Actually, my idea was to modify the amp, not the RME, by removing the volume pot, although as Jimbob54 suggested, I may be over thinking it.
-
WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!
Amplification and The HE6se v2
- Thread starter Carlo2AC
- Start date
rcstevensonaz
Active Member
- Joined
- Nov 27, 2020
- Messages
- 210
- Likes
- 155
Key reasons for my selection:
- the Monolith THX 887 had the highest rating (and still among the highest)
- Monolith has been a well regarded name for build and quality
- THX design and certification for headphones; with slightly updated chips vs. the Massdrop
- Pass-through is line-level, not controlled by volume (same with Massdrop, but wasn't true for one of the others I looked at)
Check out the Xduoo TA-30 if you're looking to buy an amp for the HE6se. I have the TA-30 and a THX 789 and generally prefer the sound from Xduoo. To my ears it tames that occasionally strident treble, but I'm pretty sensitive to treble so take it for what it's worth. The main draw of the TA-30 for me is it makes the listening experience a little easier and laid back. Sometimes it feels like the THX789 with these headphones etches every note into stone and it really demands attention. Great for critical listening. The TA-30 gives a slightly more laid back sound that lets me listen to music while doing other things or for longer periods of time. The details are all there, honestly the difference between the amps isn't huge, it maybe just tames the treble and seems to affect the roll-off or decay a bit.
Last edited:
I own the Monolith THX Dac Amp with dual THX 788 modules. Would this set up be powerful enough to drive the HE6se v1/v2? The total power for balanced output is 3.1 W at 32 ohms, unbalanced SE at 1.3 W at 32 ohms.
The Monolith does a great job with my Focal Elex and Sundara headphones.
The Monolith does a great job with my Focal Elex and Sundara headphones.
Depending on your listening volume and applied EQ (if any), you should be fine, particularly balanced.
This should be adequate, unless you listen really LOUD! Don't forget that each time you double the power of your amp, you only gain 3db in volume.
I suppose the caveat of that is, that your amp can actually supply the amount of power at which it is rated. I suppose there are amps out there which are rated at X number of watts, but can only cleanly provide a fraction of that.
I'd add that input voltage can have an impact as well. My THX 789 gives satusfactory power for my HE6se v2 out of the balanced now that I'm using an E50 DAC putting out 4V, but ran out of steam at higher volumes when I was only pushing 1V out of my LG 3.5mm jack.
Thank you all for your responses. I'm fairly new to the world of audio. All of this input is helpful to me.
I don't listen very loud and I do have a little EQ applied through the settings on the Monolith.
I would like to try the HE6 line of headphones at some point and was curious.
I don't listen very loud and I do have a little EQ applied through the settings on the Monolith.
I would like to try the HE6 line of headphones at some point and was curious.
The V1 FR looks great, MUCH "neater" than the V2, channel matching is good and no low end roll off. But with hp you actually need to listen to the overall effect that can "make" or "break" a decision.
Bad channel matching may be symptomatic of a problem with a "stuck driver" as documented on this forum post:
forum.headphones.com
This is a known problem, and i've experienced it twice! In both of my pairs of he6se-v2!
I have only discovered this recently!
One unit already had this problem when it arrived.
The second unit was ok to start with, but somehow this year (in the last month) has developed this problem.
I can only guess that as soon as the diaphgram/membrane touches the outer magnets it becomes stuck (like clingfilm/plastic wrap when it comes into contact with a shiny surface)
Hifiman has already replaced one of my units, and I have an active ticket for the other.
It would be wise for everyone to check over their units.
I have a whole set of questions I would like answering:
My ideas of fixing the problem at home are:
I have carefully poked with an ear-bud at one of my defective units, to see if it would unglue, but that did not help.
Regarding Hifiman customer support, i though it was quite good. I am in UK, and bought my phones from Adorama, using Stackry as forwarding address. Hifiman told me to return the defective units to a UK address.
However, i am not happy with the general situation - being that I now feel this may be a design fault, and only a question of time before both of my replaced units become stuck.
Hifiman HE6Se V2
I 100% agree with @Ryan_Ho here. Don’t push the drivers to your ears. If the 2 most likely explanations for stuck drivers are 1) pressing them to your ears or 2) high diaphragm excursion from playing them at high SPLs… I’ve got my money on #1. Of course the jury’s still out on that one...
forum.headphones.com
This is a known problem, and i've experienced it twice! In both of my pairs of he6se-v2!
I have only discovered this recently!
One unit already had this problem when it arrived.
The second unit was ok to start with, but somehow this year (in the last month) has developed this problem.
I can only guess that as soon as the diaphgram/membrane touches the outer magnets it becomes stuck (like clingfilm/plastic wrap when it comes into contact with a shiny surface)
Hifiman has already replaced one of my units, and I have an active ticket for the other.
It would be wise for everyone to check over their units.
I have a whole set of questions I would like answering:
- Is this a problem with every pair of he6se-v2s, or is it batch dependent?
- Do he6se v1s suffer from this problem?
- What causes the problem?
- Is there a way of fixing it at home?
My ideas of fixing the problem at home are:
- Applying positive or negative air pressure either to one or the other, or both sides of the driver
- Carefully applying DC (through a resistor)
I have carefully poked with an ear-bud at one of my defective units, to see if it would unglue, but that did not help.
Regarding Hifiman customer support, i though it was quite good. I am in UK, and bought my phones from Adorama, using Stackry as forwarding address. Hifiman told me to return the defective units to a UK address.
However, i am not happy with the general situation - being that I now feel this may be a design fault, and only a question of time before both of my replaced units become stuck.
I don't think the drivers are touching the magnet on my set (doesn't look that way at least), but I am noticing some fairly significant channel imbalance from 20-80ish Hz (20-50 more severe than 50-80). From there the channel balance seems strong up until some mismatching peaks in the 12-16 kHz range. I reached out to Hifiman since I'm just barely within the 1-year warranty period.
If I had to guess, mismatched drivers might be why Hifiman created the V2 version of the HE6se. Drivers that aren't closely matched combined with the shit build quality makes sense why these units go on sale for $600ish, because the actual sound these headphones produce is incredible and worth twice as much as they sell for (as long as the imbalance isn't too bad).
If I had to guess, mismatched drivers might be why Hifiman created the V2 version of the HE6se. Drivers that aren't closely matched combined with the shit build quality makes sense why these units go on sale for $600ish, because the actual sound these headphones produce is incredible and worth twice as much as they sell for (as long as the imbalance isn't too bad).
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2019
- Messages
- 11,115
- Likes
- 14,782
I think you are probably bang right about the reason for the existence of the V2. Its pretty obviously a way of offloading B stock expensive parts.
Don't throw your hands up in horror at my asking this but Is it safe to run HE6SE through a decent AVR? I know it's not ideal but am awaiting a dedicated headphone amp shipment that's been delayed and the HE6SEs arrived today and I plugged them into the headphone jack of my Pioneer LX-901. They sounded great although I had to crank the volume nob to -20 or -15 or so to get adequate volume. (If I run speakers at that level it's quite loud). They sound good, just want to make sure I"m not going to damage the headphones in some way doing this. Thanks for any response, I'm a total newbie at this stuff.
FYI--I was able to find these specs regarding the headphone jack impedance if that helps answer the question. Headphone Output Impedance 43 Ω Headphone Rated Output 57 mW (32 Ω, 1 kHz, 10% THD)
The SMSL SA50 integrated speaker amp connected to the 6SE headphones with a DIY banana plug to female XLR adapter cable is highly recommended. But the pretty good sounding $150 revised Topping L30 is worth a listen if you are on a budget and do not want to use a speaker amp. The L30 doesn't have quite enough gain with the 6SE for me on some recordings but it may play loud enough for you.Here's Amir's detailed review.
Hifiman HE6se Review (Headphone)
This is a review and detailed measurements of the Hifiman HE6se planar magnetic headphone. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $1,800. I had previously reviewed the now discontinued Hifiman HE6 so great to see how the replacement performs. The HE6se distinguishes itself with new...
For a quick answer to your question yes a significantly more powerful amp will benifit these headphones especially if you use eq.
Last edited:
Similar threads
