LFF X6 "Code Sex" (custom modded HE-6)

I've recently been casually mentioning a new headphone in my possession the Code Sex. I coined this name as I wanted to be unique and awesome. Actually I'm not sure if the mods @LFF did to my HE-6 are the same as the famous Code-X or not, only Luis knows. What I can say, and the real reason I named it the Code Sex, is this is the best damn headphone I've heard for my tastes. It's an orgasm for my ears.

A little background on my journey with the HE-6. I originally had a HE-500 and was blown away compared to the DT880 I had at the time. I used them for gaming, audio production, movies, you name it. I only had a few issues with them. The upper mids and lower treble were slightly recessed and the 10kHz peak was bothersome at times. My buddy came over and listened to them off my Pioneer Spec 1 and 2 combo and was blown away. He couldn't get the same headphone as me so he had to one up me and get the HE-6. I got jealous and curious about what the HE-6 had to offer over the HE-500 and decided to bite the bullet, this was my largest audio purchase yet.

When I got the HE-6 I was immediately disappointed. Where was my bass, why was the headphone shouting at me and treble razors in my face? I was pissed. Instead of returning it like a sane person, I read that with insane power and the proper mods they could be the bestest ever! I tried @ohhgourami mods and while they brought the bass and fixed some of the treble problems they weren't a perfect fit for me. Don't get me wrong, a lot of people would be happy with the sound. I'm just anal as f**k and like to tinker.

I went through hundreds of different tweaks and mods, documenting new things, thinking it's the best thing ever, waking up in the morning and going, what the f**k? This was a vicious circle off and on for the past few years.*

Recently having been exposed to a larger variety of headphones, I began to hone in on my target sound and the mods started to work well for my tastes. My latest mod before I sent my HE-6 off to Luis was pretty much as good as I could get them to sound. They measured well, sounded great, but they were still a little fatiguing in the treble and comfort was not great as the mods I used touched your ears inside the pads. I was kind of considering selling my HE-6 and getting an Eikon, as it was one of those few headphones that I can just sit back and listen to music. In a last ditch effort, I sent a PM to LFF explaining my frustration with the HE-6 and my thoughts about selling them. He replied back and told me to not sell the HE-6. The drivers in them are better than 99% of the headphones and that he could mod them.

I decided to send them off and a couple weeks later got them back JUST in time for the recent AZ meet. I hadn't even listened to them until I got to the meet so other people were experiencing them for the first time as well. I was stunned by the change in sound! All of my quibbles about splashy treble were gone. There was just this effortless natural sound coming from the headphone. My setup at home and for the meet is Eitr>Gungnir Multibit>Aficionado>Vidar>Code Sex. The Code Sex ended up being a huge hit at the meet. Multiple people came up to me saying they were going to get an HE-6 for their next headphone. I made sure to tell them that they were modded by Luis and that they are in another league compared to a stock HE-6.

The Code Sex has leather angled pads that have a similar ear hole size as the Eikon or Ori pads but they look custom to me. They look stock except for the pads, a Lohb comfort strap and a hardwired BTG audio cable.




Here are full comparisons between my latest mod and LFF's work:

LFF Code Sex:









cskippy modded HE-6:








Some notes on the measurements above:

• While my mods look like they have more bass and a similar treble quantity, listening tells a different story. Code Sex has better bass both in quantity at quality, a more coherent midrange and treble that is smooth, never harsh but still extends quite well. I have a couple ideas on why Luis' mods work better. Leather pads attenuate treble far better than velour pads. They also create a longer decay in the lower frequencies which give a realistic weight to the sound. This is a common complaint with planars, that the driver is too fast and doesn't have the wait for it...dynamics of good ummm...dynamics?
• The initial impulse response is better behaved with less erroneous vibrations and a quicker settling time.
• The spectrograms highlight what I was talking about above with better more realistic lower frequency decay, and less ringing in the treble.

While measurements can tell us a lot about a headphone's performance, if you only look at frequency response as the criteria for a good headphone then you might be disappointed by some headphones and miss out on some good ones. A good case in point is the AR-H1. Their frequency response is kind of wonky by itself but when you look at other things like ear distance to the driver, angle of the driver, pad material, and open back design the tuning actually works pretty well.

I hope you enjoyed my ADD enhanced preview of the Code Sex. I'll be adding listening impressions and comparisons to other headphones in the future.

*I told you I'm nuts!

 

Some have expressed concerns over the Vidar with Code-X or HE-6 making hiss. There was no hiss from the Code Sex out of Vidar?

P.S. Now I'm interested in a comparison between a 4-screw vs 6-screw Code Sex.

 

I never had hiss with Vidar using Freya in Passive and JFET modes or Aficionado but Freya tube mode might. I do get a low level hum from Vidar but I haven't tried unplugging inputs to see if it's a ground loop. @zerodeefex says that he didn't have any hum or noise with Vidar and HE-6 when he tried the combo.

 

Optimum is something like 8 Vidars, but 4 is probably enough for this guy

 

DRG was pretty amazing back in the day.

 

Love this @cskippy , thanks!

I too went from the DT880 to the HE-500. The HE-6 is my dream headphone.

I think we'd have identical setups if I had the funds for it. These modded HE-6 look amazing.

 

You know, the classic Hifiman ortho line is the the only one I liked out of any orthos I've heard (and I've heard way too many.) You may have me excited for another ortho again. I never thought I would say that.

 

oh boy...a 6 screw

 

Don't worry, Luis pulled out 2 screws. 2 of those are just stickers.

 

I'm one of those who heard these at the AZ meet. Very detailed, yet smooth, with good bass. I too am considering one myself, pending funds.

 

Cskippy mod + LFF mod at same time? Insanity!!

 

DRG - MMA rivalry was one of the best.

 

Shhhh don't let Zach hear you say that

 

Knowing Luis, that's exactly the kind of thing he would say. I'm sure the 6-screw Code Sex sounds excellent no doubt, but still, can't help but wonder how much better--or different--a 4 screw Code Sex would sound, considering how better a 4-screw HE-6 is than a 6-screw according to @ohhgourami. Though not necessarily better or worse, the Code-X did sound different depending on the version of the HE-5 used.

And speaking of screws, since you're the expert on this and have modded them, what exactly attributes to the difference in sound between 4-screw and 6-screw? Is it the difference in the drivers themselves (meaning a 6-screw could sound like a 4-screw if 4-screw drivers were transplanted into it), or are the drivers same but other factors, such as difference in internal damping, that causes the difference?

Because if the drivers are fundamentally different, a 4-screw Code Sex would undoubtedly sound different from 6-screw Code Sex. But, if it's only a matter of damping, then it wouldn't matter which screw version to send to Luis since he would perform his own damping mods that would make it irrelevant, thus saving folks looking for an HE-6 to mod to Code Sex a lot of time and effort trying to hunt down a rare 4-screw HE-6 in the wild.

 

yes

 

Just as an aside, all HE-5s I have seen thus far have had 4 screws.

 

Yes, all HE-5's have 4 screws but the there were at least 3 different variations (early/middle/late models), with the earliest model having stronger magnets and airier sound (which I believe your Code-X was built upon), and the latest model having the smoothest treble, or so I've heard.