Hifiman HE6se Review (Headphone)

[MrEWhite]

The enhanced comfort headband slots into the holes that are already there. You need to unscrew the existing headband screws, then take off the ear pads and pop the little silver grommets (which the screw go into) out of the holes, pushing from the inside out - bit of pressure with the end of a pen does the job easily. That clears the holes for the enhanced headband ‘pegs’ to slot right in.

https://www.adorama.com/hmhb560.html
That'd be this one, right?

 

[Skeletor]

https://www.adorama.com/hmhb560.html
That'd be this one, right?

Yep, that's the one! It is the little pegs, circled in red, that slot straight into the holes of the HE6, once you've popped out the silver grommets that the OG or hybrid headband currently screws into...

 

[Oranges]

Any recommendations on replacement cord for the 6se v2?

Also I'd be fine plugging these into the headphone connection of a Naim Nait 5si right?

 

[Jimbob54]

Snagged myself a pair of the Adorama version (so the HE6SE v2) which might just be pad and band differences to this or may be diff drivers.(Anyone know?)

Comfy, don't feel too heavy, dont feel too shoddy on the build quality either. Apart from the cable which I assume is the same or worse than on the SE version reviewed here. I dont even want to touch it let alone use it (and massively too short too- doesnt even reach the extension lead I have coming from my amp when I sit on the sofa.)

Yes, not the easiest to drive. -5dB preamp for the EQ I'm using and I can go to full volume on gain 2 of the THX789 or around noon on the Schiit Mjolnir I have had waiting for just such a challenge. High gain on the 789 is more than ample for my listening levels.

EDIT- the RME ADI 2 DAC can drive them at my kind of levels with that much EQ too, but I could get it to 0db so many others here would run out of juice I am sure.

Sound pretty good without EQ at first listen but now the real fun begins of dialling them in just so to my taste.

Open box from Hifiman own store, delivered to my door from china within a week. Just over £500 all done. I think my headphone collection is finally complete. Now to find some cat proof nearfield monitors!

 

[Jimbob54]

Any recommendations on replacement cord for the 6se v2?

Also I'd be fine plugging these into the headphone connection of a Naim Nait 5si right?

Look around on ebay etc - they take the same connections as some of the Beyerdynamic (the T1 v2 for me) or some of the Focal line so look for cables for them as well as Hifiman.

Not sure about the Naim- its only got a single ended HP socket and I cant see the power rating in the spec docs so dont be surprised if it struggles to deliver sufficient power to get to your desire loudness

 

[Luke Lemke]

For anyone wondering, I ended up buying the HE-6SE V2 from Adorama and I'm driving them with my Magni Heresy. I can confirm the Heresy is able to drive them loud enough. With no EQ, pretty much every track I tested was ok, in mosts cases it was so loud your ears will hurt at maximum volume. With EQ, some tracks didn't get loud enough though. That being said, the Focal Clear is superior to my ears. Now, will the HE-6SE V2 sound better with a more powerful amp? That, I can not answer right now but I'm considering buying the Magnius to find that out.

 

[Jimbob54]

For anyone wondering, I ended up buying the HE-6SE V2 from Adorama and I'm driving them with my Magni Heresy. I can confirm the Heresy is able to drive them loud enough. With no EQ, pretty much every track I tested was ok, in mosts cases it was so loud your ears will hurt at maximum volume. With EQ, some tracks didn't get loud enough though. That being said, the Focal Clear is superior to my ears. Now, will the HE-6SE V2 sound better with a more powerful amp? That, I can not answer right now but I'm considering buying the Magnius to find that out.

Yes, with the eq you find right for you, it will sound better driven beyond what the heresy can do.

 

[Rayman30]

On sale at Adorama for $599!

 

[Robbo99999]

On sale at Adorama for $599!

That could be a really good buy! But it's the V2 version, Oratory hasn't measured the V2 yet, and Amir hasn't reviewed it either.......what do we know about this headphone in relation to measurements?

The HE6se looks like a fantastic headphone re measurements and review (praps one of the best after EQ) here on ASR and on Oratory measurements too.....just the V2 is an unknown quantity.

 

[deafenears]

The HE6se looks like a fantastic headphone re measurements and review (praps one of the best after EQ) here on ASR and on Oratory measurements too.....just the V2 is an unknown quantity.

Here, comaprison of the three using measurements from @Resolve

https://forum.headphones.com/t/hifiman-he6-official-thread/12784/2?u=deafenears

 

[Robbo99999]

Here, comaprison of the three using measurements from @Resolve

https://forum.headphones.com/t/hifiman-he6-official-thread/12784/2?u=deafenears

Nice, well the two headphones are different but similar - I wouldn't use the EQ of an HE6se on a V2 version (nor vice versa). I think the V2 has a nice frequency response there, looks just as EQ'able as the original HE6se. How about the drivers, do we know if they use the same driver? The reason I ask this question as this is likely to effect any distortion measurements we see when comparing with the low distortion of the original HE6se.

 

[Rayman30]

I wonder how well my JDS Labs Element 2 and or Topping A50S would power such a monster.

 

[ReaderZ]

I wonder how well my JDS Labs Element 2 and or Topping A50S would power such a monster.

The balanced output on A50s should have more than enough.

 

[ReaderZ]

Nice, well the two headphones are different but similar - I wouldn't use the EQ of an HE6se on a V2 version (nor vice versa). I think the V2 has a nice frequency response there, looks just as EQ'able as the original HE6se. How about the drivers, do we know if they use the same driver? The reason I ask this question as this is likely to effect any distortion measurements we see when comparing with the low distortion of the original HE6se.

I just got mine, do you have an eq for v2?

Also I now know why they can sell it for so much lower than everyone else, it's a special edition made for Adorama with sort of co branding on the box.

 

[Robbo99999]

I just got mine, do you have an eq for v2?

Also I now know why they can sell it for so much lower than everyone else, it's a special edition made for Adorama with sort of co branding on the box.

There isn't an EQ for that headphone anywhere it seems, but I can do an EQ for you to the Harman Curve using the measurement that someone posted earlier:

I'll see if I can do it tomorrow

 

[MRC01]

As someone who thinks the Harman curve is bass-heavy, and that when it comes to EQ, the difference between medicine & poison is dosage, from the above graph, the only blurb I would fix is the dip centered around 2k. The rest is as darn near perfection as human hands can engineer.
Bottom: 1,200 Hz; Top: 3,000 Hz
This makes a geometric center of 1,900 Hz with width ratio of 2.5:1 total, or 1.58:1 on each side. This is about equal to 5/8 octave on each side, or Q=0.5. Q = 0.87.
So the parametric correction would be +5 dB @ 1900 Hz, Q=0.5. Q = 0.87. With an overall cut of -5 dB.
PS: correction: I used the full bandwidth ratio 2.5 for the original Q, but should have used the half-bandwidth ratio of 1.58.

 

[ReaderZ]

There isn't an EQ for that headphone anywhere it seems, but I can do an EQ for you to the Harman Curve using the measurement that someone posted earlier:
View attachment 153144
I'll see if I can do it tomorrow

Thank you so much!

 

[Robbo99999]

There isn't an EQ for that headphone anywhere it seems, but I can do an EQ for you to the Harman Curve using the measurement that someone posted earlier:
View attachment 153144
I'll see if I can do it tomorrow

Thank you so much!

Hi, I've done that EQ for you for the HE6se V2 based on that measurement. Here it is and find the EqualiserAPO file attached at the end:

Don't worry about the fact that there is a quite large 4.9dB Low Shelf filter because I used a -2dB Low Shelf at 1kHz to bring down 200Hz-1kHz, so those two Low Shelf filters cancel eachother out to result in only a 2.9dB bass boost - as you can see that's all it needs to hit the Harman levels of bass.

Adjust Filter #11 to your own taste, which is a High Shelf Filter at 11000Hz to adjust the amount of treble above 10kHz - based on my own experience of measurements I dialed it down by -2dB in that area as it looked a bit too hot above 10kHz. Likewise adjust Filter#3 to your own taste too, which is the Low Shelf filter at 125Hz, which is controlling the level of the bass boost. If you adjust those 2 filters, just make sure you've not adjusted them so much that there is digital clipping, in which case you would need to increase the negative preamp to cover any further digital boosts you do if you tweak my EQ. It's currently using a -4dB Negative Preamp.

Final thought, if you import my text file EQ (attached at the end of this post) into EqualiserAPO then just make sure that the Shelf Filters are pictured properly, sometimes they don't import properly and in the EqualiserAPO window you'll be able to tell because the Shelf Filters will be formatted with a weird text making them look different to the other filters - however this shouldn't be a problem this time because I inputted the filters manually into EqualiserAPO rather than exporting those ones from REW (which I use to create the EQ)....so you'll probably be ok ignoring this paragraph, but might be worth checking it's ok.

 

[ReaderZ]

Hi, I've done that EQ for you for the HE6se V2 based on that measurement. Here it is and find the EqualiserAPO file attached at the end:
View attachment 153271
Don't worry about the fact that there is a quite large 4.9dB Low Shelf filter because I used a -2dB Low Shelf at 1kHz to bring down 200Hz-1kHz, so those two Low Shelf filters cancel eachother out to result in only a 2.9dB bass boost - as you can see that's all it needs to hit the Harman levels of bass.

Adjust Filter #11 to your own taste, which is a High Shelf Filter at 11000Hz to adjust the amount of treble above 10kHz - based on my own experience of measurements I dialed it down by -2dB in that area as it looked a bit too hot above 10kHz. Likewise adjust Filter#3 to your own taste too, which is the Low Shelf filter at 125Hz, which is controlling the level of the bass boost. If you adjust those 2 filters, just make sure you've not adjusted them so much that there is digital clipping, in which case you would need to increase the negative preamp to cover any further digital boosts you do if you tweak my EQ. It's currently using a -4dB Negative Preamp.

Final thought, if you import my text file EQ (attached at the end of this post) into EqualiserAPO then just make sure that the Shelf Filters are pictured properly, sometimes they don't import properly and in the EqualiserAPO window you'll be able to tell because the Shelf Filters will be formatted with a weird text making them look different to the other filters - however this shouldn't be a problem this time because I inputted the filters manually into EqualiserAPO rather than exporting those ones from REW (which I use to create the EQ)....so you'll probably be ok ignoring this paragraph, but might be worth checking it's ok.

Awesome, thanks a lot! Going to try it the first chance I get.

 

[ReaderZ]

Hi, I've done that EQ for you for the HE6se V2 based on that measurement. Here it is and find the EqualiserAPO file attached at the end:
View attachment 153271
Don't worry about the fact that there is a quite large 4.9dB Low Shelf filter because I used a -2dB Low Shelf at 1kHz to bring down 200Hz-1kHz, so those two Low Shelf filters cancel eachother out to result in only a 2.9dB bass boost - as you can see that's all it needs to hit the Harman levels of bass.

Adjust Filter #11 to your own taste, which is a High Shelf Filter at 11000Hz to adjust the amount of treble above 10kHz - based on my own experience of measurements I dialed it down by -2dB in that area as it looked a bit too hot above 10kHz. Likewise adjust Filter#3 to your own taste too, which is the Low Shelf filter at 125Hz, which is controlling the level of the bass boost. If you adjust those 2 filters, just make sure you've not adjusted them so much that there is digital clipping, in which case you would need to increase the negative preamp to cover any further digital boosts you do if you tweak my EQ. It's currently using a -4dB Negative Preamp.

Final thought, if you import my text file EQ (attached at the end of this post) into EqualiserAPO then just make sure that the Shelf Filters are pictured properly, sometimes they don't import properly and in the EqualiserAPO window you'll be able to tell because the Shelf Filters will be formatted with a weird text making them look different to the other filters - however this shouldn't be a problem this time because I inputted the filters manually into EqualiserAPO rather than exporting those ones from REW (which I use to create the EQ)....so you'll probably be ok ignoring this paragraph, but might be worth checking it's ok.

Tried it, worked like a charm, no issue at all, thanks again!! Liking the EQ so far, I think I like it with EQ more than without, but I would say the HE6 SE V2 is a great headphone without EQ, EQ is nice to have but not a must.