[ohhgourami]

  nobody had read this most important thread.....no feed back for me of the most important mod, no cost, no time, reversible , put 7 patches of sorbothane on the exterior cups of the he 6 it will explode...all people prefer cosmetics to the sound?
 
« DAMPING MECHANICAL RESONANCE DISTORTION OF STAX PHONES with SORBOTHANE»
 
i will not insist anymore ...

  if the mod was costing hundred dollars all will be interested for sure!

Oh trust me your mod has me interested. I'll be getting around to do my own version of that in the next weeks. Currently getting a measurement rig set up.
 
 
Quote:

  Dear Head-Fi,
 
Please help.... I am so confused.
 
I just heard the HE-6. It is by far the best headphone I have ever heard. My jaw dropped to the floor when the music started. It beats my TH900 in tone and coherency.
 
The thing is, I am running it from the lowly HP-A8 which only kicks out about 500mw into 50ohms. I have a super powerful amp on its way but I am wondering if I need it.
Everything I have read about the HE-6 had me believing it would sound awful in that setup.
 
Will the sound improve that much?
 
Cheers.

Depends what amp you have coming your way. HE-6 is a good sounding headphone either way though it's very easy to get better sound than HP-A8.
 
 
 
 
 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
 
 
Measurements of my HE-6 vs HE1k which are both modded:


 Overall FR's are not accurate, only accurate comparatively!

 

[TonyNewman]

My own experience is that the HE6 scales with more power up to around 8W. Beyond that the improvements are marginal to my ears.
 
4W - Taurus Mk2 - produces music, but sound is thin and bass is weak IMHO.
 
8W - WA5 and Simaudio 430HA - HE6 shines. Does all the sexy things folks rave about. Body, bass - all the good stuff. Yummy.
 
150W (rigged to the speaker taps of my power amp) - slightly better bass and dynamics compared to WA5 and 430HA. Not much in it to my ears.
 
Some folks swear by the power amp option, and it certainly works. I prefer the overall SQ of the powerful headphone amps. YMMV.
 
Something to keep in mind is that the headphone amps capable of throwing 8W (or more) tend to be high end and expensive. The power amp option is very likely to be more cost effective.
 
Whichever way you go, enjoy this fantastic headphone, and if you haven't modded yours yet you are in for a treat.

 

[negura]

 
Yeah having a lot of watts is not necessarily the main requirement here, as most of that power is never going to be used. Imo it seems to be the quality of the first couple of watts and some good PSU headroom that seems to really matter.

 

[preproman]

   
Yeah having a lot of watts is not necessarily the main requirement here, as most of that power is never going to be used. Imo it seems to be the quality of the first couple of watts and some good PSU headroom that seems to really matter.

 
 
Yup hefty PSUs with hefty transformers.  To me those small transformers in headphone amps compared to those in speaker amps is one of the main differences any why no headphone amp has a chance against the TOTL speaker amps.  
 
For the money you might spend on one of those expensive headphones amps you can get a speaker amp that will better it in all areas for less. 

 

[headwhacker]

   
Yeah having a lot of watts is not necessarily the main requirement here, as most of that power is never going to be used. Imo it seems to be the quality of the first couple of watts and some good PSU headroom that seems to really matter.

+1 it's always the 1st  2Watts of clean stable power that matters to HE-6. Going up from 2Watts to 8 watts will only make HE-6 sound twice as loud (6dB).

 

[nigeljames]

   
 
Yup hefty PSUs with hefty transformers.  To me those small transformers in headphone amps compared to those in speaker amps is one of the main differences any why no headphone amp has a chance against the TOTL speaker amps.  
 
For the money you might spend on one of those expensive headphones amps you can get a speaker amp that will better it in all areas for less. 

 
To be fair no headphone amp will cost anywhere near the price of a TOTL speaker amp and no TOTL speaker amp is going to have the versatility with different headphones a headphone amp will.

 

[headwhacker]

   
To be fair no headphone amp will cost anywhere near the price of a TOTL speaker amp and no TOTL speaker amp is going to have the versatility with different headphones a headphone amp will.

 
HE-6 don't need TOTL speaker amps. But TOTL headphone amps are way too expensive and barely have enough power for HE-6 than a decent speaker amp.

 

[preproman]

   
To be fair no headphone amp will cost anywhere near the price of a TOTL speaker amp and no TOTL speaker amp is going to have the versatility with different headphones a headphone amp will.

 
Well not really talking about versatility with other headphones.  Specifically the HE-6.  If you're looking for versatility look else where.  After all, this is the HE-6 thread. So everything is related to "That" headphone.
 
As far as cost.  I could break it down for you like this.  Brand new I paid 4K for my speaker amp.  That's less than the WA5 (with upgrades), less than the Moon, Less than some EC amps, less than the LAu when it was first released (it's now $4K), The Darkstar is $3.5K  
 
The issue here is.  TOTL speaker amps can go on and on and on with no celling in cost.  TOTL headphone amps are few and far in between.
 
Plus there's an entire line of First Watt amps that's less than the above (NEW).   I'll take many of those over any headphone amp out there (for the HE-6).  
 
The speaker amps you can get on the used market for under 4K is till far better.  Again - for the HE-6.  Vintage amps are not even talked about and brings more value than these TOTL headphone amps - for the HE-6.
 
Hell - the Master 10 is what $2K and will blow the pants off these headphone amps - yet again, with the HE-6.

 

[Sorrodje]

I sent my beta HE1000 back, and I still own my modded HE-6.
Mainly sent the HEK back due to personal issues, besides headphones.
But, I never felt the HEK was superior enough to the HE-6 to replace them.
My modded HE-6 is detailed, clear, coherent, present, and alive with energy.
The HEK probably had deeper bass extension, a taller soundstage, wider soundstage, and better layering as stated above, but it was also somewhat soft, polite, and had a slight peak around 7k, which sometimes annoyed me, especially with some brighter recordings.
If they were the same price, and someone said "choose one", I would probably choose the HEK, but I would sorely miss the HE-6, especially when modded.

 
Seems it would be interesting to have stats about the number of Testers who sent their HE1K back....
 
 
And for sure, the HE-6 is a very very very good headphone . and that comes from a HD800 lover  

 

[JamieMcC]

  My own experience is that the HE6 scales with more power up to around 8W. Beyond that the improvements are marginal to my ears.
 
4W - Taurus Mk2 - produces music, but sound is thin and bass is weak IMHO.
 
8W - WA5 and Simaudio 430HA - HE6 shines. Does all the sexy things folks rave about. Body, bass - all the good stuff. Yummy.
 
150W (rigged to the speaker taps of my power amp) - slightly better bass and dynamics compared to WA5 and 430HA. Not much in it to my ears.
 
Some folks swear by the power amp option, and it certainly works. I prefer the overall SQ of the powerful headphone amps. YMMV.
 
Something to keep in mind is that the headphone amps capable of throwing 8W (or more) tend to be high end and expensive. The power amp option is very likely to be more cost effective.
 
Whichever way you go, enjoy this fantastic headphone, and if you haven't modded yours yet you are in for a treat.

 
+ 1 especially "HE6 shines. Does all the sexy things folks rave about. Body, bass - all the good stuff. Yummy."
 
After trying a string of solid state and tube amps found the same moving to the 6W Class A Pass amp and the improvement in body and details where resolved with more finesse to their texturing. This was exactly what I was hoping to achieve.  
 
 
 

   
 
Yup hefty PSUs with hefty transformers.  To me those small transformers in headphone amps compared to those in speaker amps is one of the main differences any why no headphone amp has a chance against the TOTL speaker amps.  
 
For the money you might spend on one of those expensive headphones amps you can get a speaker amp that will better it in all areas for less. 

 
 
The diy 6W Nelson Pass ACA uses laptop pc power blocks 19vdc 3A (shock horror. yes I know I thought the same but if its ok for Nelson Pass its ok for me). The amp is silent with both HE6 and HD800 the ACA kit from diyaudio is $279 plus shipping and a couple of spare hours to assemble.
If you just buy the pcb boards find some suitable used heat sinks on ebay and build your own enclosure your looking at substantially less. The kit includes some quality components like Vishay RN mil spec resistors and Silmic II silk capacitors in the signal path!
 
 A decent sounding amp for the HE6  doesn't have to cost a fortune 

 
http://www.diyaudio.com/store/amplifier-kits/amp-camp-kit-23/aca-bundle-210.html
 
Kit version
 

 
Diy version
 

 

[richard51]

 

  nobody had read this most important thread.....no feed back for me of the most important mod, no cost, no time, reversible , put 7 patches of sorbothane on the exterior cups of the he 6 it will explode...all people prefer cosmetics to the sound?
 
« DAMPING MECHANICAL RESONANCE DISTORTION OF STAX PHONES with SORBOTHANE»
 
i will not insist anymore ...

  if the mod was costing hundred dollars all will be interested for sure!

Oh trust me your mod has me interested. I'll be getting around to do my own version of that in the next weeks. Currently getting a measurement rig set up.
 
 
 
 
 
 

i want to buy a he6 eventually.... I cannot wait to hear your opinion about this mod ..... For me this made the he 400 better than my monsoon speakers ( more presence) and better than my stax lambda basic, i imagine on the he 6 .....someone must try it no only on the exterior cups but inside the he 6 .... we will wait for your opinions . thanks best regards

 

[daltonlanny]

 
Depends what amp you have coming your way. HE-6 is a good sounding headphone either way though it's very easy to get better sound than HP-A8.
 
 
 
 
 
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 
 
 
Measurements of my HE-6 vs HE1k which are both modded:

 
 

 Overall FR's are not accurate, only accurate comparatively!
 
 
 
VERY INTERESTING COMPARATIVE GRAPH INDEED!
Thanks for sharing that.

 

[Oregonian]

  Dear Head-Fi,
 
Please help.... I am so confused.
 
I just heard the HE-6. It is by far the best headphone I have ever heard. My jaw dropped to the floor when the music started. It beats my TH900 in tone and coherency.
 
The thing is, I am running it from the lowly HP-A8 which only kicks out about 500mw into 50ohms. I have a super powerful amp on its way but I am wondering if I need it.
Everything I have read about the HE-6 had me believing it would sound awful in that setup.
 
Will the sound improve that much?
 
Cheers.

Disclosure - I only have speaker amps to compare - no headphone amps in my arsenal.   That said, the difference between the headphone out of a really good vintage amp (Pioneer SX-1050 running 120 wpc) and out of the speaker taps of same amp and then out of my vintage Pioneer Spec 2 amp (fed from the Spec 1 preamp) was astounding.  No comparison whatsoever.  The bass became visceral and unmatched by any of the 50+ headphones I've owned or auditioned.............by a long shot. 
 
And speaking of cost - I bought this entire rack for $270.  Right place, right time, yes.  But the SX-1050, which looked factory new and sounded as good, was $400 so my point is you can get the HE-6 properly driven without spending a lot. 
 

 

[TonyNewman]

   
To be fair no headphone amp will cost anywhere near the price of a TOTL speaker amp and no TOTL speaker amp is going to have the versatility with different headphones a headphone amp will.

 
+1. I have an HD800, which I like very much, and in the future I might just get another headphone. A dedicated headphone amp does seem to provide more flexibility that way.
 
The power amp I was using to compare to the WA5/430HA wasn't a bad unit (Accuphase P-4200). I prefer the headphone amps, mostly for the flexibility and convenience. Wasn't much in it for SQ to my ears. The 8W of the WA5 and 430HA seems to take the HE6 almost as far as it can go in terms of power requirements. Jumping to a (relatively) beefy power amp didn't add a lot more for me.

 

[negura]

   
+1. I have an HD800, which I like very much, and in the future I might just get another headphone. A dedicated headphone amp does seem to provide more flexibility that way.
 
The power amp I was using to compare to the WA5/430HA wasn't a bad unit (Accuphase P-4200). I prefer the headphone amps, mostly for the flexibility and convenience. Wasn't much in it for SQ to my ears. The 8W of the WA5 and 430HA seems to take the HE6 almost as far as it can go in terms of power requirements. Jumping to a (relatively) beefy power amp didn't add a lot more for me.

 
Out of interest which "(relatively) beefy power amp" was that? And how did you control the volume - was it using the Moon as preamp?