Kleiberās rendition of Beethovenās 7th is sublime on this setup. Itās cliche, but I can distinctly hear every part of the orchestra, but without it sounding clinically dissected. Timbre isnāt as perfect as a Sennheiser, but woodwinds, horns and strings all sound distinctly like themselves and different from each other, so itās good enough. Low strings are clear and detailed and well placed in the mix. I can hear the attack and tone of the tympanies, and feel the rumble-the bass control and extension are phenomenal, all without being elevated or intrusive.
Iām often dubious about claims of technical superiority outside of tuning differences, and I heard a certain YouTuber mention that the HE6SE sounds an awful lot like the HE4XX. Superficially that is true, as theyāre tuned really similarly (outside of the bass extension), but on my speaker amp the HE6SE performs in a completely different league.
Dynamics - in the quietest passages itās delicate yet still clear thanks to a clean black background. Then when things get loud, it hits like a freight train. I had to check my SPL meter a few times to make sure I wasnāt just listening too loud, but in the very loudest passage it only hit 87dB SPL(A), which is really not bad on highly dynamic orchestral music like this
Tactility - irrespective of pitch, thereās a palpable physical tactility to the attack of instruments that Iāve only ever heard on one other headphone, the LCD2C. But unlike the Audeze, the HE6SE achieves this without a weird tuning.
Separation - whether quiet or loud, everything stays well separated and clear.
Detail - yup, thereās lots of detail, including the occasional errant noise from a bow hitting a music stand. The cool thing is that the detail doesnāt sound exaggerated or in my face, itās just kind of there for the taking.
So yeah, first impressions are positive indeed.
