[LugBug1]

New owner, had these for a week now and loving them. I'm powering out of the Topping A30pro and medium gain at 12 O'clock is loud enough for my ears. Bass is fantastic. Mids are sweet. Timbre is the best I've heard. Period.
Treble needs a high-shelf filter for my tastes. That 4k rise is too hot.
The soundstage is ample. Wider than tall. The space around instruments is very believable. Fabulous depth. And yes I'm hearing details that I've not heard before.

My recent favourite the Ananda sounds slightly amateurish in comparison.. This surprised me as I'm a big fan. But the timbre, effortless sound shaping, detail and fun punchy sound simply outshines it apart from soundstage.

Snap them up !! High end for midfi price.

 

[kernel8888]

New owner, had these for a week now and loving them. I'm powering out of the Topping A30pro and medium gain at 12 O'clock is loud enough for my ears. Bass is fantastic. Mids are sweet. Timbre is the best I've heard. Period.
Treble needs a high-shelf filter for my tastes. That 4k rise is too hot.
The soundstage is ample. Wider than tall. The space around instruments is very believable. Fabulous depth. And yes I'm hearing details that I've not heard before.

My recent favourite the Ananda sounds slightly amateurish in comparison.. This surprised me as I'm a big fan. But the timbre, effortless sound shaping, detail and fun punchy sound simply outshines it apart from soundstage.

Snap them up !! High end for midfi price.

Yes my impressions as well between ananda and he-6se

He6 technicalities are more in line with the hek series in terms of resolution and overall sq

Just got the Susvara, and it gives you the mid/high frequency response of the ananda and the technicalities one notch above the he6

I’d say on a technical level though, the jump from he6 to Susvara is about the same as ananda to he6

That’s a very general and subjective statement- and not a knock on the Susvara as much as praise to the he6

ill post more he6 se v2 versus Susvara as I become more familiar

But initially they are just slightly more refined but I could honestly see someone preferring the he6

Unless you’re simply looking for a diff sound signature, the he6seV2 is the absolute value king IMO

Easily competes in the 1-2k range

 

[jwwillia]

I’m currently running my HE6SE v2 with an Emotiva BasX a2m with the jumper mod. They sound great!

I’m still thinking of an amp upgrade to maybe a Schiit Vidar or Aegir. Would upgrading to one of these make a substantial difference, or am I better off holding off for something better?

 

[bagwell359]

New owner, had these for a week now and loving them. I'm powering out of the Topping A30pro and medium gain at 12 O'clock is loud enough for my ears. Bass is fantastic. Mids are sweet. Timbre is the best I've heard. Period.
Treble needs a high-shelf filter for my tastes. That 4k rise is too hot.
The soundstage is ample. Wider than tall. The space around instruments is very believable. Fabulous depth. And yes I'm hearing details that I've not heard before.


Snap them up !! High end for midfi price.

no need for a shelf, just a nice parametric -3.2 db at 3.8k, Q of 2.8 or so. There is ringing there not just a FR rise, and another one around 9.2k - varies with the mylar tension of each can from about 8.4 -> 9.8 k. narrow Q of about 6.5 and a -3.5 db, but you cannot rely on graphs except as a starting point.

Yep, they are the real deal. Not sure if HFM understands how much they are hurting the $1k+ part of their line, but then again they are killing the whole under $1k part of the industry.

Enjoy.

 

[bagwell359]

I’m currently running my HE6SE v2 with an Emotiva BasX a2m with the jumper mod. They sound great!

I’m still thinking of an amp upgrade to maybe a Schiit Vidar or Aegir. Would upgrading to one of these make a substantial difference, or am I better off holding off for something better?

Every HE-6 is detailed enough to tell the difference between Class A and any other. VIDAR is Class AB. Aegir is all A, but only 32 wpc at 4 ohms, 16 wpc at 8 ohms, so 4 at 32 ohms, about 2.5 at 50 ohms. Plus you need a pre-amp.

The Rag 1 does Class A up to 4 before it slides into Class AB. 10 wpc at 50 ohms for $650 or less used. 100 wpc into 4 ohms, 60 into 8. Drives tough speakers like the Maggie ,7i to good levels.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

I’m currently running my HE6SE v2 with an Emotiva BasX a2m with the jumper mod. They sound great!

I’m still thinking of an amp upgrade to maybe a Schiit Vidar or Aegir. Would upgrading to one of these make a substantial difference, or am I better off holding off for something better?

Probably upgrades elsewhere (i.e. DAC) would be a better application of cash.

 

[linknet]

My recent favourite the Ananda sounds slightly amateurish in comparison.. This surprised me as I'm a big fan. But the timbre, effortless sound shaping, detail and fun punchy sound simply outshines it apart from soundstage.

Is your Ananda the OG or the Stealth Magnet (SM) edition ?
Asking cause i have the Ananda SM and the HE6SEv2. To my ears they are more sidegrades then one "superior" to the other (sure YMMV).
I love the clarity, detail and punchiness of the HE6. I love the soundstage, midbass presence and beautiful timbre of the Ananda SM.

 

[Bonddam]

Magnepans do need lots of current. But battle ship 150+ wpc amps such as Pass, Krell, Boulder, etc, SS's are not needed for these. But if and you have one, use it, just keep the volume at 0 when you fire it up.

The Schiit Jot with no modules at $399 and the Lyr 2+ w/ no tube at $599 (both new) will drive them quite well. A used Rag 1 at about $675 will drive them better.

A used receiver such as the Denon AVR-1603, which could probably be had for $100 (5 chan, two mains are 80 wpc @ 8 ohms) drives them fine off the speaker outs (I did it with mine). It's about 30 years old, so its close to recap time, just toss it when it goes. Its not a match for my Rag 1, but it and another 700 or so receivers will give you good enough to excellent sound for cheap.

We need companies to offer the current idea in headphones and the only guy who promotes it is Jeff Wells on his Dragon lvl 3 which is $5500 and it sound amazing but too much for people looking at $600 headphones. Actually it would be worth it as your $600 headphones will sound twice as expensive. Other amps is Woo WA5 LE or if you can sell organs WA234. Both those use plate which powers K1000 which was the original design. So $5500 - 18K for the Woo option. The Woo amps use Plate for high current. Only available on most expensive amps. The Dragon's circuit board does not give you the sense of power but when you use Sausvara and 1266 you'll think it cant safely power $1 headphones but it can through the gain and 6 volt or 12 volt tube option on rolls. Also it has negative gain. I miss those amps.

 

[prozach1576]

These are definitely the best headphones I've ever heard for house and techno. I am so excited to hear them with a proper amp. I'm still planning a Topping L70, but I've already got a banana plug adapter cable on the way to try a speaker amp.

 

[kernel8888]

I’ve been back-and-forth between the Savara and he6se v2 this morning, I used my anthem statement, D2 with an emotiva xpa2 with the hifiman adapter

Overall, the bass has slightly more attack on the leading edges with my he6 which has been well documented.

This Susvara is slightly more bloomy without losing tightness and extends very well.

The overall characteristics of the Sus is that it is ever so slightly more textured, and there’s just a little more space and air throughout all the frequency response

This allows you to pick out the texture and layers ever so slightly more, but it is surprisingly subtle, and I think contributes or is assisted by the slightly more soft nature of the sound.

The HE6 is a bit more impactful throughout, and that does lend itself to more energetic music, such as rock

 

[Dixter]

do you feel that the susvara is worth the cost over the HE6se v2 ??? ...

 

[kernel8888]

if your priority is squeezing every last ounce of nuance and detail out regardless of cost, and the tuning/nature of your taste fits then yes.

But in terms of cost being relative to improvement then absolutely not

The differences are there, but they are absolutely subtle and they are more “differences” then they are improvements and even that statement will depend on your priorities

If you want a little more bass and energy or prioritize value go with he6 and enjoy the music

If want slightly larger soundstage, and a slightly more even frequency response and slightly more detail and cost is no factor to achieve that 5% improvement then go with susvara

He6 does these better: energy, leading edge impact, bass rumble, value by faaar

Susvara does these better: space in the sound, texture and layering of the sound, detail

 

[Poimandres]

Certainly enjoying my HE6SE V2, the RME ADI 2 pro drives it plenty loud in balanced mode. I think I prefer it over my clear.

What mods are people do to them these days?

 

[LugBug1]

no need for a shelf, just a nice parametric -3.2 db at 3.8k, Q of 2.8 or so. There is ringing there not just a FR rise, and another one around 9.2k - varies with the mylar tension of each can from about 8.4 -> 9.8 k. narrow Q of about 6.5 and a -3.5 db, but you cannot rely on graphs except as a starting point.

Yep, they are the real deal. Not sure if HFM understands how much they are hurting the $1k+ part of their line, but then again they are killing the whole under $1k part of the industry.

Enjoy.

Thanks for that I've just put those exact settings in and it's now better. I only use an eq when it's essential, and so now that's a lot less deviation than a full shelf. Great stuff

 

[Philimon]

Not a reproduction of HE6, sounds more like a redux of HE500. Id call it HE500+. Still, I think HE500 different enough to warrant keeping. Most noteably HE500 CSD doesnt share a resonance so large as HE6se… Not sure yet on it’s audibile effects. Ill a/b with the same pads on each later.