I have received my HEK v2, I’m burn-in it for 200 hours as it seems that it really affect HEK sound (bottom end extension and clean treble from what I have read at Headfonics).
HEK is a really beautiful headphone, massive but light, don’t know why people complain about build quality. Confort is top notch, it just disappear (I have headspot with my HE6se).
I initially listened to HEK at medium gain (Flux FCN-10, 2x16w @32ohm, pure class A) : sound was soft and nice (12 o clock), spacious but not HD800s level (but far more coherent). Then I turn up the volume at 1 o clock (sound level was still acceptable for me, I listen medium-loud generally) HEK became more engaging but still behind HE6se immediateness. Then I decided to use high gain, 12 o clock, and now dynamic is far far better, its funny how Flux amp can work because I’m high gain at 1 oclock with HE6se so I was quite surprised…
More A/B comparison with HEK and HE6se (high gain) show me that HEK is not a slow or laid back headphone, a bit behind HE6se but not that far from what I expected. Timbre are great on both : HE6se a bit more robust, HEK a bit more diffuse. I have great hope after burn-in (it really changed my Sundara, far more cleaner).
Last, HEK is very open and airy, you can hear them like small speaker when they play music. Compared to HE6se it is definitely more spacious and open but HE6se is good in term of soundstage, not an intimate headphone.
HEK is a very good headphone, I was worried about timbre and dynamic but it is there. Very spacious and more coherent than HD800s (but not as wide) : however far more musical than 800s. Confort is top notch and it is an eye catching headphone, my HE6se look cheap by comparison.