[markheadphonium]

On driving the HE-6 with tube amps. Regarding the Woo WA6SE I borrowed, at first I thought it was fine because it got loud without clipping, but I did eventually realize the bass was very lacking. I attribute this to the output impedance which is usually a little higher in tube amps than in solid-state or hybrid amps. I switch to the EF5 (yes, the humble EF5 which is not as powerful as the EF6 but at least has a very low output impedance) and I like the result. Not bad. 
 
I think it's possible that the HE-6 has a very low impedance at bass frequencies and so it needs an amp with near-zero output impedance to drive it. Any significant output impedance can potentially shift the tonal balance including toward brightness.
 
Mark

 

[preproman]

The Zana Deux won't do.  Not for the HE-6 anyway..

 

[markheadphonium]

  The Zana Deux won't do.  Not for the HE-6 anyway..

Yeah, I'm starting to think that it's not about about power but about output impedance. People favor many speaker amps with the HE-6 and those are going to have very low output impedance. The HE-6 impedance curve must be very low, or perhaps uneven.

 

[SilverEars]

  Yeah, I'm starting to think that it's not about about power but about output impedance. People favor many speaker amps with the HE-6 and those are going to have very low output impedance. The HE-6 impedance curve must be very low, or perhaps uneven.

Headphone out?  

 

[punit]

  Punit, didn't realize you had the 6! Since you are into tube amps, what do you think of the ZD for the 6?

2 words -  "Speaker Amp"

 

(in my case 3 words - Tube Speaker Amp). You used to run the HE-500 on the Emotiva Mini, right ? The HE-6 is somewhat similar but needs something with a bit more balls (other HE-6 owners who are more technically inclined can jump in with a more technical explanation

)
 
The HD 800 & HE-6 have given me the most headache amongst all my HP's in order to achieve good synergy with an amp.  But once you get that synergy....goosebumps.... nothing can touch them.

 

[Happy Camper]

The 800s will be making their way here for a comparison with the modded (felt and grill) 6s. I'll try the 800s on my Singlepower Extreme Platinum, the headphone amp on the Hilo and also the speaker amps used to drive the 6s. Thank you preproman for the use of the 800s when you get home.

 

[punit]

I'll try the 800s on my Singlepower Extreme Platinum, the headphone amp on the Hilo and also the speaker amps used to drive the 6s.

My money's on the Singlepower Extreme Platinum , what tubes are you using ?

 

[Happy Camper]

Tung Sol 5998s and a Ken Rad vt-231but will try some other 9 pins in the gain stage.

 

[Xenophon]

I don't know the amp design in question but I use a (customised) Darkvoice 337 tube amp to drive my HD-800.  Uses the 6SJ7 (and equivalent) rectifier tube and the 6AS7*/5998/6080 power tubes.  Dual mono topology.  The 5998 are my fav. tube, closely followed by the 6080WB graphite columns(we'll skip the insanely expensive GEC and WE421 tubes).  
 
It's just what the 800 needs imo.  My amp is neutral sounding for a tube amplifier but it takes off just enough of the 800's strident edge to make it sound -imo- really nice.
 
My money's also on the tubes, curious to hear what your findings will be.

 

[Happy Camper]

Love the dual monos. Everything is better with dual monos.

 

[Velomane]

Happy Camper,
 
You've mentioned the monos on several occasions and now have me intrigued. What, in your experience, would be an upgrade from your Rotels? I'm just trying to get a sense of where they fit in the hierarchy of speaker amps for the HE-6's.

 

[markheadphonium]

  Headphone out?  

Yes the output impedance of the headphone output (or speaker amp output)-- I suspect it needs to be close to zero in order to drive the HE-6 effectively.

 

[Xenophon]

  Yes the output impedance of the headphone output (or speaker amp output)-- I suspect it needs to be close to zero in order to drive the HE-6 effectively.

Conventional wisdom has that it should be no more than 5-8 Ohm based on a 8-10 damping factor.  But I'm not sure if that applies to orthos as those have a flat impedance along the frequency band anyway, as compared to dynamic headphones where it varies all over the place.  That makes them a purely resistive load to the amp and iirc damping shouldn't be a factor then, you just need sufficient power to drive them.

 

[markheadphonium]

  Conventional wisdom has that it should be no more than 5-8 Ohm based on a 8-10 damping factor.  But I'm not sure if that applies to orthos as those have a flat impedance along the frequency band anyway, as compared to dynamic headphones where it varies all over the place.  That makes them a purely resistive load to the amp and iirc damping shouldn't be a factor then, you just need sufficient power to drive them.

That makes sense, but I'm just reaching I guess for some reason why the HE-6 are so hard to match with an amp and why people favor speaker amps for them when many headphone amps have more than adequate power. 

 

[potterma]

  That makes sense, but I'm just reaching I guess for some reason why the HE-6 are so hard to match with an amp and why people favor speaker amps for them when many headphone amps have more than adequate power. 

Ummmm.... No.  That's the point.  Very very very few (if any?) headphone amps have what it takes to properly drive the HE-6...