[JoshG1217]

Added two more refinements to my 6SEV2, new grills from Artic Cables for $20 and fenestrated pads made by Verum in Ukraine. Experimenting to see how much better I could make the 6SEV2 sound with different amps, cables, grills and pads has been fun. But my Final Audio Sonorous III with B type pads and the FAAEL cable are much more engaging to listen to far as I'm concerned. It 's funny how, with the stock pads and cables, the Sonorous III were not that impressive. But I am very high on them now that I've discovered a way to get such good overall sound out of them. I recommend reading the Sonorous III reviews by Chris Martens of HiFiPlus and the review of them on the 6moons website.

Interesting. I ha ent heard much about the sonorous. Is it easily driven?

 

[bagwell359]

Interesting. I ha ent heard much about the sonorous. Is it easily driven?

Interesting. Don't know anything about Sonorous so I'll stick to the HE-6 SE v2.

What amp and how much power at 50 ohms, and what's the out put impedance? Minimum of 2 wpc @ 50 ohms, 4+ is best.

The stock cables and pads are bogus. I have never heard a fenestrated pad that didn't screw up the bass impact - but overall its likely to be better than the stock which as I said is rubbish. The best pad of the 13 I have heard is still the DCA Ether Angled, which have a pretty good sized following for the HE-6 (all versions) and the HE-500. Cables - OFC, low resistance is good enough, but to buy? Custom Cans out of the UK - cheap (relative to crazy cables), and top notch support and nice looking.

After that, it's EQ - for sure parametric as the requirements can't be dealt with even by a 30 band fixed EQ.

If the screens you ordered do not have more open space than stock, thats not good. Try them with no screen, just handle by the edges, I gave up my home brews about 2 years ago and naked is best IMO.

 

[chesebert]

Added two more refinements to my 6SEV2, new grills from Artic Cables for $20 and fenestrated pads made by Verum in Ukraine. Experimenting to see how much better I could make the 6SEV2 sound with different amps, cables, grills and pads has been fun. But my Final Audio Sonorous III with B type pads and the FAAEL cable are much more engaging to listen to far as I'm concerned. It 's funny how, with the stock pads and cables, the Sonorous III were not that impressive. But I am very high on them now that I've discovered a way to get such good overall sound out of them. I recommend reading the Sonorous III reviews by Chris Martens of HiFiPlus and the review of them on the 6moons website.

curious what sound deficiencies you are trying to fix?

 

[Oregonian]

Sorry, which vegan pads are you referring to? I have the Dekoni Velour for hifiman, but don't love how stiff they are. I'm actually a vegan, so lambskin is no bueno for me, but these ones aren't my endgame.

Audeze used to make Vegan pads and they were comfy..............very. Stopped making the for some reason (have NO idea since back in the day they were very popular with the HE-6 (original) crowd, which is where I learned about them and got hooked on them. Nothing I've tried is the same but the Dekoni, after almost two weeks now, is my new go to.

 

[JoshG1217]

Audeze used to make Vegan pads and they were comfy..............very. Stopped making the for some reason (have NO idea since back in the day they were very popular with the HE-6 (original) crowd, which is where I learned about them and got hooked on them. Nothing I've tried is the same but the Dekoni, after almost two weeks now, is my new go to.

Dekoni for audeze or dekoni for hifiman? I have the latter. Just okay to me. The dekoni for beyerdynamic would also fit.

 

[bagwell359]

curious what sound deficiencies you are trying to fix?

It has them, like everything. Interested in his answer and if you have one too.

 

[JoshG1217]

It has them, like everything. Interested in his answer and if you have one too.

I would say vocals don't sound super full, bass could use more slam and treble can sometimes get hot. Doesn't mean they aren't great. BetTer than XS, Ananda, and LCD2.

 

[bagwell359]

I would say vocals don't sound super full, bass could use more slam and treble can sometimes get hot. Doesn't mean they aren't great. BetTer than XS, Ananda, and LCD2.

Can't complain with that list.

They need a good dose of EQ centered at 1.8k +3.4 Q 1.4. also a little tamer down around 750 hz but just 1.2 db and abroad Q like .8. Bass is excellent, but most expect 20 Hz to be as loud as 60 but the human ear doesn't work that way. because I use them with no screens (v1), I have a little +2.8 at 45 Hz Q 1 on a bass shelf - I think one could go to +4 db, but after that its not on the recording. There are a few hot spots in the treble. A broad one centered around 3.5k - say -2.8 db Q 2.4, and around 9.2k -3 db very narrow 9.0 Q - but you might have to hunt it by ear since it can show up at 8,4k or about 10.2k but if you try to cover the whole area you lose too much music. There is a subtle one around 6.2k very narrow Q like 8.4, and just down 2 db. At least not settled.

I gave up speaker cable and RCA wars on my nearly SoTA equipment back in '95, but the HFM stock cables in the 500, 6 SE, 6 SE v2, HEX v2, Ananda are all audibly not correct. a simple OFC DIY buries them. I don't like the pads on the round cups - even the 400i, 6 OG, 560, 4XX, 5LE, 5SE, 6SE - meh. Plus I admit that velour makes my ears sweat but don't like the sound. The long cup pads are actually pretty good.

Beyond that the fuzzor mod cuts down reflections and cancellations - but not as much as the 500 or OG 6 because the stators are thinner, and it helps the v1 more than the v2 I imagine, but haven't tried it. I like very taut damped bass so I put some dynamat on them (back along the rear edge but only about 40-50%, broken into 3 different sized pieces), to corral vibrations a bit - the cup material of all headphones vibrate after all, and they do produce some good bass. by volume, and with the dynamat speed and timbre more accurate.

 

[JoshG1217]

Can't complain with that list.

They need a good dose of EQ centered at 1.8k +3.4 Q 1.4. also a little tamer down around 750 hz but just 1.2 db and abroad Q like .8. Bass is excellent, but most expect 20 Hz to be as loud as 60 but the human ear doesn't work that way. because I use them with no screens (v1), I have a little +2.8 at 45 Hz Q 1 on a bass shelf - I think one could go to +4 db, but after that its not on the recording. There are a few hot spots in the treble. A broad one centered around 3.5k - say -2.8 db Q 2.4, and around 9.2k -3 db very narrow 9.0 Q - but you might have to hunt it by ear since it can show up at 8,4k or about 10.2k but if you try to cover the whole area you lose too much music. There is a subtle one around 6.2k very narrow Q like 8.4, and just down 2 db. At least not settled.

I gave up speaker cable and RCA wars on my nearly SoTA equipment back in '95, but the HFM stock cables in the 500, 6 SE, 6 SE v2, HEX v2, Ananda are all audibly not correct. a simple OFC DIY buries them. I don't like the pads on the round cups - even the 400i, 6 OG, 560, 4XX, 5LE, 5SE, 6SE - meh. Plus I admit that velour makes my ears sweat but don't like the sound. The long cup pads are actually pretty good.

Beyond that the fuzzor mod cuts down reflections and cancellations - but not as much as the 500 or OG 6 because the stators are thinner, and it helps the v1 more than the v2 I imagine, but haven't tried it. I like very taut damped bass so I put some dynamat on them (back along the rear edge but only about 40-50%, broken into 3 different sized pieces), to corral vibrations a bit - the cup material of all headphones vibrate after all, and they do produce some good bass. by volume, and with the dynamat speed and timbre more accurate.

I've yet to try the ether angled pads, but do have dekoni velour for now. Too stiff imo. The audeze pads seemed very big and the dt pads (all dekoni) didn't have the right tone, at least in hybrid version.

I do a bass shelf from 20hz up to 80hz, and a bump at 2hz and 8hz using a 31 band eq. I like the results, but I am a basshead and I do think lcd2 has better bass (and vocals). He6 really shines in resolution and stage though.

 

[Oregonian]

Dekoni for audeze or dekoni for hifiman? I have the latter. Just okay to me. The dekoni for beyerdynamic would also fit.

Dekoni for Audeze. I have the HFM version as well but these have larger ear openings which I prefer. Over the past week or so the comfort (which wasn't bad at all to begin with) is getting even better.

 

[JoshG1217]

Dekoni for Audeze. I have the HFM version as well but these have larger ear openings which I prefer. Over the past week or so the comfort (which wasn't bad at all to begin with) is getting even better.

Interesting. I tried them just in place without gluing them on, but wasn't really thrilled with results

 

[kernel8888]

if its the dekoni suede/velour material i feel like it dulls down the whole top end too much and closes in the soundstage. tried on my lcd-xc2021 and he-6 and felt it had the same effect on both.

old school round velour are my go to for sound, along with some dekoni fenstrated that i had for the 5xx size, so they are a little too big but i make them work.

i have been a big fan on dekoni fenstrated with the hifimans, especially the ananda they did wonders.

 

[JoshG1217]

I had good luck with the dekoni choice leather in the past. I put them on my LCD before selling to nump the bass up and was happy with the results. The dekoni DT pads are as thick as the hifiman angled part all the way around.

 

[bagwell359]

For folks looking at pads - I cribbed a lot of stuff fromthe 4 letter site for the OG HE-6, HE-500, and HFM graph/CSD threads primarily written from 2011-2018. Some of them are not available anymore, but you'll get a lot of ideas to consider.

 

[malenak]

Just curious. Do you know, which headphones have similar bass quality (that visceral bass "wroooom") and resolution like HE6se V2 but not with piercing highs and less amp demanding? I had HE6se V2 for a couple of months, but sold them only because their power needs. With Oratory1990 EQ preset, these were amazing.