Hifiman HE6se Review (Headphone)

[Roland68]

By 12, do you mean going past 12:00 noon on a volume control that ranges from 7:00am to 5:00pm (or alternatively, going past 6 on a dial that ranges from 1 to 11)?

If so, why is that an indication of not enough power when you are only using half of the available volume control range?

@Mimimetal and at which gain setting is this the case?

 

[Mimimetal]

By 12, do you mean going past 12:00 noon on a volume control that ranges from 7:00am to 5:00pm

Exactly, I know that is preferable to don't go over the 12 to avoid distortion or am I wrong?
Gain is on high

 

[Roland68]

Exactly, I know that is preferable to don't go over the 12 to avoid distortion or am I wrong?
Gain is on high

You couldn't be more wrong. The position of the volume control has nothing to do with it.
The distortion comes when you reach the power limit. Since you're only going in with SE, you can probably crank the A30pro all the way up without getting into the distortion zone.

 

[staticV3]

With some tracks I have to rotate the knob over 12, maybe because the a30pro need balanced input to give the max power and mojo has only line out over the jack.

The A30Pro is a single-ended Amplifier and will give full output power regardless of which input you use, as long as your DAC can provide enough voltage:

 

[Mimimetal]

I was considering to buy a dac with balanced output like the topping d10b or e50 to unlock the a30pro full potential.
But the mojo1, that I use in lineout mode and provides 3v, should be enough, right?

 

[staticV3]

I was considering to buy a dac with balanced output like the topping d10b or e50 to unlock the a30pro full potential.
But the mojo1, that I use in lineout mode and provides 3v, should be enough, right?

Right.

If you're missing loudness, you can bring the Mojo out of Line mode, where it can output up to 4.6V.

 

[Roland68]

I was considering to buy a dac with balanced output like the topping d10b or e50 to unlock the a30pro full potential.
But the mojo1, that I use in lineout mode and provides 3v, should be enough, right?

But if you just go a little over 12 o'clock with the volume control, you already have more power than you need, right?
And then there is no potential for you to exploit.

 

[FrantzM]

Hi

To anyone considering these headphones:
These require power, lot of it. The HE6SE are among the 5 least sensitive headphones on the market. They do not follow the Harman curve. Without EQ they sound ... OK, with a lack of bass and strange peaks in the treble and a lack of midrange.. to my ears... Measurements seem to confirm what I hear.
Let's keep in mind that their rated sensitivity is 83.5 dB, eek this from the manufacturer. That is very low.
To put things in perspective , the same manufacturer rates their Ananda at 103 dB...

Reproducing the chart from ASR.'s review:

A person can drive it with anything and claim it plays.. That's upon them. THe reality of this beast is that you need power t drive it. Lot of it. THe Topping A90 is one of those amp that can drive it. i use the Drop THX789 amd with Oratory EQ, with -5.5 dB of preamp "gain", comfortable listening level is usually around 12 o'clock on the volume...

Conclusion. The HE-6SE will make sound with anything. Good performance, however, requires a powerful amplifier, minimum is 2 watts in 64 Ohm impedance.

Peace.

 

[Roland68]

Hi

To anyone considering these headphones:
These require power, lot of it. The HE6SE are among the 5 least sensitive headphones on the market. They do not follow the Harman curve. Without EQ they sound ... OK, with a lack of bass and strange peaks in the treble and a lack of midrange.. to my ears... Measurements seem to confirm what I hear.
Let's keep in mind that their rated sensitivity is 83.5 dB, eek this from the manufacturer. That is very low.
To put things in perspective , the same manufacturer rates their Ananda at 103 dB...

Reproducing the chart from ASR.'s review:
View attachment 384251

A person can drive it with anything and claim it plays.. That's upon them. THe reality of this beast is that you need power t drive it. Lot of it. THe Topping A90 is one of those amp that can drive it. i use the Drop THX789 amd with Oratory EQ, with -5.5 dB of preamp "gain", comfortable listening level is usually around 12 o'clock on the volume...

Conclusion. The HE-6SE will make sound with anything. Good performance, however, requires a powerful amplifier, minimum is 2 watts in 64 Ohm impedance.

Peace.

But 2 watts are really enough, unless someone wants to harm themselves.
The A30pro just discussed has a measured 3.4 watts at 50 ohms and is therefore more than enough power. In addition, the A30pro was measured to have less noise than the A90.

Your statement about the position of the potentiometer is counterproductive because it says nothing, is technically completely irrelevant and irritates inexperienced users if it is different for them.

 

[Jimbob54]

comfortable listening level is usually around 12 o'clock on the volume...

At which gain setting and what the input voltage is (the 789 can take way more than 2v/4v in low and med gain)

I use the 789 on my he6se too. Medium gain, 3 o clock but that's taking anything up to 7v from the rme adi 2 dac xlr outputs. Usually less than 0db though

 

[FrantzM]

OK

I read the following comments carefully.

Upon

But 2 watts are really enough, unless someone wants to harm themselves.
The A30pro just discussed has a measured 3.4 watts at 50 ohms and is therefore more than enough power. In addition, the A30pro was measured to have less noise than the A90.

Your statement about the position of the potentiometer is counterproductive because it says nothing, is technically completely irrelevant and irritates inexperienced users if it is different for them.

At which gain setting and what the input voltage is (the 789 can take way more than 2v/4v in low and med gain)

I use the 789 on my he6se too. Medium gain, 3 o clock but that's taking anything up to 7v from the rme adi 2 dac xlr outputs. Usually less than 0db though

The value of honest, open discussions!!

. I read both reply and the part I put in bold, caught my attention. What output was I getting from the d10 Balanced? I didn't know. I just plugged it in two years ago, Windows saw it (maybe) and just .. used it .

I downloaded Topping d10 driver for Windows ran it and made sure the volume from the d10B output was at max...
Now I am getting my usual sound level (fuzzy, comment, I know, not measured) at 9 o'clock with the THX 789 on "High Gain" setting. At my former usual volume position of 12, The HE6SEv2 it is unbearably loud... I know this is "technically completely irrelevant" but...

Thanks @Roland68 and @Jimbob54 ... A world of difference..

Peace.

 

[Roland68]

OK

I read the following comments carefully.

Upon



The value of honest, open discussions!!

. I read both reply and the part I put in bold, caught my attention. What output was I getting from the d10 Balanced? I didn't know. I just plugged it in two years ago, Windows saw it (maybe) and just .. used it .

I downloaded Topping d10 driver for Windows ran it and made sure the volume from the d10B output was at max...
Now I am getting my usual sound level (fuzzy, comment, I know, not measured) at 9 o'clock with the THX 789 on "High Gain" setting. At my former usual volume position of 12, The HE6SEv2 it is unbearably loud... I know this is "technically completely irrelevant" but...

Thanks @Roland68 and @Jimbob54 ... A world of difference..

Peace.

You could now try the lower gain settings. You should only use the highest if necessary. The noise from the upstream device will also be amplified.

 

[rcstevensonaz]

I downloaded Topping d10 driver for Windows ran it and made sure the volume from the d10B output was at max...
Now I am getting my usual sound level (fuzzy, comment, I know, not measured) at 9 o'clock with the THX 789 on "High Gain" setting. At my former usual volume position of 12, The HE6SEv2 it is unbearably loud... I know this is "technically completely irrelevant" but...

It may not be "technically completely irrelevant" depending on whether the volume potentiometer is changing the volume in the analog or purely digital realm.

For analog volume pots, there is often a degree of channel imbalance at the lower end of its range. In such cases, you typically want your gain structure set (as a rough guide) so that you are at the 10:00 position and above when listening at the lowest level while still leaving enough room that you don't wind up clipping at the highest levels. And as noted above, with the A30Pro, you are unlikely to be listening at levels that exceed its power level at the upper range of the volume.

One other side note: I also drive my A30Pro with balanced inputs (RME ADI-2 DAC Pro) because that is the equipment I have. But, earlier postings from @JohnYang1997 on the A30Pro mentioned that this amplifier rates better than the A90 and it is extremely strong as an amplifier for single-ended inputs. So other than potentially needing the added juice for a special case such as an HE6SE v2, you should not assume that using balanced instead of unbalanced input is going to provide better audio quality. And equally, don't assume that because its internal architecture is unbalanced (rather than the A90's balanced), that it will perform any worse (since it actually performs better).

 

[Mimimetal]

I have talked with a guy that says that with the a30pro I m not getting the best out of the he6se.
He uses an aune s17, that costs more the double of the a30pro, and seems to be a great amp.
Now I can get this amp second hand for about 500€, if I'll buy it what can I expect vs the a30pro?
Why some people spend so much for amp if they don't worth the extra money?

 

[Jimbob54]

I have talked with a guy that says that with the a30pro I m not getting the best out of the he6se

Always dangerous, that. Did he bother to say why?

 

[staticV3]

Why some people spend so much for amp if they don't worth the extra money?

Because someone online said that it would sound better and once they've bought and unboxed it, a combination of sunk cost fallacy and confirmation bias makes them think it actually does.

 

[Mimimetal]

psychoacoustics or simple remorse/ suggestions?

 

[Curupira]

psychoacoustics or simple remorse/ suggestions?

Who knows? In most cases, confirmation bias by expecting the folklore to be true and for "new toy syndrome". In others, frustration that leads to intense and critical listening seeking out minutia until they hear some difference/improvement. In others, plain remorse and cynicism.

 

[Mimimetal]

Always dangerous, that. Did he bother to say why?

Yes but I didn't understand, technicalities....

 

[Jimbob54]

Yes but I didn't understand, technicalities....

Are you happy with the A30? If so, all is good. The only meaningful way to get more out of headphones assuming you are reaching the volume you want is to use eq. From which the he6 definitely benefit.