[Angelbelow]

Still on the hunt for a SS headphone amp. Considering a classic amp that I used to read about often.. audio gd master 9 with HE6 upgrade. What are the thoughts on this pairing (last time I did research was 2015 lol)

 

[cskippy]

Not the warmest SS amp but what about Ragnarok or maybe Saga>Vidar? I ran the second option for a while, it was very good for the money.

Of course you can get mch better bang for your buck with used vintage amps but condition and age can be an issue.

 

[sikninjaskillz]

I sold my HE-6 for Utopia. Check with The Source AV for good pricing. HE-6 is still absolutely amazing but the treble did get on my nerves.

I have a He6 and Elear currently and I like the contrast between the two, curious how you feel the the He6 holds up to the Utopia. I also have 3 sets of Focal speakers, so I have a suspicion I'll end up at Utopia myself.

 

[Happy Camper]

This place markets and sells headphone amps. They were not going to support speaker amps, even though they do better with these and other headphones.

 

[cskippy]

Frequency response wise, HE-6 and Utopia are actually quite similar. However, HE-6 comes off as more etched with a sheen or glare to the sound because of the elevated treble. It's kind of raw sounding but works very well with some recordings. Sound stage on HE-6 is wider and placed further away from you but Utopia has better layering and depth.

Utopia has a really punchy, "dynamic" har har mid bass. Overall bass quantity is dictated by amp and DAC used. I've heard Utopia as lean or warm depending on what I use. Biggest thing that Utopia has over HE-6 is less fatiguing sound and better dynamics. It does slightly lack extension at both ends compared to HE-6 but it's close, very impressive for an open back dynamic headphone.

 

[sikninjaskillz]

Thanks for your impressions. Sounds similar to my expectations of it being kinda taking middle-ground of the Elear and HE-6 and leaning towards the better of both. I do enjoy the soundstage and lean towards brighter side of neutral, but there is something about Focal midrange.

 

[LarsHP]

Still on the hunt for a SS headphone amp. Considering a classic amp that I used to read about often.. audio gd master 9 with HE6 upgrade. What are the thoughts on this pairing (last time I did research was 2015 lol)

The Master 9 should be nice even without the HE-6 "upgrade". It's actually not an "upgrade", but a custom version with higher gain. Power is the same as the normal M9: 9W in 40 Ohms. That's plenty enough power.

I have the Master 6 myself. It's a previous design of the M9 (with high gain). Gain is more than enough even for HE-6.

 

[chowmanfu]

I'm now pushing the HE-6 with a Pioneer SX-1250 through its headphone jack. A forum member recommended the Pioneer because it could power the HE-6 without using speaker taps. I bought the Pioneer because I had gold-plated silver headphone cables I did not want adapted for speakers.

I am using a Chord Hugo (1), Moon Audio Silver Dragon interconnects, the Pioneer SX-1250, and Whiplash Twau twelve-strand headphone cables. The HE-6 has been modified by Fire Phoenix Audio.

The PIoneer SX-1250 volume knob is measured in anti-decibels. 'Mute' is labeled by an infinity symbol and is preceded by '70'. Sound is beautiful between 30 and 20 anti-decibels. Somewhere after, the sound isn't bearable; the HE-6 becomes a poor speaker. Sound quality breaks around 10. The Pioneer manual has explicit measurements on everything except the headphone jack. It simply states, "low-impedance".

I've balanced the HE-6 brightness with the Pioneer's native equalizer, labeled 'Tone'.

'Bass' is split into a 50Hz and 100Hz knob.
50Hz is set to +2.5 dB. I find it brings out bass melody. +5.0 dB sounds good but overpowers. 100Hz is set to 0 dB. Any more isn't just overpowering--it rattles my eardrums. It hurts.

'Treble' is split into a 10kHz and 20kHz knob.
10kHz is set to -2.0 dB. I find it almost negates the innate HE-6 brightness but sacrifices negligible quality. The next click backward, -4.0 dB, sacrifices noticeable quality.
20kHz is set to -5.0 dB. It essentially negates the brightness that's left over. The quality lost must be listened for. It's neglectable. There are only two negative settings: -2.5 and -5.0 dB.

I will experiment with copper cable later.

 

[hemipowered007]

I'm now pushing the HE-6 with a Pioneer SX-1250 through its headphone jack. A forum member recommended the Pioneer because it could power the HE-6 without using speaker taps. I bought the Pioneer because I had gold-plated silver headphone cables I did not want adapted for speakers.

I am using a Chord Hugo (1), Moon Audio Silver Dragon interconnects, the Pioneer SX-1250, and Whiplash Twau twelve-strand headphone cables. The HE-6 has been modified by Fire Phoenix Audio.

The PIoneer SX-1250 volume knob is measured in anti-decibels. 'Mute' is labeled by an infinity symbol and is preceded by '70'. Sound is beautiful between 30 and 20 anti-decibels. Somewhere after, the sound isn't bearable; the HE-6 becomes a poor speaker. Sound quality breaks around 10. The Pioneer manual has explicit measurements on everything except the headphone jack. It simply states, "low-impedance".

I've balanced the HE-6 brightness with the Pioneer's native equalizer, labeled 'Tone'.

'Bass' is split into a 50Hz and 100Hz knob.
50Hz is set to +2.5 dB. I find it brings out bass melody. +5.0 dB sounds good but overpowers. 100Hz is set to 0 dB. Any more isn't just overpowering--it rattles my eardrums. It hurts.

'Treble' is split into a 10kHz and 20kHz knob.
10kHz is set to -2.0 dB. I find it almost negates the innate HE-6 brightness but sacrifices negligible quality. The next click backward, -4.0 dB, sacrifices noticeable quality.
20kHz is set to -5.0 dB. It essentially negates the brightness that's left over. The quality lost must be listened for. It's neglectable. There are only two negative settings: -2.5 and -5.0 dB.

I will experiment with copper cable later.

Has anything been done to the 1250? Serviced? Any recaps? That's an awesome amp but as always,vintage requires work. Worth it though.

 

[Keithpgdrb]

I'm now pushing the HE-6 with a Pioneer SX-1250 through its headphone jack. A forum member recommended the Pioneer because it could power the HE-6 without using speaker taps. I bought the Pioneer because I had gold-plated silver headphone cables I did not want adapted for speakers.

I am using a Chord Hugo (1), Moon Audio Silver Dragon interconnects, the Pioneer SX-1250, and Whiplash Twau twelve-strand headphone cables. The HE-6 has been modified by Fire Phoenix Audio.

The PIoneer SX-1250 volume knob is measured in anti-decibels. 'Mute' is labeled by an infinity symbol and is preceded by '70'. Sound is beautiful between 30 and 20 anti-decibels. Somewhere after, the sound isn't bearable; the HE-6 becomes a poor speaker. Sound quality breaks around 10. The Pioneer manual has explicit measurements on everything except the headphone jack. It simply states, "low-impedance".

I've balanced the HE-6 brightness with the Pioneer's native equalizer, labeled 'Tone'.

'Bass' is split into a 50Hz and 100Hz knob.
50Hz is set to +2.5 dB. I find it brings out bass melody. +5.0 dB sounds good but overpowers. 100Hz is set to 0 dB. Any more isn't just overpowering--it rattles my eardrums. It hurts.

'Treble' is split into a 10kHz and 20kHz knob.
10kHz is set to -2.0 dB. I find it almost negates the innate HE-6 brightness but sacrifices negligible quality. The next click backward, -4.0 dB, sacrifices noticeable quality.
20kHz is set to -5.0 dB. It essentially negates the brightness that's left over. The quality lost must be listened for. It's neglectable. There are only two negative settings: -2.5 and -5.0 dB.

I will experiment with copper cable later.

an excellent vintage amp indeed. the headphone jack is like most vintage amps and runs headphones very nicely. however, it does not have the juice to run the he6 correctly. remember that the he6 is more like a speaker then a headphone. lastly, its a vintage amp, and will need cleaning at the very least. dirty controls can cause a bucket of problems that sound worse then they are. you can find some instructions on how to do this easily online. have you tried the amp with speakers? does the same type of sound occur?

 

[Rhamnetin]

Just got my LFF Code-6 today and have been listening for a few hours. Mids to die for! Top 5 best headphone mids for sure even today, at least for me.

Although it's too bass light for me (the extension is there, the impact is not and I prefer generally more bass presence) but swapping pads and ditching the rings should help a lot I think (gonna try ZMF Universe and Ori pads).

 

[Rossliew]

Don’t think the BiPolar may be sufficient to drive the lff adequately.

 

[Liu Junyuan]

Haven't heard the LFF modded HE-6, but I get outstanding bass from my HE-6.

 

[Rhamnetin]

Don’t think the BiPolar may be sufficient to drive the lff adequately.

Adequately? It is. Can go to ear deafening volume levels if need be and the amp is designed for low impedance demanding loads. A Super Symmetry Dynahi would be the best for it, but nobody wants to sell me one.

I found a big problem anyway, these earpads do not fit the rings well and seal poorly. Once I swap pads and get a better seal, bass impact should improve considerably.

Also for reference, my only complaint about the bass has been too little impact and I want a bit more forward bass in general, like the ZMF Ori or Audeze LCD-4. Should be doable seeing as how by default, it has nearly a ruler flat frequency response from sub bass to mids, like Audeze.

- EDIT: The double sided tape I have right now is too thick so there is still not a good enough seal, but using ZMF Universe pads still improved bass impact compared to the stock LFF Code-6 pleather pads. Nice, I am now sure I can get bass impact to acceptable levels for me now since it's damn close. Treble is less natural now however, some sibilance at 'sss' and a less natural leading edge (it's like 10% of the LCD-4's treble problems now). Gotta find a sweet spot.

 

[Textfeud]

There were HE-6’s (three of them) on Amazon a couple of hours ago for 350 dollar (!) for sale. Anyone grab them? The store had +200 positive feedbacks so I was very very tempted but it was too late to call my father for his creditcard info since I don’t have one unfortunately