[ohhgourami]

Quote:

 
That should be covered under warranty. Mine does too, I emailed her but it was just too much hassle, I'm just impatient.

I think I'm already past the one year. Yup pretty sure I am...

 

[wuwhere]

Quote:

I think I'm already past the one year. Yup pretty sure I am...

 
That should be covered under 3 years repairing, here.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/521226/he-6-headphones-are-available-now

 

[ohhgourami]

Quote:

 
That should be covered under 3 years repairing, here.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/521226/he-6-headphones-are-available-now

I'm curious on how would they repair the cable.
 
I might as well reterminate it myself. It is oxidized between the Y split and the headphones. It's actually oxidized on one side only.

 

[wuwhere]

Quote:

I'm curious on how would they repair the cable.
 
I might as well reterminate it myself. It is oxidized between the Y split and the headphones. It's actually oxidized on one side only.

 
I believe some here were repaired. Hope some would chime in.

 

[drez]

Quote:

 
Do you think that's what it is? I'm used to more bass?
 
I don't think so, but it could be.
My last HP was HD650. More bass. I did like its sound too.
 
It was a bit too "thick" for my perfect sound though, I thought.
 
 
 
I do think there is something more to it though...probs the headphone...

 
I found a bid difference in sound signature moving between my AudioGD NFB-10 SE and Master 6 - I think not only the power of the amplifier but the power supply and ability to deliver current are important to give the HE-6 good bass.  For reference bass out of the EF-6 was also incredible, huge difference to the NGB-10 as well.
 
If you want a more lively and open sound modding an Audez'e vegan earpad onto a HifiMan earpad space can give this - but it also makes the treble a bit more lively which can be addressed to a degree with earpad screening material.  I think the stock velour has a very well controlled sound with good frequency balance but it can sound a little flat and soundstage can be improved also.
 
If you want a lot of bass though I think EQ or a coloured amplifier or DAC may be the only choices though - in my setup I consider the HE-6 balanced and with powerful bass, but still not really a bass-heavy headphone, just bass neutral IMO.

 

[SHAHZADA123]

Quote:

Hello, I'm really a noob...the only "quality" headphone I owned was HD650 for 2 weeks.
So forgive me if I'm totally mistaken about stuff (and correct me!)
 
 
Now I researched headphones (on head-fi, mainly) extensively until I decided that the best one to get was the HE-6. 
 
I have EF-5 already, so I understood its not the best...but its good enough until I upgrade (hopefully, got a flow of money next month).
 
My DAC is ODAC...from JS labs (i think that's what they're called).
 
 
I got the headphone was so happy and excited, connected it to my amp (which I've been heating since the morning) and, honestly, I was quite disappointed.
 
I don't know terms very well (because I don't speak english, mainly) but I think its the treble. The "sssssss" sound with the high notes...horrible!
 
I do understand they are treble heavy headphones...detailed kinda...get it...but what I'm hearing is not normal, I don't think so!
 
High treble and a hissssss in all the "high notes" are different things!
 
right?
 
 
 
I'm mostly listening to Flac and high quality audio, as far as I can tell. 
 
Like Roger Waters voice, on Dark Side of The Moon, for example, at the very beginning of Breathe...when he says "breathe...breathe in the air" is just "low quality"...but the recording is not bad quality actually I have 3 different vinyl recordings of the best ever (one 5.1, one 4.0 and one stereo)...yet they all have that same thing! 
 
I listened to Bach's Violin Concerto, it was just Divine! Beautiful not a single "ssss". Weird.
 
I understand this is not a bass heavy headphones, but the drum for example always sound like "CLASH" not "DUB", y'know? 
 
 
 
I changed the pads to the valour ones, I think it made it a bit better, not much though.
 
Burning them in would probably help (if its not a myth) but THAT much?
 
 
I don't believe that's how they are supposed to sound tbh, even "under-amped".
 
 
What do you guys think is the problem, any ideas?

I have had a very similar experience with my first pair of HE-6s.
Treble brightness coupled with excessive sibilance (SSSsss sound), were my major complaints.
Even with the speaker taps out of the Manley Stingray iTube (Triode 18wpc/UL 32wpc) and Densen Integrated B-150 (100wpc), both issues persisted.
I finally gave up and sold them to a fellow headfier.
 
A week ago I saw a deal on these headphones and grabbed them. Thought I'd give them one last chance.
Didn't even bother trying the ECBA/EAR HP4 and went directly with the speaker taps out of the Densen B-320 Power Amplifier connected to Densen B-200 Pre Amplifier.
Boy, was I in for a surprise. No brightness, no sibilance. End of story.
 
Finally come to the opinion that these are one of the most neutral & unforgiving cans. Sibilant recordings will sound sibilant, but with good recordings, even female vocals will not exhibit unnecessary sibilance.  
Very lively treble and without any brightness or harshness whatsoever.
Give these the juice they need and you will be rewarded. 

 

[SHAHZADA123]

Last night I was listening to the album 'Night Song' by Michael Brook & Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
I could actually hear THE LATE Nusrat breathing in my ears. It was scary good. 

 

[Loko-Pillo]

Quote:

 
I found a bid difference in sound signature moving between my AudioGD NFB-10 SE and Master 6 - I think not only the power of the amplifier but the power supply and ability to deliver current are important to give the HE-6 good bass.  For reference bass out of the EF-6 was also incredible, huge difference to the NGB-10 as well.
 
If you want a more lively and open sound modding an Audez'e vegan earpad onto a HifiMan earpad space can give this - but it also makes the treble a bit more lively which can be addressed to a degree with earpad screening material.  I think the stock velour has a very well controlled sound with good frequency balance but it can sound a little flat and soundstage can be improved also.
 
If you want a lot of bass though I think EQ or a coloured amplifier or DAC may be the only choices though - in my setup I consider the HE-6 balanced and with powerful bass, but still not really a bass-heavy headphone, just bass neutral IMO.

Yeah, I get you. I just want to reach the sound of the headphones. I don't want the extra bass.
Maybe i will decide i want that later, but for now I want to actually know what those cans sound like to begin with!
 
I don't want to hear its optimal sound either, that probably will come with equipment upgrades, just without the sibilance!

 

[Loko-Pillo]

Quote:

I have had a very similar experience with my first pair of HE-6s.
Treble brightness coupled with excessive sibilance (SSSsss sound), were my major complaints.
Even with the speaker taps out of the Manley Stingray iTube (Triode 18wpc/UL 32wpc) and Densen Integrated B-150 (100wpc), both issues persisted.
I finally gave up and sold them to a fellow headfier.
 
A week ago I saw a deal on these headphones and grabbed them. Thought I'd give them one last chance.
Didn't even bother trying the ECBA/EAR HP4 and went directly with the speaker taps out of the Densen B-320 Power Amplifier connected to Densen B-200 Pre Amplifier.
Boy, was I in for a surprise. No brightness, no sibilance. End of story.
 
Finally come to the opinion that these are one of the most neutral & unforgiving cans. Sibilant recordings will sound sibilant, but with good recordings, even female vocals will not exhibit unnecessary sibilance.  
Very lively treble and without any brightness or harshness whatsoever.
Give these the juice they need and you will be rewarded. 

Hmm..very interesting!
 
 
So, you don't think the first HeadPhones were defective cans?
 
They just needed power?
 
...or both!
 
Because if its just about power, then that's cool I'll be upgrading eventually (soon, hopefully) but if its (also?) a defective can then return policy will end soon!
 
 
How does this recent headphone sound with the "worse" equipment??
 
 
 

Last night I was listening to the album 'Night Song' by Michael Brook & Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
I could actually hear THE LATE Nusrat breathing in my ears. It was scary good. 

Wow, now I'm just jealous! lol
 
Can't wait to experience such detailed sounds.
 
Scary good, sounds quite good!

 

[SHAHZADA123]

Quote:

Yeah, I get you. I just want to reach the sound of the headphones. I don't want the extra bass.
Maybe i will decide i want that later, but for now I want to actually know what those cans sound like to begin with!
 
I don't want to hear its optimal sound either, that probably will come with equipment upgrades, just without the sibilance!

IMO, these headphones will keep sounding bright & sibilant until you power them properly and even then you may not get the optimum out of them. 
It's not necessary that you have to spend a lot of money on high end expensive amps, just a matter of trying different ones.
You never know, you could get lucky with some old, inexpensive but powerful amplifier.
Just my .02 cents

 

[Loko-Pillo]

Yes. You're probably right.
 
Today they're sounding a bit better as well. (getting used to them?)  
 
I don't mind bright at all, I actually like bright...just the damn sibilance! lol
 
Thanks a lot...I think I'll head in the upgrading route, not returning.
 
 
The details are amazing, and the sounds that aren't high are beautiful!
Though they are bright headphones, I do feel an emotional kick in the music with them as well. Weird.
 
 
I have faith in them. I'm sticking with them  : )
 
 
Thanks again everyone, you guys are very helpful and just awesome!

 

[preproman]

Quote:

A $150 DAC teamed up with a $1,000+ headamp and $1,000+ cans and you're wondering why it doesn't sound good? 

 
This is hogwash.  I sometime use a $200 DAC in my rigs.  Sounds good to me.  You have to know your DACs.  The DAC I use can be compared to much higher priced DACs.

 

[IEMCrazy]

Quote:

Wasn't there a deal were the EF5/HE-6 combo was sold? It was so long ago but I didn't go for it because I had a low powered SS HP amp custom made for it and I also have a 10 wpc tube amp. Well the HE-6 killed the low powered SS HP amp (the opamps) and the 10 wpc tube amp is inadequate.

 
Yeah, but don't I also remember that the EF5 was virtually loathed entirely with HE-6?  It was meant more for the power of HE-5 I thought, and HE-6 kind of strains it? I thought that was the point of the EF-6, though I also heard at least early on EF-6 had problems and stopped paying attention after that.  The word "unstable" appeared in more than one thread

 
 
Quote:

Used quality speaker amps are not cheap, specially the known brands like Threshold, Pass, Krell, etc...

 
There's lots of "quality" speaker amps that rival the "exotic" headphone amps that are relatively cheap in comparison that are floating around out there.  Exotic speaker amps like Pass and Krell are another thing entirely...

 
Quote:

I think he's mixing up speaker amps with non-refurb vintage receivers.

 
Receivers, integrateds, etc.  For $300-800 you can get stuff that would be some crazy $800-$1200 balanced amp in headphone land

 
That's starting to change of course, but in years past, it was just a matter of scales of economies....more speaker gear out there than headphone gear, and more audiophiles to buy it.  Now it's swinging the other way. 
 
If you were referring to me that is, but my point was for $200-300 you can get one of those receivers or otherwise that acts as a pretty good speaker amp, where the really good headphone amps don't start until well above that price, thus HE-6 has a different value proposition than the average headphone since it can use that gear.
 
Quote:

 
Do you think that's what it is? I'm used to more bass?
 
I don't think so, but it could be.
My last HP was HD650. More bass. I did like its sound too.
 
It was a bit too "thick" for my perfect sound though, I thought.

 
As a huge HD650 fan I can say, just from a few days of owning HE-6 so far, HE-6 has substantially more real bass than HD650, but HD650 has excessive midbass (but very little below it.) But it does depend on the recording.  Just running through random samples yesterday, something like Portishead that's kind of bass driven comes across fine on HD650, but sounds bass-lean on HE-6. I had to crank the bass tone control up half way.  On the other hand, some Mozart divertimenti had killer bass slam.   I never realized how strange some of these recordings are.  Only HE-6 accentuates some of that strangeness.  4 Generations of Miles had to have some bass tone control added, I couldn't hear the bassist.  Yet Coltrane's Blue Train had ample bass presence natively.  I think HE-6 controls bass so well that it really reveals recordings where the bass is just recorded too weakly (or too strongly.)
 
HE-6 isn't for bassheads, but it's also not bass-shy in any way.  It has impeccable bass performance (with a driver diaphram that big, how could it not?

)  Though I imagine it could be EASILY EQ'd for bassheads.
 
HD650 isn't for bassheads either, you may be just used to a big midbass hump.  Or that EF-5 really IS shortchanging it.  You say you have the volume all the way up?  That doesn't sound good.  The Lyr only got the volume just below half-way for me.

The DAC is the problem you mean?

 
I suspect the DAC is fine.  It's been compared to DAC1 easily enough and measures similarly.  Its limitations are more physical than performance related. 
 
Quote:

I'm curious on how would they repair the cable.
 
I might as well reterminate it myself. It is oxidized between the Y split and the headphones. It's actually oxidized on one side only.

 
Keep the old connectors, replace the "defective" copper between them.  That could count as repair for warranty purposes!

 
Really weird that only one side oxidized...

 

[Skylab]

IMO, these headphones will keep sounding bright & sibilant until you power them properly and even then you may not get the optimum out of them. 
It's not necessary that you have to spend a lot of money on high end expensive amps, just a matter of trying different ones.
You never know, you could get lucky with some old, inexpensive but powerful amplifier.
Just my .02 cents

QUOTED FOR TRUTH. The HE-6 sound thin when under amped. When they have plenty of power, they do not. Thin or bright sound from the HE-6 is the classic sign of insufficient power.

Oh, and I am sorry, I just cannot let this go...David Gilmour is the primary vocalist on "Breathe" from Dark Side of the Moon...not Roger Waters

 

[Loko-Pillo]

Ok...so how is the EF-6?
 
Its more expensive than other speaker amps, but is it better or not?
 
 
Does anyone know?