Hifiman HE-6

I have a DIY First Watt VFET coming tomorrow.

Selling the F6, which I haven't used much for months. The Edition-X dethroned the HE-6 for it's better tonality and ease of use.
After hearing the Utopia, I want to go back into tweaking the 6s and explore new territories.

 

Based on this? http://www.firstwatt.com/pdf/art_diy_sony_vfet_1st_draft.pdf

 

Also how was the F6 with the HE-6? Transformer implementation on the F6 and the M2 are quite interesting.

 

I had both the M2 and F6.

The F6 is vastly superior. Great clarity, great midrange body and bass extension. Doesn't hit like Krell, of course, but deep and textured.
The sound is really natural on either First Watt, but the M2 sounded kinda claustrophobic next to the F6. It is definitely warmer sounding.

 

I think we should plan a mini "after meet" get together at my place for a demo, so you can have context of what I like with sound (and for all intents and purposes, have achieved within the confines of my own setup).

 

Built a First Watt B1 pre-amplifier tonight, and low and behold it works on the first try. And the Bass is back. Was a fun and relatively painless project. I look forward to upgrading bits of it over time, regulated PSU, better attenuator, better caps, etc. Early days but this is definitely the best I've heard my HE-6.

 

I have been solely using my modded HE-6 and Jotunheim combo and am amazed at the performance of this little amp. I have hooked up the HE-6 to my Pioneer Spec 2 power amp with and without a resister network and that really is something. Overall balance is the same but impact/transients are scary with how forceful they can be on certain songs. I stopped using the Spec 2 because it's currently driving my Philharmonic Speakers. I still need to hear the HE-6 on one of the big boy setups to see if it truly yields more bass or it's just finally driven to it's full potential. Either way, I'm ridiculously happy with modded HE-6 and Jotunheim. Happy listening to all owners of a seriously special headphone!

 

What genres/types of music do you guys enjoy on your HE-6's?

 

It can do a lot of genres well IMO. I typically reach for them with rock because they have some bite for guitars and the drums hit hard. Or anything emphasizing bass like electronic

Does anyone have any tips for hardwiring? I'm going to do it. I know how to make cables, more curious on if the connectors come off easily? Should I put anything in that hole? etc

 

Just got my HE-6 around a week ago. So far I'm loving it. Very bright compared to what I'm used to hearing out of my HE-500 and LCD2 . Overall the first things I've noticed is that they are much cleaner and wider sounding than my other two pairs. I also haven't heard what a well paired HE-6 sounds like but maybe I will in the future. I'm currently running an Emotiva A-100 with 12db attenuators to make the volume knob usable on all my headphones. I run the HE-6 through the speaker outs and the rest of my planars out the resisted built in quarter inch that they introduced in the 2nd Gen of the A-100. Overall very happy about my setup. I also managed to snag this HE-6 with the leather prototype-cups and brand new 4 screw drivers that were replaced sometime in 2016. I installed a new headband from hifiman (he-500 headband that I rebranded with the original HE-6 gimbel covers. They're only hotglued over the gimbels and the headbands are identical anyways). I'm not sure if I'm going to blue tac mod them or jerg fuzzor them just yet. I have had problems with hifiman drivers in the past and I'm a bit squeamish when it comes to exposing them. Maybe in due time I will. So far my favorite song to listen to on them has to be Piano Black from the Cowboy Bepop OST. The Bass is so textured and it's very visceral sub bass makes it one of my favorite songs to repeat while playing boring games like cs;go. Also make sure that you get the FLAC version of the song as the bass is very compressed on the public files elsewhere. Anyways as far as my most used headphones, they have become my favorite of my trio after I had purchased a pilot pad. I have a smallish head so having the pilot pad still gave me a ton of adjustability on the headband. The HE-500 will probably sit next to my LCD2 on my desk for awhile as I'm not to inclined to lose money and resell it. I'd rather have it for electronic or fun-songs/games in the future . As it has alpha pads on it already.


Also im pretty new to SBAF so sorry if this is in the wrong section or some shit.

pictures:



http://i.imgur.com/491mh5d.jpg

 

When I first saw the pic I thought "holy shit a proto!" I haven't seen one in the wild in quite awhile. Very cool! The later units did tend to tame the treble down quite a bit. The very early production pair I originally had was so incredibly picky about source material and upstream gear.

 

Yeah I'm fairly certain the drivers died at some point and the previous owner payed for new drivers last year. Unfortunately they aren't prototypes but at least it's the more desirable driver. Based on what I've read around the 4 screw seems to be better at highs which may contribute to it being hard to pair well. I am eventually going to get a good amp for my he6 but not soon. The emotiva a100 satisfies me for now . A lot of members on here helped me decide on stuff through discord and I appreciate that a ton. @porkfriedpork and @AMW1011

 

Congrats on your 4 screw. Check my thread on how to do the mods.

 

I am very tempted but I'm scared of the stray metal pube being propelled into the driver. I bought a broken HE-500 and the driver was popped by a tiny ass metal shaving. Although I did get them repaired for a grand total of 300$ for a HE-500, I am very timid towards the delicate driver diaphragm. D:

 

Just try pad rolling if you want to keep it simple. Brainwavz angled velour pads or Audeze vegan pads are my two top choices. Stock damping doesn't change the response much. In fact, it gives slightly more bass and treble. Open grills or no grills will make the HE-6 slightly more mid forward.

 

There's something about this HP that in a way is very different from the rest of the HPs- dynamics, orthos, stats etc. I have not done the blutack mod (very nervous truth be told) but with the pad mod and removing the grill, there is a fullness about the sound along the entire spectrum that I don't quite get with other HPs. I am using this with the Sys and the Odyssey Stratos Supreme.

 

I've tried a few pads actually. Alphas, Stock velours, and Focus pads. Decided to keep them with focus pads as they sound the best and are more comfortable than the velours.

 

@cskippy, I've put on the Brainwavz angled pads on mine (for now). The Audez'e pads should be with me any time now.