I have received the HE6 today and I have used my ZDT to drive the headphone. I also owned the Audeze lcd2 and Sennheiser HD800. My ZDT is wired in 2 4 pin XLR balanced so
I have advantage to listen to two headphones at the same time playing the same song almost to the same setting for direct comparision. My audeze LCD-2 and Sennheiser HD800 use
Craig Whiplash Twag's while I also have Twag for the HE6 but in the first listening I use the cable supplied by the headdirect which looks like ALO wire to compare. I am not an expert
in audiophile listening. The first thing I note is that HE6 needs much more power, that is definite. For my normal listening I use 9-9.30 oclock for Sennheiser HD800 , for Audeze LCD2
I use 9.30-10 , HE5 I use 10-10.30 and for HE6 I use 12-1 oclock (my ZDT use the silver reference transformer which may be able to have more power than the standard ZDT). What I
can say about the SQ of the big three's (I dare not listen to the ED10 with Weiss DAC202 because I'm afraid I can not pay for the new order of 4 boards beta22, the price is almost the same:
beta 22 initial vs ED10)
Treble : Sennheiser and HE6 is better than the LCD2 but the LCD2 is richer but a little bit recessed or roll off and I would like it to have more brightness
Midrange: I think it's the HE6 or LCD2. The LCD2 is very rich, sweet, smooth but may be a little congested I think my twag has opened it up to some extent. The HE6 is also of
the same quality but different. Both of them were fun while the HD800 is a little bit more reserved. The soundstage HD800 = HE6 > LCD2, Image : HE6 may be a litltle bit better
than HD5 but definitely better than the LCD2. But that is where the musicality of the LCD2 comes in
Bass : HE6 and Audeze lcd2 and Sennheiser has almost the same deep bass, may be a little bit less deeper in LCD2. The bass quantity and impact is HE6 more than LCD2 but
not much and both of them definitely more than the HD800. My setup may not be fair to the HD800 because I use the Twag which I think Sennheiser should have more copper in that and
the connection should be gold clad more than silver clad to improve the bass.
Overall I prefer the HE6 and LCD2 more than the Sennheiser Hd800 in this setup. Another set up may be different. I use the oppo 80 as the player connect via analog out directly
to the ZDT using audioquest sky 72 DBX. I think both headphone are fun to listen while the HD800 are deep and polite and some music I should use that e.g. Gorecki symphony 3.
I like the treble of HE6 more than LCD2, the midrange I have equal vote for both of them : musicality for Audeze, imaging+soundstage+transparency to the HE6.
I like the bass impact and dynamic change of the HE6 more than the LCD but you may call it even.
I will try to listen more after the burnin. At this time HE6 has no burning period, the Audeze LCD2 approximate 100 hr burn in and the Sennheiser more than 300 hr.
