[tvrboy]

Quote:

I also own both the he-6 and 407. As compared to the he-6, I agree with some of your impressions. The treble on the 407 don't wow you at first, but very soon you realize how special it is. It just sounds right. The treble on the he-6 will wow you, but still will never become fatiguing and sounds very clear, very extended. I think the treble on the 407 is better integrated with the rest of the frequency band. Where we disagree  is the bass. The bass on the he-6 without a doubt have more extension. But the 407's bass actually have more slam and impact. The he-6s bass do have a tad more refinement. Overall I prefer the he-6, but the 407s are more balanced. I just find the he-6 more engaging and fun to listen too. But I absolutely adore them both. All of my comments are imo of course.

 

Hey Moodyrn, I think I remember you sending me a PM about my 507 vs. HE-6 some time ago! I agree with you in that  the 407/507 isn't a headphone that will wow you at first. But it's extremely good at everything. It's just "right." Properly amped, I actually think the HE-6 has much more bass impact, but the Stax is no slouch in the bass department either. I certainly wouldn't build a system around a dynamic headphone anymore after owning these two.

 

[wuwhere]

I don't have any problem with my 6 at all. I listen to mine almost everyday. Never had any problem at all with the connectors, cups and drivers. I've had my 6 for 7 months now and really like it. My only complaint is when I hang it for awhile I had to stretch the headband before I listen.

 

[moodyrn]

Quote:

Hey Moodyrn, I think I remember you sending me a PM about my 507 vs. HE-6 some time ago! I agree with you in that  the 407/507 isn't a headphone that will wow you at first. But it's extremely good at everything. It's just "right." Properly amped, I actually think the HE-6 has much more bass impact, but the Stax is no slouch in the bass department either. I certainly wouldn't build a system around a dynamic headphone anymore after owning these two.

Yes, it was me. It was your recommendation that pushed me to sell my lambda sigs in favor of the 407s(thanks). I also got rid of my sigmas after getting the 407s as well. Are you still using the srm1 with yours? After getting my T1S, I quickly sold my srm1 mkII. Even though the srm1 has more gain, the T1S gives the bass much more authority(maybe it's the tubes) and it givse the midrange more body and fullness as well. My he-6 did have more impact when I had the srm1 mkII, but not after getting the T1S. But even with the T1S, the 407 still don't have the extension of my he-6, and to be honest, neither does my d7000 which have a big emphasis in the bass region. Both headphones are very amp dependent. But I agree, there's no dynamic I've listened to that I like better than either of these. And that's including k1000, l3000, and r10s.
 
 

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Just an update - I've posted before that my Eddie Current ZDT amp with HE-6 seemed to have a softer leading edge with transients than I like, which made the phones feel a little sluggish with that amp.  I think I described it as "soft" sounding.  I was actually preferring to use my balanced SR-71b amp with them. 

 
Well, after upgrading to the partial silver transformers the ZDT amp is a much better match for the HE-5 headphone now.  I was very pleased when I listened last week after 100 hours of burn-in on the upgrades.  It sounds nice and "snappy" now, along with better micro-detail and a bigger soundstage.  It's just right now.  

 

[dukja]

Just got my Rotel integrated amp and tried it with HE-6.  Immediately, I can hear the imaging and tonality were improved quit a bit.  The midrange is still a little bit thin and the mid/high texture can use more smoothness or it will be perfect.  It is not the final word for HE-6 but I was quite happy with the improvement.  The bass is also improved both in quantity and solidness, just a little bit shy compare to sr-407. 
 
This actually shows another use of HE-6: to give a closer look to the speaker amp without the room effect.

 

[Vegeta55555]

sorry, if this question was answered before but how many watts may have a speaker amp for the HE6 via a K1000 speaker adapter?

 

[wdahm519]

Thanks a lot guys...  now I'm building a beta22/sigma22 this fall and winter and buying the HE-6 cans this spring... 

 Anyone know what is the optimal gain (8x/11x) for the HE-6?

 

[wotts]

I build a three channel at gain 8x, and it really doesn't have enough juice. It's not that it doesn't sound good, but I use most of the volume pot. If you went balanced, 8x might be ok, but if you go singe ended, 11x for sure.

 
Quote:

Thanks a lot guys...  now I'm building a beta22/sigma22 this fall and winter and buying the HE-6 cans this spring... 

 Anyone know what is the optimal gain (8x/11x) for the HE-6?

 

 

[Shahrose]

Quote:

 
This actually shows another use of HE-6: to give a closer look to the speaker amp without the room effect.

I never thought of that. It could be pretty useful for that purpose.

 

[sunneebear]

Quote:

Just got my Rotel integrated amp and tried it with HE-6.  Immediately, I can hear the imaging and tonality were improved quit a bit.  The midrange is still a little bit thin and the mid/high texture can use more smoothness or it will be perfect.  It is not the final word for HE-6 but I was quite happy with the improvement.  The bass is also improved both in quantity and solidness, just a little bit shy compare to sr-407. 
 
This actually shows another use of HE-6: to give a closer look to the speaker amp without the room effect.

Is this from the speaker out of the Rotel?

 

[dukja]

I have never thought about using the headphone out until you mentioned it.
 
Certainly the headphone out takes more volume pot setting (7 o'clock vs 11 o'clock position).  And the speaker out has clearer sound.  The headphone out sound softer and a little bit fuzzy, but I was quite surprise that the headphone out works a lot more better than I thought.
 
The more time I spend HE-6 with this Rotel, the better I like the SQ of this combo.  With a just a little bit tone down on treble (to remove some tiny edges and the effect was very subtle), the tonality sound quite "right" to me now.  The vocal texture is getting quite close  to my T1+Phoenix combo.  The T1 projects a smaller but more 3D-like soundstage, something like miniaturized sonic theme.  The HE-6 projects a much larger scene and hence every sound source is larger than what T1 puts out.  Again, it is like sitting at the front row in a movie theater.  The focusing may gets a little bit used to and difficult due to the sheer size of the scene.  For vocal, HE-6 makes the singer just right in front of you and T1 puts some distance in between.
 
It is quite different and interesting to compare the strength of both phones.  Now I hardly can say which one is better.  It is just completely different flavor.
 
And I just went through several large-scale music such as POTC soundtrack vol. 4.  The soundstage was immense and the waves of sonic power dumping at me rounds after rounds were amazing and quite a experience.
 
Quote:

Is this from the speaker out of the Rotel?

 

 

[Shahrose]

Quote:

 
The more time I spend HE-6 with this Rotel, the better I like the SQ of this combo.  With a just a little bit tone down on treble (to remove some tiny edges and the effect was very subtle), the tonality sound quite "right" to me now.  The vocal texture is getting quite close  to my T1+Phoenix combo.  The T1 projects a smaller but more 3D-like soundstage, something like miniaturized sonic theme.  The HE-6 projects a much larger scene and hence every sound source is larger than what T1 puts out.  Again, it is like sitting at the front row in a movie theater.  The focusing may gets a little bit used to and difficult due to the sheer size of the scene.  For vocal, HE-6 makes the singer just right in front of you and T1 puts some distance in between.
 
It is quite different and interesting to compare the strength of both phones.  Now I hardly can say which one is better.  It is just completely different flavor.
 


 

This is exactly what I found with the HE-6 compared to all my dynamics...I preferred the presentation of the latter. The HE-6 presents more of a wall of sound with large sonic images.
 

 

[grokit]

Quote:

sorry, if this question was answered before but how many watts may have a speaker amp for the HE6 via a K1000 speaker adapter?

 
Mine is rated at 45 wpc into 8 ohms and I am listening at around 10 am. If yours is higher than 70 wpc you would want to be very careful with the volume, get the official HE adapter, or wire resistors into your K1000 adapter:
 

 
The consensus for the HE-6 seems to be 10 ohm resistors wired in in parallel as above, but Fang give you the choice between that and 25 ohm resistors wired in series for his adapter.

 

[Vegeta55555]

yes, i thought about the HE adapter too but my amp is rated at 125 wpc into 8 ohms... or is it too risky through the K1000 adapter even if the amp has only about 30-40 wpc? 

 

[grokit]

 
Quote:

yes, i thought about the HE adapter too but my amp is rated at 125 wpc into 8 ohms... or is it too risky through the K1000 adapter even if the amp has only about 30-40 wpc? 

I don't understand, is your amp 125 or 30-40 wpc?