You don't need a "high-end" speaker rig to power the HE-6 to have it sound best that's just a common misconception on these boards, just a well designed headphone amp with high peak to peak voltage output or a synergistic speaker amp.
I would agree with this if you said good or even very good rather than best. I think better equipment sounds better on the he-6. But you can be quite fine with a decent amp with enough current.
You don't need a "high-end" speaker rig to power the HE-6 to have it sound best that's just a common misconception on these boards, just a well designed headphone amp with high peak to peak voltage output or a synergistic speaker amp.
I would agree with this if you said good or even very good rather than best. I think better equipment sounds better on the he-6. But you can be quite fine with a decent amp with enough current.
No such thing as best exists. You can spend the rest of your lifetime playing with source/amplification combinations and you would not find one that would be "perfect or best". The number of possible solutions is just to great.
Besides 1 of them being a complete 845 diy amplifier my local builder was experimenting with, according to KG the KSA balanced is a good pair with the HE6. The third is supposedly the Dark Star.
Besides 1 of them being a complete 845 diy amplifier my local builder was experimenting with, according to KG the KSA balanced is a good pair with the HE6. The third is supposedly the Dark Star.
The Darkstar is not a normal headphone amp at all, so you can't really hold it up as an example to support the argument that the HE-6 can be driven well from regular headphone amps. Same goes for the DIY amp too really.
The Darkstar is not a normal headphone amp at all, so you can't really hold it up as an example to support the argument that the HE-6 can be driven well from regular headphone amps. Same goes for the DIY amp too really.
I wasn't making any statement about the pairing, only to point out that the Darkstar is a special case and I don't think it can realistically be held up as an example of a regular headphone amp in terms of powering the 6.
I think the reality is that the M9, as well as the M6/M8, are just far superior amps when compared to the DS.
Take away the expensive casework of the DS and build the M9 in US or EU and prices would be nearly reversed, which would be a better reflection on their respective abilities.
I wasn't making any statement about the pairing, only to point out that the Darkstar is a special case and I don't think it can realistically be held up as an example of a regular headphone amp in terms of powering the 6.
How were headphones played before the advent of "headphone amps"?
About a couple dollars worth of resistors to drop the attenuation off the main speaker amp to a TRRS 1/4" connector.
Then guys started DIYing amps with just enough juice to run IEMs. Then came the full sized "headphone amp".
Speaker amps have and will continue to be used for headphones as a value to the hobbyist. Today's headphone amp industry are moving their power back into speaker amp range with pretty cabinets and leds and selling them for $thousands of dollars. Reality is they are just speaker amps packaged for the new suckers customers. Head Fi supports this as they are making a living off it. But as long as this is a hobbyist forum, they have to deal with the truth.
You don't need a "high-end" speaker rig to power the HE-6 to have it sound best that's just a common misconception on these boards, just a well designed headphone amp with high peak to peak voltage output or a synergistic speaker amp.
The reality the listener runs into is that with the possible exception of the Apex Pinnacle, no pre amp section of a headphone amp can compare with a dedicated high-end pre amp. Obviously, pre-amps are designed to be used in conjunction with a power amp and since the HE-6 sounds best when plugged into the speaker outputs of a power amp my original statement stands.
Few speaker amps are equipped with a volume control. Those that are must have a pre-amp section which brings us back to square one.
The quality of sound reproduction will always be limited by the weakest link in the chain.
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