[IEMCrazy]

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Yeah it was a pretty good while ago. The first he6 had silver gumbals/brackets, the cups were more of a dark purple, and the cable didn't have the molded connectors. Also the connectors on the cable were silver and not black. I would also say the built quality, fit and finish was much better when I got my replacement pair as well. There were a lot of complaints from the early adopters concerning qc issues. My current pair has been flawless and very durable as well.

 
Good.  I'm not sure which era mine will be from.  I figure, it's a 2 year old headphone so most issues had to have been sorted out a while ago.  Fang moves fast as the HE-400 showed me.   We'll see which ones I get.  I know it comes in the square box, so probably not the travel case...so I'm not sure how long ago that puts it.  but I imagine they were still using the large case a while after any QC fixes were made to the cans.   I actually prefer the big box to the travel case, personally, so long as the headphone doesn't suffer from it.
 
I have two HE-400's....both have some creaking on the pad rings and the like, the two headbands are wildly different in terms of tension (and I keep trying to stretch the one out with little luck), but generally I know what to expect from HFM quality.  Hopefully no QC issue HE-6's are still around on shelves! I'm hoping they'll last a good long time!
 
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I guess I will hold off, although I hate the connectors they use, they are so flimsy.

 
They may not be as nice as Audeze or HD800 connectors, but they seem wonderfully solid compared to HD650 connectors

 

[ZorgDK]

My first HE-6 was all black, that was one of the first ones. The new I got this spring, and it has silver brackets, better headband, and better sound quality I think, more bass, more crips/better attack.
 
Congrats, iemcrazy.

 

[zenpunk]

@ IEMCrazy,
Sorry, but you are NOT part yet of this very exclusive gentleman club ! Your application has first to be vetted by members. But before that you need to get a 2500W amplifier (a pair of1000W mono-blocks are also acceptable). Will also need to destroy other headphones in your possession 

 

[sluker]

As long as you don't take the connectors on and off too much they work great. But if you are taking them on and off be careful not to rotate the portion attached to the cup as that could sever the solder joint on the inside of the cup.
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They may not be as nice as Audeze or HD800 connectors, but they seem wonderfully solid compared to HD650 connectors

 

[IEMCrazy]

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My first HE-6 was all black, that was one of the first ones. The new I got this spring, and it has silver brackets, better headband, and better sound quality I think, more bass, more crips/better attack.
 
Congrats, iemcrazy.

 
Thanks! 

 
Did yours come in the big box or the travel box? (assuming you didn't order the travel box with them.)
 
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@ IEMCrazy,
Sorry, but you are NOT part yet of this very exclusive gentleman club ! Your application has first to be vetted by members. But before that you need to get a 2500W amplifier (a pair of1000W mono-blocks are also acceptable). Will also need to destroy other headphones in your possession 

 
What?  Destroy my HE-400s?  Never!

  How can one buy a black/purple headphone without an identical headphone in blue to compliment them?

   And I can never part with my HD650...
 
The D5k and K702...yeah, you can take those...

 
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As long as you don't take the connectors on and off too much they work great. But if you are taking them on and off be careful not to rotate the portion attached to the cup as that could sever the solder joint on the inside of the cup.

Interesting.  The connectors on HE-400 are the same, but they don't have the rotating extension/strain-relief connectors on them, you just screw the cable right onto the cup-attached portion.  I've had a stiff cable fall off that way, it's a bit of a pain to work one on.  But I haven't seen any HE-400 owners complaining about issues with the connectors, which I'd expect to see more without the extension since ALL the pressure would be right on the soldered part.  That's good to know though...something to keep in mind when the cables are poking into my shoulders

 

[ZorgDK]

iemcrazy, i have one of the old cardboard boxes with black velvet fabric inside - i got it when i ordered the first he6.

 

[IEMCrazy]

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iemcrazy, i have one of the old cardboard boxes with black velvet fabric inside - i got it when i ordered the first he6.

 
Interesting...we'll see what I get, then

 

[grokit]

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Does anyone know when the "headphone change" occurred, and if it relates or not to when the cable change (to silver) and when the box change (from the big box to the travel case) occurred?

 
 
When did the cable change to silver?
 
The HE6 is still listed at Head-Direct with a "OCC(single crystal copper)" cable, which is what the replacement cable is made of as well.

 

[wuwhere]

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I like the edge, personally. Makes them quite distinct. Add in the Cary in ultra-linear mode and they rock like a wild beast.

 
I just bought one too, a different brand, 50wpc in UL and 30wpc in triode using 6550 tubes, higher power with KT88 (75 wpc in UL) tubes. I will get to hear what triode is all about.

 

[IEMCrazy]

Pre-delivery question for HE-6 & speaker tap users:  With most powerful headphone amps, the usual procedure is to plug the headphones in AFTER the amp is powered up.   I assume with speaker taps, since it is expected on the amp side that speakers are always connected that that isn't an issue?
 
 
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When did the cable change to silver?
 
The HE6 is still listed at Head-Direct with a "OCC(single crystal copper)" cable, which is what the replacement cable is made of as well.

 
What are the pictures of that silver looking braided cable that they seem to be shown with?  Maybe it's not silver conductor, maybe it's silver foil in a clear jacket over a copper conductor.  I know in HE-500 land there was the switch from the black Canare microphone cable that the HE-400 still comes with to what is usually referred to as the "silver cable the HE-6 comes with".   Maybe it's just silver in exterior color.  Or maybe it's a different cable all together. 
 
HFM makes it exciting to buy a headphone...you never know what's going to be in your box

 

[preproman]

I just make sure my volume is down low.

 

[Magick Man]

I just make sure my volume is down low.

This. Just make sure the volume is all the way down.

 

[LarsHP]

I leave the HE-6 in my Master-6 all the time, but when I used my speaker amp I unplugged it after listening and plugged in after turning the amp on. My speaker amp sometimes make a nasty pop when turning on. It is DC coupled IIRC, and I have heard of someone killing his (speaker's) woofers when he got a pop from the speaker amp. The Master-6 seems quite polite when powering on and off.

 

[Shahrose]

Quote:

Yeah it was a pretty good while ago. The first he6 had silver gumbals/brackets, the cups were more of a dark purple, and the cable didn't have the molded connectors. Also the connectors on the cable were silver and not black. I would also say the built quality, fit and finish was much better when I got my replacement pair as well. There were a lot of complaints from the early adopters concerning qc issues. My current pair has been flawless and very durable as well.

 
Quote:

My first HE-6 was all black, that was one of the first ones. The new I got this spring, and it has silver brackets, better headband, and better sound quality I think, more bass, more crips/better attack.
 
Congrats, iemcrazy.

 
Actually Zorg, I think you got the 2 reversed. The new ones are all black and the old ones had the silver headband adjusters. moodryn's description matches my experience exactly.

 

[Elysian]

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Same here, until I added a tube stage. Now I am using a balanced tube preamp and all is good!

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I like the edge, personally. Makes them quite distinct. Add in the Cary in ultra-linear mode and they rock like a wild beast.

 
Yeah, the 300B tube preamp also definitely helps with the edge, but that thing helps with most things I've put it in front of   I'm eventually going to use the HE6 rig to power a set of Zu Druids, Essences, or something else, so I'm not sure what I'll do with the headphones after that.
 
I was listening to it through a b22 and though 'this sounds pretty good' until I replugged it into the speaker rig and it was immediately obvious that an entire layer of detail was not coming through the b22.  I wonder how well it pairs with something like the HE500 and HE5LE.
 
Would love to hear the Cary someday.  The Cary was near the top of my list but I decided to go solid state instead.