[nahpungnome]

So I decided to bring back my p304 to match with my m504. As I suspected, the sound is leaner, but still very good. I can just bump the bass defeat one click and it's good. One thing I noticed though...I'm picking up radio frequencies on when I grab my headphone cable. Anybody know a good way to shield my speaker taps? When there's no music, I hear faint radio signals from a station. When I grab it with my whole fist, it gets audible. When music is playing normally, it doesn't affect what's playing unless there's a silent passage.

Edit: Moved the cables around a bit and it seems to have fixed the noise issue. I think my usb fan cable touching my speaker tap cable was the culprit. All is good now.

 

[ksorota]

So I decided to bring back my p304 to match with my m504. As I suspected, the sound is leaner, but still very good. I can just bump the bass defeat one click and it's good. One thing I noticed though...I'm picking up radio frequencies on when I grab my headphone cable. Anybody know a good way to shield my speaker taps? When there's no music, I hear faint radio signals from a station. When I grab it with my whole fist, it gets audible. When music is playing normally, it doesn't affect what's playing unless there's a silent passage.

Edit: Moved the cables around a bit and it seems to have fixed the noise issue. I think my usb fan cable touching my speaker tap cable was the culprit. All is good now.

Could you share where you got those grills? I am having a hard time finding something on Thingiverse or Ebay. Did you have them printed yourself or buy them from somewhere. I had the rear cups off, but the fear of catching one of the wires has forced me to keep it on until I find a suitable replacement.

 

[nahpungnome]

Could you share where you got those grills? I am having a hard time finding something on Thingiverse or Ebay. Did you have them printed yourself or buy them from somewhere. I had the rear cups off, but the fear of catching one of the wires has forced me to keep it on until I find a suitable replacement.

I got mine off ebay from this seller: https://www.ebay.com/usr/chelsss0915?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2754 I think he makes them in batches. Might want to shoot them a msg.

 

[ksorota]

I got mine off ebay from this seller: https://www.ebay.com/usr/chelsss0915?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2754 I think he makes them in batches. Might want to shoot them a msg.

Thank you for the link! Ill get in touch with him.

 

[bagwell359]

OK, time to clear things up. I hammered these about 3-4 months ago, a number of times.

Some of what I said is still true - for instance the claim that the HE-6 and the HE6se are the same, that's rubbish, I pointed out the 8-9 ways that they are physically different which has a distinct impression on the sound. It's an intractable truth.

My mistake was confusing my low VAC (114 during my 1st time with this headphone). At the same time my HD-600 and HEX v2 showed no signs of trouble with the VAC, although my HE-500 did show some, and for a time I had my HEX v2 rated ahead of my 500's. I ended up packing up and shipping off my 6se, but the buyer wasn't happy, so they came back and I tossed them in a corner. Then a month ago my VAC went to dead-on 120, and my HE-500 started sounding a lot better. Hmm. My amp, DAC, or CD player? Tough to reproduce the problem with text book current coming in. A VARIAC is far too dirty/noisy to be reliable a tool. Besides - who cares? It's better.

Then I got TIDAL Hi-Res through an LG V40, and no more CD player, I let the 6se out of jail, and oh my, still bright in the lower treble, still a dip in the upper mids, but the fabric of the sound and detail was more than good enough to continue listening. Using the toneboosters EQ and using the graph from 11/18/19 on that other site (seems the closest) and a few previously annoying CD's as guides - and it proves: that that is a good EQ tool, and that as of now these are the best sounding cans in my collection - although I haven't EQ'd the others yet.

The 500 and 6se are relatives, I wonder if they draw a lot of current which is what makes them sensitive vs the other cans - must be.

Anyhow the HE6se was not then or now worth the original asking price, but at $699 Adorama? Even $899 - it's a good buy. It's not a HE-6, it's a modernized, somewhat homogenized version that if you have the juice, and ability to EQ it, is a worthy addition to a collection.

Sorry that my logical sloppiness may have caused people to alter decisions.

 

[nahpungnome]

OK, time to clear things up. I hammered these about 3-4 months ago, a number of times.

Some of what I said is still true - for instance the claim that the HE-6 and the HE6se are the same, that's rubbish, I pointed out the 8-9 ways that they are physically different which has a distinct impression on the sound. It's an intractable truth.

My mistake was confusing my low VAC (114 during my 1st time with this headphone). At the same time my HD-600 and HEX v2 showed no signs of trouble with the VAC, although my HE-500 did show some, and for a time I had my HEX v2 rated ahead of my 500's. I ended up packing up and shipping off my 6se, but the buyer wasn't happy, so they came back and I tossed them in a corner. Then a month ago my VAC went to dead-on 120, and my HE-500 started sounding a lot better. Hmm. My amp, DAC, or CD player? Tough to reproduce the problem with text book current coming in. A VARIAC is far too dirty/noisy to be reliable a tool. Besides - who cares? It's better.

Then I got TIDAL Hi-Res through an LG V40, and no more CD player, I let the 6se out of jail, and oh my, still bright in the lower treble, still a dip in the upper mids, but the fabric of the sound and detail was more than good enough to continue listening. Using the toneboosters EQ and using the graph from 11/18/19 on that other site (seems the closest) and a few previously annoying CD's as guides - and it proves: that that is a good EQ tool, and that as of now these are the best sounding cans in my collection - although I haven't EQ'd the others yet.

The 500 and 6se are relatives, I wonder if they draw a lot of current which is what makes them sensitive vs the other cans - must be.

Anyhow the HE6se was not then or now worth the original asking price, but at $699 Adorama? Even $899 - it's a good buy. It's not a HE-6, it's a modernized, somewhat homogenized version that if you have the juice, and ability to EQ it, is a worthy addition to a collection.

Sorry that my logical sloppiness may have caused people to alter decisions.

My initial issues with my pair have been corrected by burn in and changing to a speaker amp setup. I had pretty bad issues with sibilance that were tamed after putting hours on them. I didn't do any pink noise or anything like that, just listened to them. While I still get it here and there, it's nowhere near as pronounced as when new. I also found the bass to be slightly lacking, although not bad. I have my preamp to + 2 on bass and everything sounds great to me. As far as the mid dip, I don't hear it as much as I'm assuming you do. The only headphones I've had problems with the mids are my Elear. Anyway, glad to hear your re-assessment of the SE version is positive.

 

[Slim1970]

OK, time to clear things up. I hammered these about 3-4 months ago, a number of times.

Some of what I said is still true - for instance the claim that the HE-6 and the HE6se are the same, that's rubbish, I pointed out the 8-9 ways that they are physically different which has a distinct impression on the sound. It's an intractable truth.

My mistake was confusing my low VAC (114 during my 1st time with this headphone). At the same time my HD-600 and HEX v2 showed no signs of trouble with the VAC, although my HE-500 did show some, and for a time I had my HEX v2 rated ahead of my 500's. I ended up packing up and shipping off my 6se, but the buyer wasn't happy, so they came back and I tossed them in a corner. Then a month ago my VAC went to dead-on 120, and my HE-500 started sounding a lot better. Hmm. My amp, DAC, or CD player? Tough to reproduce the problem with text book current coming in. A VARIAC is far too dirty/noisy to be reliable a tool. Besides - who cares? It's better.

Then I got TIDAL Hi-Res through an LG V40, and no more CD player, I let the 6se out of jail, and oh my, still bright in the lower treble, still a dip in the upper mids, but the fabric of the sound and detail was more than good enough to continue listening. Using the toneboosters EQ and using the graph from 11/18/19 on that other site (seems the closest) and a few previously annoying CD's as guides - and it proves: that that is a good EQ tool, and that as of now these are the best sounding cans in my collection - although I haven't EQ'd the others yet.

The 500 and 6se are relatives, I wonder if they draw a lot of current which is what makes them sensitive vs the other cans - must be.

Anyhow the HE6se was not then or now worth the original asking price, but at $699 Adorama? Even $899 - it's a good buy. It's not a HE-6, it's a modernized, somewhat homogenized version that if you have the juice, and ability to EQ it, is a worthy addition to a collection.

Sorry that my logical sloppiness may have caused people to alter decisions.

Glad to see that the HE6se's are back in favor with you. I can attest that the HE6se's love power, need it actually. The more power you have on tap, the better these headphones sound. As far as EQ, I'm a fan of it. I EQ all of my headphones. Simply because I have yet to hear a perfect headphone, but others their mileage my vary.

I'm using a Burson Swing, Headamp Gilmore Lite Mk2, Burson Bang and a Shiit Loki stack mostly. I have some higher end gear but I still find myself enjoying this modest stack. This setup drives EVERYTHING. I feel I get the most out of every headphone in my collection. Sure the collective pieces put you over the $1k price point but the versatility you have to tweak the sound is worth it. For example, I have the Burson V6 classics and vivids op-amps in my Swing. Then I have the Sparkos Lab SS3602 op-amp in the Bang. Add, the GL Mk2 as a preamp and the Loki as the EQ equals win IMO. Especially with the HE6se's

 

[bagwell359]

My initial issues with my pair have been corrected by burn in and changing to a speaker amp setup. I had pretty bad issues with sibilance that were tamed after putting hours on them. I didn't do any pink noise or anything like that, just listened to them. While I still get it here and there, it's nowhere near as pronounced as when new. I also found the bass to be slightly lacking, although not bad. I have my preamp to + 2 on bass and everything sounds great to me. As far as the mid dip, I don't hear it as much as I'm assuming you do. The only headphones I've had problems with the mids are my Elear. Anyway, glad to hear your re-assessment of the SE version is positive.

The 3 freq response charts I have seen on the 6SE are all pretty different, which is an issue. On mine the dip about 1650 Hz needs correcting, but I have it set pretty narrow band at +4.25, the 3.85 kHz peak I have at -5.85 db, also fairly narrow bell, got a little +1.8 db tweak below 35 Hz, a small 1.4 db rise at 12,8 kHz, 1.5 dip at 9.8 kHz, and a wide bell at 480 Hz, but only down 1.4 db. Parametrics really are much more flexible than graphics.

+2 on bass? where is the hinge? That wouldn't likely work for me, I like it damped with slam, and no murky stuff lurking. That's pretty much left me with a long line of Threshold, Krell, and Pass amps, and frustration with the Dyna, Jadis, ARC tube amps I had.

 

[Fegefeuer]

Hopped on that Adorama deal as well a few months ago. It's a "safe" 6 screw HE-6.

My main issues were fixed with a pad change though. Other than that I find it wonderfully balanced and clean. Strictly for music use I would even choose it over the Arya. It just has that extra oomph down low that makes the bass enveloping and it doesn't have the slight peak and the mids are are better balanced to me as well. Arya has better microdetail though and the bass lines are cleaner separated. Of course, Arya has better depth and overall a bigger soundstage. For music use I don't care that much to be honest as long as it doesn't mush everything together aka separates very well with stable positioning. Gaming and movies are a different horse.

My HE-6SE sounds actually normal, just like the Verum One does, and in the same vein simply in a very good way. 699 Dollars was an insane deal.

My 4 screw HE-6 will return soon, haven't heard it in a few months. Of course even back then I knew the bass alone was already way better (after properly modded) but I am still looking forward to comparing it.

 

[nahpungnome]

The 3 freq response charts I have seen on the 6SE are all pretty different, which is an issue. On mine the dip about 1650 Hz needs correcting, but I have it set pretty narrow band at +4.25, the 3.85 kHz peak I have at -5.85 db, also fairly narrow bell, got a little +1.8 db tweak below 35 Hz, a small 1.4 db rise at 12,8 kHz, 1.5 dip at 9.8 kHz, and a wide bell at 480 Hz, but only down 1.4 db. Parametrics really are much more flexible than graphics.

+2 on bass? where is the hinge? That wouldn't likely work for me, I like it damped with slam, and no murky stuff lurking. That's pretty much left me with a long line of Threshold, Krell, and Pass amps, and frustration with the Dyna, Jadis, ARC tube amps I had.

I initially had it on +1, but did +2 because it added a nice tilt without getting bloated. The P304/M504 combo is a VERY clean combo, but sounds a bit clinical. When I had the Carver setup (C19 + Silver 9ts), I found the warmth to be very nice and the tube in the preamp gave an almost holographic presence in the music I was listening to. Unfortunately due to space restrictions, I went with my old Onkyo setup instead. Even with the C19 and the M504, I left everything centered. I found the C19 wonderful with both amps.

 

[Oregonian]

Have had these for about 6 months now and probably have over 200 hours on them (they are kept fed even when I use the speakers). Having been an HE-6 fan in the day (owned two pair over the years) these are a close brother to them but using audio memory (not reliable, I know) they don't quite have the "out of your head speaker-like soundstage" I remember from the HE-6 but comfort and build quality are far better in my opinion. I feed them from the speaker taps of this vintage system (Pioneer Spec 1 preamp/Spec 2 amp, CD player/vintage Pioneer turntable/digital music via iPad mini going to the Audioengine B1 wireless BT receiver) and am, after over 60 headphones owned or auditioned, content. Still love my Pioneer SE Master 1 (use at work from a computer-fed front end into another vintage Pioneer SA-8800 amp) and my Denon LA7000 classic headphones but these get 90% of the headtime.

 

[Chronnoisseur]

TLDR: What's the best setup for $1-2k that gives the best bass from the HE6se

I'm looking for a headphone amp/dac that's a good match for my new HE6se headphones that arrive today. Originally I was going to buy a new Bifrost and Jotunheim from Schiit. Then I read a speaker amp would be better so I was considering the Vidar with a preamp/dac or possibly a fully loaded Ragnarok. Then I read the schiit stuff might just be hyped up so now I'm considering other options. Eventually I will probably get a FirstWatt J2 since I've heard good things about that amp but I just need something in the meantime. How can I make the HE6se sound the best on a headphone amp with around $1-2k to spend?

Amps I was considering:

• Schiit Jotunheim (is the integrated dac ok or do I need to get a Bifrost?)
• Monolith THX AAA 887
• Monolith Liquid Platinum
• Emotiva BasX A-100 (is the mini-x the same, better or worse?)
• Vidar (is Aegir worth an extra $100?)
• Schiit Ragnarok fully loaded

DACs I was considering are (do I need a balanced dac if I get a balanced amp?)

• Schiit multibit dac (bifrost probably)
• Topping D50s or D70
• ADI-2 DAC FS (Can I use this to control volume of speaker amps? Can get 1st gen used for ~$800. How does this compare to the bifrost and D50/70? Looks more appealing to me cuz the volume control and eq)

What setup would give the best bass? Anything else that sounds good for ~$1-2k that I missed? How would the cheapest options here (887/A-100 plus D50s) stack up agaist the more expensive options like jot/Bifrost Multibit or speaker amps like the Vidar or Ragnarok with the ADI-2? Would I even notice much of a difference to my untrained ears?

Also planning on doing some minor mods like removing the grill and getting a new cable and earpads. Anything else recommended? Thanks everyone.

 

[Oregonian]

TLDR: What's the best setup for $1-2k that gives the best bass from the HE6se

I'm looking for a headphone amp/dac that's a good match for my new HE6se headphones that arrive today. Originally I was going to buy a new Bifrost and Jotunheim from Schiit. Then I read a speaker amp would be better so I was considering the Vidar with a preamp/dac or possibly a fully loaded Ragnarok. Then I read the schiit stuff might just be hyped up so now I'm considering other options. Eventually I will probably get a FirstWatt J2 since I've heard good things about that amp but I just need something in the meantime. How can I make the HE6se sound the best on a headphone amp with around $1-2k to spend?

Amps I was considering:

• Schiit Jotunheim (is the integrated dac ok or do I need to get a Bifrost?)
• Monolith THX AAA 887
• Monolith Liquid Platinum
• Emotiva BasX A-100 (is the mini-x the same, better or worse?)
• Vidar (is Aegir worth an extra $100?)
• Schiit Ragnarok fully loaded

DACs I was considering are (do I need a balanced dac if I get a balanced amp?)

• Schiit multibit dac (bifrost probably)
• Topping D50s or D70
• ADI-2 DAC FS (Can I use this to control volume of speaker amps? Can get 1st gen used for ~$800. How does this compare to the bifrost and D50/70? Looks more appealing to me cuz the volume control and eq)

What setup would give the best bass? Anything else that sounds good for ~$1-2k that I missed? How would the cheapest options here (887/A-100 plus D50s) stack up agaist the more expensive options like jot/Bifrost Multibit or speaker amps like the Vidar or Ragnarok with the ADI-2? Would I even notice much of a difference to my untrained ears?

Also planning on doing some minor mods like removing the grill and getting a new cable and earpads. Anything else recommended? Thanks everyone.

Might consider a vintage speaker amp and run the HE-6SE out of the speaker taps...............see my post directly above.

 

[ksorota]

I run my HE6SE off of an older Adcom 545 100 watt power amp directly off of the speaker taps and consider it a better experience than with the Jotunheim. That being said, I enjoyed the sound out of the Jot. but once getting more power I could notice that the bass had more control and detail. The treble with the Adcom is also less aggressive sounding and more musical overall. I am tempted to pick up a Vidar based on many others opinions, but at this point I do not think i will notice that large of a difference. I feel I could use more power though, I can crank the Saga+ up to 3 O'Clock on many tracks and its a solidly loud, but not too loud experience.

Best reason to go with a older power amp is cost. The Adcom came in at $250...sig. less than the Vidar and probably not too different sounding, but that is still a comparison I am going to have to make.

Seems like most reviews suggest having 6 watts or more at 50 ohms to get the most out of the headphones.

The biggest change in my system recently was moving from using a GLMK2 as a pre-amp to a Saga+ and the improvement was apparent. Since the Saga+ is a no gain pre-amp, I have much greater volume control and thing that the signal is coming through much cleaner. I am noticing just overall better sound...not exactly sure why, it just does. Having the tube flavor (small but noticeable) is also a nice bonus. On the GLMK2 I only had volume control from 8 to 11/12 to maybe 1. With the Saga+ I have control from 0-3 easy...lower level listening is much more enjoyable with a good preamp it turns out!

I have read that the Rag 1 was not a great match with the HE6SE, I have not seen too many thoughts on the Rag2 however.

The Jotunheim with MB card is a very solid performer overall and can drive lower impedance headphones...might be a good place to start for an all in one system that can be used with other headphones as well.

Older power amp can be cheaper or more expensive, can be used for bookshelves in the future (bonus) but then you need to worry about the start up and shut down procedure more. Do not want to forget to turn the knob down on the pre-amp. I usually unplug the headphones before power on or off just to be safe while everything turns on.

Good Luck.

 

[Bonddam]

I keep reading directly off the speaker taps. Does this mean that the converter box is not being used? If so does it sound better?