[LugBug1]

Had these for a few weeks now.. it's crazy how quickly you adapt to a high end sound these days... as if it's 'the norm'
They simply sound fantastic. Any genre of music. Great for classical surprisingly. The soundstage seems to grow if the music calls for it.
I've tried listening a few times without the 4k equ'd.. nope. My ears refuse to adjust to it. So for me sorting atleast that one frequency out is imperative.
Another thing worth mentioning... These are my most comfortable headphones ! If you were to go by most of the initial reviews (and comfort is a major player for you) you may very well be put off thinking these were designed by Jigsaw (Saw movies). Head shape etc is ofcourse part of the deal here. If my he400se had the same pads they would be more comfortable (I find those pads scratchy) only because they are very light. I'm a fan of these new headbands. I'm bald... but must have the right shaped head.

I still have plenty of time to return these... I don't think I will be. As long as you have the power - you may not need another upgrade.

Incidentally,, I tried these powered by the newer Topping L30 II and on high gain I don't want volume passed 10 o'clock. So this is another option for those after cheap power. Plus it's apparently the cleanest amp out there atm... could be wrong.
But it doesn't quite have the speed and timing of my A30pro. That is one hell of an amp.

Excuse the dust on my photo.. I'm in my man cave. I don't dust...

 

[Guipnox]

Had these for a few weeks now.. it's crazy how quickly you adapt to a high end sound these days... as if it's 'the norm'
They simply sound fantastic. Any genre of music. Great for classical surprisingly. The soundstage seems to grow if the music calls for it.
I've tried listening a few times without the 4k equ'd.. nope. My ears refuse to adjust to it. So for me sorting atleast that one frequency out is imperative.
Another thing worth mentioning... These are my most comfortable headphones ! If you were to go by most of the initial reviews (and comfort is a major player for you) you may very well be put off thinking these were designed by Jigsaw (Saw movies). Head shape etc is ofcourse part of the deal here. If my he400se had the same pads they would be more comfortable (I find those pads scratchy) only because they are very light. I'm a fan of these new headbands. I'm bald... but must have the right shaped head.

I still have plenty of time to return these... I don't think I will be. As long as you have the power - you may not need another upgrade.

Incidentally,, I tried these powered by the newer Topping L30 II and on high gain I don't want volume passed 10 o'clock. So this is another option for those after cheap power. Plus it's apparently the cleanest amp out there atm... could be wrong.
But it doesn't quite have the speed and timing of my A30pro. That is one hell of an amp.

Excuse the dust on my photo.. I'm in my man cave. I don't dust...

Nice.
Great cans indeed.
Endgame worthy for many.
Just need a few tweaks/mods.
How do they compare to your Sennheiser cans in timbre, resolution, stage?

 

[bagwell359]

I just learned this morning how important the grill mod is to making these headphones sound their best.

I previously did the grill mod with honeycomb grills I bought off EBAY, but did it at the same time as swapping amps and cables - so I wasn't able to determine how much difference the grills made. But after 2 months, my He6SE's left driver suddenly failed. I contacted customer support and they sent a refurb - but fortunately it looked to be in perfect shape.

While my He6SE were out, I added a switch to protect the headphones from my speaker amp's shutdown noise (Adcom GFA 545 II). When I got them back, I heard them for several hours and was severely disappointed. The treble was muted to my 45 year old ears, the mids were nasally and the bass didn't excite me. I blamed the switch or feared the drivers were stuck to the magnets.

This morning I pulled off the stock grills and confirmed that the drivers were NOT defective, there's space between drivers and magnets. I replaced the grills with my EBAY grills that had thin speaker cloth glued on - and the difference was night and day. I'm loving the sound as I type. The air is back, there's a bigger soundstage and I'm getting all the detail I want out of the mids while enjoying visceral bass. Only now do these seem a good complement to my Stax L700's - that yesterday seemed miles better than the He6SE.

In short - only with the grill mod do these sound like end-game headphones to me. The difference is NOT subtle.

My chain is an SMSL M400 DAC to Schiit Saga +, to ADCOM GFA 545 II to a Pyle speaker switch, to the Hifiman He 6 SE v2.

In my hierarchy of mods that's not #1

For "v1" and v2;

parametric EQ
Pads - DCA Ether Angled
screens - none
fuzzor mod
cables - anything with O2 copper
dynamat on the back on the inner edge - 3 different size pieces about 1/3" wide, 1.75", 1", ,7" spaced evenly to cut upper bass/low midrange cup resonances

For OG HE-6 or HE-500 - fuzzor is #1

Even after all that the HD-600 on an OTL amp does piano top to bottom better timbre wise.

The old timers like to denigrate the SE's. Bass impact they have a very large point. Outside of that, I like the SE better as a balanced product lacking some of the angry amusical edge of the 6 screw (never heard the 4), bigger warmer mids, less peaky treble. But the bass impact of the 6 screw is clearly 11/10, and the SE is 8.7/10. For $399 plus some time and $ on the mods - it battles and wins against the first two Aryas, and is in a tie with the SE IMO. Unless you are a die in in wool bass head, rules the LCD-2 and 3 as well. If you don't need the bass impact the HEK v2 now dropping under $1350 used and the OG LCD-4 are two that I would consider as probably better overall, but the cost and they are not new.

 

[LugBug1]

Nice.
Great cans indeed.
Endgame worthy for many.
Just need a few tweaks/mods.
How do they compare to your Sennheiser cans in timbre, resolution, stage?

The only top end Senns I have are the hd600 atm. So.. in comparison, the Senns still hold their own believe it or not. I still own these but not the HD800 anymore for a reason. They're perfect for what they do.
However...
In regards to everything SQ wise... the Hifiman's do it better on a technical level. But the enjoyment of music is often bypassed when we are studying the SQ. And I could in theory be happy to live with the Senns.. and live happily ever after !

The hd800 (original) sound is etched on my brain as I spent so much time with them. And so from memory,, predictably the soundstage is superior, but imaging is probably the same as the He6se. Both are astounding. But with the Hifiman you have a more focused whole image. I would also add that the hifiman's timbre reproduction is superior. Speed, dynamics are very similar - but there is much more meat on the bones here. More realism.

One thing else I noticed with the he6se,, these headphones are the first to make me take them off thinking there was a noise in the house haha. The realism is spooky ! I listen to lots of experimental electronic music and these are mindblowingly good when the recording quality is top notch.

 

[Oregonian]

Anyone doing the Audeze headband mod these days? I love the comfort...............

 

[trh322]

Sorry to disrupt your conversations. I have a question about the grill mod, what does removing the grills do to the sound? Because I removed the grills from mine, but I didn't notice much of a difference at all. Could it be my amp/dac wasn't up to bar? I'm using the Schiit Modi/Magnius stack. Thankyou.

 

[malenak]

Sorry to disrupt your conversations. I have a question about the grill mod, what does removing the grills do to the sound? Because I removed the grills from mine, but I didn't notice much of a difference at all. Could it be my amp/dac wasn't up to bar? I'm using the Schiit Modi/Magnius stack. Thankyou.

I am also in minority about this. I think, the change is noticeable, but for me, these just doesn't sound right with grill mod. I like them like they came from factory, but using Oratory1990 PEQ.

 

[PolloLoco]

Sorry to disrupt your conversations. I have a question about the grill mod, what does removing the grills do to the sound? Because I removed the grills from mine, but I didn't notice much of a difference at all. Could it be my amp/dac wasn't up to bar? I'm using the Schiit Modi/Magnius stack. Thankyou.

I hadn't even considered the possibility that your amp might not be powerful enough to distinguish the differences. I just spent the day listening with my Monolith THX amp, and with about 30% of the songs I heard - I came away feeling that the sound was too harsh to be a pleasant listen. Supremely detailed, but the treble was just a bit too sharp. And this was with the grills off. People are divided on the amp thread as to whether this amp is powerful enough to drive the He6se properly, I think it's borderline because I can get to crazy volume easily, but the tonal balance often seems unpleasant. If that's what you're starting with - it's possible you may not be able to make out a difference between having the grills off and on. When I listened to my ADCOM GFA 545 II speaker amp from one day to the next - it seemed like a night and day difference. I never once thought the sound was harsh with the grills off.

If you click the link I provided - you'll see a link to another person's measurements before and after removing the grills. It looks like a 3DB increase in sub-bass, and a 3DB increase for a 10K peak. The latter actually sounded good to my 45 year old ears, I was hearing the right amount of sparkle. Besides that, the sound seems more open, a clearer, slightly larger soundstage. Of course, my comments are subjective, that's what I'm personally hearing and enjoy. But it's nice to see plots that suggest the change is legitimate.

Another important thing - the primary reason I pulled my grills off to begin with was to check to make sure my drivers weren't damaged. Did you do that? If you search this thread you'll see photographs of healthy versus damaged drivers, with the drivers stuck to the magnets. You can only identify that with the grills removed and in clear lighting. The damaged drivers have been described as sounding shrill by comparison.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Sorry to disrupt your conversations. I have a question about the grill mod, what does removing the grills do to the sound? Because I removed the grills from mine, but I didn't notice much of a difference at all. Could it be my amp/dac wasn't up to bar? I'm using the Schiit Modi/Magnius stack. Thankyou.

You are fine, the change is subtle enough to be a figment of imagination. As I was told that soundstage will expand, I was expecting that effect, can't vouch I'll be able to tell it reliably in blind A/B/X though.

 

[wolfstar76]

The only top end Senns I have are the hd600 atm. So.. in comparison, the Senns still hold their own believe it or not. I still own these but not the HD800 anymore for a reason. They're perfect for what they do.
However...
In regards to everything SQ wise... the Hifiman's do it better on a technical level. But the enjoyment of music is often bypassed when we are studying the SQ. And I could in theory be happy to live with the Senns.. and live happily ever after !

The hd800 (original) sound is etched on my brain as I spent so much time with them. And so from memory,, predictably the soundstage is superior, but imaging is probably the same as the He6se. Both are astounding. But with the Hifiman you have a more focused whole image. I would also add that the hifiman's timbre reproduction is superior. Speed, dynamics are very similar - but there is much more meat on the bones here. More realism.

One thing else I noticed with the he6se,, these headphones are the first to make me take them off thinking there was a noise in the house haha. The realism is spooky ! I listen to lots of experimental electronic music and these are mindblowingly good when the recording quality is top notch.

It boils down to the different technology, planar IMHO is newer and potentially better tech than the good old dynamic driver. The only DD that wow me is ZMF, though their latest flagship happens to be a planar: Caldera which has all the technical performance of planar while retains some of the good timber from their DD house sound signature.

 

[bagwell359]

Sorry to disrupt your conversations. I have a question about the grill mod, what does removing the grills do to the sound? Because I removed the grills from mine, but I didn't notice much of a difference at all. Could it be my amp/dac wasn't up to bar? I'm using the Schiit Modi/Magnius stack. Thankyou.

In my case the DCA Ether Angled and no screen seems to have a way of enhancing each to be more than one or the other alone.

The thing I always noticed is that things like wood blocks and finger snaps have too much resonance with the screens on. There is a bit more purity in the mids in general, I think my gear, mods, and EQ show a bit more overall perhaps.

What other mods have you done?

 

[anjaudiofile]

Modded, this Hifiman can battle with ALL of me heard TOTL hp.

What mods do you recommend?

 

[bagwell359]

What mods do you recommend?

After I sorted out my VAC problems and got the mods going I've been a staunch fan of the two SE's for 4 years - and they play rough with the cans from $1.5k down - but I;d rather listen to the the Susvara, HEK v2, DCA Voce, D8000 (both), OG LCD-4, HD-800 w/ the mod on a OTL amp for soundstage.

 

[anjaudiofile]

After I sorted out my VAC problems and got the mods going I've been a staunch fan of the two SE's for 4 years - and they play rough with the cans from $1.5k down - but I;d rather listen to the the Susvara, HEK v2, DCA Voce, D8000 (both), OG LCD-4, HD-800 w/ the mod on a OTL amp for soundstage.

Interesting. What OTL are you running the HD-800 with? Looking to get one for myself.

 

[bagwell359]

Interesting. What OTL are you running the HD-800 with? Looking to get one for myself.

Just borrowed an 800 to run on my rather overbuilt BHCs after my great results with the HD-600. I also heard my 600 on the stock BHC and DU00 26 and all 3 (OTL) made the 600 sound much more real than the 3 megabuck SS amps I used on it (my Rag 1, borrowed v-281, borrowed Bryston BHA-1).

I'm convinced the 600 and 800 were designed on tube amps, perhaps OTL's - the increase to something similar to the harmonics heard in live music is there, also the 600 soundstage is better - if not accurate with my BHCs - 3 blobs becomes big open center, far left and right, and mid left and right - with 4-7 pieces.