[thecrow]

Yes, @thecrow , poorly recorded music can be painful to listen to with the HEKse. I find that upsampling to DSD and/or using a NOS filter on a DAC helps some. Fortunately, most of the music I listen to is not compressed or brickwalled to within an inch of its life.

I have a metrum nos dac but i have never bothered upsampling through audirvana. I’ll try that out. Thanks

 

[thecrow]

The HEK SE and the Empyrean are a great combination. I also like to throw the Verite too into that mix. The HEK is a great analytical HP and with it feel absolutely no need to buy the Utopia. The Empy is when you want to listen to some badly recorded music and chill. The Verite is like the Empy's dynamic brother. I do miss having the Empy permanently and hope to get another one soon.

I have the auteur when looking for the forward mids bouncing off some wood - ie acoustic nature

and though some might find it surprising my most natural and rounded sound quite often is my hd800 with the wa2 otl amp

 

[mixman]

I have the auteur when looking for the forward mids bouncing off some wood - ie acoustic nature

and though some might find it surprising my most natural and rounded sound quite often is my hd800 with the wa2 otl amp

How does the HEK sound with the WA2? I know an OTL and planar are not usually a good combo, but how is it anyway? Looking for a good hybrid or tube amp with some slam for the HEK.

 

[Gibson59]

How does the HEK sound with the WA2? I know an OTL and planar are not usually a good combo, but how is it anyway? Looking for a good hybrid or tube amp with some slam for the HEK.

I can tell you the HEKse sounds amazing with my WA22! Match made it heaven. The HEKse still has all the detail and resolution and the tubes really complement the soundstage and make the instrument textures sound really organic and palpable. I think the euphoria of the tubes complements the headphone really well and never lets it feel overly analytical or sterile as I found some detailed headphones can be sometimes with solid-state amp options.

 

[mixman]

I can tell you the HEKse sounds amazing with my WA22! Match made it heaven. The HEKse still has all the detail and resolution and the tubes really complement the soundstage and make the instrument textures sound really organic and palpable. I think the euphoria of the tubes complements the headphone really well and never lets it feel overly analytical or sterile as I found some detailed headphones can be sometimes with solid-state amp options.

Ha! You hit it on the nail. That's sort of my holy grail of tube amps.....at least for my pay grade. I have a buddy here who loves his and he has been through quite a few amps. He says you just have to tube roll and get the best tubes for it since the stock tubes suck.

 

[thecrow]

How does the HEK sound with the WA2? I know an OTL and planar are not usually a good combo, but how is it anyway? Looking for a good hybrid or tube amp with some slam for the HEK.

I’ll have to have another listen as i have only tried the wa2 twice with those hps. I have been using my always on auralic taurus that is new for me.

from my brief listen they were fine with the wa2 but better with the solid state amp. Neither headphone was bloaty or too bottom end full (though they may have got close) or at least I don’t think they were

as well as being softer/more laid back (which they definitely were) with the wa2 they were a bit warmer so offered a slightly alternative but probably a slightly hampered sound.

the same goes with my lcd2 which i have really enjoyed with the wa2 quite often

however i did feel the elear definitely did lack power with the wa2

long story short the wa2 is ok with these but i will always have a ss amp for these. And i will always keep my wa2 as long as i have my hd800

the wa22 would be a better option for the empy and hek but the hd800 is sooo silky smooth with the hd800 and i easily prefer it with the wa2 over the wa22 (based on a couple of demos) for that

 

[mixman]

I’ll have to have another listen as i have only tried the wa2 twice with those hps. I have been using my always on auralic taurus that is new for me.

from my brief listen they were fine with the wa2 but better with the solid state amp. Neither headphone was bloaty or too bottom end full (though they may have got close) or at least I don’t think they were

as well as being softer/more laid back (which they definitely were) with the wa2 they were a bit warmer so offered a slightly alternative but probably a slightly hampered sound.

the same goes with my lcd2 which i have really enjoyed with the wa2 quite often

however i did feel the elear definitely did lack power with the wa2

long story short the wa2 is ok with these but i will always have a ss amp for these. And i will always keep my wa2 as long as i have my hd800

the wa22 would be a better option for the empy and hek but the hd800 is sooo silky smooth with the hd800 and i easily prefer it with the wa2 over the wa22 (based on a couple of demos) for that

Yeah as we discussed before, the SE needs just a little mellowing out. A good hybrid, full tube or warm SS amp should do the trick. My current amp the THX is so neutral that it tells it like it is without that mellowing effect. Also looking at the Violectric V281 as my good SS amp to go along with a possible WA22.

 

[thecrow]

Yeah as we discussed before, the SE needs just a little mellowing out. A good hybrid, full tube or warm SS amp should do the trick. My current amp the THX is so neutral that it tells it like it is without that mellowing effect. Also looking at the Violectric V281 as my good SS amp to go along with a possible WA22.

a quick follow up on the hekse with the wa2 - i've been listening plugged into my ss and then I had a quick listen to one song tonight on the wa2 and no! - don't bother about the wa2 for the hekse. Bottom was bloated (using stock cable)

 

[UsoppNoKami]

OTL with a pair of 6080/6as7g/5998 doesn't have enough current for the planar design.

On my Glenn OTL, I have to use a Quad 6080 or 6x 6BX7/6BL7 or 2x 6336B power tube set up to drive the HEKSE properly, and only then will it sound great out of the OTL amp.

YMMV, just wanted to chime in with what I have heard from my gear.

 

[dcguy73]

My Norne Audio Draug 3 (the copper one, not the $$ silver one) mellows out the HEKse quite a bit. Any thick well-made copper cable would help. When I bought my used HEKv2 (pre-HEKse trade-in), the seller included a Norne Audio Silvergarde 2 cable for a nominal additional cost, but that cable sounds horrid with the HEKse. I would strongly advise avoiding silver cables with the HEKse.

 

[UsoppNoKami]

Errr... I don't know about the S2, but the HEKSE sounds amazing with Silvergarde S3 and Einvaldi Reference, both are very big gauge cables with high quality silver. You might have something too bright or glaring in your chain from source to amp, that is just being revealed by the silver cable and HEKSE.

 

[mixman]

My Norne Audio Draug 3 (the copper one, not the $$ silver one) mellows out the HEKse quite a bit. Any thick well-made copper cable would help. When I bought my used HEKv2 (pre-HEKse trade-in), the seller included a Norne Audio Silvergarde 2 cable for a nominal additional cost, but that cable sounds horrid with the HEKse. I would strongly advise avoiding silver cables with the HEKse.

Yeah I have the opposite happen, I had the Draug 3. Some detail was missing compared to my Draugur Silver. The Draugur Silver cable I have sounds much better. Trevor himself will tell you that Silver sounding thin and bright is a myth. He will tell you, and I have bought enough cables to know, that a good silver cable can be almost as warm as any copper cable while increasing detail......just more expensive.

My thought is if you try to warm up the SE to much via cable you will most likely loose some of that great detail and soundstage. I think it's best to do it via DAC/AMP, than cable.

 

[dcguy73]

Yeah I have the opposite happen, I had the Draug 3. Some detail was missing compared to my Draugur Silver. The Draugur Silver cable I have sounds much better. Trevor himself will tell you that Silver sounding thin and bright is a myth. He will tell you, and I have bought enough cables to know, that a good silver cable can be almost as warm as any copper cable while increasing detail......just more expensive.

My thought is if you try to warm up the SE to much via cable you will most likely loose some of that great detail and soundstage. I think it's best to do it via DAC/AMP, than cable.

So Trevor's pricey silver cables are A+ and his less pricey copper cables are crap? Got it. And if I change the sound with the DAC versus changing it with a cable, that's better? And warming the sound up with a copper cable is bad, but pricey silver cables trump all that? I think I understand now. I should know better than to express an opinion here on Head-Fi without qualifying it with, "just for my setup, just for my equipment, just what I hear, my own experience, YMMV, etc."

 

[thecrow]

Personally I use trevor’s silver draug (not draugur) with all my headphones including my hd800 (and sometimes his volsund). But it is only with the hekse that i found the silver draug was too bright/aggressive/strong for me

(I have found that the silverdraug is smoother and less aggressive in the top end than i remember the silvergarde being with my hd800)

i have been totally happy (perhaps happily in ignorance) using the stock cables of the hekse. However i am waiting for trevor to send me a draug3 for my hekse however i have no idea how long that wait will be

 

[mixman]

So Trevor's pricey silver cables are A+ and his less pricey copper cables are crap? Got it. And if I change the sound with the DAC versus changing it with a cable, that's better? And warming the sound up with a copper cable is bad, but pricey silver cables trump all that? I think I understand now. I should know better than to express an opinion here on Head-Fi without qualifying it with, "just for my setup, just for my equipment, just what I hear, my own experience, YMMV, etc."

No, no, you have a valid opinion too. I was not only expressing mine, I was expressing was has been mentioned to me by Trevor.......That he charges more for silver because it is not only expensive to manufacture but better at conducting signal. The Draug V3 copper that I had was bought second hand and was made for another brand of headphone. When I mentioned it to Trevor he offered to look at it. The Copper Draug is not crap at all and perhaps the one I had was just a bad fit for the SE? In all honesty I may have him make me a custom tuned Draug V3, in many aspects it did sound good.