[Monsterzero]

hey all

I own a HE-500,which is BY FAR my fav headphones that I own.Wondering if getting an HE-6 would be a significant upgrade,or merely a sidegrade?

Also....speaker taps...where can I find one?

 

[Clemmaster]

It's a significant technical upgrade.
 
It's a departure from the HE-500 tonality, even with mods. Less euphonic, more transparent/clean and open sounding.
 
The Edition-X would be closer to the HE-500 tonality (EdX is more balanced, with less treble bit and not upper mid emphasis like the 500s) and better technically. The price is hard to justify, though.

 

[nc8000]

To me going to HE-6 after several years with HE-500 was both an upgrade and a sidegrade.

Speaker taps are at the back of all speaker amps, not quite sure what you mean with your question.

 

[Monsterzero]

  It's a significant technical upgrade.
 
It's a departure from the HE-500 tonality, even with mods. Less euphonic, more transparent/clean and open sounding.
 
The Edition-X would be closer to the HE-500 tonality (EdX is more balanced, with less treble bit and not upper mid emphasis like the 500s) and better technically. The price is hard to justify, though.

hmmm,the euphoric mids is what i like most about the 500s...so its just more revealing?

How tricky is using a speaker tap with these,or will a vintage amp drive these well out of the headphone out?

 

[Monsterzero]

Speaker taps are at the back of all speaker amps, not quite sure what you mean with your question.

what i mean is how the heck does one connect to the speaker outs? Ive read that there are resistors to avoid blowing out the headphones/amp or both....i really have zero experience in this regard,and dont want to get in over my head.

 

[Oregonian]

  what i mean is how the heck does one connect to the speaker outs? Ive read that there are resistors to avoid blowing out the headphones/amp or both....i really have zero experience in this regard,and dont want to get in over my head.

With SS amps, you don't need resistors - just start with your volume control basically all the way down. 
 
What we mean by speaker taps is you literally use the speaker terminals on the back of an amp and hook it to your HE-6 by way of an XLR--->speaker wire adapter.  I can shoot a pic of it if you need to but it's a very common way of using these headphones, and as such you can get one of those adapters made by someone like Ted from Headphone Lounge. 

 

[Monsterzero]

 
With SS amps, you don't need resistors - just start with your volume control basically all the way down. 
 
What we mean by speaker taps is you literally use the speaker terminals on the back of an amp and hook it to your HE-6 by way of an XLR--->speaker wire adapter.  I can shoot a pic of it if you need to but it's a very common way of using these headphones, and as such you can get one of those adapters made by someone like Ted from Headphone Lounge. 

a pic and/or link to buy one would be much appreciated!

 

[TheGadaffiDuck]

what i mean is how the heck does one connect to the speaker outs? Ive read that there are resistors to avoid blowing out the headphones/amp or both....i really have zero experience in this regard,and dont want to get in over my head.

Pick a good amplifier with less than a 70watt power outage into an 8ohm load. Thats what Hifiman Recommended, and thats also what i recommend. With my SMSL SA98, which has 160 watts, i got scared to even touch the volume knob period.

And yes, speaker taps. Some people make them so you can purchase (for a high surplus sometimes), but you can make one yourself with speaker cables, Banana plugs, and a 4 pin XLR Female plug (which can be a **** to wire). If you wanna make one yourself, all these parts are on Amazon. Just dont get your hots and grounds mixed up

 

[ohhgourami]

Pick a good amplifier with less than a 70watt power outage into an 8ohm load. Thats what Hifiman Recommended, and thats also what i recommend. With my SMSL SA98, which has 160 watts, i got scared to even touch the volume knob period.

And yes, speaker taps. Some people make them so you can purchase (for a high surplus sometimes), but you can make one yourself with speaker cables, Banana plugs, and a 4 pin XLR Female plug (which can be a **** to wire). If you wanna make one yourself, all these parts are on Amazon. Just dont get your hots and grounds mixed up

Quit limiting people on amount of power an amp produces. I've been using 300wpc @8ohm amps for years and years. Watch the volume and you'll be fine. Some manufacturers don't make amps that only have 70wpc. For example, the least powerful flagship amp that Krell made for the Evolution series is a 300w which I own.
 
People should be pushing the limits (with caution) so we can get to the next level of fidelity. If I hadn't pushed this headphone to the next level, I would have dismissed it for something else and no one would know of the wonderful mods along with insanely good macrodynamics this produces.

 

[Silent One]

I've been pushing 265wpc into my HE-6 with my vintage lovely since 2013 and I love to crank it during fav high speed passes but quickly mind the volume. Especially on power up/down. My unit is also blessed to have an inner ring lock on the big fat volume knob. 

 

 

[TheGadaffiDuck]

Quit limiting people on amount of power an amp produces. I've been using 300wpc @8ohm amps for years and years. Watch the volume and you'll be fine. Some manufacturers don't make amps that only have 70wpc. For example, the least powerful flagship amp that Krell made for the Evolution series is a 300w which I own.

People should be pushing the limits (with caution) so we can get to the next level of fidelity. If I hadn't pushed this headphone to the next level, I would have dismissed it for something else and no one would know of the wonderful mods along with insanely good macrodynamics this produces.

Well Bryston 2blp
Just saying

 

[Moostrkraaft]

I just wanted to restate my love for these cans. I know many HE-6 owners continue to revel at the sound quality they hear out of their system. I still regard my pair powered by Cavalli's Liquid Gold Amp as my favorite audio reproducing system. With proper amplification, these cans produce the best of all worlds—deep, impacting bass with real-life vocals. Do they sound hot at times? Sure. But, taming a hot top-end is much easier than repairing than a wobbly down-end. The HE-6's necessity for a proper amp partner shouldn't disqualify it as one of the greatest headphones of all time. Much love HE-6.

 

[LarsHP]

  what i mean is how the heck does one connect to the speaker outs? Ive read that there are resistors to avoid blowing out the headphones/amp or both....i really have zero experience in this regard,and dont want to get in over my head.

I took the quick, easy and cheap route: I have simply taken the stock cable and cut off the jack plug and connect the bare wires to the speaker terminals. Done.
 
If you want - and you or a friend can solder - you can buy an extra female 4-XLR plug and solder to the (short) wires that you have sticking out from the jack plug. This way you can still connect to standard headphone outputs.

 

[LarsHP]

Apropos cables: I consider buying / making a new cable for my HE-6 (and probably hardwire it).
 
As far as I know the stock cable is 24 awg (which is 0.2 square mm). However, this seems to be the preferred dimension for all headphones - including those who needs less than 1/100 or even 1/500 of the power that HE-6. In other words, taking the power requirements of HE-6 into consideration, using standard thickness appears to be on the low side. I am thinking of going for either double 24 awg or single 21 or 22 awg.
 
What do you guys think? It would be very useful if someone here have tested different wire dimensions.

 

[TheGadaffiDuck]

You can pretty much get away with using 16gauge for almost any home theater set ups, so that's probably all you would need theoretically. If your goal is longevity, and to create a cable with as much conductivity as possible, there is no question..... use dual 24awg