I’m an og head-fi / headphone person, I’ve owned HD 800, T1, TH-900, LCD-3, PS1000 and have auditioned most mid and high end cans out there, including the sr009, abyss, etc and imo, HE/6 is the winner when well powered with a speaker or high watt amp (I use a WA5 300B which gives 8watts to these), I sold everything else and kept these, I no longer look for something better, these have it all, BASS, mids, highs, and transparency. if there was any improvements, maybe the treble can be a tad smoother, but with a warm amp and keeping the recordings good, it really shines! hd 800 is a good other choice, but falls short of he-6 unless powered by a top tier tube amp (Apex Teton OTL amp with best tubes), at this point, it sounds good enough to hold its own, but that would be a separate system and I prefer he-6 for most uses anyways, it has more bass and planars are more transparent than dynamic drivers. that said, the hd800 was the last headphone i sold, and sometimes i still miss it the only headphones in current production i have my eye on for the future are the Susvara (with my WA5 or a WA33) and the SR009s (with BHSE)
Thanks for the insight. I'm hearing horror stories about blowing up your drivers using a speaker amp. I'm pretty careful but how delicate is that setup. Thanks!
If you take away the brightness of the HE-6, this is also exactly how I hear my HE-500, at least with 400S Velpads. Imaging is exactly as concert-like and natural as you describe, with impressive dynamics. With a little EQ, I have no doubt the HE-6 and HE-500 compete with the likes of $1,000+ Audeze, Abyss, newer Hifiman, etc.
well, HE6 slams harder and goes deeper than he500!! i have the he6 6screw version. it's the newest of the older 4screw he6(Darker colour)!! pretty sure reviewer has the 4screw! 6screw has more bass than 4screw (late and early version)though. I listen to it through Hifiman EF6 amp. I also have he400 and he500! No need for eq except for he400 which has som harsh sound in upper treble!! with right amp and Pali pads, and I use Naim dac v1!! sound on another level! \m/
joshua valour used the audio gd also for his review on the he6 and he wasnt impressed... even though he was told by people that it needs something like a speaker amp
Absolutely beautiful review Max Settlings.. You definitely deserve more subs. Regarding sound, how does HE6 holds up to the Sendy Audio? Even though the price comparison is vast.
Nice review. You may consider grabbing a 40-60wpc vintage receiver to drive them,something warm like an old Sansui 5000 or 881. That will tame the treble a bit. I loved my HE6,and youre right,the slam on these things seriously thunder. Unfortunately for me,I had two drivers fail on me within 9 months of purchasing them new. As I mentioned in my review,the QC really pissed me off,cuz I knew for the price,I wasnt going to be able to replicate the SQ.
@@Rasyad95 HiFiMan sent me two refurbished pairs that were both in worse shape than the original pair I first owned. The one year warranty reset with each pair they sent out, but after the 2nd driver failure I sold it off . I got tired of dealing with the hassles and moved on to ZMF headphones, which im quite happy with.
Still waiting for the update video with your impressions of running the HE-6 off the Vidar amp. Do you still own these? Are they still your daily driver?
This video popped up and looks like just in time for the Adorama sale. Currently $699.99 You save: $1,099.01 (61%). Even better, it's the SE model, no lousy SMC!
Do note though that the HE-6se is not the same driver. And do to some combination of that and the new pads it doesn’t measure like the HE-6 even remotely.
@@MRFUTURETECHNOLOGYGAMING It's not the same thing as the original. Hifiman has stated that they would have to completely retool their factory in order to reproduce the older hifiman stuff. The new 6se sounds notably different than the original he6.
Hi man, I have the SE and I love them. Just a thought, people that use that Hifiman adapter to power the he6 seems to blow the drivers. I would never use that adapter. The McIntosh mha100 and Rogue Audio 5 are my favorites amps to drive the he6. They are even better than the Hifiman EF6 amp. Editing my comment: the best so far with the he-6se is the chord tt2 period.......
This headphone's drive is real gold plated like Susvara, sounding improved significantly with speaker amplifier, and you don't need to get a high end speaker amp to do that.
I have the denon ahd 7200 and it has a very unique sound. It's narrow/intimate and has amazing imaging. It has a sound signature that makes me feel like I'm front row at a concert. Pretty w shaped but with a nice visceral sub bass
Julio giancarlo Orrillo suarez answer: the Hifiman EF6, McIntosh mha100, or the out of this world, the Hugo TT2. The tt2 is incredible!! None has being able to drive my he6se like the tt2. The End.
Regarding the bad sound out of NFB-1, I think it has nothing to do with the lack of power, it is because NFB-1 has no negative feedback (for some reason some "audiophiles" are afraid of it more than fire), so therefore the sound it provides is muddy and details are blurry and veiled because of very high noise floor. It's very high output is not a feature in this case but a desperate attempt to make you hear as little of that noise as possible by making you unwilling to crank the volume to high output. They literally made it so powerful that you almost always only use no more than 20% of it's power no matter what you connect to it which in turn keeps that noise as low as possible. However, as you can see when you try something extremely power-hungry and need ridiculous amount of power, NFB-1 fails even though it technically is able to provide that power, so any details are just drowned in insanely high harmonic distortion. You can google it's measurements and look for yourself how crazy bad they are. Really, why people keep buying Audio-GD production and some of them go so far as to worship them is beyond me. Maybe they like that relaxed, veiled sound that resembles tube amps on low gain? I don't know.
Will a DCS BArtok drive these to their full capacity? I ask because in a review at Headphone.guru of the BArtok it “held the HE6 in a vice and brought out the best performance ever heard in these” by the reviewer, this in spite of a max current in DCS listed specs of 1.5 watts into 33 ohms. Bewildering
The hifiman he 6 se is replacement for the Original he 6 but maaaannnn those power hungry cans and I think the hifiman susvara is the hardest to drive headphone by a tiny bit more than the he 6 Sensitivity : 83.5dB and the hifiman susvara is 83 db and the he 6 is 50ohm and the hifiman susvara is 60 ohm
I would have liked to hear this comparison as well - many people say the he-6s are an improvement but Tyll seemed to have preferred the he-500s, with the treble being one of the main factors. For me once I got the he-500 a few years ago my headphone search ended.
@@maxsettings7884 Thanks for your rapid reply . I hope you can review the Modhouse Argon MK3 and the difference between the pads and what pads you prefer . Because I highly trust your reviews
@@photovideooz4084 So if i had the 4xx and looking for a high end headphone under 1000$ the ananda will not make a much difference from what i have already ?
Most speaker amps measure like crap compared to headphone amps, even stuff like $100 headphone amps, so I'd avoid using them as headphone amps for the most part.
I’m an og head-fi / headphone person, I’ve owned HD 800, T1, TH-900, LCD-3, PS1000 and have auditioned most mid and high end cans out there, including the sr009, abyss, etc and imo, HE/6 is the winner when well powered with a speaker or high watt amp (I use a WA5 300B which gives 8watts to these), I sold everything else and kept these, I no longer look for something better, these have it all, BASS, mids, highs, and transparency. if there was any improvements, maybe the treble can be a tad smoother, but with a warm amp and keeping the recordings good, it really shines!
hd 800 is a good other choice, but falls short of he-6 unless powered by a top tier tube amp (Apex Teton OTL amp with best tubes), at this point, it sounds good enough to hold its own, but that would be a separate system and I prefer he-6 for most uses anyways, it has more bass and planars are more transparent than dynamic drivers. that said, the hd800 was the last headphone i sold, and sometimes i still miss it
the only headphones in current production i have my eye on for the future are the Susvara (with my WA5 or a WA33) and the SR009s (with BHSE)
Thanks for the insight. I'm hearing horror stories about blowing up your drivers using a speaker amp. I'm pretty careful but how delicate is that setup. Thanks!
You are absolutely on a roll! three videos in less than week apart between each other. keep it going bud.
If you take away the brightness of the HE-6, this is also exactly how I hear my HE-500, at least with 400S Velpads. Imaging is exactly as concert-like and natural as you describe, with impressive dynamics. With a little EQ, I have no doubt the HE-6 and HE-500 compete with the likes of $1,000+ Audeze, Abyss, newer Hifiman, etc.
well, HE6 slams harder and goes deeper than he500!! i have the he6 6screw version. it's the newest of the older 4screw he6(Darker colour)!! pretty sure reviewer has the 4screw! 6screw has more bass than 4screw (late and early version)though. I listen to it through Hifiman EF6 amp. I also have he400 and he500! No need for eq except for he400 which has som harsh sound in upper treble!! with right amp and Pali pads, and I use Naim dac v1!! sound on another level! \m/
The best HE6 review on TH-cam, most reviewers did not notice the value of HE6
joshua valour used the audio gd also for his review on the he6 and he wasnt impressed... even though he was told by people that it needs something like a speaker amp
Great review! Looking forward to watching the update video!!!
Absolutely beautiful review Max Settlings.. You definitely deserve more subs.
Regarding sound, how does HE6 holds up to the Sendy Audio?
Even though the price comparison is vast.
Much more dynamic with better extension bad impact. All more detailed overall.
Max Settings how would you compare the HE6 to the Arya? Thanks for your great reviews!
WHERE IS THE UPDATE VIDEO EGGMAN? YOU TOLD ME THER WOULD BE AN UPDATE VIDEO
Hey, what about the update video?
Ye where is the Update
what ever happened to the update video? or am I just not seeing it?
Where is the "update video"?
Nice review. You may consider grabbing a 40-60wpc vintage receiver to drive them,something warm like an old Sansui 5000 or 881. That will tame the treble a bit.
I loved my HE6,and youre right,the slam on these things seriously thunder.
Unfortunately for me,I had two drivers fail on me within 9 months of purchasing them new. As I mentioned in my review,the QC really pissed me off,cuz I knew for the price,I wasnt going to be able to replicate the SQ.
Yeah driver failure is always a concern.
So are you able to repair the driver?
@@Rasyad95 HiFiMan sent me two refurbished pairs that were both in worse shape than the original pair I first owned. The one year warranty reset with each pair they sent out, but after the 2nd driver failure I sold it off .
I got tired of dealing with the hassles and moved on to ZMF headphones, which im quite happy with.
Still waiting for the update video with your impressions of running the HE-6 off the Vidar amp. Do you still own these? Are they still your daily driver?
Did you ever do the update video?
This video popped up and looks like just in time for the Adorama sale. Currently $699.99 You save: $1,099.01 (61%). Even better, it's the SE model, no lousy SMC!
Do note though that the HE-6se is not the same driver. And do to some combination of that and the new pads it doesn’t measure like the HE-6 even remotely.
HD800 much more money? i used to buy one for $980 AUD brand new.
Does the he6se have the same Sound/power requirement?
Yeah it's does it's the same thing as the original just a redesign
@@MRFUTURETECHNOLOGYGAMING It's not the same thing as the original. Hifiman has stated that they would have to completely retool their factory in order to reproduce the older hifiman stuff. The new 6se sounds notably different than the original he6.
I guess the update video never went up? I didn’t see it on you channel
oooh you got an OG HE 6 to review, nice
Hi man, I have the SE and I love them. Just a thought, people that use that Hifiman adapter to power the he6 seems to blow the drivers. I would never use that adapter. The McIntosh mha100 and Rogue Audio 5 are my favorites amps to drive the he6. They are even better than the Hifiman EF6 amp. Editing my comment: the best so far with the he-6se is the chord tt2 period.......
Will you be doing the update soon?
Do you listen to the things you review?
brilliant work!! keep it up! i always wait for ur videos. i bought Creative Aurvana Live as per your recommendation. post more videos please!
This headphone's drive is real gold plated like Susvara, sounding improved significantly with speaker amplifier, and you don't need to get a high end speaker amp to do that.
Where is this update video you speak of?
Great video! Thanks!
spoiler alert: the new hifimans sound compressed like estats except the susvara.
the he 1k v2 doesn't as well.
I mean I've done quite a few other Hifimans already.
@@drakedoggy103 they do, you won't notice it unless you compare it to other dynamic headphones, and the difference is very noticeable!.
These are the original HE-6 ???
I have the denon ahd 7200 and it has a very unique sound. It's narrow/intimate and has amazing imaging. It has a sound signature that makes me feel like I'm front row at a concert. Pretty w shaped but with a nice visceral sub bass
Why did I look at the lewitt mic and takumar lens more than the headphone?
That update video is never happening is it
What amplifier makes it shine and brings out the best in it?
Julio giancarlo Orrillo suarez answer: the Hifiman EF6, McIntosh mha100, or the out of this world, the Hugo TT2. The tt2 is incredible!! None has being able to drive my he6se like the tt2. The End.
first watt j2 or woo audio wa5
What happened with the update video?
Regarding the bad sound out of NFB-1, I think it has nothing to do with the lack of power, it is because NFB-1 has no negative feedback (for some reason some "audiophiles" are afraid of it more than fire), so therefore the sound it provides is muddy and details are blurry and veiled because of very high noise floor. It's very high output is not a feature in this case but a desperate attempt to make you hear as little of that noise as possible by making you unwilling to crank the volume to high output. They literally made it so powerful that you almost always only use no more than 20% of it's power no matter what you connect to it which in turn keeps that noise as low as possible. However, as you can see when you try something extremely power-hungry and need ridiculous amount of power, NFB-1 fails even though it technically is able to provide that power, so any details are just drowned in insanely high harmonic distortion. You can google it's measurements and look for yourself how crazy bad they are.
Really, why people keep buying Audio-GD production and some of them go so far as to worship them is beyond me. Maybe they like that relaxed, veiled sound that resembles tube amps on low gain? I don't know.
Will a DCS BArtok drive these to their full capacity?
I ask because in a review at Headphone.guru of the BArtok it “held the HE6 in a vice and brought out the best performance ever heard in these” by the reviewer, this in spite of a max current in DCS listed specs of 1.5 watts into 33 ohms. Bewildering
Nope
If you know HE6SE can be bought for $560 now.
How well driven are these on ifi diablo amp?
Would these work with a chord mojo
Heard some folks using pass labs first watt amps to power these. 25 watts of class a😀 better get building my f6, aleph j 😀
Sensetivity
Mod review?
Keep going man. We are tired of Zeos.
Possible Audeze headband swap in the future?
:)
The hifiman he 6 se is replacement for the Original he 6 but maaaannnn those power hungry cans and I think the hifiman susvara is the hardest to drive headphone by a tiny bit more than the he 6 Sensitivity : 83.5dB and the hifiman susvara is 83 db and the he 6 is 50ohm and the hifiman susvara is 60 ohm
how very Flux, nice guy.
i have a diy amp im using with my akg k1000, i guess it will run the he6 also
Have you heard the he 500 how do they compare to the h6
I would have liked to hear this comparison as well - many people say the he-6s are an improvement but Tyll seemed to have preferred the he-500s, with the treble being one of the main factors. For me once I got the he-500 a few years ago my headphone search ended.
@@maulcs i have he500 too
and i loveeee them
iam going to change the pad to yaxi pads
@@alivm8088 You should try the Ether C angled if you have $80 to spare, they measure and sound very good. (Head-fi has measurements)
@@maulcs can you send the link plz?
my choise is soo limited because of country iam living in
so what headphones we got next?
Either going to be Auteur, IFI Pro amps, or RE2000. Haven't decided
Dammit I want these as well now lol
What if you ran these off a car audio amp?
class D amps belong in the garbage.
Is that correct that these sound more like the 400i ?
I wouldn't say that at all. HE-6 way better timbre and brighter. Totally different presentation and way more dynamic.
@@maxsettings7884
Thanks for your rapid reply .
I hope you can review the Modhouse Argon MK3 and the difference between the pads and what pads you prefer .
Because I highly trust your reviews
they all have similar hifiman house sound signature, from entry to top.
@@photovideooz4084
So if i had the 4xx and looking for a high end headphone under 1000$ the ananda will not make a much difference from what i have already ?
@@davidmason8212 sound signature is similar, the higher end is just more refined and having wider sound stage.
While Zeos and Josh Valour panned this headphone, others praise this as TOTL endgame. Why is the HE-6 so polarizing?
Tyll said it's too bright
That’s going to depend upon your treble tolerance and what pads you use.
No Clicks but 10 likes. Well played.
Most speaker amps measure like crap compared to headphone amps, even stuff like $100 headphone amps, so I'd avoid using them as headphone amps for the most part.
Would these work well with DCS BArtok headphone amp?
No