Hifiman HE-6 Review (Headphone)

[antdroid]

What program do you use to add EQ to your dac?

It looks like he is using Roon.

 

[amirm]

What program do you use to add EQ to your dac?

It is a feature of my Roon music player.

 

[maxxevv]

Waffle. Superfluous flowery waffle.

I would suggest "fluff" .

 

[FreaK]

...It's a stellar value at its adorama pricing,...

You mean the $1800 price? If i'm correct it was also sold some time ago for $600ish, but i can't find it. Would really buy one for the latter, but $1800 is way too much for me.

 

[YSC]

@amirm

forget to mention, the wire should be stock, I purchased original Hifiman balanced cable which was he-6 bundle for my he-500 back then and it’s the same cable

 

[rcstevensonaz]

You mean the $1800 price? If i'm correct it was also sold some time ago for $600ish, but i can't find it. Would really buy one for the latter, but $1800 is way too much for me.

They were referring to the $699 pricing, which is frequently offered. But, the $699 pricing is from the Adorama mailings or promos, not their web price. The URL will almost always have an ending something like: ..../email=t

Search on the thread for Amazing Deals to find such links.

 

[antdroid]

You mean the $1800 price? If i'm correct it was also sold some time ago for $600ish, but i can't find it. Would really buy one for the latter, but $1800 is way too much for me.

Yes as was mentioned, I meant the Adorama secret sale prices of $650-700 USD.

 

[tential]

Yes as was mentioned, I meant the Adorama secret sale prices of $650-700 USD.

I usually see it at the sale price quite often so I thought it was quite "regular". Sorry for confusion, I didn't understand there was actually two listings like that and that it was essentially the same price as original. My post made it sound like this was a regular price you can "always" get.

I use slick deals and see this on sale every month. The 560 I'm seeing a number of sales on too, which, I'm still reading what's relevant to me on your site, you liked and can be found for $250. So if the $1800/$650 pricing is too much, looks like Hifiman has another headphone that hits good sale prices.

Hifiman runs some good sales and has some decent price drops after some time. I'm interest to see Amir's take on these Hifiman's.

From reading your review of the R5, I wish he tested headphones with a portable setup as well, just to see if it's possible.

 

[antdroid]

I usually see it at the sale price quite often so I thought it was quite "regular". Sorry for confusion, I didn't understand there was actually two listings like that and that it was essentially the same price as original. My post made it sound like this was a regular price you can "always" get.

I use slick deals and see this on sale every month. The 560 I'm seeing a number of sales on too, which, I'm still reading what's relevant to me on your site, you liked and can be found for $250. So if the $1800/$650 pricing is too much, looks like Hifiman has another headphone that hits good sale prices.

Hifiman runs some good sales and has some decent price drops after some time. I'm interest to see Amir's take on these Hifiman's.

From reading your review of the R5, I wish he tested headphones with a portable setup as well, just to see if it's possible.

I'm a big fan of most hifiman headphones. I think they'll perform pretty well here based on the two that have been tested and my experiences with them. The 560, just based on it's FR and tonality is really nice; but keep in mind I have only tried the original versions, and not these updated ones that are sold exclusively on Adorama. I have not seen raw measurements of the newer sets before but subjective takes between people who have owned both versions have said that the new ones are tuned differently (slightly). I'm curious to try the new 560 on but I wouldnt have apples to apples measurement rig at this point in time. I gave someone my old rig to mess around with unfortunately.

As for portable daps. They will vary quite a bit since some DAPs have a lot of power and some have very, very little. The R5 is kind of in the middle, though I think its on the lower power side of things. Not a big issue for most headphones, but challenging for planar driver typically.

 

[don'ttrustauthority]

When I bought my used Vidar, dude included a stereo banana plugs -> XLR female for headphones tht he used for the HE-6.

Headphones are far more behaved through this thing.

 

[hmscott]

I have Ananda and Sundara so will be testing those soon.

Excellent! I'm very happy you found the Ananda and Sundara to test!

There are 2 other currently available Hifiman from Adorama that I would love to see you test: the HE6SE V2 and the HE560 V4. Both were on sale during the holiday, HE6SE V2 was discounted from $1799 to $699 and the HE560 V4 is still discounted from $899 to $269.

Note that you can see the non-discounted price if you go to the Adorama returned URL from search, use the base URL and add ?emailprice=t to see the discounted price. The HE6SE V2 price returned to non-discounted - even with the ?emailprice=t - recently. Very sad. Both of these headphone models are only available - sponsored by? - Adorama.

The HE6SE V2 is supposed to require a bit less drive than the original HE6 and HE6SE, but is it is still power-hungry. The HE6SE V2 is very enjoyable at ~2W - the minimum recommended - from an Xduoo TA-20, but it sounds a bit narrow and sterile on the Topping A90 with ~5W, I much prefer the slam, dynamics, and wider soundstage with the TA-20 with select NOS tubes that measure 100%+/100+.

I don't have the HE560 V4 yet myself, but others say it is also power-hungry, as reportably is the Sundara (>1W recommended).

Also, so many Hifiman planar owners - and Hifiman headphone amps - prefer tube amplifiers with the Hifiman Planars, that I decided to try them myself. And, I much prefer the tube sound even with the clinical non-euphonic tubes that come stock, over the solid-state driven sound of the Topping A90.

After going on the journey to find NOS tubes I enjoy, going back to the Shuguang stock tubes I now can hear more similarities to the NOS tubes, and when swapping back to the A90 the difference after listening through the Xduoo TA-20 is much more starkly different.

I'm contemplating selling the A90 as I don't enjoy the SS sound as much as the tube sound from the TA-20. I'm also looking for a nice 25w-50w Tube amp to interface with the Hifiman HE-Adapter to drive the HE6SE V2.

Hifiman planars respond well to an overpowered amp connection with greater power capacity than the minimum output required. That is why Hifiman came out with the HE-Adapter designed to match (tube?) speaker amplifier output specifications. I've been told amps with Solid-State output work better with direct speaker terminal connections without the HE-Adapter matching circuit.
Headphones & portable audio - HIFIMAN.com

The Emotiva A-100 BasX is very popular with Hifman HE-6 series headphone owners, even Sundara owners use it modded. There is a strap mod that will put the full speaker amp output through the headphone jack. So you wouldn't even need special cables. Now that I know I like the tube sound, the A-100 isn't of much interest to me, but others might enjoy it.

I look forward to further Hifiman headphone tests Amir! Thank you so much for testing these headphones!

 

[edahl]

Someone please send Amir an HE1000se lol. I would but I'm in Europe so it's a bit of a mess

 

[hmscott]

Someone please send Amir an HE1000se lol. I would but I'm in Europe so it's a bit of a mess

That would be nice, along with testing a Susvara, as those that have A/B'd the Susvara with a HE6SE V2 say there is a small difference, but for the price difference ($6000 vs $1799 => $699 on discount) the HE6SE V2 is "close enough".

How about the HE1000se compared to the Susvara? Have you done or found comparisons between those?

 

[edahl]

That would be nice, along with testing a Susvara, as those that have A/B'd the Susvara with a HE6SE V2 say there is a small difference, but for the price difference ($6000 vs $1799 => $699 on discount) the HE6SE V2 is "close enough".

How about the HE1000se compared to the Susvara? Have you done or found comparisons between those?

I only just "upgraded" my HE1000 v1 to the se so I haven't even tested the HEKse myself yet

 

[Shazb0t]

The Emotiva A-100 BasX is very popular with Hifman HE-6 series headphone owners, even Sundara owners use it modded. There is a strap mod that will put the full speaker amp output through the headphone jack. So you wouldn't even need special cables. Now that I know I like the tube sound, the A-100 isn't of much interest to me, but others might enjoy it.

I have the original Emotiva A-100 mini-x speaker amplifier that I have use for a time directly connected to this pair of He-6. It does power them well with good volume knob adjustability. With the He-6, you cannot hear the noise floor. Mine is the older version without the headphone out, but as you said I believe there is a jumper that can be removed in the amp to supply full power to the headphone out on the newer models. Nice little amplifier for the price/power. I have seen Amir's review and wish it had achieved higher SINAD, but you can't get everything for that price!

 

[rcstevensonaz]

Hifiman planars respond well to an overpowered amp connection with greater power capacity than the minimum output required. That is why Hifiman came out with the HE-Adapter designed to match (tube?) speaker amplifier output specifications. I've been told amps with Solid-State output work better with direct speaker terminal connections without the HE-Adapter matching circuit.
Headphones & portable audio - HIFIMAN.com

For the HE6SE, nearly all comments I read suggested using older "vintage" solid state amps; I don't recall suggestions of tube amps. Many are happy with the Emotiva BasX (with headphone full power jumper) / mini A-100; others say the Emotiva still doesn't have enough power punch (but no audio measurements to support the claim). {So appreciate the positive comments regarding the use of tube amp}

The HE-Adapter is no longer included with the HE6SEv2 headphones, but it can still be purchased from Hifiman through their direct store—$99 plus shipping. From pictures, the adapter included resistors. But all of the commenters on other forums say there is no value in purchasing the adapter (unless it came for free), and to instead just wire up an adapter cable with 4-pin XLR on one end and Speaker Terminals (e.g. banana plugs, spades, bare wire) on the other; and then directly connect to speaker outputs.

 

[rcstevensonaz]

I have Ananda and Sundara so will be testing those soon.

Let me know if you need an HE6SEv2 to test, and when you would want to have it.

 

[DarthShader]

"Hifiman planars respond well to an overpowered amp connection with greater power capacity than the minimum output required."

What's the scientific basis for this? Slew rate? Something else? How would you measure the "true" power requirement?

 

[Shazb0t]

What's the scientific basis for this? Slew rate? Something else? How would you measure the "true" power requirement?

I suspect it has something to do with chicken bones.

 

[Cahudson42]

Rightly or wrongly, there are two thread titles/subsequent posts, that stop me cold from going further:

The first is 'musicality'..

The second is 'tubes'...