[ginster6]

Coming out of a High-End 2 Channel speaker setup.   see sig below, of my current setup.   Have owned Krell, Levinson, Mcintosh, Wilson Audio, ...  etc  you get my drift.  as that was what I did did for a living awhile ago.
 
After my wife told me that I can not listen to my system anymore, cuz my kid sleep early now.  I decide to go HP.  and I always had grado sr60, sr80, and traveling B&W P5 and C5.   it was time to move up.
Started 45 days ago with a purchase of AKG Q701.  and it was great..   It was great...   ran it off my
Bryston B100sst headphone 1/4 jack.  while it sound good ,  it was not great, it was missing something.  Bass,  it was bass shy.   after searching it seems that the denon will kick ass in the bass dept.  had a long listen at a local audio store..   they were was hifiman dealer and I had he-500 and d7000 in a 45 min session there.  lov the bass of denon..  but there was something I love even more with the he500.   it was the  silky smooth voice/mid.     but it was only 10 day before the bay area head-fi meet.   had a chance to meet some great guys who had there setup there.     But it was "Jazzman" HE-6 setup that made up my mind.  
10 day later I had purchase and received my HE-6 and HE-adapter.  connected to bryston B100sst speaker out.  
 
WOW...   thanks goodness ..  I did not have to worry about power.   the Bass was kicking..  of course it was not like a denon..  but that is how bass should be.   the detail was better or another level above the q701.  but come-on the price is that much more..    but the q701 seems a little more airy but the he6 was more of a fully sound.  and the q701 was thinner sounding.     
 
While the HE6 is meant for my bedroom setup...   I took to down to my main system,  running off a $12k Monoblock amp..    another level in improvement..  now it was airy.  nothing more to say...   I did not want to end up moving the amp in my bedroom..   I think then I would really been kick out the bedroom..  
 
but anyway I have also a Bryston BHA on order...  I will mod it the cable to true dual XLR.  hope it has enough juice.      until them..  I will be enjoying it, with the B100sst...
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

[wuwhere]

HE-6 scales with the quality of the amp one pairs them with.

 

[ginster6]

I notice that too..    but at that point the price ratio of amp to HP does not makes sense anymore....
 
 
 
One thing I did find out. it does leak more than q701.  but the funny part, my wifey say the leak sound better than the leak sound of the q701...  that was too funny..  

  she was actually singing along..
 
 

 

[Moostrkraaft]

Are you planning to use the HE-6 with the new Bryston amp? I REALLY doubt the Bryston amp has enough juice to drive the HE-6. The EF-6 amp, which was designed to drive the HE-6, puts 5W into 50 ohms. A few members have said the Liquid Fire, which puts 4W into 32 (not 50) ohms, cannot fully drive the HE-6. These are the output specs for the Bryston:
 
[size=small]

HI-Z load: 20 Volts into 600 ohms [/size][size=small]

(667mW) at 001% THD + N at 20-20K[/size][size=small][/size]
[size=small]

Low-Z load: [/size][size=small]

4 volts into 32 ohms (500 mW) at 001%[/size]

 

[ginster6]

i guess in that case I will use just use my Bryston B100sst   and use the BHA for the q701 and grado's..

 

[DaveBSC]

You might want to consider a Ray Samuels Dark Star. There probably isn't a better headphone amp out there right now for the HE-6. The vast majority simply don't have the power.

 

[ginster6]

Quote:

You might want to consider a Ray Samuels Dark Star. There probably isn't a better headphone amp out there right now for the HE-6. The vast majority simply don't have the power.

I might try later in time...  but right now I am very happy with the Bryston B100sst.  it is 100w at 8ohm.   I believe my last calculation equal to more than 12w at 50 ohm...   I am getting used to the different in this headphone..   with the bryston the pace of the music is very quick, which I like..  and main thing I like is the low end bass.    it is tight and fast..   just as what bryston is known for in the high end world.   and the b100 is a dual mono class A amp.    so it does not get bright or sounding metal...
 
if there is another head-fi meet in bay area ,  I wound not mind bringing this setup and getting a a second opinion from you expert.
 
 

 

[nigeljames]

Quote:

You might want to consider a Ray Samuels Dark Star. There probably isn't a better headphone amp out there right now for the HE-6. The vast majority simply don't have the power.

Or the Audio-gd Master-6 if you don't want to spend half your money on the case work