The HiFiMAN HE-6 is a top-of-the-line 'Orthodynamic' planar-magnetic headphone marrying the very best of dynamic and electrostatic driver design into one can offering unparalleled clarity and a truly beautiful sound. Although EXTREMELY demanding of your audio sources and also ridiculously power-hungry to boot, audiophiles employing high-end headphone amps will fawn over the HE-6's simple, uncluttered acoustic textures, precise timbral accuracy and vast, open-sounding depth of musical field. Pair with HeadRoom Review this product
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A Great Headphone!
Posted by Figaro from Philadelphia, PA on 2012-09-27Posted on HiFiMAN HE 6
Recommend Product: Yes
Pros: beautiful sound, deep bass, transparent mids, glorious highs
Cons: very difficult to drive
The HifiMAN HE-6 is difficult to drive. More difficult, they say, than the speaker-like AKG 1000. Many people give up on the HE-6 in frustration, unless they have a powerful speaker amp to use it with through speaker terminals. And therein lies a conundrum, because if you have a powerful amp you very likely are using it to drive speakers you like for your primary listening and may not want to substitute a headphone for it. Not easy to find a desktop amp to drive it. HifiMAN's own EF6 is a perfect match for it. They say Headroom's Ultimate Desktop Amp, and Burson's HA-160 drive it too. Red Wine Audio's Isabellina sounds good with it. However, rule out almost all portable amps, notably except ALO's Rx MK3-B rig (i.e., Cyberlabs Algorhythm Solo, Rx MK3-B, and iPod) , which drives it beautifully. So you have to seriously consider the amp you will use before buying the HE-6. Why, then, should you want it? As a salesman (someone selling the very product!) said to me: "I don't know why they make that thing." They make it because, mated with the right amp, it rivals the most musical sounding headphones on the planet.
None that I have heard has a more pristine treble, none a more transparent midrange; and if the bass does not go quite as deep as the LCD-2's, to my ears, its bass is more controlled than that of its more popular counterpart (which I own). The HE-6 separates from the pack playing complex musical passages and chords. Using the ALO rig, if you play music as challenging as, say, the first movement of Mahler's Symphony No. 3, you will experience the HE-6's speed, musical tone, and sonic decay, blending sound in space to a degree I have not heard matched by the AKG 701, Beyerdynamic T1, Grado PS 1000, LCD-2, or Ultrasone Ed 8. Sounds better than my HD 800 with the ALO rig (cleaner, richer sound, with clearer highs and deeper bass), but can't say it would necessarily do so with other equipment. Haven't heard the LCD-3 or any Stax. So, why should you consider the HE-6? Because if you hear it mated with an appropriate amp, the bliss you experience may lead you to feel you have reached headphone nirvana and that this may be the last headphone you will ever want or need.
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Smooth tube like sound
Posted by Braces from NYC on 2012-07-14Posted on HiFiMAN HE 6
Recommend Product: Yes
Pros: Voices will give you chills
Cons: Needs a lot of power
I Love them.
HE-6 reminds me of my old favorite Stax lamdas that cost several thousands 20 years ago
Doesn't have a bite. Smooth as Silk. I forget I am using them a get involved in the music.
Use a good tube amp and get blown away!!
I have not heard anything better.
Caution: If you use them you won't like anything else.
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YES! Marvelous!
Posted by Chicago OTL from Chicago on 2011-01-31Posted on HiFiMAN HE 6
Recommend Product: Yes
Pros: Great resolution, deep & tuneful bass, great mids & highs, too!
Cons: Costly! Heavy, not the best comfort level. Needs POWER.
Planar headphones have about the best "control" of any transducer. When the signal stops, the diaphragm stops. Add this to response that is essentially flat from deep bass through the mids, and very well behaved above the mids- and you have a formula for very high levels of resolution and detail along with impactful bass.
Electrostatic headphones also offer very good diaphragm control, but generally speaking you can't produce as much bass from an electrostatic phone because you have to limit diaphragm excursion to prevent arcing. There's no danger of arcing in a planar-magnetic headphone like the HE-6 so you can have all the bass extension and dynamics you like.
I own Sennheiser HD800's as well as other high end dynamic 'phones, and to my ears the HE-6 sound more detailed and revealing. They do emphasize the highs a bit, but not as much as the HD800's. The HE-6 is just as 'detailed" as the HD-800's but tends NOT to add sibilance to female vocalists, while you can get some extra sibilance with the HD800's.
These need an amplifier capable of comfortably delivering ~2 watts into 50 ohms to sound their best, especially if you like to listen at realistic levels. You can connect them directly to the output of a "speaker" amp without danger, as long as the amp is rated at 40~50 watts or less. I've done this and certain tube amps and some class A solid state amps sound pretty great through the HE-6. Hifiman sells an adapter cable for this purpose- one end connects to the HE-6 cable and the other end can be connected to the output terminals of your favorite amp.
Comfort level is moderate; if you bend the headband out to suit your head size, they feel pretty good for quite a while, but they are heavy and as time passes you may find them less comfortable. Also, the earcup wires have some stiff heatshrink at the connector, and these stick out straight down from the earcups- in my case they can poke my shoulders / chest as I turn my head.
The earcups are velour, which I prefer because even though leather feels nice and lasts a long time, my ears build up heat under leather, something that does not happen with velour.
Build quality is good, with nice finishes and materials. However, you can see this is from a smaller manufacturer- the design does not exhibit the well-executed diecast alloy fittings that something like the Sennheiser HD800's have, or the exotic materials and workmanship shown in the Sony MDR-SA5000 with their beautiful magnesium castings and pretty carbon fiber.
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