Sell the Timekeeper, get the Benchmark AHB2 and call it a day.
The AHB2 looks like a very nice amp. It's a bit beyond my budget if I sell my Timekeeper though.
Sell the Timekeeper, get the Benchmark AHB2 and call it a day.
I would consider the AHB2 to be nearly the pinnacle of what one can obtain for the HE-6. Before that, I'd say the Bryston 2B wins for that price bracket. Somewhere in between, the excellent Neurochrome HP-1. That's all just personal opinion though. There are a bazillion choices out there.
I've heard some of the older Burson stuff but wasn't really moved by them.
What preamp were you using to hear the AHB2? Also, have you compared the AHB2 to the First Watt amps?
I'm speaking in broad strokes here as I have not heard the AHB2 myself. However, I have several friends who have and most importantly we share many of the same reference points (several of which we've even exchanged directly between each other). So I'm not making the recommendation blindly here.
noteworthy sources used: Schiit Yggy, Prism Sound, GOV2
noteworthy preamps used: Emotiva Big Knob, Stereoknight balanced TVC, there's others I forget
noteworth amps used: Krell, Bryston, Fostex, Crown, Lab Gruppen
I know three people now who've ended their amp chase with the AHB2.
I actually don't like using speaker amps for headphones... but it's one of those cases where the HE-6 is a sweaty beast that doesn't fit into either category well, but fits into the speaker amp category "better". Most speaker amps are actually too noisy for headphone use and have too much gain, but the HE-6 is so low in sensitivity that the noise gets pulled down below audible levels.
I was curious about calling that amp the pinnacle if it has not been compared to other highly recommended amps for the HE-6 like the J2, so I was wondering if you had compared a few of those amps to come to that conclusion. Both the J2 and AHB2 are highly regarded amps, but I'm not sure which one pairs up better with the HE-6. One problem with the AHB2 is that it has balanced inputs only. Benchmark suggests that you use their XLR to RCA adapters if you want RCA inputs, but some people have not had good results with that. Then obviously comes the problem of having a fully balanced preamp.