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Peter, great review! And it was nice seeing you at CES, man.
As always, nice photos, too--sharp sharp sharp.
Thanks, great to see you there as well, you and Tyll certainly got around to see some other headphones that I wish I hadn't missed.
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I've got to wonder about some people. LCD2 over HE90? Really? Noticeably dark vs slightly warm? The speed and detail isn't close either, imo. Your impressions are just as valid as mine, it just knocks me for a loop. Enjoy what you use.
@ Iron Dreamer
I do agree with your point that the old elite was more difficult to match with gear and music than the new elite. That point is easy to hear, though the HE90 in particular sounded great with all the tracks I used, from drum and bass to acoustic folk to orchestral and metal.
Don't get me wrong. I was certainly not saying the HE90, R10, L3000, or any of the older elite headphones sound bad. In fact, they all generally sound great. However, in the last few years we have seen a large number of new elite headphones on the market (whereas before that, they only trickled out very rarely), and by and large these new headphones have more strengths, fewer weaknesses, and are better all-around listening devices. There is certainly some greatness in the HE90, but I prefer most of the other elite headphones (past or present) to it, let alone when the cost is factored in. Once the cost is factored in, one must really love the characteristic sound of the HE90, as the alternatives are many, and most are significantly less pricey. The HE90, like most of the older elite headphones, had a very strong flavor, and some people would love it for that (just as they might love the flavor of the R10, or so on). Being that the newer headphones generally impart a bit less flavor onto the sound, I can see how people might be a bit less passionate about them, positively or negatively.
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nice read. do you by chance know the input and output impedance of the ef6 amp? thanks in advance.
I have asked Fang at Hifiman about this, waiting to hear back on exact specifics. I would assume, based on the design, that the output impedance is very low, well under 1ohm.
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With the output of 5 Watts, I think it can also drive the AKG K1000 effectively.
@Iron_Dreamer, could you confirm that?
I do not have a K1000 to try with the amp. Perhaps we shall at the Bay Area meet in a week or so. I would expect that the EF-6 has the power to drive the K1000.
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Anyone listened some dubstep, electronic, hip-hop or something like that on those high end HE90/009/HE-6/LCD-3? Every time I read reviews like this I hear the words jazz, classic nad vocals
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I listen to a fair amount of electronic music, and have done so in the course of reviewing this system. I find the HE-6/EF-6 extremely enjoyable for electronic music, as the fast yet punchy bass, combined with the ability to dissect numerous layers of sound, is very well mated for it. Just last night, I had a fabulous time listening to Infect Mushroom's "Classical Mushroom," certainly the best listen of that album I've yet experienced.
I think the only question for an electronic fan with this system is the quantity of bass, which is quite even and neutral. The listener who is after a ton of bass relative to the rest of the spectrum might be disappointed at first, if they don't give themselves the time to appreciate the quality of the EF6's bass, or simply can't live without heaps and heaps of bass, regardless of the quality.
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Very very nice review! Nicely executed.
I still do have to whole-heartedly disagree that the HE-6 performs on a level surpassing the R10 or HE90. It is, in my opinion quite a distance away from those two in terms of overall sound quality in my opinion.
I might have said the same thing about the HE-6, until I heard it with this final version of the EF-6. Of course, if you like the R10 or HE90 because of their specific flavors (as I discussed earlier in this post), the somewhat drier presentation of the HE-6 might understandably not be to your preference. But I can assure you that a properly driven HE-6 gives up nothing in terms of technical performance to either of those headphones.