[phonyx]

It really depends on a few things actually - the output of your source, whether balanced or single-ended, and what one considers "loud" or "loud enough". Specs for the Jot 2:

Balanced Headphone Output:
Maximum Power, 32 ohms: 6W RMS per channel
Maximum Power, 50 ohms: 4W RMS per channel

Single-Ended Headphone Output:
Maximum Power, 32 ohms: 2.0W RMS per channel
Maximum Power, 50 ohms: 1.2W RMS per channel

Not sure if that's measured using ~4Vrms for balanced and ~2Vrms for single-ended input from source.

Torq writes about power requirements here and suggests Jot 2 should be able to drive the HE6SE and do a good job at it, but he did not have one on hand to try it with.

Adding to this, Amir's measurements of Jot 2 vs. Singxer SA-1 shows 3.5W for Jot 2 vs. 3.6W SA-1. I have the SA-1 and it drives my HESEv2 to what I consider "loud" with lots of power left (lots on the volume knob).

I’m going to agree with @thefitz here. Until you’ve heard these driven properly, you’d think they were being driven properly due to ‘volume achievable’ alone with lesser capable amps. It’s like going from lite milk to full cream milk. From instant coffee to espresso made by a barista from fresh beans. You get the point.

My amp has 3 outputs, one is single ended low gain, one single ended high gain, and one balanced 4 pin. Plugged into the SE low gain Jack, I can get them to a ‘good listening volume’ but they sound anaemic. Transients lack punch, they don’t slam, the sound is thinner overall and needs to eat a sandwich. From the high gain single ended Jack, the sound is fuller and thicker, richer texturally and transients have appropriate attack and depth. From the XLR it’s a different beast. I will state (and I never thought I’d be this guy) but a good larger gauge cable made an audible difference for me. Deeper bass, especially sub bass, better special imaging and again a thicker, richer sound. I’m not saying cables are always audible - I’d never heard one till now. Perhaps the stock cable is just utter crap.

When large drums are struck hard, especially repeatedly like in the Mike Maganini video I posted above, in some ambient tribal tracks from Heilung, or when a bassist like Jaco Pastorius belts out a bassline, these just suck down the juice like nothing I’ve ever seen. The reserves the amp needs in its capacitor bank and power supply to keep up are immense.

Loudness is not a measure of driving these headphones well.

A local guy with more high end gear than any sane person needs drove these stock off some 1200w high end high monoblocks. He A/B’d them against his Susvara’s and even on stock pads with stock grilles said they’re at least 80% Susvara. But on special, these are 16% of the price.

Yes, they need power to drive well so the total spend is often high, but for me there is no way I am spending >7K on a headphone. I bought an expensive amp for its flexibility allowing me to choose essentially any pair of headphones to try them out. I’m probably in the minority here so YMMV. The bottom line is these HE6SE’s are astonishingly good for the price. If you can’t feed them the juice though, you’d be best to consider something else.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Balanced output is not just about extra power, of course it sounds better in balanced trim, like pretty much anything, even IEMs.

 

[phonyx]

Correct, there’s usually an audible difference with balanced vs single ended if the dac and amp are designed with truly balanced topology.

However the difference from Low power single ended to Full power single ended is striking. The sonic character changes so much they’re almost like different headphones.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Can you explain why? High gain multiplies output stage voltage, but if you already have enough volume in low gain, theoretically its only "benefit" is higher noise floor.
Not questioning anything, just genuinely curious.

 

[thefitz]

My old Schiit Mjolnir considerably outpowers the bloody Jotunheim and it wasn't enough for the HE6SE compared to my $50 speaker amp. My Schiit Sys and cheap amp sounded better than the Mjolnir.

But no, we are in a phase in this hobby where we need the Jotunheim/A90/THX ~$400 amp to be able to perfectly power everything.

This perpetual fire sale of Adorama V2s is a really bad thing because threads are being absolutely flooded with bad info.

Get a Schiit Sys and the cheapest, dustiest, oldest speaker amp you can find. And no, a chifi class D speaker amp doesn't count. The dustier the better. The HE6SE are so inefficient, it doesn't matter how noisy the amp is - you'll never hear the noise! Take that, measurement jerks!

Edit: Something with VU meters! They, uh, open up the midrange, too. "Holographic". Got it?

 

[thefitz]

Can you explain why? High gain multiplies output stage voltage, but if you already have enough volume in low gain, theoretically its only "benefit" is higher noise floor.
Not questioning anything, just genuinely curious.

I think you're assuming there's no extra changes when switching to from a mode called "low gain" to one called "high gain". Who knows what else is in the signal path when you change modes?

 

[Andrew_WOT]

I think you're assuming there's no extra changes when switching to from a mode called "low gain" to one called "high gain". Who knows what else is in the signal path when you change modes?

Not sure, always thought that it's just different input to output voltage multiplier, that is better not to utilize unless you really need higher gain.
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...s/study-headphone-amp-gains-low-or-high.5495/

 

[wolfstar76]

Not sure it is the right place to post, but this is an interesting video "Headphone amps might not matter" (He first demo HE6SE with combination of DAC/AMP)

 

[Happy Camper]

I will always advocate to the speaker amp with a well built power supply. I've heard 100wpc receivers sound like crap and a well built 10 wpc integrated amp strangle the little F'ers. The higher powered amps (mid price range) will have a power supply capable of sustaining the demands of the headphone. Best I've heard the HE-6 was with a dual mono balanced Simaudio Moon I600. The formula gang would tell you it would sound no different than a 6 watt headphone amp. A well designed power supply will give the fast transients, hard slam, sustained soundstage focus with complex demand. The older higher priced amps will have the investment under the cover to run dynamic speakers but also stats and planars. Having ran a few amps out of town trying to find an amp with the balls to handle stats, the power supply was the critical area of weakness.

 

[hmscott]

Can you explain why? High gain multiplies output stage voltage, but if you already have enough volume in low gain, theoretically its only "benefit" is higher noise floor.
Not questioning anything, just genuinely curious.

To me the SE output sounds bunched up together in a very focused center, of course there is a wide sound stage and fill in around the stage, but with SE I get that sucked into the middle feeling that I don't get with a Full Balanced sound path.

I'm directly comparing the Xduoo TA-20 Full Balanced from input to output vs the Xduoo TA-26 SE, and in this case my Hifiman HE6SE V2 is only listenable on the TA-20, with 2W it is listenable.

I have gotten used to the TA-26 SE sound, but I can still hear that middle focus, but now it isn't so offputting. I realy enjoy the tubey sound from the TA-26 over the TA-20 in general.

Also, I've used both the HE6SE V2 and Ananda to listen on my portable radios, Sangean ATS-909x2, Tecsun H501, Tecsun PL-990x, and all of them make enough sound in both headphones to understand and copy the information broadcast, and not sound "bad", but of course they don't have any punch. They do sound better than the usual SWL headphones though.

So yes, there is more to it than loudness, and given the power delivery ability of the power section and deepness of power storage, those are the factors I would look for in an HE6SE V2 headphone / speaker amp.

It is gratifying to see so many that have a good grasp on what we don't know and what we need to improve on to understand what is needed to drive the HE6SE V2 and other planars to best sound. I think we are getting there as owners of these headphones, I only wish the headphone / speaker amp designers would focus their build $ into power delivery with a deep reservoir of power storage.

I haven't seen a Class D headphone amp, but was thinking of trying the Topping PA5 to drive the HE6SE V2 using the TA-26 tubey output to drive the PA5... maybe soonish.

 

[nigel801]

Can anyone point me to instructions how to put zmf lambskin pads on HE6SE V2.
Also link to store where I can buy honeycomb grill all the other links here doesn't work anymore.


Thanks

 

[deafenears]

Can anyone point me to instructions how to put xmf lambskin pads on HE6SE V2.
Also link to store where I can buy honeycomb grill all the other links here doesn't work anymore.

You'll need to get the attachment rings, either from HiFiMAN direct or from existing/old ear pads.

As for the honeycomb grill, I got mine from https://www.ebay.com/itm/265509140370 (Art).

 

[nigel801]

You'll need to get the attachment rings, either from HiFiMAN direct or from existing/old ear pads.

As for the honeycomb grill, I got mine from https://www.ebay.com/itm/265509140370 (Art).

Many thanks for sharing this Link and helping me with mods.

 

[deafenears]

Many thanks for sharing this Link and helping me with mods.

Also helps to reuse the mesh from the previous grille, can just use craft glue to attach it to the new honeycomb grille:

 

[nigel801]

Also helps to reuse the mesh from the previous grille, can just use craft glue to attach it to the new honeycomb grille:

Thanks for the tip