cactus_farmer
1000+ Head-Fier
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http://www.njc-audio.co.uk/html/monitor_ii.html
The NJC Monitor II is the little-known option.
It would be risky to get it because no-one has really reviewed it. However, I really want a solid state amp powerful enough to drive the HE-6, and if this can indeed do it, it offers the best value by far (equal to the Lyr when shipping/tax is included). The stats show it gives 2.2W per channel into 50ohm (which is more than the EF5).
Additionally, no-one can be sure that it can drive the Hifiman HE-6 (because so few reviews are about), though I did ask NJC themselves, and they replied;
[Sorry for the delay in answering your email but we have just got back from our annual break & so I am currently in the process of sorting through a backlog of order's & answering email's.
With regards to the HifiMAN HE-6 I have had the opportunity to test a pair of those when designing the current version of the Monitor II amplifier so I can provide more accurate information based on past test's that were carried out at the time, you are certainly correct in that they do require quite a large amount of power in terms of voltage & current to drive those planar's properly which is made worse by the very poor efficiency of that particular model.
However I have run many test's with the HE-6 on the Monitor II amplifier & it does drive the HE-6's well revealing clear advantages over other reference headphone's based on dynamic drivers, there are certain requirement's that must be met though which I have mentioned below, but providing everything else in the chain is also up to the task then I would have no hesitation in recommending the HE-6 due to their excellent treble extension & detail, I would in no way describe the sound as anemic.
If the output of your source (CD player etc) is less than 2vRMS then this would not be suitable for the HE-6 & would overall provide insufficient drive/volume, providing you feed a standard 2vRMS line level signal or indeed higher into the the Monitor II with the gain set to "High" this will ensure that those headphone's reach sufficient volume, of course there are odd instances where certain album's may have been mastered below a standard level which would effect the input signal & ultimately the final output level, this of course is something we have no control over but fortunately the majority of album's conform to a certain standard.
Assuming the above requirement's have been met a normal listening level (subject to personal preference, music etc) will result in the volume control
on the Monitor II being set at a position of 10 to 11 o'clock, 12 o'clock I consider very loud by anyones standard's with 1 o'clock being too loud for the HE-6 & certainly not advisable long term for your own hearing, despite comment's about the HE-6 being notoriously inneficient & hard to drive a pair of 600 ohm headphone's such as the Beyer DT range while having different demand's upon the amplifier over the HE-6 for comparison the overall position on the volume control to obtain a similar sound level to the HE-6 is very similar, the Monitor II has never had any issues driving these either & with regards to
clipping with the HE-6 I have measured this at volume level's that I consider not comfortable with no audible or measurable clipping.
As for the HE-6 responding well to even more power such as that of a speaker amplifier, this was something I was also eager to test myself at the time, I have my own solid state speaker amplifier which I designed & built some time ago, it can deliver 200w per channel so at the time I also tried the HE-6 powered from this speaker output, even with potentially unlimited voltage & current available since the HE-6 were already sounding excellent when connected to the Monitor II I found no advantages were gained from this arrangement, there are of course disadvantages to using a speaker amplifier, one example is while the reference amplifier I designed has an extremely low noise floor this may not be the case with some of the more mass produced speaker amplifier's, therefore the headphone's are at risk of revealing any noise present within the amplifier which may not always be picked up so easily on speaker's, where as the Monitor II is completely silent at any volume level so never an issue.
I hope that information may be of some help, I apologise for the length of the email but this subject can be quite in depth.]
The answer was great, but I guess they WOULD say that the Monitor II can drive the HE-6 because they want me to buy their product.
If anyone has impressions of the NJC amp (especially with the HE-6) - they would be very appreciated here!!
What do you guys think, should I get the Lyr which is the more reputable option, or risk it with these solid-state, hand-built amps from my country?
Thanks in advance.
The NJC Monitor II is the little-known option.
It would be risky to get it because no-one has really reviewed it. However, I really want a solid state amp powerful enough to drive the HE-6, and if this can indeed do it, it offers the best value by far (equal to the Lyr when shipping/tax is included). The stats show it gives 2.2W per channel into 50ohm (which is more than the EF5).
Additionally, no-one can be sure that it can drive the Hifiman HE-6 (because so few reviews are about), though I did ask NJC themselves, and they replied;
[Sorry for the delay in answering your email but we have just got back from our annual break & so I am currently in the process of sorting through a backlog of order's & answering email's.
With regards to the HifiMAN HE-6 I have had the opportunity to test a pair of those when designing the current version of the Monitor II amplifier so I can provide more accurate information based on past test's that were carried out at the time, you are certainly correct in that they do require quite a large amount of power in terms of voltage & current to drive those planar's properly which is made worse by the very poor efficiency of that particular model.
However I have run many test's with the HE-6 on the Monitor II amplifier & it does drive the HE-6's well revealing clear advantages over other reference headphone's based on dynamic drivers, there are certain requirement's that must be met though which I have mentioned below, but providing everything else in the chain is also up to the task then I would have no hesitation in recommending the HE-6 due to their excellent treble extension & detail, I would in no way describe the sound as anemic.
If the output of your source (CD player etc) is less than 2vRMS then this would not be suitable for the HE-6 & would overall provide insufficient drive/volume, providing you feed a standard 2vRMS line level signal or indeed higher into the the Monitor II with the gain set to "High" this will ensure that those headphone's reach sufficient volume, of course there are odd instances where certain album's may have been mastered below a standard level which would effect the input signal & ultimately the final output level, this of course is something we have no control over but fortunately the majority of album's conform to a certain standard.
Assuming the above requirement's have been met a normal listening level (subject to personal preference, music etc) will result in the volume control
on the Monitor II being set at a position of 10 to 11 o'clock, 12 o'clock I consider very loud by anyones standard's with 1 o'clock being too loud for the HE-6 & certainly not advisable long term for your own hearing, despite comment's about the HE-6 being notoriously inneficient & hard to drive a pair of 600 ohm headphone's such as the Beyer DT range while having different demand's upon the amplifier over the HE-6 for comparison the overall position on the volume control to obtain a similar sound level to the HE-6 is very similar, the Monitor II has never had any issues driving these either & with regards to
clipping with the HE-6 I have measured this at volume level's that I consider not comfortable with no audible or measurable clipping.
As for the HE-6 responding well to even more power such as that of a speaker amplifier, this was something I was also eager to test myself at the time, I have my own solid state speaker amplifier which I designed & built some time ago, it can deliver 200w per channel so at the time I also tried the HE-6 powered from this speaker output, even with potentially unlimited voltage & current available since the HE-6 were already sounding excellent when connected to the Monitor II I found no advantages were gained from this arrangement, there are of course disadvantages to using a speaker amplifier, one example is while the reference amplifier I designed has an extremely low noise floor this may not be the case with some of the more mass produced speaker amplifier's, therefore the headphone's are at risk of revealing any noise present within the amplifier which may not always be picked up so easily on speaker's, where as the Monitor II is completely silent at any volume level so never an issue.
I hope that information may be of some help, I apologise for the length of the email but this subject can be quite in depth.]
The answer was great, but I guess they WOULD say that the Monitor II can drive the HE-6 because they want me to buy their product.
If anyone has impressions of the NJC amp (especially with the HE-6) - they would be very appreciated here!!
What do you guys think, should I get the Lyr which is the more reputable option, or risk it with these solid-state, hand-built amps from my country?
Thanks in advance.
