honestly just parting them out would be the way to go. headband, gimbles, good driver, bad driver as seperate listings. i like the headband but I know it’s a gonna flake into a million pieces one day, i could use one...
(Am I the only one who thought the original headband was the best? The padding never flakes, the cups swivel, and they can extend to fit gigantic heads with ease.)
hi guys, does anyone know more information about the He6sev2 driving sticking issue? does it seem to happen more to people who do the open grill mods? i don’t think removing the rear volume seal and leaving the diaphragm to slam about would help with it... the most I’d do is the honeycomb with very thin but opaque and durable speaker screening cloth tensioned around the grill and glued to it. it’s gotta be acoustically transparent, or at least transparent enough imo...
i have a unit from a sale but for the original initial run stock. It’s still flawless despite heavy use. fingers crossed that it stays that way. maybe once they kept restocking at “sale” prices that’s when they started cutting corners to deliver at a price point.
I don't really think the grill mod is the culprit here. I had the grill mod on my first pair before I realized they were stuck, but my second pair came directly from Adorama with both diaphragms stuck to the magnets.
I also don't think the original grills do any more to seal the back volume than having nothing (or the more open honeycomb-style grill for that matter).
It does seem to track that the issue is either present from the minute you open the box, or happens early on in the headphone's life. If I had to guess the issue is in the tensioning of the diaphragms, and is likely to present right away -- if at all. But that's pure conjecture. I also think this issue is not a result of playing them loud or pushing loads of low frequencies through them. There should be a few millimeters of air between the diaphragms and the magnets on both sides. It seems unlikely that having that much driver excursion would be possible, unless the tension of the diaphragm is too low
I don't really think the grill mod is the culprit here. I had the grill mod on my first pair before I realized they were stuck, but my second pair came directly from Adorama with both diaphragms stuck to the magnets.
I also don't think the original grills do any more to seal the back volume than having nothing (or the more open honeycomb-style grill for that matter).
It does seem to track that the issue is either present from the minute you open the box, or happens early on in the headphone's life. If I had to guess the issue is in the tensioning of the diaphragms, and is likely to present right away -- if at all. But that's pure conjecture. I also think this issue is not a result of playing them loud or pushing loads of low frequencies through them. There should be a few millimeters of air between the diaphragms and the magnets on both sides. It seems unlikely that having that much driver excursion would be possible, unless the tension of the diaphragm is too low
then maybe possible that there could be issues from too much excursion caused by running from speaker taps at tooloud%?
im chalking it up to QC honestly. I just don’t feel like they’re genuinely gonna cut the price like that with no catch. reminds me of the he560 nightmare zone
Let's poll - who here ran the HE-6SEv2 with stuck drivers out of speaker taps?
Until I got my Ragnarok a few weeks ago, I ran my HE-6SEv1 exclusively out of power amps of varying quality, and didn't pay any attention to the order in which I turned things on, sometimes deliberately powering on the power amp with the headphone connected out of contempt.
I have an expensive headphone cable though. That probably saved it!
then maybe possible that there could be issues from too much excursion caused by running from speaker taps at tooloud%?
im chalking it up to QC honestly. I just don’t feel like they’re genuinely gonna cut the price like that with no catch. reminds me of the he560 nightmare zone
I agree. Poor QC. And I place some of the blame on Adorama, too. It's extremely likely that people are getting defective units (stuck drivers) and sending them back because they sound justifiably horrible. No doubt Adorama is just turning around and selling those as open-box without giving them a thorough inspection. Heck, it's possible they're even plugging them in to make sure they produce sound. But without knowing exactly what to look for in this headphone, it's very easy not to notice. It's still very much a crapshoot with the HE6se
Let's poll - who here ran the HE-6SEv2 with stuck drivers out of speaker taps?
Until I got my Ragnarok a few weeks ago, I ran my HE-6SEv1 exclusively out of power amps of varying quality, and didn't pay any attention to the order in which I turned things on, sometimes deliberately powering on the power amp with the headphone connected out of contempt.
I have an expensive headphone cable though. That probably saved it!
For me it was one pair off speaker taps, and another brand-new (to me) set that I only listened to for 30 seconds to verify that they were broken before sending back. The second set were OB, so they may also have been "tapped out" lol
When I was reading all of the problems you guys were having with HE6SE V2, the first thought that came to mind was that you were all doing something to destroy them. One of you purchased three in a row with problems out of the box. Once again, I thought that person must be doing something terribly wrong to have three go bad new out of the box.
So, when they went on sale for $550 I had to jump at that unbelievable price without even thinking anything would be wrong with mine. When the HE6SE V2 arrived, I was so happy that I had gotten such a good deal. Then, I plugged it in. At that very moment my heart sunk as I thought my amp had broken. But as I plugged the HE6SE V2 into more amps it revealed that the headphone was the culprit. So after comparing the new pair with my trusty old ones that were simply amazing, I decided to burn in the new HE6SE V2 to see if that would fix it. 24-plus hours later after sitting in a drawer playing music there had been no improvement. Thus, I had no doubt in my mind that the Head-fi members having problems, were not their faults after all, but that it indeed is a quality control problem with HifiMan.
Luckily for me Adorama was VERY fast to refund my money. I really am impressed with Adorama and recommend them. Very professional and rapid communication with me. The entire return process was a breeze.
Are those with blown drivers from using a speaker amp using the HE-Adapter adapter or plugging in directly somehow? Not sure whether to keep mine (unopened) or return. This is a lot of money for me for headphones and I don’t want them to break. Or if its safe I could buy an HE-Adapter….
Are those with blown drivers from using a speaker amp using the HE-Adapter adapter or plugging in directly somehow? Not sure whether to keep mine (unopened) or return. This is a lot of money for me for headphones and I don’t want them to break. Or if its safe I could buy an HE-Adapter….
How much better would these through a speaker amp be than an HD650 through a new M1 MacBook Pro? Thinking of returning my pair unopened and putting the money toward a MacBook Pro. :/
The price/performance seems great to me but I'd rather not worry about durability when they're a stretch for me financially.
How much better would these through a speaker amp be than an HD650 through a new M1 MacBook Pro? Thinking of returning my pair unopened and putting the money toward a MacBook Pro. :/
The price/performance seems great to me but I'd rather not worry about durability when they're a stretch for me financially.
I have some thoughts on your predicament, but two disclaimers before I go on.
First, I don't listen to any headphones above 75-80db, ever. Any louder than that is very unpleasant for me, so my experience I'm pretty sure that's going to be different from someone who routinely drives headphones to 90+db.
Second, I love the sound of my HE6se V2 using almost any amp that I have. However, my favorite pairing (even compared to the 3 different speaker amps I've tried) is Leaf Audio CMD-23 Balanced DAC > THX-789 > XLR out and I know lots of people said that the THX amps sound terrible with this headphone, so I guess I completely disagree. Take that for what you will.
I don't think these stuck drivers are a durability issue, per se, I think it's a manufacturing flaw. Everyone that's posted here about it seems to either have problems right out of the box or shortly after (well within your return window). If this was an issue of blown drivers this would have been a bigger problem for the HE-6 since the OG days and these stuck drivers seems to be exclusively a problem for the V2. I have hundreds of hours on my pair, I swapped pads dozens of times, have custom grilles, have run them off of some speaker amps, and haven't ever had any problems. However, that being said, it's a lot of money for a headphone and if you don't want to deal with (or worry) about it, I totally understand.
But, having tried my HE6se V2 on a speaker amp, you do need to be very careful if you are going to drive it with one. The headphones don't actually take that much power (a few hundred mW is going to be ear-damagingly loud) so you don't have a lot of room on most speaker amp volume knobs. If you are planning on running them off of a cheaper speaker amp (and don't have any other headphone amps), that would be another reason to consider returning them, since it's counter productive. I tried them on a cheap JVC 5.1 HT amp (100 watts per channel @ 8ohms, though), the sound was terrible and there was so much hissing that it was unlistenable. Granted, that's an extreme example, but power ≠ good sound, so that's something to keep in mind.
Lastly, I know I'm biased because I love the planar sound (just look at my sig... ), but I don't care for the 6XX/650 (yes, even with tubes) and would take pretty much any planar in my collection over it. So, the HE6se V2 (the best planar I have heard), even not driven optimally (i.e. cheap & good headphone amp), is going to beat the pants off of the Senn driven by a "decent" laptop headphone jack, IMO. It's not close.
Obviously, the choice is yours whether you return them or not, but I hope these incoherent ramblings will help you decide.
The big game changer has been affordable headamps that sound quite nice and kick out big time power. The Jotunheim 2 is capable at low gain and I barely go past 9-10 on high gain. When the original HE6 came out, options like that didn’t exist. Some recent advances in high end solid state components have definitely been understated. I tried a cheap speaker amp; it made sound, loud sound, but I preferred the precision and cleanliness of a decent quality headamp.
This is part of why it’s so sad that hifiman is treating the SE and V2 this way. It’s bad for consumers and bad for them. I think they would be very successful even if they were more expensive than sale price because of the performance they offer and the modern accessibility of capable power to let them sing. They were a set ahead of their time and now would be a perfect time to revitalize the idea, and this is the result...
I know Fang said he regretted pricing the HE6 so low, it doesn’t make sense to bring back a similar headphone, practically make it cheaper through “sales”, but make it worse in a way that damages an already troubled reputation, again. Build it better, charge more (not the original MSRP because then you might as well spend a bit more and get a HEKv2 from Hifiman in their “open box” department). Something like $1000-$1200 would be a sweet spot. People will still buy it. I also think the 3 year warranty from HEK, Shang JR, and Susvara should be standard for anything they sell at or over $1k. I felt deeply reassured buying a HEK due to the long warranty.
I enjoy the “Hifiman sound” in its various incarnations more than any other manufacturer other than Stax, but it is a true test of patience... I love what they offer, but I just don’t understand. With issues like this I can love what they offer and yet never recommend it to anyone in good conscience outside of enthusiasts who can bare the risk.
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), but I don't care for the 6XX/650 (yes, even with tubes) and would take pretty much any planar in my collection over it. So, the HE6se V2 (the best planar I have heard), even not driven optimally (i.e. cheap & good headphone amp), is going to beat the pants off of the Senn driven by a "decent" laptop headphone jack, IMO. It's not close.
