead]

Define budget
 
Quote:

Wha good budget amp for he6? 
just interestning

 

[HiFlight]

There was a previous post regarding the excess glue at the ends of the headband. It was suggested by Fang that it could be removed with a fingernail or alcohol pad. Mine had some excess glue but it cleaned right off. No creases in the leather though. 
 
One of my driver grilles does have a small irregular area where the gloss is gone and the finish appears to be a matt black.  It looks as if something might have been spilled on it, but it is only visible when looking closely against the light, so it's not something worth addressing.   As these phones are hand-built rather than production line items, I suspect that such things can be expected and either accepted or exchanged for a new phone. 
 
I had an issue with my first set whereas the left driver developed an intermittent connection.  The problem was not in the cable, so Fang requested that only the headphone be returned and not the box, cord or extra connectors.   I quickly received a new headphone complete with all accessories directly from China. 
 
The new set has worked flawlessly. 
 
 

 

[singh]

Quote:

I am using a pair of Dared Quasi Mono Block 300b amps that outputs 13 w.p.c.and it is perfect for my HE-6s. This weekend, I received from Vinnie Rossie of Red Wine Audio a Signature 30,2 Integrated which outputs 30 w.p.c.of pure battery output and the sound is sublime. So in effect, I don't believe that t is only the voltage output, but the quality of the output. I am swapping my output of the 30.2 between my HE-6's and Harbeth speakers to see which one that I like better. The one that wins second place will have a new job of powering the speakers.
I have spoken to FrankI and he told me that his Decware tube amp fits the bill perfectly.

Am waiting ! do update which came second ( or the first )

 

[somestranger26]

Quote:

 
Also the connectors are a real pain in the ass

You can say that again. It took me 2 hours to get my HE-6 cable on a second time (moved back to college) and I asked Fang why I was having such problems when I've had 2 pairs of HE-5 and 2 pairs of HE-5LE that went on fine with a wrench/pliers in about 30 seconds. Fang requested that I send back my HE-6 (and my friend's pair that also has this problem) because they're finalizing a fix for it, so it seems like it may be a common problem.

 

[sokolov91]

Gonna have to try these with my speaker amp when I get the chance to DIY...
 
But for now, has anyone noticed anything odd with the highs?
 
I can't quite put my finger on it... they sound amazing and crystal clear (if a bit bright from my current rig) but they seem a little weird at times.
 
Seems there is a spike somewhere or something... will have to make notes on which recordings I hear this on
 
 
So far, to my ears, the LCD-2 might not have as clear a treble, but the spatial cues seem to come off much better on the LCD-2 specifically because there is more "headroom" in the highs for subtleties to be heard than on the HE-6.
 
Again, just initial impressions, my gear and my ears. Not saying these are bad because they certainly are not.

 

[Kremer930]

 
Quote:

Gonna have to try these with my speaker amp when I get the chance to DIY...
 
But for now, has anyone noticed anything odd with the highs?
 
I can't quite put my finger on it... they sound amazing and crystal clear (if a bit bright from my current rig) but they seem a little weird at times.
 
Seems there is a spike somewhere or something... will have to make notes on which recordings I hear this on
 
 
So far, to my ears, the LCD-2 might not have as clear a treble, but the spatial cues seem to come off much better on the LCD-2 specifically because there is more "headroom" in the highs for subtleties to be heard than on the HE-6.
 
Again, just initial impressions, my gear and my ears. Not saying these are bad because they certainly are not.

You dont say what amp you are hearing this on.  Is there a chance that you are running out of headroom/power?
 
 

 

[Frank I]

 
Quote:

Gonna have to try these with my speaker amp when I get the chance to DIY...
 
But for now, has anyone noticed anything odd with the highs?
 
I can't quite put my finger on it... they sound amazing and crystal clear (if a bit bright from my current rig) but they seem a little weird at times.
 
Seems there is a spike somewhere or something... will have to make notes on which recordings I hear this on
 
 
So far, to my ears, the LCD-2 might not have as clear a treble, but the spatial cues seem to come off much better on the LCD-2 specifically because there is more "headroom" in the highs for subtleties to be heard than on the HE-6.
 
Again, just initial impressions, my gear and my ears. Not saying these are bad because they certainly are not.

Did you put them back together? fang said the Gold drivers are delicate so be careful. LOL How is the power of the phoneix doing with them?

 

[jamato8]

I just ran some test tones. I get bass down to 16khz. I can hear high frequency to 16khz. 

 

[sokolov91]

Quote:

 
Quote:

Gonna have to try these with my speaker amp when I get the chance to DIY...
 
But for now, has anyone noticed anything odd with the highs?
 
I can't quite put my finger on it... they sound amazing and crystal clear (if a bit bright from my current rig) but they seem a little weird at times.
 
Seems there is a spike somewhere or something... will have to make notes on which recordings I hear this on
 
 
So far, to my ears, the LCD-2 might not have as clear a treble, but the spatial cues seem to come off much better on the LCD-2 specifically because there is more "headroom" in the highs for subtleties to be heard than on the HE-6.
 
Again, just initial impressions, my gear and my ears. Not saying these are bad because they certainly are not.

Did you put them back together? fang said the Gold drivers are delicate so be careful. LOL How is the power of the phoneix doing with them?

Yeah I got them back together with a lot of patience and delicate work.
 
Yeah just looking at the gold drivers they seem fragile, wouldn't doubt it for a second.
 
 
The amp I am currently using is the Audio GD phoenix in fully balanced ACSS configuration from my Ref - 7 DAC.
 
Could be lack of power, I have no problem admitting the amp might not be capable. Right now I am not really hearing any issues though. 20/25 steps out of 99 seems to do it for me.
 
Just more interested it maybe being a spike, or even LACK of a spike that is causing the treble to sound different somehow.