Got a Marantz MM7025 coming in to drive these. Donāt even have the āphones yet but will try to remember to report back how it does compared to my liquid platinum and V280.
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Got the amp about a week ago but when I tried it out I wasnāt getting audio from the right side, blamed it on the cable, waited another week for a new cable, still didnāt work, found out right xlr in is borked, using rca now and itās fine.
First impressions A/B testing against my Arya powered by Violectric V280 and sharing the matrix mini-i 3 pro as the dac connected to my PC via usb and streaming master tracks on Tidal.
I like this headphone, but not as much as I like the Arya. These have amazing treble sparkle, tons of detail in the upper and mid range. Bass is actually less pronounced compared to Arya, but less boomy and it makes me feel like Iām missing detail on Arya due to the bass ābloomingā. This doesnāt really bother me though because Iāve noticed that the highs on the HE6SE can be a bit much for me at times and the Arya turns that down a bit and replaces it with a deeper and boomier bass that my ears just agree with.
The timbre is noticeably more natural on the HE6SE, where the Arya sounds veiled every so slightly in comparison. (I donāt know if these are the correct words, Iām trying my best lol) Voices sound more real and instruments a bit more lively.
Soundstage is very good and makes me think that the Arya is a bit exaggerated in this area, but still I enjoy it a bit more exaggerated I suppose.
If I didnāt need a giant power amp to power these things I would probably keep them because they do sound great, but Iām not ready for that kind of a commitment. Iāll be keeping the amp and replacing a crappy LG soundbar in the living room with JBL Studio 530ās and probably an Emotiva SE12.
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I just bought these. DHL should have em at my door by next Wednesday
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What amp are you gonna use with them?
Not sureā¦maybe a Marantz Receiverā¦
what amps do you have on hand?
So this is completely unexpected butā¦ I actually really like how these sound straight from the 4.4mm balanced out on my Matrix mini-i 3 pro. Not as good as the Marantz power amp, but I kind of hate them with the Violectric V280, and admittedly havenāt given them much playtime on my MLP yet. I also really like how my Arya sound from the mini-i 3. Although I have to set it to 0dB for the Arya for loud volume, and about +13dB for HE6se.
Edit: So Iāve been listening to my HE6se on the V280 again, comparing against the MLP and my mini-i 3 pro. IDK what it is, but Iām mostly liking them on the V280 now, but some songs they just hurt my ears? Iām not listening at extreme volumes or anything, but at first I thought it was sibilance and now Iām thinking I just wasnāt used to the tone of these headphones. I think my brain may have actually been overloaded with detail or something? IDK but my Arya broke so I have to send them back, and may just get a refund. MLP sounds fine with these too, but I do have a modded MLP with Elna Silmic II caps so canāt really compare with the stock version.
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Iām jealous of anyone who got these Cans for the $699 sale price just a few months agoā¦ Any other time and I would have pounced all over them. $ per $ my guess is they are some of the best cans money can buy (new) given proper amplification. Really they are the only Hifiman product I want to own.
There are a few open box HE6sev2ās that are being sold below the sale price:
https://www.adorama.com/l/Used/Audio/Headphones-and-Earphones/HiFiMan~Wired-Headphones
Then again, these were returned and it is Hifiman. But at least thereās a 30d return return policy and is backed by the Hifimanās warranty.
Adorama has run this same price for the past two years now. That may not mean anything for next year, but I picked mine up when they were on sale in 2019. I love them, but I rarely use them. I like them out of my Bigger Ben off of the 100 ohm jack, but my best pairing is when I run them off of my 1970s Marantz receiver. Because of itās limited outputs and inputs, I usually only have that receiver connected to my turntable, so Iāve grown to think of these as my vinyl headphones for better or for worse. I think if I had fewer options at my disposal, I may be more inclined to run through the extra hoops, but more often than not Iāll just reach for my Empyreans if I want a punchy planar because they run off of almost everything. But I will agree that these are one of the few Hifiman headphones that really holds my interest
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Iāve had folks insist that a Shiit Jotenheim 2 can power these to full performance. I donāt own of those amps but thatās a hell of an easy way to make these attractive to use if the Jot2 is that good.
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Iāve also heard the RAAL HSA-1b can do them justice too. One of the things I look forward to post pandemic is getting a chance to demo one with both the RAAL earspeakers and some headphones from my own collection. Iāve heard great things
I could see the hsa-1b pulling it off (never tried that combo myself though), but imo the jot 2 can drive them alright but not all that satisfactory imo
Meh, Some folks at one of the other audio forums are insistent on the JOT2, I almost bought one just to test out the theory but missed out on a well priced unit by a short whileā¦Oh well not going out of my way for that oneā¦
@M0N, out of curiosity have you tried other headphones hooked up to a speaker amp? I keep wondering if that unlocks so much potential from an HE-6se what it could do for other cans? Like what would a Sundara do when super-amped?
I have, some headphones end up worthwhile on a speaker amp, some arenāt. Itās hard to do a direct comparison, but given lets say that you have a speaker amp and a headphone amp in the 500 range, for most things Iāve tried, I would most likely find the headphone amp preforms better with the mass majority of headphones. The he6 is one of the few (and I mean really few) headphones that will benefit from the pure power and current speaker amps can push, while itās not hard to get it loud and decent enough on most decently powerful headphone amps, speaker amps really open it up dynamically, give pretty incredible impact over the headphone amps, and really play to itās strengths. With the he6 I donāt mind taking the trade of a slight bit of control and refinement for more power, mainly because for me the highlights of the he6 is the impact and slam over other cans, so thatās what I try to prioritize. For most headphones, they wonāt really get much advantage out of the extra raw power the speaker amps have, and also tend to not be as good as a similarly priced headphone amp because the speaker amps donāt have as good of control and capability with headphones (which makes sense as they werenāt designed to drive headphones, they were made with speakers in mind). You will get to a point where speaker amps preform just as good as headphone amps (or better) than headphone amps for driving headphones, but expect to be past 10k on the amp to really get there imo. Itās just that I really donāt think using a speaker amp makes sense for the mass majority of headphones, outside of stuff like the he6
Id say for a sundara you would be better off sticking with a traditional headphone amp, as there will be little to negative benefit for using a speaker amp with it compared to a similarly priced headphone amp imo (within reason for an amp for a sundara)
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What other headphones would you say would benefit from a speaker amp? On the short list
Susvara (although with the right headphone amp I like them equally on speaker and headphone amps), raal sr1a (you donāt really have a choice), akg k1000 can sometimes benefit, and some of the more niche headphones most really wonāt encounter (or really want for that matter, like the jecklin float). But really itās a quite small list
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Just picked up a pair of SEs. Plan to amp these off a balanced HPA2 headamp putting out 9.2 Vrms at 60ohm. Anyone know the ideal attenuation setting (Pad} that would work? fully adjustable pads from 0 to -30 with trim setting for the gain.
Also goin*from L + R 3 pin xlr to 4 pin to the stovk cable. Believe ground will float.
HPA2 is set at -20 db xlr out. Can work back / forward if clipping occurs. Not had a headamp with calibrated / variatable pad settings.