[Hypops]

I’m wondering which crack head mixtape you guys are talking about. I listen to plenty of modern urban music and never heard humming or vinyl crackle in any of the recent stuff.

It’s also a completely different game to master something at -8db lufsi and master a song with 18 db of headroom.

Ha. Yeah. No, I'm only just coming to recognize how much I like a big dynamic range in a recording, so it's in those places where my ears are most sensitive to dynamic swings (transients, solo instruments, etc.) that I can hear just how compressed most recordings are, especially with the HE6se on. Even subtle compression can do weird things to the edges of notes. The HE6 is good at picking up on that subtlety.

Also, I totally get that dynamic-range compression exists for good reason. Most listening environments wouldn't translate most of the details of a recording without it. The only consequence is that a tiny minority of listeners can hear the side-effects with headphones like the HE6.

 

[leeperry]

I’m wondering which crack head mixtape you guys are talking about. I listen to plenty of modern urban music and never heard humming or vinyl crackle in any of the recent stuff.

It’s also a completely different game to master something at -8db lufsi and master a song with 18 db of headroom.

it's everywhere, all the time, intro distorts like hell for instance:

how it got the green light is beyond me, and yes original CDDA is even worse as yt is lo-fi lossy audio. Moar crackling, yippee.

 

[martel80]

Yeah very bad master.

Hopefully you guys are able to find other stuff that doesn’t sound like it’s going through a portastudio

 

[leeperry]

Whistling of Alessandro Alessandroni is heaven on earth off this phone.



This remastered CD from first-generation master tapes stops time in its own way, bonus tracks leave me jaded every time and no crackling whatsoever luckily: https://quartetrecords.com/product/the-sicilian-clan/

CD3 was also remastered from first gen, amazing: https://www.musicbox-records.com/en/cd-soundtracks/9555-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-expanded.html

 

[bagwell359]

If head-fi nerds want audiophile, let them buy hi-res for a huge premium.

Huge premium? People that drop $5k on their 14th pair of headphones and have custom cables for each do not view $20/month as an issue. Even I at a far lower level of spending think $20/month is a great deal - in particular compared to the $/space tied up in my former vinyl collection/playback.

 

[Hypops]

Huge premium? People that drop $5k on their 14th pair of headphones and have custom cables for each do not view $20/month as an issue. Even I at a far lower level of spending think $20/month is a great deal - in particular compared to the $/space tied up in my former vinyl collection/playback.

And that's only if you shell out for Tidal's hi-res tier. Just about every other service with hi-res costs half that (in the US at least).

Strangely, hi-res bitrates are one thing I actually can't hear with the HE6se. I can hear subtle differences between interconnects, power cables, source gear, etc. But I can't tell a lick of difference between 44/16 and 192/24 (unless it's been remastered). IMO things like preserving dynamic range matter much, much more than "hi-res" vs "CD quality."

 

[leeperry]

Hi-res buys you better mastering & larger DR as it's not mastered to be heard through earbuds, that's all. Been debated at length at https://www.head-fi.org/threads/24bit-vs-16bit-the-myth-exploded.415361/

Talking about Hi-Res download from hdtracks, qobuz etc

OFC it's easier to downsample to 24bit than 16 when master is 32 or 64 but noiseshaping & dithering have gone a long way

 

[Hypops]

On a more gushingly positive note, this conversation got me listening more to my HE6se v2. I did a few tweaks to my desktop system to squeeze a bit more juice out of my Singxer amp. I know it's a cliche to say this about these headphones, but wow, they really like more power/current/voltage/gain.

Thanks to a new variable output DAC (Chord Mojo 2), I can now output 4V over RCA (which is also within the Mojo 2's ideal output level). Not sure how clean the Singxer's single-ended-to-balanced conversion is, but the benefit is some serious gain when you use a balanced headphone connection. The Singxer is already a powerful amp, and the SE-to-balanced route has the most gain of all its routing permutations. I also switched from the amp's low gain mode to high gain (I was using it on low gain for the sake of my other headphones). The result of these few changes is that I now get a lot more real estate on the volume knob. I'm hitting a comfortable listening level on the HE6 at about 11 o'clock. Before, I was occasionally maxing out the volume knob. It now sounds very, very good.

 

[Dixter]

just in case some of you might want a more powerful amp for the HE6se v2 I can refer you to the Fosi ZA3 with the Hifiman HE adapter... it makes the Headphones really sound fantastic...

 

[bevanc]

Before using class D amps for headphones, I would encourage you to read this post from Goldensound on headphones.com explaining why that may not be a good idea:

https://forum.headphones.com/t/class-d-amplifiers-for-headphones/22740/2?

If you like what a class D amps does, you do you, but felt that it was worth presenting this after a recommendation that you do it.

I don't usually post links to other forums, but this is well written and explained.

 

[Dixter]

Before using class D amps for headphones, I would encourage you to read this post from Goldensound on headphones.com explaining why that may not be a good idea:

https://forum.headphones.com/t/class-d-amplifiers-for-headphones/22740/2?

If you like what a class D amps does, you do you, but felt that it was worth presenting this after a recommendation that you do it.

I don't usually post links to other forums, but this is well written and explained.

@bevanc .... in the case of that particular amp the class D circuit design is expecting a 4 ohm speaker to be hooked up at the output posts and being part of the circuit design.. with the hifiman HE adapter it simulates a speaker but with a 10 ohm shunt... all that has to be done is the 10 ohm shunt be replaced with a 5 ohm shunt and the circuit becomes complete and there is no issue with FR... it actually wasn't well written and explained at all.... I wrote Fosi engineers and they plan on releasing a Class D amp with a post filter design because of people using speakers that had higher load impedances and was causing the speakers to sound bright... with the 5 ohm shunt in place the FR is flat ... the hifiman HE adapter also has inline 25 ohm resistors to bring the overall power down at the output of the XLR connection... I have been testing this circuit with many different headphones and it is working perfect... the goal was to find a amp with ample power for the Modhouse Tungsten and it seems to be working great for hard to drive headphones, thus the HE6se v2 works well ... as another test I also placed a 5 ohm shunt at the output posts and via a cable I made banana/XLR direct and that works perfectly fine without the extra cost of the HE adapter.... the original issue surfaced with measurements via audioscience review...

 

[hp4fun]

just in case some of you might want a more powerful amp for the HE6se v2 I can refer you to the Fosi ZA3 with the Hifiman HE adapter... it makes the Headphones really sound fantastic...

+1. I have tried Fosi Tb10d and V3. Both are fantastic and I believe not too far away from ZA3. Tb10d has treble and bass adjustment in case you don't want to do the grill mod. Get the 48V adapter for V3 as it does sound slightly different than then 36V because it pumps more current and seems he6se do like more current

 

[Hypops]

@bevanc .... in the case of that particular amp the class D circuit design is expecting a 4 ohm speaker to be hooked up at the output posts and being part of the circuit design.. with the hifiman HE adapter it simulates a speaker but with a 10 ohm shunt... all that has to be done is the 10 ohm shunt be replaced with a 5 ohm shunt and the circuit becomes complete and there is no issue with FR... it actually wasn't well written and explained at all.... I wrote Fosi engineers and they plan on releasing a Class D amp with a post filter design because of people using speakers that had higher load impedances and was causing the speakers to sound bright... with the 5 ohm shunt in place the FR is flat ... the hifiman HE adapter also has inline 25 ohm resistors to bring the overall power down at the output of the XLR connection... I have been testing this circuit with many different headphones and it is working perfect... the goal was to find a amp with ample power for the Modhouse Tungsten and it seems to be working great for hard to drive headphones, thus the HE6se v2 works well ... as another test I also placed a 5 ohm shunt at the output posts and via a cable I made banana/XLR direct and that works perfectly fine without the extra cost of the HE adapter.... the original issue surfaced with measurements via audioscience review...

Goldensound's post was aimed at folks (like me) who have no idea what any of the above means. After doing my due diligence a while back, I decided against using a speaker amp to drive my HE6. As your post illustrates, doing it safely and correctly requires more technical knowledge than I have. I imagine the same is true for many others.

 

[hp4fun]

Goldensound's post was aimed at folks (like me) who have no idea what any of the above means. After doing my due diligence a while back, I decided against using a speaker amp to drive my HE6. As your post illustrates, doing it safely and correctly requires more technical knowledge than I have. I imagine the same is true for many others.

Yes this is generally true. I burned my he6se once

It is also equally true that ppl want to eq their headphone, and some lifting at treble might work well with the rest of the chain (or ear -- not going in this this debate but ymmv). For me I use thed tb10d nobs and found that I prefer slightly reduced (~11 o'clock) treble to counter-balance the peak at 5-10k due to 50 ohm impedance, and slightly more bass (~1 oclock) to improve the bass shortfall of the headphone itself. Without knowing these finetuning, I am equally happy with the Fosi v3.

 

[bevanc]

Goldensound's post was aimed at folks (like me) who have no idea what any of the above means. After doing my due diligence a while back, I decided against using a speaker amp to drive my HE6. As your post illustrates, doing it safely and correctly requires more technical knowledge than I have. I imagine the same is true for many others.

Exactly the point that I was trying to make. I was just trying to encourage people to read up on class D amps driving headphones. I have tried a Class AB speaker amp on different headphones and got wildly different results dependent on impedance and voltage requirements. I have decided that I prefer to stay with the design parameters of the amps that I use with my headphones.

I would also question whether a $130 amp, designed for driving something completely different, is a good choice for $1500-$2000 headphones such as the Tungsten. I'm not saying go crazy, but amps from Topping, Holo, Ferrum, iFi, Schiit and others are out there that can drive these and are designed to drive them. I would say the same for the HE6.

Especially when there is the potential for damage to your hearing because of the way D class amps are designed and you will not hear it to know that it is being damaged. It's fine for someone on a forum to say I did it and it seems fine, I'd want proof that it is ok from the amp designer.

The author of the post I linked acknowledged that some D Class amps have different filtering such as those designed by Bruno Putzys. Fosi is using TI chips with swappable opamps. They are not designing the amplifier circuit, TI are, and there is not a mention of using these with headphones or any data on any impedance outside of 2,4 and 8 ohms on either the TI datasheet or the Fosi website, nor of the filtering.

I'm sure the Fosi is a fine D class amp for speakers for $130, but it isn't designed to drive headphones. I'm not anti class D, my previous 3 speaker amps were class D.

I also wouldn't trust a Hifiman adapter designed to work with the HE6SE which is 50 ohms and the Tungsten which is 135W and 155W depending on whether it is is single or double sided. Most here are not going to be swapping resistors in the adapter with any confidence they have the right value.

Again, to those that want to try this, you do you, but only if you know and understand the risks to both your headphones which are replaceable and your hearing which isn't.