[dodol3k]

So.. is there any danger of hooking these up directly to a speaker amp? I'd love to get my hands on a HE-Adapter but I don't think they are made anymore and seem rare to come upon.

The HE6SE v2 and the SMSL SA400 seem like it could be a wicked deal for under $1300.

I got HE6SE v2 and AIYIMA A07 with the 32v power adapter. I hooked it up with a speaker tap thanks to the info from this thread. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07WSQMD34/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 + https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07SQB7BD3/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
When I connect it directly without a preamp it's not worthy. There is noticeable loss of detail compare to A90 and max volume is between 9-10 o'clock. With A90, it preserve more details and become more enjoyable. Looks like SMSL SA-400 have about twice the power of my speaker amp so you'll have to be really careful with that volume knob.

 

[sennfan83261]

I got HE6SE v2 and AIYIMA A07 with the 32v power adapter. I hooked it up with a speaker tap thanks to the info from this thread. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07WSQMD34/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 + https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07SQB7BD3/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
When I connect it directly without a preamp it's not worthy. There is noticeable loss of detail compare to A90 and max volume is between 9-10 o'clock. With A90, it preserve more details and become more enjoyable. Looks like SMSL SA-400 have about twice the power of my speaker amp so you'll have to be really careful with that volume knob.

Not surprising that a cheapo class-D amp ($79) will have less resolution than something that costs hundreds of dollars more.

 

[r343]

WoW got these (V2). Bit mixed bag but more on positive site Quick impressions.

Firstly there is tons of detail and separation, As micro-details come only HD800sdr had more what i can recall.
Timbre is natural, Arya had tinybit plasticy/wonkyness 1-5% varying from song. Soundstage is tad above what i would think of "average" But it lags definitely behind HD800/Arya.

Mids/Vocals work well. Vocals have good resolution and they are more clear and refined than Arya but HD800 again does slightly better job at vocals being less flat.
Perhaps i wanted "feat" like HE500 had very refined vocals that were all so liquid sounding at same time.

Bass has feeling and tactility in it, quantity is slightly small for my tastes, somehow i remember HE500 had more heft/thickness behind it (with focuspad-a), amping might affect too (HPA V200) and everything might sound bass light after months of bombarding eardrums with TH900.

Treble is well extended, sharp and visceral, its behind the edge of going too far but not that much Honestly was expecting less but Default palipads might enhance this, gotta test different later.

Well overall sound reminds me lot of HE500 with more resolution, details, separation, less smear. Treble is not as smooth and it doesn't have that liquid midrange/vocals. Not sure if i like it more than HE500, have to value that after testing different pads.

 

[dodol3k]

Not surprising that a cheapo class-D amp ($79) will have less resolution than something that costs hundreds of dollars more.

True, but the question is does SA400 sounds that much different? It's a class-D amp too. To be clear my current setting is E30 -> A90 -> Aiyima A07 -> he6se v2. It sounds good enough to me. If you read the SA400 asr review. It's not that much different than this cheap amp. If you read soundnews reviews he use Benchmark HPA4 in most of his review. In his SA400 review it's one of the associated equipment. So the question becomes how much of that good sound and slam come from the synergy with HPA4 instead of purely from SA400? With HPA4 the total cost won't be just around $1300 it'll be $4300

 

[cfranchi]

True, but the question is does SA400 sounds that much different? It's a class-D amp too. To be clear my current setting is E30 -> A90 -> Aiyima A07 -> he6se v2. It sounds good enough to me. If you read the SA400 asr review. It's not that much different than this cheap amp. If you read soundnews reviews he use Benchmark HPA4 in most of his review. In his SA400 review it's one of the associated equipment. So the question becomes how much of that good sound and slam come from the synergy with HPA4 instead of purely from SA400? With HPA4 the total cost won't be just around $1300 it'll be $4300

Where did you read that soundnews is using SA400 with HPA4 ? He didn’t.
In the reader’s questions he recommend to a user to use its D90se in dac mode only and plugging in to SA400.

 

[dodol3k]

Where did you read that soundnews is using SA400 with HPA4 ? He didn’t.

Yeah sorry he didn't all of my own quote below

If you read soundnews reviews he use Benchmark HPA4 in most of his review. In his SA400 review it's one of the associated equipment. So the question becomes how much of that good sound and slam come from the synergy with HPA4 instead of purely from SA400? With HPA4 the total cost won't be just around $1300 it'll be $4300

are based on assumption in his typical setting and since it's listed in the Associated Equipment section of his written review

His actual equipment based on the Test Equipment section are these

Matrix Audio Element X and then with a Gold Note DS-10 Plus and PSU-10 Evo stack

That's about 2999 + 3699 or maybe just 2999 or 3699 if connected separately?

In the reader’s questions he recommend to a user to use its D90se in dac mode only and plugging in to SA400.

Yeah I saw that too but unfortunately until about 3 hours ago there was no confirmation if that user had bought the SA400. I had D90se too but unfortunately I had some problem with my unit and in the process of exchanging it.

 

[sennfan83261]

True, but the question is does SA400 sounds that much different? It's a class-D amp too.

There's different roll-offs (not that surprising with cheaper class-D amps) with the SA400 bass roll-off starting at 50hZ and AIYIMA A07 treble roll-off starting at 10kHz, so they may sound a little different. Since you mentioned a lack of detail with the AIYIMA A07 compared to the A90, the treble roll-off of the former may explain the difference in the perception of detail retrieval between the two amps.

 

[dodol3k]

There's different roll-offs (not that surprising with cheaper class-D amps) with the SA400 bass roll-off starting at 50hZ and AIYIMA A07 treble roll-off starting at 10kHz, so they may sound a little different. Since you mentioned a lack of detail with the AIYIMA A07 compared to the A90, the treble roll-off of the former may explain the difference in the perception of detail retrieval between the two amps.

I see what you mean. Looks like I missed this.

I can confirm that treble roll-off but I think it start a bit earlier than 10 kHz in my unit and it's around 1 db.
I have this eq in foobar2000 I set for he6se v2 that only have 1 filter HS 7500HZ Gain -4 Q 1. When I added A07 on top of A90 I reduced the gain to -3 to fixed it.
That's not the only change though. I don't know how to describe it properly and this might be only in my head because I don't have any way to measure it and can only do really slow AB test. Without a preamp, direct E30 to A07 sounds meh even after that eq filter adjustment. E.g. the bass seems to improved in quantity but the quality dropped. A preamp in the chain seems to fixed it. Bass become I don't know sharper/stronger/clearer? Maybe what it's call as have more slam/impactful? Basically, subjectively, it sounds better than just A90 alone or A07 alone.
Maybe if I use a better dac or speaker amp I won't feel that much difference with/without the A90 but who knows.

 

[tkddans]

sound demos incoming a few days or week tops

Gonna compare fully modded to not modded at all. And fresh vs burned in. This will be fun!

 

[r343]

More impressions

Briefly got to try V2 on Audio GD HE9 9w@40ohm compared to my HPA V200 2.7w@50ohm. Well it was not direct A/B side by side comparison but don't think i heard more bass/slam from higher powered headphone amp.

I like them, they got great technicalities, punch + speed, there is also couple caveats.

-overall tonality is bit cold/industrial, my other hp is TH900 it sounds more natural even its not known to be very natural sounding hp overall.
-Vocals could use bit thickness/smoothness, maybe 10-20% more.
-soundstage is "ok". Could be more. Weirdly when i had HE500 soundstage felt quite great? There are time it struggles to keep up with TH900 soundstage.

Maybe pad swapping will help with some of these things once they arrive.

Owned Arya(V1) over year as main cans but its been gone for a while, does this win it over?

Well audio memory gets bit romanticized, with stock pads and unmodded its on the fence but id give slight nod to Arya over HE6Se. It was less natural/punchy/technical but that massive wall of sound was impressive.

 

[Sebbai]

Did you try open grill? Also stuffing something under the pads to make the angle a little higher helps with soundstage. But then again it’s not anything like the Arya in that regard.

For me HE6 are for enjoying your favourite song and just lay back.

Also have the TH900, and I find it to be the best portable option, but quality in micro dynamics and bass control are not close (remember he6 take EQ like a baws without muddying up the midrange)

 

[r343]

Not yet, will try it after getting Focuspad-A

 

[theangelboy]

I've had my HE6se V2 for several weeks now so I thought I would share my thoughts.

TL;DR: They sound amazing! Especially with some different pads. The cable super-sucks (nuff said). I don't think need a super expensive speaker amp make them sound great.

These are so dynamic, tight and visceral, most headphones sound dull when comparing them. Very detailed but remaining neutral. So as long as it's well recorded, it will sound good with these, regardless of genre, which I find very impressive. Imaging is very good and soundstage is pretty big, which makes them fun for gaming and movies, especially with a little boost to the bass.

While the stock pads are very comfortable for me, I felt they hid some of the detail with the dip from 1-4khz. I tried FocusPads (sound identical to the pelipad that comes with it), the FocusPad-A, Round Velours (official Hifiman ones as well as come generic ones from China), and various other pads I have on hand and I think I like the sound of the Round Velours the most. They lower the treble peaks slightly and raise the 1-4khz dip by 3-5db. This creates a more balanced sound that's more detailed in my opinion. The FocusPad-A measures almost the same as the Round Velours but it does something to the presentation that I don't care for, almost like a veil. It's hard to describe and I'm not sure what causes it or if it's just my imagination. I have a generic black velour pad from China that sounds almost the same as the Round Velours but have the added benefit of being so much softer and more comfortable for longer listening sessions, so that's what I'm using at the moment.

I have also replaced the grille with a custom 3D printed one that I made. I tried to make the design a more open version of the magnet structure the HE6se has. Like with most Hifiman headphones, a more open grille is a subtle but solid improvement in treble clarity and soundstage. I used a glue stick to stick some pantyhose to the back of the grille for a dust cover. I'm quite happy with how it turned out and while not as open sounding as no grilles at all, it's an improvement over stock sound-wise by a good margin. This grille will also protect the diver very well and allow me to pick up the headphones one-handed.


This is also my first Hifiman with this new headband design. While it looks nice and I appreciate the yoke swivel, it causes a very painful hot spot on top of my head after about an hour despite the thick (but stiff) padding. To combat this I made a leather strap and used a couple pieces of elastic to stabilize it. Not my most attractive mod, but it makes them much, much more comfortable for me. I wish that it had the original HE6 headband since that design has never been uncomfortable for me, even with the very shallow padding. Oh, well, it is what it is.


I think amping requirements for this headphone are vastly overblown. I have ran them off of speaker taps of two different 100w per channel amps, a 50w per channel amp (a full power jumper Emotiva BasX A-100), as well as most of my headphone amps including the "normal" mode of the A-100. I set up an A/B switch to test between them. As long as both were volume matched I couldn't tell a difference switching between any of them except for one really poor quality JVC HT amp that had a terrible noise floor and my Darkvoice that reduced the bass and distorted a little. And it's not like I just briefly tried them with one or two songs. I spent several hours doing these comparisons and would devote several minutes to focusing on one aspect of the sound like treble detail or soundstage, and I was still not able to tell the difference between any of my good quality amps.

I know that I don't have Golden Ears so this doesn't meant that there is no difference in any amp when driving the HE6se since none of my amps are above low to mid-fi I wasn't able to try some high end ones. Maybe some higher end or endgame amps will do things the ones I tried didn't, but I don't think it's a power issue. Whether I fed these with a 100w speaker amp or a vastly lower power headphone amp, the few 100mw (at most) I was actually using to drive them sounded the same (great, BTW). If you are curious, I would encourage you do the same test I did (blind is even better, but I live alone so that wasn't practical), but I think it's important to set it up in such a way that it can be instantly switched between the amps, even a few seconds of silence can mess with audio perception IME.

I think the 2w minimum amp requirement from Hifiman is more to make sure you aren't pushing your amp to the max and maybe distorting. The amp landscape is also vastly different than what it was when the OG HE6 launched. You can spend $200-$300 and get an amp that will push >6w out of an XLR jack, so power isn't an issue anymore. I also think you are better off with solid headphone amp than a cheap speaker amp. My THX-789 (or one of the THX variations) is easy to recommend IMO. I don't even need the high gain when running these via the XLR.

Anyway, I think these are great headphones and the most technical cans I own. A great bargain at the $650 sale price! They blow away the Klipsch HP-3 for technicality and I paid about the same for both. My Elear with Elex pads come fairly close in some aspects but I do still the HE6se wins out comfortably although the 80ohm Elear is much easier to drive.

Well, enough disjointed rambling from me today. Take care, everyone, and happy listening!

 

[bagwell359]

More impressions

Briefly got to try V2 on Audio GD HE9 9w@40ohm compared to my HPA V200 2.7w@50ohm. Well it was not direct A/B side by side comparison but don't think i heard more bass/slam from higher powered headphone amp.

I like them, they got great technicalities, punch + speed, there is also couple caveats.

-overall tonality is bit cold/industrial, my other hp is TH900 it sounds more natural even its not known to be very natural sounding hp overall.
-Vocals could use bit thickness/smoothness, maybe 10-20% more.
-soundstage is "ok". Could be more. Weirdly when i had HE500 soundstage felt quite great? There are time it struggles to keep up with TH900 soundstage.

Maybe pad swapping will help with some of these things once they arrive.

Owned Arya(V1) over year as main cans but its been gone for a while, does this win it over?

Well audio memory gets bit romanticized, with stock pads and unmodded its on the fence but id give slight nod to Arya over HE6Se. It was less natural/punchy/technical but that massive wall of sound was impressive.

v1 have a really meh soundstage, v2 is better but its no match for the HE-500 w. mods and the Ether Angled Lambskin from Dan Clark - which is thin gruel next to the 800S.

I agree v1 and v2 are cold. Mods make some tangent improvements, but EQ on the areas of where the ringing is worse really makes them warmer - nearly neutral. My v1 Freq canter points are at: 4305, 7340, 9615 - all between 4.0 and 5.0 db, all narow Q. v2 will have somewhat diff frequencies, but not by that much (compare v1 and v2 waterfall plots for a starting point. Also don't forget the big dip at 1785 Hz on the v1 -Take off 4.3 db but a much wider Q.

Yeah its a pain but it's worth it.

 

[XylefMTG]

all those instructions are why I will not hook up mine to a speaker amp … I’m too distractable and ditzy to remember all that

I was getting scared by these type of procedures. I decided to make the jump anyway with the following setup:
Speaker Amp - Adcom GFA 555 II ($500)
Speaker Taps - Ebay ($189)
Volume Control - Schitt Sys ($49)

The Sys is volume control but also has a switch. For overkill, I unplug the headphones from the taps, turn the volume down to min and hit the switch.
I think what I do is overkill, all you really have to do is unplug or hit the switch.

The volume dial has a good amount of tension (but not too much) where you'd have to be a real spazz to hurt your hearing or the equipment.

All jokes aside after a day with this setup, I felt silly that I ever worried.

The sound was worth it also.

The only adjustment I'm considering is testing a Jot 2 vs. the speaker amp. Winner stays.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.