What does HiFiMAN HE-6 offer when you already have ...? | Headphone Reviews and Discussion - Head-Fi.org

CDWMcInSpots · Feb 14, 2013 at 11:10 AM

Thread objective
What does HiFiMAN HE-6 offer when you already have headphone X?

Does it offer something that can supplement/complement the headphones one already own? For example Loevhagen has written extensively about orthodynamic headphones having some especially attractive qualities (though I still haven't (quiet) understood what this actually means).

I have demoed HiFiMAN HE-6 with my Grace Design m903 and one or two other supposedly well suited amplifiers, and went away with a very good impression.

The purpose of the thread is to collect information for me and others in hope of getting wiser. It's not a (hidden) invitation to "war".

My headphone X
My main headphone X is (probably):

STAX SR-009
Sennheiser HD 800
beyerdynamic T 1
Denon AH-D7000 (possibly)

Feel free to comment vs. the rest of my headphone collection as well.

My complete headphone inventory (though some (probably) aren't relevant to the thread topic):

AKG HSD 271
AKG K 701
Apple earbuds (2 items (I think))
Audio-Technica ATH-W3000ANV
beyerdynamic T 1
beyerdynamic T 5 p
Bose QuietComfort 15
Denon AH-D7000
Koss Porta pro
Sennheiser HD 380 Pro
Sennheiser HD 650 (2012)
Sennheiser HD 800
STAX SR-009
STAX SR-Λ (Lambda)
Ultrasone Edition 8
Victor HP-DX1000

Other people's headphone X
Others may have an other headphone X. Feel free to post requests regarding them.

Loevhagen · Feb 15, 2013 at 10:31 AM

The reason for the lack of answers, might be that you have already partly answered your own question. There also might be a logical abnormality if you read your own statements and parts highlighted.

The question would be: What about the HE-6 demo you had made them "good impression" - and looking at the rest of your portfolio; which headphones would be surplus. If none; maybe the HE-6 is a nice supplement to your portfolio after all...

"...orthodynamic headphones having some especially attractive qualities (though I still haven't (quiet) understood what this actually means)....I have demoed HiFiMAN HE-6 with my Grace Design m903 and one or two other supposedly well suited amplifiers, and went away with a very good impression."

CDWMcInSpots · Feb 15, 2013 at 10:55 AM

Thank you for helping out.

Quote:

The reason for the lack of answers, might be that you have already partly answered your own question. There also might be a logical abnormality if you read your own statements and parts highlighted.
[...]
"...orthodynamic headphones having some especially attractive qualities (though I still haven't (quiet) understood what this actually means)....I have demoed HiFiMAN HE-6 with my Grace Design m903 and one or two other supposedly well suited amplifiers, and went away with a very good impression."

I have had this thought. The reason is an afternoon shop demo with equipment changes etc. may give you an impression, but at this level and my headphone collection, you also want to compare it with the ones you got aka. the competition.

A shop demo doesn't necessarily pay full justice to the finer nuances etc. of the better headphones. It's more to make a preliminary/rough sorting.

The case may be that I like the HiFiMAN HE-6 in itself, but it doesn't give me anything except what I already got.

Quote:

The question would be: What about the HE-6 demo you had made them "good impression" - and looking at the rest of your portfolio; which headphones would be surplus. If none; maybe the HE-6 is a nice supplement to your portfolio after all...

I'll have to think (more) about this.

It definitely was enthralling/absorbing and definitely not dull.

Loevhagen · Feb 15, 2013 at 11:35 AM

You know that the following piece of advice is mandatory, right: Try the HE-6 with a beefier amp - or an integrated stereo amp. This piece of advice can be over focused, but there is some truth to it as well.

moodyrn · Feb 15, 2013 at 10:30 PM

Yes true, the amping requirements have been over focused. But there's actually a good reason for that. Tons of people severely underpowered them, and wrote negative things like....thin, bass lite, small sound stage, bright etc. When I say underpowered, I really mean underpowered; like less than a watt. So that's probably the main reason why power was emphasized more than anything else.

CDWMcInSpots · Feb 16, 2013 at 8:15 AM

HiFiMAN HE-6 vs. ...
I have been looking around for some (traces of) information. So far I've found these pages that can shed some light on the topic:

CybDev · Feb 16, 2013 at 8:43 AM

Hmm...

I had a chance to compare the HE-6 to my HD800 with a Schiit Mjolnir and a Auralic Taurus amp, both who are supposedly more than good enough to drive it.
No denying it's a good headphone, but I still preferred my HD800 to the HE-6.
Also I found the HE-6 very uncomfortable for my large ears, and this kinda put me off it more than the sound did... :-/

(I would go into more detail but I can't seem to find my listening notes)

Solude · Feb 16, 2013 at 5:18 PM

Quote:

moodyrn said:
thin, bass lite, small sound stage, bright etc. When I say underpowered, I really mean underpowered; like less than a watt.

And I used to say the same thing about the HD800... and then I got a PWD2. But I'd be very surprised if 90% of people are listening at levels that even require 20mW for the HE-6. In my case, the draw would be closer to 2mW average. Course I want to be able to hear later in life so... I listen at an average dB of 80.

Quality over quantity

moodyrn · Feb 16, 2013 at 6:55 PM

The best I've heard the hd800 was off a liquid fire paired with a bryston bda-1(which is a warmish sounding dac). It wasn't until then when I thought they sounded good enough for me to live with if they were my only cans. They also sounded great with the same dac paired with the dark star. The mids were full bodied, with the same incredible sound stage. The bass actually had a decent amount of punch, and slam. But they still lost out the the he-6 overall. The he-6 just did everything better except for sound stage width. But they more than made up for it with sound stage depth. But everyone has their preference.

I don't listen loudly myself, but even at listening at lower levels, you will run out of headroom fast with 20mw during dynamic peaks. The result would be lots, and lots of distortion. So that's why much more than 20mw is needed. Remember that it takes double the power just to gain 3db. And anyone who would ever believe quantity over quality when it comes to wattage is definitely in the wrong hobby.

CDWMcInSpots · Feb 17, 2013 at 6:21 AM

Thanks for your contributions so far.

Chris_Himself · Feb 17, 2013 at 6:56 AM

HD800 and HE-6 go hand in hand for me. They're both treble centric end-game headphones that cost twice as much as I paid for my LCD-2's..

HD800 to me doesn't require that much of an amp, I've successfully done it on $500 "wonder boxes" and even some of the chinese stuff. Now HD800 with my current Mjol/Gung setup? Probably going to be pretty amazing.

My audition with HE-6 and Lyr left me blown away in a similar matter. It's a headphone that really keeps giving the more you feed it. I've heard it off speaker taps and monoblock amps and really you can almost completely bypass the headphone amp game going the speaker taps routes.

CDWMcInSpots · Feb 17, 2013 at 10:23 AM

Quote:

chris_himself said:
HD800 and HE-6 go hand in hand for me. They're both treble centric end-game headphones that cost twice as much as I paid for my LCD-2's..

[...]

In Norway the prices of the three are very close. Audeze and HiFiMAN are imported by the same company. Sennheiser Nordic represents Sennheiser.

During swift internet browsing I found the following, but it might very well be possible to at least have the HD 800 cheaper if investigated further:

Sennheiser HD 800: NOK 8695
Audeze LCD2.2: NOK 8490
HiFiMAN HE-6: NOK 7990

The prices include 25 % Norwegian VAT. In addition to normal manufacturer warranty, Norwegian consumers are by law given 5 years complaints rights (Norwegian: "reklamasjonsrett") for anything meant to last for more than 2 years (2 years complaints rights for the remaining).

Exchange rate 15 February 2013 of Norwegian krone (NOK):

1	Dollar	USD	5,54
1	Euro	EUR	7,41
1	British pound	GBP	8,62
100	Yen	JPY	5,98

Loevhagen · Feb 17, 2013 at 10:52 AM

After Sennheiser introduced the HD700, I am surprised that some retailers are allowed to sell the HD800 for that price ($1550). Normal retail price is quite higher.

Solude · Feb 17, 2013 at 10:56 AM

Quote:

loevhagen said:
After Sennheiser introduced the HD700, I am surprised that some retailers are allowed to sell the HD800 for that price ($1550). Normal retail price is quite higher.

Where? Sennheiser's website lists MSRP at $1499.95.

preproman · Feb 17, 2013 at 11:02 AM

In the US you can also get them for less than the $1499 MSRP. If you know where to look.

CDWMcInSpots

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Loevhagen

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CDWMcInSpots

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Loevhagen

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moodyrn

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CDWMcInSpots

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CybDev

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Solude

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moodyrn

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CDWMcInSpots

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Chris_Himself

Member of the Trade: HPL Audio Cables

CDWMcInSpots

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Loevhagen

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Solude

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preproman

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