[Shahrose]

If this was happening after the HE-6 had burned in (20 or so hours), then there's something wrong with your Beta...or the gain setting is too low. There's no way a fully functional Beta would distort at any volume with any headphone. You would destroy your ears trying to make it happen.
 
 
 
Quote:

 When I had the HE6 plugged into the B22 (18 watts @ 8 ohms) thos past Saturday it was straining. I had to turn the volume all the way up and the music distorted. I was listening to Kind of Blue (I don't recall the track) and a few rock songs. Nothing as demanding as the classical number Frank used.

 

[Frank I]

I have the Copland on and at normal listening levels I get no distortion. None its playing well. So I need to give it some time to be fair beforeI decide I do not want them. there is much to like also.

 

[vinyllp33]

Quote:

Quote:

IIt was track one and moderate levels. I do listen to much classical and for me I want ta headphone with sound stage that will glide on demanding tracks without distortion. I want to make it clear on everything else I listened to today their were zero issues and they sounded fine and I do like them but not for classical with my setup. I like the sound stage,bass and dynamics with the BEST treble I have heard to date but unfortunately the classical genre which I have much of will not play well with the Taboo

I never heard the HE-6 clip no matter what volumes I had them at, so I'd be pretty disappointed if a 6W output amp did so
 

The key here is the actual power that the amp can put out at 50 ohms, not its 8 ohm rating as moodyrn pointed out. 
 
If you had a 6-8 watt headphone amp that can produce this power at 50 ohms or higher than I think the outcome would be quite different. 
 
And what seems to be also overlooked is the output voltage that the source (DAC, CD Player) is producing, this varies widely and will greatly affect the ultimate volume level of the amplifier.
 
To me these phones are just about equal to the K1000's when it comes to interfacing, that is if their absolute best performance is to be realized; With that being said I think Fang should have supplied a speaker pigtail as standard; most amps will not require the impedance box so I can understand that being an option.
 
 

 

[Shahrose]

Good point, you're right. 

 

[Frank I]

 
Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

IIt was track one and moderate levels. I do listen to much classical and for me I want ta headphone with sound stage that will glide on demanding tracks without distortion. I want to make it clear on everything else I listened to today their were zero issues and they sounded fine and I do like them but not for classical with my setup. I like the sound stage,bass and dynamics with the BEST treble I have heard to date but unfortunately the classical genre which I have much of will not play well with the Taboo

I never heard the HE-6 clip no matter what volumes I had them at, so I'd be pretty disappointed if a 6W output amp did so
 

The key here is the actual power that the amp can put out at 50 ohms, not its 8 ohm rating as moodyrn pointed out. 
 
If you had a 6-8 watt headphone amp that can produce this power at 50 ohms or higher than I think the outcome would be quite different. 
 
And what seems to be also overlooked is the output voltage that the source (DAC, CD Player) is producing, this varies widely and will greatly affect the ultimate volume level of the amplifier.
 
To me these phones are just about equal to the K1000's when it comes to interfacing, that is if their absolute best performance is to be realized; With that being said I think Fang should have supplied a speaker pigtail as standard; most amps will not require the impedance box so I can understand that being an option.
 
 

Its all well and good if the amp cant get past the demanding tracks with these headphones they do well with the rest of my system including my dLCD2 and did as well with the T1 and will drive the HD800 and right now on normal levels there iz zero distortion so it could be I had it way up but will report on my findings in a couple of weeks.

 

[jamato8]

Quote:

 
To me these phones are just about equal to the K1000's when it comes to interfacing, that is if their absolute best performance is to be realized; With that being said I think Fang should have supplied a speaker pigtail as standard; most amps will not require the impedance box so I can understand that being an option.
 
 

Since they really do, for the most part, require a speaker amp, I would agree. 

 

[65dos]

Audio-gd [size=x-small]C-2 SA good amp for HifiMan he6?[/size]

 

[Happy Camper]

I agree with the speaker pigtail. I'm listening to Patricia Barber right now and can't get the grin off my face. The cavity resonance of the bass is worth hearing on these.

 

[musicman59]

Quote:

Does the amp put out 6 watts into 50 ohm or 8 ohms. I am not familiar with the Taboo. What type of output is it, voltage or current since the HE-6 need current. Even my PB2, a little but powerful balanced portable, powers the HE6 on classical, loud enough that Amy complains in the next room to turn it down and there is no distortion. This is balanced of course. I still know I can get more out of the phones but they do sound good. I can understand your frustration though. The LCD-2 is easier to drive than my HD650's, and sounds much better of course. 

The HE-6 is 7.5 db less efficient that the LCD-2 which is a lot. That means they require about 6 times more power than the CLD-2 to proceed the same level of sound.

 

[sokolov91]

FWIW I am having 0 issues so far with the Phoenix vis Ref - 7 in ACSS mode...trying to get around to making some speaker cables for my 100 watt speaker amp so I can "know" I am driving them properly because now I am just assuming/hoping because otherwise it doesn't make sense. The HE-6 can go much louder than I would ever want without distorting or clipping... maybe it does but my ears do first so it doesn't really matter haha.
 
I am really digging the treble on these, but there certainly is an odd peak/boost somewhere. A lot of songs sound noticeably different with these.
 
So with regards to transparency (how excatly is this different from neutrality?), as I understand it, I don't find them the last word but nonetheless very good.
 

 

[sokolov91]

Quote:

Quote:

Does the amp put out 6 watts into 50 ohm or 8 ohms. I am not familiar with the Taboo. What type of output is it, voltage or current since the HE-6 need current. Even my PB2, a little but powerful balanced portable, powers the HE6 on classical, loud enough that Amy complains in the next room to turn it down and there is no distortion. This is balanced of course. I still know I can get more out of the phones but they do sound good. I can understand your frustration though. The LCD-2 is easier to drive than my HD650's, and sounds much better of course. 

The HE-6 is 7.5 db less efficient that the LCD-2 which is a lot. That means they require about 6 times more power than the CLD-2 to proceed the same level of sound.

so 6 mW vs 1 mW for 91 dB? really doesn't seem that bad to me. say you need 10 x for headroom that is still .6 watts right?

 

[musicman59]

Quote:

Quote:Originally Posted by Skylab 

"Well, just to check, I just played the first track from Also Sprach Zarathustra with the HE-6 on the Mini-Torri, and I was able to play it with no distortion and get a whopping 100 dB on the final peak crescendo (measured with my Rat Shack SPL meter, A weighted).  Clean as a whistle.  And also horrifyingly loud.  At that level I was afraid to play it more than twice, to ensure there was no clipping.  But there was none."


Rob, what's the Mini-Torri's power rated at for 8 Ohms?


When I had the HE6 plugged into the B22 (18 watts @ 8 ohms) thos past Saturday it was straining. I had to turn the volume all the way up and the music distorted. I was listening to Kind of Blue (I don't recall the track) and a few rock songs. Nothing as demanding as the classical number Frank used.

 
That would be just over 3 watts at 50 ohms which it might be marginal for some passages. The other variable is how much current the amp can deliver.

 

[Skylab]

The HE-6 is 7.5 db less efficient that the LCD-2 which is a lot. That means they require about 6 times more power than the CLD-2 to proceed the same level of sound.

 
But the CD-2 require only 1mw to get to 91dB. So thats 6mw to get the HE-6 to 91db.

The HE-6 require a lot of power to sound their best, there is no doubt. But as has been mentioned, the source voltage plays an important role here, as does the PEAK power delivery of the amp, versus the power delivery over an extended time. It's not ever as simple as just one equation.

 

[SP Wild]

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

Does the amp put out 6 watts into 50 ohm or 8 ohms. I am not familiar with the Taboo. What type of output is it, voltage or current since the HE-6 need current. Even my PB2, a little but powerful balanced portable, powers the HE6 on classical, loud enough that Amy complains in the next room to turn it down and there is no distortion. This is balanced of course. I still know I can get more out of the phones but they do sound good. I can understand your frustration though. The LCD-2 is easier to drive than my HD650's, and sounds much better of course. 

The HE-6 is 7.5 db less efficient that the LCD-2 which is a lot. That means they require about 6 times more power than the CLD-2 to proceed the same level of sound.

so 6 mW vs 1 mW for 91 dB? really doesn't seem that bad to me. say you need 10 x for headroom that is still .6 watts right?

As measured by a singular 1khz sinewave, yes...for 20hz -20khz of dynamic music, who knows?

 

[sokolov91]

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

Quote:

Does the amp put out 6 watts into 50 ohm or 8 ohms. I am not familiar with the Taboo. What type of output is it, voltage or current since the HE-6 need current. Even my PB2, a little but powerful balanced portable, powers the HE6 on classical, loud enough that Amy complains in the next room to turn it down and there is no distortion. This is balanced of course. I still know I can get more out of the phones but they do sound good. I can understand your frustration though. The LCD-2 is easier to drive than my HD650's, and sounds much better of course. 

The HE-6 is 7.5 db less efficient that the LCD-2 which is a lot. That means they require about 6 times more power than the CLD-2 to proceed the same level of sound.

so 6 mW vs 1 mW for 91 dB? really doesn't seem that bad to me. say you need 10 x for headroom that is still .6 watts right?

At 1khz, yes...for 20hz -20khz, who knows?

haha yeah that slipped my mind I actually double checked the measurements to see where I went wrong