HiFiman high end thread, HE6 / Arya / HE1000 / Susvara / Shangri La

Headphones
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I jumped around with these today on my amps. My system is now wired as:

  1. BF2 to XLR switcher to Violectric V220, Monoprice LP and iFi Pro iCAN.

  2. BF2 to Schiit Loki to RCA switcher to Violectric V220, Monoprice LP and iFi Pro iCAN. EQ usually causes a raising of the volume.

On the XLR front, the Pro iCAN (using X-bass and 3D) is awesome! A wide stage, great separation, great mids and great bass. Worked very well with rock, blues and horn jazz. I couldn’t ask for more, especially at this price.

The LP is Very strong with these headphones (4.21W). I think it is missing only the X-bass and 3D, obviously. I love the sound of this amp as it is lush and smooth. Just missing the extra effects (which are fixed later). If the iFi is a 10, this is a 8.5-9.

Last is the Vio V220. It struggles with these. The sound is thin with high gain and volume at 1:00-2:00. It needs more punch and power to compete. That comes later.

I would recommend the top two amps with these headphones for a lot of fun.

Now, using the SE inputs. This surprised me.

With the iFi, it offered a different sound and is obviously more flexible with the EQ option. The big upside would be if you needed to pull the mids forward, add some bump or turn down the treble. Didn’t do a lot for me.

One oddity about the LP is that the inputs, XLR and RCA, are equal, power wise due to its wiring. However going via RCA brings the boom and the extra bump from the Loki. This amp comes Very close to the iFi with this addition. Very full sound, nice and bassy with Lots of power. FUN!

Lastly, the Violectric V220. This amp LOVES the Loki. It gives more boom, more impact and more volume. This combo works. It is still number 3 in this group, but it works well. I love the fact that this amp can fill out some of my headphones (Grado, etc.) nicely. But it is really not meant for HUNGRY headphones. Workable with the Loki and awesome with regular headphones.

End result with the HE6se V2’s is:

  1. iFi Pro iCAN = Awesome!
  2. Monoprice LP = Just down a step.
  3. Violectric = Not meant for these kinds of 'phones. Of course V280 and V281 are probably quite different from mine.
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Nice nice glad you are enjoying it. Also yeah I’d assume you now see why I’d suggest an amp like the pro ican at minimum lol, too picky

The 281 can get it done but not the rest, yes def not designed for the he6

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The LP AND the Loki come pretty damn close. If I didn’t have the Pro and know the difference, I think I could be pretty happy with this combo.

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I have just finished 12 consecutive days with these headphones on the iFi Pro iCAN.

Today was mostly all jazz. Miles Davis’s new album, BAD BAD NOT GOOD’s second album and Go go Penguins album from 2012. Then I finished with some random rock. These are awesome headphones! However, if your music is noisey, it won’t be nearly as pleasant. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

These are a nice addition to almost any collection. Certainly in the mid-fi world.

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I finally got around to playing w/ my He6se’s on the living room system. I’m actually surprised at just how black the background of this system is w/the HP, also no noise at all, nothing, not even a tiny itty bitty little hiss with the volume maxed out…that’s REALLY impressive.
I’m running through a bunch of Tom Waits tracks, nothing to stress the HP but allot of weird tracks that let you feel how much detail these things can find in a song and surprising good amount of bass texture, very refined, much more so than i have noticed before. The midrange is not as near as rich as my personal preference and tastes lean towards, i think this would be called neutral forward. It’s very pleasurable, I’m just surprised it’s not as typically warm and rich as this system is closer tuned to sound. I need more time with this combo and allot more variety, it’s weird to have a HP on in my main listening room, it’s been at least 2 years since the last time i had a HP down here.
Innuos Zenith Mk3>Lampi Amber3>Vinnie Rossi L2iSE> some decent silver cables>A&S black box>HE6se
Gratuitous picture

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image3024×4032 2.83 MB

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When did you pick up the Innuous and how are you liking it?

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The Innuos has been the heart of my system for 2 years now. (I think) jI need to go over to HFGF to figure out when it it came in, LOL that place is like a record of all my purchases.

Anyway, other than the fact that it is only USB out, (it would be nice to have the option of AES or BNC) I have zero desire to upgrade or swap to a different streamer. The CD ripper works extremely well, it is quiet and fast. The folks at Innuos are responsive to questions and also provide technical support. There are regular software updates and they keep up with ROON. They also finally came up with software that works much better than Ipeng did for users that want control but aren’t using ROON.
It’s expensive though…and the next level up jumps in price by over $10k more. I do NOT like spending this much on a computer :rage: it was necessary since at the time I did not want a turntable. Gotta have a good front end if you are gonna waste as much as I did on the other pieces. Digital is a bitch…

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Headphones in the 2ch rig is a thing I greatly appreciate. If one can pull it off, as you very clearly have, the value proposition of all the gear skyrockets imo. I love everything about this and that he6 never had it so good :pinched_fingers:

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If you’re daring enough to mod them, they can get better.

Grills and pads are pretty much all that’s replaceable. There’s info on HFG regarding the mods. :+1:t4:

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Yeah, popping the grills off is easy…I’ll try that and see what I think. Pad swaps, maybe. I really find the originals very comfy. Humorously enough, because i had these HP’s replaced so many times i have allot of new pads for them. And they are also a hybrid vs of the HP. Vs1 headband with vs 2 drivers installed from the factory repair center. I think the vs1 drivers were problamatic which is why i blew them so many times. Knock on wood, no issues thus far w/this set but as mostbof my HP’s they have very few hours on them….fingers crossed…

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I’m using ZMF Auteur Hybrids on mine. Pretty open sounding (especially with different grills).

Glad to hear the serviced drivers are holding up.

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So thinking of an HE-6 as a good counterbalance to my dynamic driver cans. Is an HE-6 kindasorta similar level to the LCD-2 (PF or F) and would an LTA amp be a good pairing? The std, HP out or would it need speaker taps.

What’s the difference between the 4 screw and the 6 screw?

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Not sure about the 4 vs 6 screw difference…but the HE-6 have notoriously been considered the hardest to drive headphones in the hobby for a while now. I honestly wouldn’t trust anything but speaker amps because when it is underpowered, the bass and mids suffer greatly from what I’ve read.

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I’ve heard it under powered and the first thing out of my mouth was… they sound “thin”. I trust people when they say the cans transform when powered from good amps, just need to find if I’ve got a good enough amp. lol

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I can tell you that even my HE-500 can be somewhat hard to drive. The older Hifiman headphones had much heavier magnet structures and thicker diaphragms and were super current hungry. When powered correctly though, they are better than most new offerings by Hifiman (granted I haven’t heard an HE-1000 or Susvara).

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Higher tier with the right source gear

Need speaker taps, wouldn’t be my first choice but might work well enough, was actually pleasing on my dual ultralinear off taps

From my experience the 4 screw is more technical with better resolving power, more impressive spatial recreation specifically depth, better treble extension, better microdynamics, better speed and separation. The 6 screw is less technical overall, but wider, warmer and more relaxed in the treble, hits a bit harder (but with less control and grip), and is more forgiving. Basically 4 screw is better technically and more neutral bright more no nonsense where the 6 screw is more warm and forgiving with a bit more fun. I do think the 4 screw is a better overall headphone but I also like the 6 screw more for casual listening

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Just popping in to say HE-6 is my favorite planar. :wink:

Carry on.

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How is the 4 screw treating you so far?

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Compared to 6 screw: less grainy treble but more grainy bass is my early impression.

I haven’t spent enough time AB listening because I spent the past weekend modding the 4 screw to be 3.5mm detachable haha. (Took like 5 hours but it worked :+1: )

But yes it sounds wonderful.

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I have had the Susvara for a while and kept going back and forth with what I thought about it. I thought it was very good but found it hard for me to really get into as it was too laid back, polite, easy-going, and unengaging (sagra → formula s).
I recently got the dave/mscaler → wa33 and prion4 cable and it had a huge impact on the ability and my enjoyment of the susvara. Unbelievably 3d, holographic, organic, etc, etc. It also made the susvara come across as more forward largely due to the dave and mscaler (more depth, layering, more nuance, ergo more engaging).
This was also my first time comparing cables to see if they make a difference and sigh they do. The prion4 is much cleaner and better separated than my silver dragon although the silver dragon is warmer and more laid back which I do like. With the prion4 and new chain, I think the susvara has somehow gone from too laid back to too forward if anything, also it is a bit thin/sterile compared to what I would want ideally. Unfortunately the effects of the cable were enough that I’m not sure I can fairly compare other flagships to the susvara on an even playing field without also getting upgrade cables for the other flagships.
Keep in mind this radical change in opinion on the susvara is solely due to source gear and cable changes (and I was using a pretty respectable chain already) and I am not someone who had previously lauded source gear upgrades all that much.

Overall, the susvara is easily the best thing I have heard (sorry 1266tc, lcd5) other than maybe the mysphere; I am waiting for the mysphere 3.1 to come in from loan to make that comparison…

My current thoughts is that most people fall into one of two groups, either the susvara is magical or they haven’t found the right setup for it yet.

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