🔶 Hifiman HE6SE

[Gruntslayer]

BTW i just did a funny test where i got the vali 2 non plus for a pre amp for my JOT 2 since the JOT 2 can convert the RCA to full balanced in the amp, with some GE and RCA NOS tubes its sounds absolutely great with the HE6se. but i dont have my JOT 2 yet .

the power is lacking but whats interesting is i AB tested it against the heresy and the vali 2 as a amp gets louder and sounds significantly smoother and better, even though its rated half a watt less at 50ohms. significantly fuller mid range and smoother highs compared to even my SAGA + pre or heresy as an amp. nice tube sound with upgraded tubes. stock is meh. not really useful info since you need more power for he6se but as a pre amp its great seemingly is stronger than the heresy and better and its not even the new model.

if you have a 789 or topping i think it would blow your mind as far as tone, if the lyr 3 is even better that might be my competition for the JOT 2 however if using the vali as pre for JOT 2 might be an even better combo than lyr. down the schiit rabbit hole lol i guess only downside would be feeding JOT 2 with much worse distortion and IMD measurements but idk

[screwball]

Is it ever going to go back in stock or should i just grab used LCD-3?

[Gruntslayer]

also i know most people here incuding me arent huge fans of ASR however i feel the HE6 original version did very well in his test. i mean its a early model planar and its distortion is lower at 110db than many new headphones at 94db and thats with no mods.

Hifiman HE-6 Review (Headphone)

[M0N]

Given how the 4 screw is more neutral bright, detail and speed focused, and slightly compressed, it sounds up his alley.

[mbvjmc]

Depends on which 4-screw version you are talking about. I never heard the 4S-LP mentioned in the article below, supposedly the slightly compressed sounding HE-6. I only have the 4S-EP and 6S, both modded, in my collection and IMO they are far from sounding compressed.

Review: HiFiMAN HE-6 (Early 4 Screw vs. Late 4 Screw vs. 6 Screw) – Spectrum.

[M0N]

If you have an early 4 it’s going to be less compressed than a late 4, but personally I think either 4 screw is a tad more compressed than the 6 either way. I don’t think the compression is all that bad or noticable though on the 6 or early 4, but noticable on the late 4. I could only notice the compression differences when driving them on really powerful and higher quality speaker amps, otherwise the amp itself is going to be the bottleneck for judging compression. It’s not like these are older mrspeakers level of compression lol

[mbvjmc]

Yes, definitely far from DCA-esque compression. I drive my HE-6’s from a Bryston 3B-ST and it tops the dynamics from the Focal’s that I’ve tried on my setup (Elex, Elegia, and the Radiance). Granted, my THX AAA 789 (which gets little use these days) are probably not the best for those Focal’s. Focals are way too sensitive for a speaker amp treatment.

[M0N]

@mbvjmc

I drive my HE-6’s from a Bryston 3B-ST

@mbvjmc

and it tops the dynamics from the Focal’s that I’ve tried on my setup (Elex, Elegia, and the Radiance). Granted, my THX AAA 789 (which gets little use these days) are probably not the best for those Focal’s. Focals are way too sensitive for a speaker amp treatment.

Very true

[Gruntslayer]

i was just interested in how the driver itself seems to be of very high quality for such an early revision? maybe its not that old? not up on my knowledge for older he6 variants. it had better channel balance than any headphone he has tested and extremely low distortion. not to mention all the other things that make them great to us, i feel this is a win win for objective and subjectivists under 1200 dollars im not seeing a whole lot better for a open back planar. maybe he 1000? but thats a lot more.

[M0N]

@Gruntslayer

i was just interested in how the driver itself seems to be of very high quality for such an early revision? maybe its not that old?

Other quality headphones existed alongside the he6 lol, the he6 came out in 2010, that put it in competition with other flagships from sennheiser (hd800, he60, he90), stax (007 and 009), beyerdynamic t1, denon d7000, grado (ps1000, gs1000), audeze lcd 2, and others, along with many more models following in the next few years, it’s not like people couldn’t make a quality driver besides hifiman. Hifiman did put out a pretty high quality product, but it’s not like they towered over the market at the time either

@Gruntslayer

im not seeing a whole lot better for a open back planar. maybe he 1000? but thats a lot more.

Define better?. It’s a real solid headphone for what they go for at this point, but there are other alternatives that some may prefer depending on what they are after.

[mbvjmc]

The HE-6 was sold from late 2010 to 2015. I think the first batch was delivered to customers around 3/2011. The first mentioning of the 6 screw baffle that I found was sometime in 3/2013. The 6 screw version likely started to sell before that date.

[Gruntslayer]

of course other good headphones existed and still do. i said in my post that i was talking about open back planars as you know. since they were a relatively new driver design for headphones. for them to measure this good 20 years later is quite impressive. of course measurements are not even close to everything but idk i guess i was impressed considering amirs hostility to some products. better as in overall enjoyment not measurements.

i guess you could say there doesnt seem to have been much planar advancement as far as distortion in the last 12 years under 1200$. or maybe since they were originally 1800 dollars this was a heavily engineered product and the QC was very strict. i mean as far as distortion and channel balance and freq response the he6 is more advanced than the he 400 2020 and 5xx and LCD X im impressed in comparison to newer planars, compared to the lcd 2c i think they sound much better, the lcd X is technically horrible in comparison as well and i dont think it sounds very good either, and 800s treble and bass and much worse as well. you can say ASR measurements are dishonest but they match crinacle as far as freq response and i think we can all agree that is important. we wont even get into the Abyss measurements because there are problems with his measuring.

i love when a planar has low distortion like the Aeon2 its audible and the he6 is even lower somehow and has better bass response. in fact it has the flatest bass of any headphone ive ever seen. im less talking about overall sound and more impressed with the driver engineering. im sure you prefer many things to the he6 but i remember you said you sold you arya and kept the he6 and the arya is a very loved headphone subjectively and so is the 800s. so i think my point stands that objectively its great and subjectively its great, unless you dont believe ASRs measurements which is fine. just thought it was interesting how much better a 10 year old planar measures compared to modern ones and legendary ones.

[Pokrog]

@Gruntslayer

maybe he 1000

Nah, HE1000se doesn’t touch the 6 imo. Also remember the he6se is very much an $1800 headphone, though it commonly sells for $700 because it is DISCONTINUED, not because it isn’t worth the $1800 MSRP. The he6se is basically a susvara with a low quality housing. It really can be summed up to that housing difference and slight changes in the tuning that comes from the stealth magnets. Is that an oversimplification? Sure. Is it still objectively true? Yeah, pretty much. Also I feel like its worth pointing out that one of the reasons for the updated housings with the stronger hifiman planars is that the steel grill has been proven to cause distortion because of its close proximity to the magnet. It’s a non issue after an aluminum grill mod. I had a pair of he1000se for a short time and they were really good and drastically easier to power, but they were missing some of the things that the he6se can do. No planar can slam like the he6 that I know of and it does take a shitload of power, but if you have the power it stomps on a lot of high end headphones far more expensive than the he6, but that is absolutely the caveat, that it isn’t going to sound good on just anything. If there was a way to get a he1000se housing and cram the he6 driver into it I bet you’d have a true budget susvara but the shapes are all off. They really are a fantastic pair of headphones and in this newer era of capable and affordable headphone amps it’s more relevant today than it ever was when it was first made. If hifiman knew what was good for them they’d keep making them, but with the susvara housing and price either untouched or lower than $1800. Obviously they have been capable of producing them for a decade so acting like manufacturing hasn’t caught up or that they haven’t streamlined production since they first released is kind of a cop out. Prices these days have no excuse for being what they are.

[M0N]

@Gruntslayer

since they were a relatively new driver design for headphones.

Planar designs have been around for headphones for a long time, but yes they were reaching large popularity in the 2010s with hifiman and others coming out with new designs

@Gruntslayer

of course measurements are not even close to everything

Correct

@Gruntslayer

i mean as far as distortion and channel balance and freq response the he6 is more advanced than the he 400 2020 and 5xx

I mean it should be lol

@Gruntslayer

or maybe since they were originally 1800 dollars this was a heavily engineered product and the QC was very strict.

It was for sure, you can tell a lot of work went into that design

@Gruntslayer

impressed in comparison to newer planars, compared to the lcd 2c i think they sound much better,

Sure, but again that’s comparing a high end headphone to a midrange one, also the 2c is somewhat lackluster in general imo so I agree with you there

@Gruntslayer

the lcd X is technically horrible in comparison as well and i dont think it sounds very good either

I have heard some good ones, but holy shit the qc on the lcd x really really bad, every single lcd x I’ve heard has sounded different from one another. It had potential but you basically have to hunt for a unicorn lol

@Gruntslayer

and 800s treble and bass and much worse as well.

Amped properly I don’t really find the 800s treble really bad whatsoever, but bass was lackluster indeed. I would honestly prefer the 800s treble over he6 treble personally (again given both are amped well and not handicapped by source gear)

@Gruntslayer

you can say ASR measurements are dishonest but they match crinacle as far as freq response and i think we can all agree that is important.

Basic frequency response is somewhat important, but personally the higher you go up headphone wise, the less and less it actually plays a role imo, other aspects like presentation, dynamics, spatial recreation, timbre end up coloring the sound more than the basic tuning does in the end. That is assuming the fr isn’t totally fucked

@Gruntslayer

we wont even get into the Abyss measurements because there are problems with his measuring.

He’s shown time and time again that his measurements can be far off, so that really isn’t something that instills trust in how he does things to me

@Gruntslayer

but i remember you said you sold you arya and kept the he6

I did indeed, I felt they were equally matched headphones with compelling reasons to keep both, but I ended up choosing the he6 since I wanted to have a more fun headphone overall, but they do trade blows for sure

@Gruntslayer

just thought it was interesting how much better a 10 year old planar measures compared to modern ones and legendary ones.

I mean I would like to see some more fair comparisons, putting it up against modern flagships and seeing how it fares. Also keep in mind there is more to driver design and engineering than fr and distortion levels. I am not a driver designer though so what do I know lol

[Pokrog]

@M0N

Also keep in mind there is more to driver design and engineering than fr

yeah i found it odd that hifiman themselves puts the advertised FR of the he6se as 8hz-65khz and the susvara as 20hz-20khz. like that can’t be right, can it?

[Gruntslayer]

yeah i agree the 800s i only heard 1 time and it isnt as peaky as the measurements suggest. which does make me think that higher end headphones can have elevated response or whatever else as far as measurements and still sound great. i dont think im ready to enter that realm however lol

[Hunt]

Still no headband from audeze Hopefully sometime soon it will come

[VielenDank]

Hang in there man. The comfort improvement is worth the wait.

[Pokrog]

i contacted the guy that sells the grills on ebay and got him to put more up if anyone needs some HIFIMAN Aluminum Headphone Honeycomb Grilles-Set of (2) Black | eBay

[Gruntslayer]

they are great quality and the sound it amazing after. just installed mine from him the other day