Thats a great point, I guess my question should have clarified open backs. Currently my main listening setups are either home living room with speakers, home desk with dac/amp, or work cubicle with a 789. Sadly I donāt get much of an opportunity to go mobile while listening to music when Iām not in the car anymore. So I am still in search of some killer closed backs for work, my current rotation at work are akg k550, beyer dt770, tin p1, and on occasion he-560 if iām considerate.
plus im kinda a bass head junkie. They do punch hard, but different than the argons and other dynamics ive had my ears on. Just depends on my mood and what I want to listen to
yeah the headband isnāt the greatest for sure but i adjust mine a little high and its not too bad i guess. iāve been considering the headband mod myself but just havenāt taken the plunge.
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I love the HE6SE, but I think the 789 is going to leave you wondering what the fuss is. It may sound ok to you, but you need to know thatās getting you where they need to be. From your use case and gear, I think you may be happy with an Aeon2 Closed if you havenāt heard one. Thatās my go to closed back at work and it sounds good on everything. I have setups that the 6SEs sound okay on, but I know I need to make myself uncomfortable and hook them up to my old 70s Marantz receiver to sound their best
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Thatās fair, my intention for he6se was to test on 789 and my 70ās technics power amp (se-9060), I assume 70wpc into 8 ohm would be more than sufficient to drive the he6se. However recs for closed backs for work like the argon or the aeon2 closed are definitely appreciated.
this was an earlier thread from about a year and a half ago:
There was a lot of argument and resulting trial and error there, and the consensus seemed to be 100wpc min but vintage amps donāt always apply to the same rules as I can personally vouch for. Iām not familiar with that amp, but I didnāt look it up before you linked it. You may be ok with that, and I would bet itād do better for you than the 789.
As for the polar opposite of the A2C, the Audeze XC will not be super comfortable, but Iāve been using mine a lot more since I installed Roon and the Audeze EQ is built in-it makes a big difference. I own the wooden backs, and it doesnāt look like they sell those any more. The weight reduction may be nice with the carbon version, but the wood is very pretty. My favorite closed back, and maybe my favorite headphone even though I own ābetterā is the ZMF Eikon
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Thats fair, 100wpc is actually kind of crazy but even if I didnāt use a new amp for he6se exclusively Iām sure I could find a good use for it with my speakers. Or perhaps I could just get a second and use them as dual mono lol. Also thanks for the audeze and zmf recs. Interesting that you prefer the Eikon, I have heard that the verite closed is pretty killer, but hadnāt heard much about the eikon. Those eikon pads look wonderful too. Also I just found out they are based out of chicago which is my home territory, now I feel like I need to find a way to check them out in person when the pandemic ends!
I ordered my Verite Open right before he announced the Verite Closed and they sound so similar I never decided to make the switch. I probably like the Eikon most because I heard them first, but they also suit my tastes really well. I like really impactful dynamics and the Eikons and 6SE are actually pretty similar in that aspect.
But, on topic, the 6SE may not actually be a real savings since a lot of people end up spending money on things they didnāt expect to costing way more than the $700 up front. I kind of think the 6SE is a better headphone to round out a collection than it is to build one around
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a90 powers it just fine i think and a lot of times those 100wpc amps are rated that high at 4ohm and their 50ohm output is like 7w. which is crazy and everything, but the a90 is 4.8w, i think, and is definitely driving them at full power, i think, and is super super clean. the 789 feels like it drives them right but you have to crank it really high and you do pick up a little noise. for some reason and idk if this is just my setup so it would actually be awesome if someone could try this but if i set my windows volume mixer for tidal on 1 volume and turn down volume in tidal to the first volume notch everything sounds rediculously better and i still dont know why that is. i feel like its just getting under some kind of amplification signal plateau and all the frequencies balance out. might be something with my motherboard or windows quirk but its absolutely repeatable every single time. when i turn up the tidal
in app volume, not on the mixer but in the app, the bass thins out and its really odd. i feel like i should almost make a post about this topic.
I havenāt heard the A90, but everyone seems to love it. I saw Josh Valour saying it could drive Susvaras which surprised me, so it may well be capable. They are just one of those sets that sound better the better the chain, and not even the traditional upgrade path for most people. If your combo works for you thatās great, but as good as this headphone is I think you can find better value in the price range that sounds very good on entry level gear. This headphone can be a lot of work to get it sounding like it should for some people and can easily turn into a $2k+ money sink
oh its absolutely a bit of a trap if you dont know what youāre getting into. mine was on a shelf for a while. i loved the detail but they didnāt have the stage i wanted in stock form. after i did the grill mod they became my go to daily driver and i had to fuck with all my volume levels while listening on my 789 to get everything at equal volumes. so i bought an a90 because of it lol. iāve done a/b comparisons on them both and both do really well but the noise is audible even if just barely on the 789 when you crank up the gain and volume. but a lot of why i was struggling with the 789 i feel like was due to whatever weird windows volume signal unbalance at full app and mixer volume. i dont know why but its a massive difference. like night and day. they go from normal and detailed but nothing out of the ordinary bass wise to super hard slam with every bit of detail intact and sounding perfect.
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Can you put a very thin piece of cloth over or under the grill mod to keep dust from touching the back of the driver? Do most people do the mod and leave the backs completely exposed? I know more or less how to do it, but I wasnāt sure if I should leave the back completely bare.
You need a lot of power for the HE6 but maybe not quite as extreme as others have said. I first used the HE6 on a Liquid Gold X, which is about 5w into 50 ohm. They sounded fine mostly, but there were songs that would distort on high gain and were bit shrill at times. I then got a Parasound Zamp v3 and hooked the HE6 via speaker taps. They provide about 7 to 8w in 50 ohms, or 45wpc in 8ohm. There is a pretty big difference between the 5w and 7ish w in overall sound quality. I have another coming but itās delayed because of the weather in the US. Once I have both Zamps I will be able to run them in mono and get about 90w into 8 ohms, which would be between 14 to 16w into 50 ohm. The one Zamp is good but there is a little bit of noise sometimes. Itās not really noticeable when music is playing, just itās not as black of a background as the LGX is.
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Holy S*** thatās a lot of watts, here I am wanted to run them on a THX 789. Itās interesting that people are saying that they sound better when you give them A LOT of clean wattage. Sounds kind of like the Magnepan LRS of headphones.
Liquid gold x is 3.9w @ 50ohm so itās about the same as a 789. And the zamp is probably sounding warmer and a little more normal because of the amp noise and crosstalk. Im one of those weirdos that loves an absolutely sterile and clinical source and I think theyāre right at home on an a90. I really do think people are doing themselves a disservice plugging headphones this resolving into speaker amps but I know im a little bit oversensitive to grain and probably listen a lot louder than I should.
Monopriceās website and manual has the LGX listing is for 56 ohm at 3.9w, so 50 ohm would be higher. I was rounding for ease of writing. Speaker amps can be just as well made as headphone amps. The Zamps actually have gain dials for both channels. I have it at 40% right now but I bet when I get the 2nd one I will be able to lower it to 25%. In an earlier post I already stated that there isnāt any noise under 40% but that is not enough gain for some music.
Slight price drop to $649 HE6se Full-Size Over Ear Planar Magnetic Audiophile Adjustable Headphones V2 HE6SEV2
Someone is selling the Black HE6SE on ebay, but for about $930. It seems odd to purchase a black version for about $300 more than the dark blue version, but I just wanted to inform anyone that NEEDS to get a black version.
The new pre burnt in (used haha) Cardas Cable is a good match. Clear Light opens them up a bit from the stock dentist suck-tion tube.
Hart cables coming as well for a test drive. USPS shows they finally dethawed and are in route
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Planning to use a hartaudio cable myself when I get my pair. Would love to hear your experience over the stock cable.