[thefitz]

Reached out to HiFiMAN - they're incredibly responsive. Sounds like they have these out of stock headbands, but are trying to get you to reach out to them first (similar to Audeze and their gimbals). I was gonna pull the trigger on a stock headband, but the broken one is actually quite comfortable - much less of a clap, too. I just need to get over how silly it looks...

But I do own a HEDDphone....

 

[knorris908]

Reached out to HiFiMAN - they're incredibly responsive. Sounds like they have these out of stock headbands, but are trying to get you to reach out to them first (similar to Audeze and their gimbals). I was gonna pull the trigger on a stock headband, but the broken one is actually quite comfortable - much less of a clap, too. I just need to get over how silly it looks...

But I do own a HEDDphone....

At the tend there, you bring up a great point...

I was trying to explain to my wife "why I have all these headphones", and I couldn't really articulate concisely WHY the he6se v2 wasn't a REPLACEMENT for my HEDDPhone. It's not so much a matter of "better", but more that they are just so drastically "different" in what they do. To analyze the merits of one over the other was an exercise in frustration for me.
Did you find the same to be true? (Besides the obvious aspects of soundstage, bass "thump"/authority, and instrument separation.)

 

[thefitz]

At the tend there, you bring up a great point...

I was trying to explain to my wife "why I have all these headphones", and I couldn't really articulate concisely WHY the he6se v2 wasn't a REPLACEMENT for my HEDDPhone. It's not so much a matter of "better", but more that they are just so drastically "different" in what they do. To analyze the merits of one over the other was an exercise in frustration for me.
Did you find the same to be true? (Besides the obvious aspects of soundstage, bass "thump"/authority, and instrument separation.)

I am in a bit of a love/hate relationship with my HEDDphone. Partially because I sold my HEKv2 to purchase it (!).

I feel the need to justify myself on that one:
1. I was dying to try the HEDDphone
2. The HEKv2 wasn't that dissimilar to the HE6se
3. The HEDDphone is less sensitive than the HEKv2, which made more sense with my setup. OK, that's dumb.
4. My HEKv2 was heavily used and the HEDDphone was open box from a retailer

In hindsight, I do regret the swap, but the HEDDphone itch may have continued to bug me.

The HE6se is a very temperamental headphone with a lot of silly requirements - but once you get that going, it's incredible. Nothing kicks harder or faster, imaging is perfect, timbre is great, perhaps a little intense but if I had one headphone, it would be this, broken headband or otherwise.

The HEDDphone requires nothing beyond gobs of power and barely scales at all. If you can feed it enough juice, you're going to get the same experience no matter what the source or what the material.

The HEDDphone is... flawless.

As in, it doesn't have any significant flaw. Is the treble super clear? No, but it's all the detail you need with none of the harshness. Are the mids nice and full? Yeah, perhaps a touch honky. Is the bass nice and detailed? Yeah, not the biggest thing in the world, and it won't kick the hardest, but you're not going to miss a beat there either.

There's nothing "incorrect" about the sound signature, yet at the same time it doesn't have a single quality that makes it stand out. What's worse - to be annoyed by a headphone's quirks, or to be annoyed by a headphone's lack of excitement?

In that sense, the HE6se and HEDDphone are completely complementary - one is all quirk, and the other one is no excitement.

Seriously, if you took the HD600 and doubled the detail, you'd have the HEDDphone. Is this good? Is this bad? What does this mean?

How often do you see someone use the word "flawless" and then crap all over it?

EDIT: Now that I re-read all this, I brought up the HEDDphone because I clearly don't care about looking like an idiot wearing a headphone.

 

[theangelboy]

It's looks like the He6se v2 has dropped to $550! Has it been that low before? I not sure. But if you've been on the fence, now is a great time to buy!

 

[luizffgarcia]

It's looks like the He6se v2 has dropped to $550! Has it been that low before? I not sure. But if you've been on the fence, now is a great time to buy!

This is an all time low for sure, what a fantastic bang for the buck if you have a good amp!

 

[leeperry]

It's looks like the He6se v2 has dropped to $550! Has it been that low before? I not sure. But if you've been on the fence, now is a great time to buy!

Nah, it'll keep dropping, $349 for BF and I'll bite

 

[NeedtoBurn]

The left driver cut out while listening from the speaker taps on a NAD D 3045 amp. Opened up the driver to discover that the membrane became stuck to the bar magnets causing it to tear. The right driver had no visible signs or audible signs of failure.

Hifiman customer service was responsive and had me send the damaged headphones to their facility in NY. They sent me a replacement pair but I have not had the opportunity to give them a listen since I am traveling and they did not ship to the address I listed. The process from initial contact to replacement being received took about two weeks; I had to cover shipping to Hifiman but they shipped me the replacement headphone for free.

 

[luizffgarcia]

The left driver cut out while listening from the speaker taps on a NAD D 3045 amp. Opened up the driver to discover that the membrane became stuck to the bar magnets causing it to tear. The right driver had no visible signs or audible signs of failure.

Hifiman customer service was responsive and had me send the damaged headphones to their facility in NY. They sent me a replacement pair but I have not had the opportunity to give them a listen since I am traveling and they did not ship to the address I listed. The process from initial contact to replacement being received took about two weeks; I had to cover shipping to Hifiman but they shipped me the replacement headphone for free.

To which address have they shipped to???

I am worried now because my invoice has a different address than the address i live right now... I am also waiting for a replacement pair

 

[NeedtoBurn]

To which address have they shipped to???

I am worried now because my invoice has a different address than the address i live right now... I am also waiting for a replacement pair

Hifiman emailed me a template for filling out my information that they required to be sent with my headphones that had the failed driver. One of the fields in the template was the shipping address where the replacement will be sent. I listed the address where I will be in Florida for the next two months, but they sent the replacement to the VA address listed on my original invoice from Adorama. This VA address was also listed as the sender on the package I sent that contained the headphones with the failed driver, so I’m not sure which of these two sources they used to pull the shipping address.

Luckily someone was at the VA address so it was not a huge issue for me, however you may want to confirm the address they are sending your replacement unit to avoid any possible confusion.

 

[Kate Ang]

pop off the grills and make sure your driver isn't touching the magnets
this happened to the first one I got off adorama and I had to return it
what it should look like: https://ibb.co/qMr23Mg
what my broken driver looked like: https://ibb.co/0B4wbdK

Oh crap I just realised that both sides of my headphone drivers are stuck to the magnets. I wouldn't have noticed if not of your post since I did not experience any imbalance issue. How significant does this affect the sound? As I'm not located in US, got a freight forwarder to send the cans to my current location, so sending back for replacement will be a real pain in the ass.

Seeing that @NeedtoBurn driver tore when they got stuck to the magnets, I think that's the final nail to the coffin. I honestly dread the whole process of sending the defective cans back to US and engaging freight forwarder to send the replacements to me......

 

[luizffgarcia]

How significant does this affect the sound?

It completely ruins the bass response, the difference between my left driver and my right driver was massive. I think the membrane cannot move right to generate the bass since it is stuck to the magnets.

I recommend you replace your pair even if it is complicated because the difference will be huge for you if both your drivers have the issue. Believe me when i say to you that you have no idea what the bass response on the HE6 is if this issue was always present for your pair.

 

[Kate Ang]

It completely ruins the bass response, the difference between my left driver and my right driver was massive. I think the membrane cannot move right to generate the bass since it is stuck to the magnets.

I recommend you replace your pair even if it is complicated because the difference will be huge for you if both your drivers have the issue. Believe me when i say to you that you have no idea what the bass response on the HE6 is if this issue was always present for your pair.

That explains why I always feel that I crave a little more bass from them when nobody else complained, especially when I'm no bass head. I simply assumed that my amp is lacking, thus unable to power them properly. I'm using Topping A30 pro, definitely not the best pairing with these cans, with 5.5w at 32omh should be reasonably sufficient.

Sigh.. Adorama said the warranty claim has to be filed with Hifiman directly. It's within the warranty period, so I'm not worried about getting the replacement. But generally I do not like dealing with Chinese manufacturers directly... Usually I get better service from providers like adorama and drop

 

[luizffgarcia]

That explains why I always feel that I crave a little more bass from them when nobody else complained, especially when I'm no bass head. I simply assumed that my amp is lacking, thus unable to power them properly. I'm using Topping A30 pro, definitely not the best pairing with these cans, with 5.5w at 32omh should be reasonably sufficient.

Sigh.. Adorama said the warranty claim has to be filed with Hifiman directly. It's within the warranty period, so I'm not worried about getting the replacement. But generally I do not like dealing with Chinese manufacturers directly... Usually I get better service from providers like adorama and drop

I hear you, we need an extra dose of patience when dealing with Chinese manufacturers indeed, i am in that process myself and hopefully it will be over by the end of this week.

Yep your amp is not ideal for the HE6 but the difference will still be night and day for you. Good luck!

 

[Blackrao]

Long overdue I finally reviewed the He6se v2. I actually filmed this thing 3 times..... Anyways the He6se v2 is a fantastic headphone but seems like alot of people on forum are having QC issues, I guess I lucked out. I have had them for 3 months and I find the detail sound absolutely fantastic. It kind of has a huge midrange dip that does adversely effect the mids that the sundara seems to avoid and be tuned better in the mids. However, he6se v2 has really good bass extension and beautiful treble. I actually got a chance to listen to the OG He-6 6 screw at Canjam 2021 and damn does that bass ever slam really hard. Using the same source (Ifi Idsd Signature) the he-6 slams significantly harder than the he 6se v2 its not even close lol.

I compare the he6se v2 to sundara and GL2000 in video!

 

[gonintendo]

That explains why I always feel that I crave a little more bass from them when nobody else complained, especially when I'm no bass head. I simply assumed that my amp is lacking, thus unable to power them properly. I'm using Topping A30 pro, definitely not the best pairing with these cans, with 5.5w at 32omh should be reasonably sufficient.

Sigh.. Adorama said the warranty claim has to be filed with Hifiman directly. It's within the warranty period, so I'm not worried about getting the replacement. But generally I do not like dealing with Chinese manufacturers directly... Usually I get better service from providers like adorama and drop

The difficult-to-drive-ness of these is vastly exaggerated. I tried driving them off my RME ADI-2 and while they definitely sounded better on a more powerful amp, it's not like they were just not producing any bass on the RME.
Your observations align with mine, the broken driver had no bottom end, and I also found it to be peakier in the upper mids/treble. I kept trying to EQ it but couldn't get it to sound smooth.