[gimmeheadroom]

I'm going to get that as a tramp stamp.

I've been saying it about 300 ohm Sennheiser dynamics for years.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

Yes but an HE6 would not be able to be driven off of a phone. Most high-end headphones wouldn’t. So the LCD-X is an outlier meaning I agree with you that the real problem is whether it’s worth it to upgrade all of my source gear and possibly invest in a speaker amp and if the gains warrant this when I could just get like… an LCD-3 for probably similar money (wouldn’t need to upgrade gear) once all is said and done.

It depends on you and your preferences, nobody can make the decision for you.

From what I can read, LCD-3(F) vary pretty widely. My set is pure killer. They cost 2,500 euros in Europe now, and you can drive them well with a 1000 euro amp and could probably get by with less. The HE6SE is 599-699 USD depending where you buy them and you need to spend another grand or so on an amp to get them into value territory. So from the out of pocket point of view, the HE6SE is a smokin' deal if you want slam, bright, in-your-face sound, engaging, fun.

An alternative with good slam and great speed is a pair of Fostex TH900mk2. They're very easily driven, but delicate. The paint chips when you look at it funny.

 

[thefitz]

I've been saying it about 300 ohm Sennheiser dynamics for years.

It depends on you and your preferences, nobody can make the decision for you.

From what I can read, LCD-3(F) vary pretty widely. My set is pure killer. They cost 2,500 euros in Europe now, and you can drive them well with a 1000 euro amp and could probably get by with less. The HE6SE is 599-699 USD depending where you buy them and you need to spend another grand or so on an amp to get them into value territory. So from the out of pocket point of view, the HE6SE is a smokin' deal if you want slam, bright, in-your-face sound, engaging, fun.

There's definitely a "funny" thing in this hobby when people start to get bargains. It's almost like some people don't think "wow, I got some great value here", they think "hah! I paid X for this setup, and these other idiots paid so much more! And mine's just as good! If not better!". I totally get paying bottom dollar, but in some ways there's a mentality that your bargain must outperform more expensive things for gloating purposes.

The HD6XX and HE6SEv2 fire sales have brought a lot of out-of-context attention to this hobby.

There are people who think that the HD650 is the absolute zenith headphone and nothing released since has outperformed it. I've heard of guys spending $10k on amps to run their HD650. The HD650 has bass roll-off? Oh, no problem, just get a goddamn SUBWOOFER for the room you're listening to it in.

$10k amps and subwoofers to augment a $200 headphone.

But hey! Those Topping measurements!

 

[gimmeheadroom]

Haven't heard, and have no interest in the 650s, but the 600s scale very well. They're hard to beat for any amount of money for getting the timbre exactly right. But they're not bass-cannons and they don't slam, they're just not that kind of headphone. For vocals and acoustic music, they nail it. You don't need to spend 10K on an amp and you don't need subwoofers. But if you bought a V280/281 it would be worth it.

OTOH if you listen to mostly other kinds of music there are better choices.

 

[Blackrao]

Already own the lcd-x and would have to upgrade source gear

well if you already own the lcd-x than there’s no point probably. Your better off just saving money or selling existing gear to upgrading to a LCD-3. The he6se bass is good but nothing comes close to original he6 that i heard. the slam is out of this world in that headphone

 

[thefitz]

well if you already own the lcd-x than there’s no point probably. Your better off just saving money or selling existing gear to upgrading to a LCD-3. The he6se bass is good but nothing comes close to original he6 that i heard. the slam is out of this world in that headphone

If we're after bass slam on a budget, invest in an OG blue HE-400 and start pad rolling!

 

[HiFiRobot]

If we're after bass slam on a budget, invest in an OG blue HE-400 and start pad rolling!

My first planars. Aggressive like a gorilla on coke . But they sure were fun.

 

[thefitz]

My first planars. Aggressive like a gorilla on coke . But they sure were fun.

Yup. They were the first cans that made me go, "so that's what bass slam is!"

I assume you can get a pair of those and a pair of ZMF lambskin Ori pads for under $250, maybe even under $200. Nothing comes close for bass slam at that price. Likely twice the price. At 4x the price, I'd have to do a shootout.

 

[thefitz]

So, this exists:

https://www.head-fi.org/classifieds/zynsonix-susvara-3-5mm-to-speakon-cable-ahb2.19101/

I wonder why? Haven't they tried an A90?

 

[kamikazeing]

So, this exists:

https://www.head-fi.org/classifieds/zynsonix-susvara-3-5mm-to-speakon-cable-ahb2.19101/

I wonder why? Haven't they tried an A90?

Man, I dislike sterile amps as much as the next guy, but your never-ending bashing of the Jot/a90/789 trio on this thread just borders on pettiness. I've used the 6SE on speaker amps (Emotiva A-100) as well as headphone amps (Jot2) and in the end preferred the Jot. It's fine. It sounded fine. Was the Emotiva punchier in the bass? yeah, and the slightly warmer voicing of it synergized nicely with the 6SE's cold tone too. But where it fell short compared to the Jot was simply it's ability to resolve. It was grainy, unrefined. The Jot outresolved it by a mile. All the while retaining enough of the dynamics to sound passable. That alone is I think a valid reason to run the 6SE's on mid tier headphone amps.

I know I'm painting with a broad brush here, but unless you're wiling to spend like a bazillion bucks on an AHB2, modern modest headphone amps are going to run laps around any speaker amp/receiver when it comes to raw detail. It's just how it is. The speaker amp market just hasn't kept up with the headphone amp space.

 

[thefitz]

Man, I dislike sterile amps as much as the next guy, but your never-ending bashing of the Jot/a90/789 trio on this thread just borders on pettiness.

Oh I assure you I am being as petty as possible, mostly for my own entertainment.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

The speaker amp market just hasn't kept up with the headphone amp space.

Lolwut?

 

[thefitz]

Lolwut?

The fun part is a speaker amp is just a power amp, and a headphone amp is both a preamp and a power amp.

 

[EternalChampion]

Since the first day that I got this pair I thought it would be a waste of time removing the grills knowing I would lose some of the impact and intensity but today I decided to give it a go anyway and see what would happen.

Well, the sound becomes a touch airier which is logical but the compromise is also severe as expected. Just no! And it's beyond me how some of you actually enjoy it without the filters at the back with the sound becoming so weak...This headphone provides great impact and fullness without any sibilance or resonance issues in its default configuration!

 

[gimmeheadroom]

The fun part is a speaker amp is just a power amp, and a headphone amp is both a preamp and a power amp.

That wasn't my question and plenty of "speaker amps" are integrateds.

The quality of good integrateds is superb. To say it hasn't kept up with headamps, lolwut...