[bagwell359]

Hifiman cs is very good, however they will likely offer to replace w/ he6se drivers or ask you if you want to upgrade to Arya or other models. They no longer have og he6 drivers to replace them with, I am sorry to say.

he6se driver and HE-6 driver - that's a disaster scenario. They are quite different. Time smear, dueling FR profiles, different frequencies for ringing. Diff bass impact. I don't think the Arya is a fair replacement. HEK se and Susvara only ones that are clearly better, and that's a lot more dough.

Personally I fear getting a pair of HE-6's for some of those reasons, HE-500 getting into same area, but less expensive.

 

[SilverEars]

Wow, this track is very well put together.

 

[lambdastorm]

I recently come in contact with someone who's disassembled quite a handful of HE6 and SEs. He wishes to keep his identity private in fear of Fang murdering him in his sleep. Here are a few tidbits of information I've gathered from this guy:

1. Unit variation of the SE is significantly worse than the OG HE6. Some measure as high as 75 ohms while others average around 60 ohms. Efficiency is in general lower on the SE, meaning the SE is even more power hungry than the original.

2. The first few HE6SEs are likely produced with leftover HE6 drivers, they exhibit similar characteristics to the 6-screw HE-6 and sound almost identical. hifiman had a run or two before switching to newly produced drivers, the difference of which Resolve elaborated in his HE6 analysis video. These drivers are similar to the OG driver but have different thickness*, topology* and a smaller effective area*.

3. Spacing between diaphragm and magnets is also different. The SE has more distance between the diaphragm and the magnet which resulted in lower efficiency.

4. This is an often overlooked factor, diaphragm's position relative to the magnets. Most planar headphones have a diaphragm sandwiched between two magnets so naturally people are going to assume the diaphragm sits in the middle but that's somehow not the case for HE6. For 4-screw HE6s the driver sits closer to the set of magnets that's closer to our ear. It follows a certain proportion. Not many of you know this but Susvara further develops on this concept by having two sets of magnets with different magnetic force. The side that's closer to our ear has smaller magnets with weaker magnetic force.

*The OG HE6 features a 2-micron Toray polyester/polypropylene film as its base membrane. For Susvara it's 1 micron. At the time of writing I don't yet know the thickness of HE6SE's base membrane.

*The SE has reduced effective area compared to the OG HE6. Effective area meaning part of the gold trace that's within the magnetic field a.k.a. the moving part of the diaphragm. The guy told me it's smaller on the SE by a few percent. Shouldn't be too significant.

*This is irrelevant but might interest some. For three iterations, HE560s have some sort of gooey substance on the edge of the driver restricting its movement. For some reason this goo thing is no longer present on the V4, which translates to higher excursion and audibly better bass.

*This is again irrelevant but read on if you want to know more about Audeze. LCD2 in their early days have a very high failure rate because they're plating aluminum on the polyester film first before etching the conductive traces. This method is very likely to fracture the aluminum plating. They only produced a number of units before switching methods.

I really hope this post doesn't end up getting deleted but with hifiman being a sponsor here, you never know.

 

[Slim1970]

I recently come in contact with someone who's disassembled quite a handful of HE6 and SEs. He wishes to keep his identity private in fear of Fang murdering him in his sleep. Here are a few tidbits of information I've gathered from this guy:

1. Unit variation of the SE is significantly worse than the OG HE6. Some measure as high as 75 ohms while others average around 60 ohms. Efficiency is in general lower on the SE, meaning the SE is even more power hungry than the original.

2. The first few HE6SEs are likely produced with leftover HE6 drivers, they exhibit similar characteristics to the 6-screw HE-6 and sound almost identical. hifiman had a run or two before switching to newly produced drivers which Resolve elaborated in his HE6 analysis video. These drivers are similar to the OG driver but have different thickness*, topology* and a smaller effective area*.

3. Spacing between diaphragm and magnets is also different. The SE has more distance between the diaphragm and the magnet which resulted in lower efficiency.

4. This is an often overlooked factor, diaphragm's position relative to the magnets. Most planar headphones have a diaphragm sandwiched between two magnets so naturally people are going to assume the diaphragm sits in the middle but that's somehow not the case for HE6. For 4-screw HE6s the driver sits closer to the set of magnets that's closer to our ear. It follows a certain proportion. Not many of you know this but Susvara further develops on this concept by having two sets of magnets with different magnetic force. The side that's closer to our ear has smaller magnets with weaker magnetic force.

*The OG HE6 features a 2-micron Toray polyester/polypropylene film as its base membrane. For Susvara it's 1 micron. At the time of writing I don't yet know the thickness of HE6SE's base membrane.

*The SE has reduced effective area. Effective area meaning part of the gold trace that's within the magnetic field. The guy told me it's around a few percent smaller. Shouldn't be too significant.

*This is irrelevant but might interest some. For three iterations, HE560s have some sort of gooey substance on the edge of the driver restricting its movement. For some reason this goo thing is no longer present on the V4, which translates to higher excursion and audibly better bass.

I really hope this post doesn't end up getting deleted but with hifiman being a sponsor here, you never know.

Interesting, detailed information. Based on what you are saying is that a few of the HE6SE V1's should have some of the HE6's 6-screw drivers in them. That would make sense as the first run was supposed to be limited stock. Maybe I should have hung onto my set of HE6se V1's. I owned them on different occasions. Either way I would not have been able to tell just by looking at them. Thanks for the info none-the-less

 

[SilverEars]

I recently come in contact with someone who's disassembled quite a handful of HE6 and SEs. He wishes to keep his identity private in fear of Fang murdering him in his sleep. Here are a few tidbits of information I've gathered from this guy:

1. Unit variation of the SE is significantly worse than the OG HE6. Some measure as high as 75 ohms while others average around 60 ohms. Efficiency is in general lower on the SE, meaning the SE is even more power hungry than the original.

2. The first few HE6SEs are likely produced with leftover HE6 drivers, they exhibit similar characteristics to the 6-screw HE-6 and sound almost identical. hifiman had a run or two before switching to newly produced drivers, the difference of which Resolve elaborated in his HE6 analysis video. These drivers are similar to the OG driver but have different thickness*, topology* and a smaller effective area*.

3. Spacing between diaphragm and magnets is also different. The SE has more distance between the diaphragm and the magnet which resulted in lower efficiency.

4. This is an often overlooked factor, diaphragm's position relative to the magnets. Most planar headphones have a diaphragm sandwiched between two magnets so naturally people are going to assume the diaphragm sits in the middle but that's somehow not the case for HE6. For 4-screw HE6s the driver sits closer to the set of magnets that's closer to our ear. It follows a certain proportion. Not many of you know this but Susvara further develops on this concept by having two sets of magnets with different magnetic force. The side that's closer to our ear has smaller magnets with weaker magnetic force.

*The OG HE6 features a 2-micron Toray polyester/polypropylene film as its base membrane. For Susvara it's 1 micron. At the time of writing I don't yet know the thickness of HE6SE's base membrane.

*The SE has reduced effective area. Effective area meaning part of the gold trace that's within the magnetic field a.k.a. the moving part of the diaphragm. The guy told me it's smaller on the SE by a few percent. Shouldn't be too significant.

*This is irrelevant but might interest some. For three iterations, HE560s have some sort of gooey substance on the edge of the driver restricting its movement. For some reason this goo thing is no longer present on the V4, which translates to higher excursion and audibly better bass.

*This is again irrelevant but read on if you want to know more about Audeze. LCD2 in their early days have a very high failure rate because they're plating aluminum on the polyester film first before etching the conductive traces. This method is very likely to fracture the aluminum plating. They only produced a number of units before switching methods.

I really hope this post doesn't end up getting deleted but with hifiman being a sponsor here, you never know.

You impress me with your insider info sir. You know so much sir, or should I say Mr He? Kidding. Nothing will happen to your post. Nothing in there warrant censorship.

IMO, OG HE6 driver had the best balance of resolution and bass impact. I think Fang was going for better resolution with thinner faster diaphragm, and that cost bass impact. Would be nice if Hifiman can get bass impact back like the classic drivers. I wonder if the failure rate was much higher back then? Perhaps due to more freedom of driver excursion?

 

[lambdastorm]

You impress me with your insider info sir. You know so much sir, or should I say Mr He? Kidding. Nothing will happen to your post. Nothing in there warrant censorship.

IMO, OG HE6 driver had the best balance of resolution and bass impact. I think Fang was going for better resolution with thinner faster diaphragm, and that cost bass impact. Would be nice if Hifiman can get bass impact back like the classic drivers. I wonder if the failure rate was much higher back then? Perhaps due to more freedom of driver excursion?

Nice words of reassurance. I'm safe, haha!

There are many reasons why hifiman will never revisit their classic designs, especially not the HE6. It gets down to three factors, driver tension, foil-membrane integration and FR. Some day I'm going to write a blog about how each factor ties into the over all SQ. But for now let me say this. The fact alone that HE6 is being mass-produced is a miracle. All of Fang's creations are realistic, practical designs that can be mass-produced at a given budget. The HE6 certainly is not. It's not something that comes out of an assembly line. There's a reason why for the past 50 years no planar speaker uses golden foil despite its superior mechanical properties. The HE6SE on the other hand, despite having HE6 in its name, is a hifiman redesign that's optimized for mass production.

 

[SilverEars]

Nice words of reassurance. I'm safe, haha!

There are many reasons why hifiman will never revisit their classic designs, especially not the HE6. It gets down to three factors, driver tension, foil-membrane integration and FR. Some day I'm going to write a blog about how each factor ties into the over all SQ. But for now let me say this. The fact alone that HE6 is being mass-produced is a miracle. All of Fang's creations are realistic, practical designs that can be mass-produced at a given budget. The HE6 certainly is not. It's not something that comes out of an assembly line. There's a reason why for the past 50 years no planar speaker uses golden foil despite its superior mechanical properties.

Ok, so the classic Hifimans were result of more of a manual process result compare to today's models. Interesting that such great driver qualities is difficult to achieve with mass-production.

Please write the blog now! Also, if you have a personal blog, please post the link.

By the way guys, Hifiman webpage has Velpads restocked! I got 3 sets already, and will buy more.

 

[bagwell359]

Nice words of reassurance. I'm safe, haha!

There are many reasons why hifiman will never revisit their classic designs, especially not the HE6. It gets down to three factors, driver tension, foil-membrane integration and FR. Some day I'm going to write a blog about how each factor ties into the over all SQ. But for now let me say this. The fact alone that HE6 is being mass-produced is a miracle. All of Fang's creations are realistic, practical designs that can be mass-produced at a given budget. The HE6 certainly is not. It's not something that comes out of an assembly line. There's a reason why for the past 50 years no planar speaker uses golden foil despite its superior mechanical properties. The HE6SE on the other hand, despite having HE6 in its name, is a hifiman redesign that's optimized for mass production.

I'm with Silver Ears, but I couldn't write after that masterstroke post. Just wow, and bring on more. I'm amazed personally that the 6se both v1 and v2 haven't taken over the market at the Adorama price point. A mass produced HE-6 still crushes most offerings

 

[bagwell359]

I was assuming Hifiman can easily reproduce the original HE-6, but it doesn't seem to be the case based on the performance of the SEv1 and 2. I wonder why that is the case? Perhaps he doesn't make the same diaphragms anymore as Fang keeps touting how much thinner his newer ones are.

This tells me the 'SE' attached to the model number doesn't mean it's an improvement. This makes me question if HE1kSE is really an improvement over the original or not.

Too bad the OG isn't being sold anymore. I also wonder how many are out there. This thread used to much more active back in the days.

Well the latest "500" was hardly a real 500. The supposed lesser of the HE-6se v1 doesn't ring as much as the HE-6 6 screw, meaning its easier to listen too/less fatiguing. It lacks the impact in the bass, is a bit less dynamic, has less depth, and an undistinguished sound stage. It's more balanced w/o EQ than the 6, although the hole in 1700 Hz range is brutal.

One has to choose 4 years or newer vs 7-11 yrs. And the $699 Adorama vs the $1kish 6-scew, more for the 4-screw and more for specially treated ones - that all go boom at some unfortunate moment in time.

In other areas of my life I tend to go for the HE-6 option. Not here. 3 of my best 4 cans are HFM, but those HE-6 dying reports every 5 weeks or so..... not relaxing.

 

[elquixote]

The majority of he6 deaths are either due to poor volume control with power amps, dc voltage leaks on vintage amps / power amps that aren't checked before using them etc. Of course there are natural ways that he6 have died but I tend to find the former to be more prominent across what I have seen anyways. You just have to treat them right and they will treat you right, kinda like Eleanor in Gone in 60 seconds haha

 

[musicinmymind]

I am using two HE-6 for past 6 years with Devialet speaker amps and still very happy with them.

4 screw hardwired (Reign 24 silver plated copper) and 6 screw....Never had any issues.

 

[antenorhs]

Hi, folks!
Mi old HE-6 paint is starting to chip, and i'm thinking about restore it.
Have anyone Tried to repaint the cups?
I'm thinking about using autmotive painting.

 

[Armaegis]

The difficulty with painting anything is in blending the edges with the existing. The automotive paint pens aren't the easiest thing to control.

I've had moderate success with nail polish of all things. Also very handy for matching colours of various different headbands and cups.

 

[SilverEars]

I am using two HE-6 for past 6 years with Devialet speaker amps and still very happy with them.

4 screw hardwired (Reign 24 silver plated copper) and 6 screw....Never had any issues.

Mine's been going strong for years now, and the only issue I had with with the yoke holder, round thingy. The headband came off of that on one side, which is a common problem. I opened up the leather inside and found the mini-screw and screwed that sucker back into the round thingy. I was very disappointed and stressed when it came off, but I was so glad I could screw it back on.

 

[paradoxper]

I recently come in contact with someone who's disassembled quite a handful of HE6 and SEs. He wishes to keep his identity private in fear of Fang murdering him in his sleep. Here are a few tidbits of information I've gathered from this guy:

1. Unit variation of the SE is significantly worse than the OG HE6. Some measure as high as 75 ohms while others average around 60 ohms. Efficiency is in general lower on the SE, meaning the SE is even more power hungry than the original.

2. The first few HE6SEs are likely produced with leftover HE6 drivers, they exhibit similar characteristics to the 6-screw HE-6 and sound almost identical. hifiman had a run or two before switching to newly produced drivers, the difference of which Resolve elaborated in his HE6 analysis video. These drivers are similar to the OG driver but have different thickness*, topology* and a smaller effective area*.

3. Spacing between diaphragm and magnets is also different. The SE has more distance between the diaphragm and the magnet which resulted in lower efficiency.

4. This is an often overlooked factor, diaphragm's position relative to the magnets. Most planar headphones have a diaphragm sandwiched between two magnets so naturally people are going to assume the diaphragm sits in the middle but that's somehow not the case for HE6. For 4-screw HE6s the driver sits closer to the set of magnets that's closer to our ear. It follows a certain proportion. Not many of you know this but Susvara further develops on this concept by having two sets of magnets with different magnetic force. The side that's closer to our ear has smaller magnets with weaker magnetic force.

*The OG HE6 features a 2-micron Toray polyester/polypropylene film as its base membrane. For Susvara it's 1 micron. At the time of writing I don't yet know the thickness of HE6SE's base membrane.

*The SE has reduced effective area compared to the OG HE6. Effective area meaning part of the gold trace that's within the magnetic field a.k.a. the moving part of the diaphragm. The guy told me it's smaller on the SE by a few percent. Shouldn't be too significant.

*This is irrelevant but might interest some. For three iterations, HE560s have some sort of gooey substance on the edge of the driver restricting its movement. For some reason this goo thing is no longer present on the V4, which translates to higher excursion and audibly better bass.

*This is again irrelevant but read on if you want to know more about Audeze. LCD2 in their early days have a very high failure rate because they're plating aluminum on the polyester film first before etching the conductive traces. This method is very likely to fracture the aluminum plating. They only produced a number of units before switching methods.

I really hope this post doesn't end up getting deleted but with hifiman being a sponsor here, you never know.

Great information.