Pretty decently, you should be able to get a satisfactory experience although I do think it could do better later on with a nice power amp imo. But if you could only pick a headphone amp the soloist would be a nice match
It depends, if lets say the amp for the headphones around 2-3k (speaker for the he6, normal headphone amp for the hekse), assuming each chain is optimized for each headphone, generally the hekse would end up being higher preforming in aspects like detail, spatial recreation, timbre, better microdynamics, treble extension, and control, but the he6 would have more impact and slam, better tonal density, better macrodynamics, and better extention for low end. If you limit the hekse and he6 to like a 1k amp, generally the hekse will be a fairly clearly higher technical performer overall and end up being more refined, but the he6 would be more impactful and fun tuned but generally wouldnāt compete from a technical perspective on this level of amp
I asked the very question on the headfi thread but havenāt gotten a response yet.
Apparently there is a āpower amp modeā per ishmaelk that should also benefit the HE6SE but I have yet to see any owner comment on this synergy yet with this mode.
The user Jwahl has the Soloist 3XP and HE6 SE V2 so you could also reach out to him directly. Heās responded to a few of my prior questions:
Iāve tried power amp mode, and while it can help performance, it assumes you have a volume control upstream that is superior, if you donāt, it can hurt performance and you would be better off using the volume control in the burson. So if you want to use that, you want to either already have a really nice preamp, or a dac with really nice volume control to actually get benefit imo
itās not that big of a deal. itās not like itās a huge night and day difference between bypass mode and normal mode if youāre only using the soloist 3X. it makes a bigger difference if you also have the composer 3x and put the soloist 3x on bypass.
soloist 3x drives the he6se really well. on high gain, i donāt even turn the volume past 20.
Thats good to hear, however its not really about the volume with the HE-6SE. The problem is powering them properly. A thx789 can get them to a ear piercing volume but it does not get them anywhere close to what they can sound like with a better amp. Or that at least my understanding.
i thought i made it pretty clear already? i donāt even need to raise the volume above 20 to have really good sound. The volume can go past 60. It is definitely powering them properly. fast strong bass and mids, clear highs. Iām using sparkos opamp with it and it sounds great.
No, it was clear. It was just a small tangent. There are just some people that donāt seem to realise the difference in an amp that can get them loud enough and an amp gets them to their full potential.
Joshua Valour in his review talked about how the he6 didnt need as much power as some where saying and was using them with some lower tier amps like the liquid spark and thx. So I wasnt surprised when he said he wasnt really impressed with them.
I fully trust you know what youāre talking about
@M0N could you give a suggestion of a good speaker amp to drive these with the he-adapter and also the gl1200. i dont know if youāve had a chance to play with the gl1200 but i know you know what to expect and how it all works lol. i trust.
What budget range, what dac, and generally what type of sound are you after? I donāt have any experience with the gl1200 but I will assume it drives like the raals do (with the resistor and EQ box)
dac iād love to plan for an endgame for spatial recreation and natural sound over everything thatāll come eventually and any input on something that could be even on the brink of your āexclusiveā end if i can ever find something for a decent deal used lol. maybe i shouldnāt go that high but i guess it cant hurt to have something to work towards. iām working with an x16 right now and have my tube preamp set to where i love it and it sounds really good and natural but i want to be able to push my he6se v2 a little harder cause i can definitely see where it has room left in it and the gl1200 is an experiment waiting to happen and i dont know what iām in for with that i just want an amp that can drive them as well as the he6 with the adapter box. thanks in advance.
So what I might suggest considering would be something like a used krell kst 100 or ksa 100 or 150 or bryston 4b st or 3b sst power amp imo, generally around 1.5k used, and they have plenty of current for sure. The brystons are a bit more clean and open sounding amps with a slight bright but organic lean, good stage depth, lots of speed, good microdynamics. The krell will be a neutral warmer smoother lean, with a wider more spacious stage, great slam and punch, a more smooth midrange and treble with very nice timbre, more macro focus.
If you wanted to lean further into something warmer and relaxed thatās pretty natural, a parasound halo a21 or a23+ would be pretty great pick imo (also around 1.5k used). Generally pretty warm and smooth without sounding overdone, fairly tonally dense, wide stage, good resolution, nice timbre, good dynamics
Although you would need some sort of preamp for these
There are other cheaper options for power amps, but imo the used stuff around 1-1.5k is a good place to be for an he6 (but going higher is always an option too lol)
Gotcha gotcha. Perhaps consider moving to something like a bifrost 2 or an ares ii imo, likely worth a listen to start off with if you are looking for something more organic and also a bit more fun while being fairly technical (with the ares ii being more definitely warmer fun leaning, and the bf2 being neutral slightly warmer smoother)
Yes, I would prefer pcm over the dsd version of the cyan. The dsd version to me sounds too oversmoothed and dull when playing pcm, so if you mainly have pcm, just go pcm
Hey @M0N, one more thing. Looks like a used v280 plus a Soekris 1421 would cost about the same as a Burson Soloist plus bf2. How would you compere the two systems?
Been thinking about picking up a he6 and using a v280 or a Soloist until I find a decent used power amp or smth more fitting, or alternatively going for a diana v2. What is your stance on he6 vs diana v2? Also does either of these source chains synergize better with the Diana or squeeze more out off the he6 in your opinion?
I just bought a HE6SE V2 and I got a Schiit Vidar I wanna plug it into. But I dont have a converter box for the amp. I heard Hifiman used to make these for sale but I dont see any on there website. The only thing I can find is this site:
But its much more than I wanted to spend. Anyone know of another seller?
Also can I get away with a straight Balanced XLR to Speaker Taps adapter cable?
