Hifiman HE-6

Discussion in 'Headphones' started by Meteora, Nov 13, 2015.

  1. Jozurr

    Jozurr Facebook Friend

    Joined:
    Oct 20, 2015
    Likes Received:
    208
    Trophy Points:
    43
    Were you connected to a power amp with a pre? Was this during listening or when you turned off the pre or power amp?

    Hifiman is hit or miss with the HE-6 service now. Some people have got it repaired and others have been refused. Your best bet will be to email them and check.
     
  2. cskippy

    cskippy Creamy warmpoo

    Pyrate MZR
    Joined:
    Oct 14, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,999
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Tempe, Arizona
    I know most people know this but always plug the HE-6 in last once everything is powered on and then disconnect them first before powering off. This is good practice for all headphones but especially important when using a power amp.
     
  3. E_Schaaf

    E_Schaaf MOT: E.T.A Headphones

    Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Mar 28, 2017
    Likes Received:
    9,589
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Staten Island, NY
    Home Page:
    It was not during on/off, but during listening. It was indeed with a power amp and a pre - valhalla 2 into pass ACA, nothing insanely high powered.

    Ive used this same setup for a year without issue. I always plug in the headphones last. Completely confusing!
     
  4. cskippy

    cskippy Creamy warmpoo

    Pyrate MZR
    Joined:
    Oct 14, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,999
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Tempe, Arizona
    Damn man! I'm so sorry that happened. It's a rare beast, and not one that can be easily replaced by another headphone regardless of price.
     
  5. Clemmaster

    Clemmaster Friend

    Pyrate Contributor
    Joined:
    Sep 28, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,268
    Trophy Points:
    113
    I did send my out of warranty HE-6 for driver replacement. Costed ~$250 + shipping, IIRC.
     
  6. E_Schaaf

    E_Schaaf MOT: E.T.A Headphones

    Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Mar 28, 2017
    Likes Received:
    9,589
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Staten Island, NY
    Home Page:
    Thank you for the tip clem. In a turn of events, I'll be handing my pair off to LFF for repair and modifications. Never went from saddened to excited so quickly.
     
  7. elwappo99

    elwappo99 Friend

    Pyrate Contributor
    Joined:
    Oct 8, 2015
    Likes Received:
    797
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    SoCal
    Bumping an old post, but curious. Is the red wire to the driver the 4 screw version?
     
  8. jelt2359

    jelt2359 Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Nov 8, 2015
    Likes Received:
    157
    Trophy Points:
    43
    One of my 4 screws has red wire, another has black wire. This colour doesn't seem to matter.

    The 4 screw version has 4 screws, you'll have to remove the pads and look at them behind the pads.
     
  9. elwappo99

    elwappo99 Friend

    Pyrate Contributor
    Joined:
    Oct 8, 2015
    Likes Received:
    797
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    SoCal
    Yup, I've got a 4 screw pair, but I was curious about the wiring. Since I've already got this thread excited again, does anyone know if there's an easy way to stop the SMC connector from spinning? I've tried poking it a bit, but I'm pretty afraid to play around too much that close to the driver.
     
  10. cskippy

    cskippy Creamy warmpoo

    Pyrate MZR
    Joined:
    Oct 14, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,999
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Tempe, Arizona
    I wanted to post this here as I know some of you don't frequent Head-Fi...

    Alright, here is what I've managed to measure for pads that are easily purchased.

    Audeze Vegan pads (Discontinued) These have very good comfort as they are more like soft pillows than any other pad. They also have an excellent bass to mid response. The upper mids and treble is where I personally find issue. After the dip at 2kHz they start rising up and the treble can get too fatiguing depending on personal preferences and associated gear.
    Brainwavz Angled Lamb Skin pads. I like these quite a bit. They are angled so they have better imaging and sound stage depth. Like other pleather or leather pads they have better bass conduction than the velours, even the Audeze Vegan pads. They are relatively well behaved throughout the frequency response. My only gripes are the 1kHz bump and the small 10kHz peak.
    Brainwavz Hybrid Memory Foam pads. These are similar to the Vegan pads. They would be my recommendation if you want that sound and can't find the Vegan pads. They do offer a more immediate sound as your ears are closer to the drivers compared to the Vegan pads. They have a fun V shaped sound to them but they aren't natural sounding.
    Dekoni DT Series Sheepskin pads. These are one of my top picks. They have a forward mid range and lower treble, great for guitar and a more present vocal presentation. They have a good balance with the bass and treble and are one of the few pads that seem to tame the 10kHz peak. They also present a nice sound stage as the pads have some depth to them but focus the sound well.
    Dekoni TH-900 Perforated Sheepskin pads. These are a good alternative if you like the stock velour sound but want less high treble energy. I didn't like the way the perforated material felt on my skin but others might not have an issue. This is a pretty agreeable frequency response but a bit bass light for my tastes.
    Dekoni TH-900 Sheepskin pads. These are the same as above without the perforations. They have good bass and a more laid back presence region compared to the stock velours. They are similar to the angled Brainwavz in sound but are a little brighter overall. They have a slight angle to the pads but not to the same degree as the angled Brainwavz.
    Hifiman Focus A pads. I'm not a huge fan of either focus pads but these are the better of the two. They have a little more natural presentation with less 4kHz energy. The build quality is atrocious on these, I've had one pair come undone at the mounting ring.
    Hifiman Focus pads. These are the more energetic version of the two pads. They are great if you like edgy in your face rock guitars or exciting percussion. They don't have the best bass quantity or quality compared to the other pads.
    Hifiman stock pleather pads. These aren't that bad but they don't breathe well and the laid back presence region combined with the 10kHz spike makes almost all other pads an improvement.
    Hifiman stock velour pads. I'm one of the few who really like the stock velour pads. I think they get the bass to mid transition perfect and only suffer because of the excess treble energy. Some creative front damping can make these the preferred pad for me and possibly others.
    MrSpeakers Ether C pads. These are my top choice for my preferences. They are angled slightly, keep your ears close to the driver for good immediacy of sound, and excellent balance between the bass, mids, and treble.
    ZMF Perforated Ori pad. This is actually a pretty good pad. If you like the focus pads but want more bass try these pads. They have good presence but with supporting bass so they don't become overly bright.
    ZMF Suede pad. Zach was really curious to see how these compared to the Audeze Vegan pads. They are more similar than not but the Audeze Vegan pads have less energy around 1kHz. This is do to different damping such as material and foam but also their physical size, as they are at least 1.5 times bigger and don't fit as well as the ZMF Suede pads on the HE-6. I personally prefer Leather or pleather pads over Suede and velour pads as the bass is usually better with less treble harshness.
    If you have a pad that you want to get measured I would be happy to do so. However, I will not purchase pads just for measurements.
     
  11. frenchbat

    frenchbat Almost "Made"

    Joined:
    Sep 26, 2015
    Likes Received:
    1,369
    Trophy Points:
    93
    @cskippy how extensive is the mod for the vegan pads on these measurements?

    Did you cut the screen and applied the felt on the pleather at the back of the pads to dampen the backwaves ?
     
  12. luximal

    luximal Made things right

    Contributor
    Joined:
    Nov 2, 2015
    Likes Received:
    234
    Trophy Points:
    43
    Location:
    Markham ontario
    Now that this thread has been revived for some reason, guess it's time to show the my most ridiculous pad mod.

    [​IMG]

    What does the gaps do?
    Lets the reflections escape (little to no ringing and harshness) and adds bass punch (tho it's a tad less clean)

    What does the cork do?
    Makes the gap smaller and absorbs reflections, cleaning up the sound.

    What does the adhesive felt do?
    Placed under the pad pieces covering the plastic, they also absorb reflections, cleaning up the sound.

    Overall, the sound is airier, more detailed and separation, has a deeper stage and ringing has been massively minimized and had a small frequency change. There's zero general harshness and it sounds far smoother and clearer. While the vegan pad did fix the ringing, this mod does so without killing air and clarity. Even the modded ori pads I had before isn't as airy. For the downsides, the sound is a less weighty, it's ever so slightly more sibilant and the bass is not as linear and clean (but sounds more fun now) and comfort is not quite as good.

    Also added felt to the outside grill, which also helps with ringing, and improves stage and imaging with little to no penalties in dynamics and clarity.
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Dec 1, 2017
  13. cskippy

    cskippy Creamy warmpoo

    Pyrate MZR
    Joined:
    Oct 14, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,999
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Tempe, Arizona
    The Vegan pads were stock. I had a previous pair with cut out screen and felt in the back and there was almost no change in frequency response or CSDs. I ended up preferring them without the felt as it seemed having the pleather underside did a better job of pressurizing the sound to conduct bass.
     
  14. frenchbat

    frenchbat Almost "Made"

    Joined:
    Sep 26, 2015
    Likes Received:
    1,369
    Trophy Points:
    93
    So the cutout + felt doesn't measure different, but sounds different. Right ?

    I would expect a less clean response in terms of distortion without the felt, because backwaves. That can maybe bring more bass quantity however, like the jergpads did for the he500. At the expense of treble peaks going through more easily.

    Maybe the difference was buried in the noise floor of the 6 screws. Interesting nonetheless.
     
  15. cskippy

    cskippy Creamy warmpoo

    Pyrate MZR
    Joined:
    Oct 14, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,999
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Tempe, Arizona
    Hahahahaha sometimes expectations are better than reality.
     
  16. frenchbat

    frenchbat Almost "Made"

    Joined:
    Sep 26, 2015
    Likes Received:
    1,369
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Reality has a funny way to laugh at us, isn't it.

    Joke aside, it just goes to show that we still can't measure everything yet. As you were saying, it could go down to the coupling between your ear and the pad, which won't be measurable in a typical coupler situation.
     
  17. E_Schaaf

    E_Schaaf MOT: E.T.A Headphones

    Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Mar 28, 2017
    Likes Received:
    9,589
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Staten Island, NY
    Home Page:
    Ive got a pair of really stiff, really thin 2010 LCD leather pads I might send over at some point, unless I can get my measurement rig to work more consistently without as many artifacts. I find them to be quite bassy (which I like with the he-6) but the 1k peak is a bit exaggerated (which I dislike).

    Its a bit challenging to get a good seal with them without angling the top of the pads slightly back when taping to the housing. Did you find LFF's mod to lessen the 1k bump in general?
     
  18. Jozurr

    Jozurr Facebook Friend

    Joined:
    Oct 20, 2015
    Likes Received:
    208
    Trophy Points:
    43
    Same as @jelt2359 - One of my 4-screw has red wire, other doesnt. Cant say there are any differences.
     
  19. cskippy

    cskippy Creamy warmpoo

    Pyrate MZR
    Joined:
    Oct 14, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,999
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Tempe, Arizona
    Well to keep it consistent and comparable to my other measurements they would need to be measured on the same measurement rig.
     
  20. spoony

    spoony Spooky

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 28, 2015
    Likes Received:
    651
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Can't see your pics here.
     

Share This Page