General purchase advice: Ask your questions/for advice here!

I need advice!
871

That’s probably 10 w, I see many suggestions of 7 watts. I don’t know how to calculate that, I tried ohms law, but it’s giving strange numbers on this website. Just a tough debate, cause the topping sounds good for an overall amp use. Not that you can’t with the flux, I see you can run iems on them. Just seems the topping has better measurements besides power.

However, I do have a fairly decent power conditioner. I will be using that to power it, so it would probably help the performance.

But not denying that’s definitely the amp for those headphones.

872

The A90 is a better general headphone amp if you want to use IEMs and headphones but I would jump for the FA-10 if you have the budget. There are a decent amount of comparisons out there already but the A90 is a “cleaner” amp but loses out on musicality and enjoyment factor compared to other amps. I think the headphone hobby is a journey so you might find that you enjoy the clinical A90 sound but based on many of those I know who have move up from that price range, we all agree that there is a lot more to gear than measurements. Measurements give you a slice of what the equipment is doing but never tells the whole picture.

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873

Very interesting perspective, I don’t have IEMs, I only have one headphone and no dac or amp that is my own. So this is my first time getting my toes wet. I am dedicated to doing so, as I have begun the process already.

I’ve been since the beginning wanting planars, but didn’t see anything suitable with a bargain during these holidays.

I mentioned earlier that I started listening to music much more lately. It’s just comes to mind that this maybe an opportunity to jump on a niche. In the sense that what I buy is somewhat more mandatory, if I desire full capability of those headphones. I’m not certain if they have 2 or 3,000 dollar amps that put out the power these headphones require.

I saw one guy using the chord Hugo tt to power them, but power wise and price wise that’s a different ball game. Not that it’s bad, it’s a great product, but the price and power output and my budget make that irrational.

So that’s what I mean this opens up the niche that will make this all make sense to buy that over something else more expensive and lacks the power.

I saw a Cayin, not sure which model. But it had good power as well and 699. But at that point might as well go with the FA-10. I see a lot of people using speaker amps. Emotiva and whatever brand the ragnarok is, believe it’s the same.

I got a marantz 7013 and I think that maybe be too much power, if I purchased the adapter.

Manufacturer just responded 10.5W :flushed:

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874

I am planning on purchasing the HE6SE, I had one person reach out with an amp that provides a lot of headroom.

I wanted to see what you guys are using to power it and suggestions, I only have a maximum 1000 dollar budget.

I see that most people, reviews ive watched suggest at least 7wpc to make this headphone shine. I mean I’ve seen people saying it works with micro black label on turbo mode. I really have no experience with headphones and I wanted to get the best possible results even though a 1000 may not the ideal budget.

Should I buy the adapter and use a receiver?

What type of dac pairs well with the headphones characteristics? Dac is separate to amp budget.

Just need some advice, thanks.

875

I’ve heard the original HE6 but it was modified (LFF’s Code6 mod). The amp used was the Schiit Vidar. It was one of the best headphone setups I’ve ever heard.

Big disclaimer: I haven’t heard the HE6SE in any meaningful way. (I firmly believe that tradeshow experience doesn’t count.) The HE6Se will not sound like a Code6. At. All. So I probably should not comment, but I’m going to anyway.

This isn’t a headphone I suggest people buy without having heard it first. Amplification is going to dramatically influence it’s sound, especially if it’s under-driven. Further, I wouldn’t even consider just wiring it up to the speaker taps of any old home theater receiver or dedicated speaker amp without this little box to protect yourself : https://m.hifiman.com/products/detail/84

A Saga+ and Vidar should be good for this, and might even be in your budget.

Hope that helps, it’s the only meaningful advice I can give.

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876

I believe @driftingbunnies says the Flux FA-10 should be able to power it. He can correct me if that is incorrect.

DAC is more your preference, but if you are also going for a $1000 budget, I would say a Schiit Bifrost 2 would serve well.

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877

@HeadphoneNoob, given that you recently said that you don’t have any income and you’re living off savings, I think it would be hard for any of us to recommend spending a few thousand on headphones, amp and DAC. And if you’re on a limited budget, there’s a good chance you’ll find that the HE6SE disappoints you if it’s under-powered, so then you’ve wasted a lot of money on something that doesn’t sound good to you, and you won’t know if you don’t like the headphones or the amp.

None of us like to buy equipment that we may need to replace after a few years, but it really is a journey. With your budget, you’re not going to get TOTL, but you can get really close without spending a huge amount.

I know you’re interested about the unknown part of the rabbit hole, and have lots and lots and lots of questions, but let’s look at what you already know, and work from there.

  • You have an Elegia already, which is a great closed headphone and is easy to drive. A lot of people on this forum have owned and liked the Elegia, and you’ve said that you like it too.
  • You’ve listened to the Elegia at the Schiitr and you didn’t seem too impressed, or at least couldn’t tell the difference between the different levels of equipment.
  • You’ve listened to the Elegia on a borrowed ifi Nano Black Label and enjoyed that.

You have headphones that you like. If you really want to get something else, then difficult-to-drive planars are probably not the best way to go when you’re on a strict budget. Maybe get an open headphone that’s easy to drive to complement your Elegia. Or don’t get any more headphones for a while and keep looking for sales, like you did for the Elegia. You said in the past that you liked the Focal Clear, so maybe wait until you see a good price on that.

You don’t have a decent amp. You seem to like the ifi sound signature, so why not get some kind of amp/dac combo from ifi? Or take your ifi Nano to the Schiitr and do another comparison.

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878

Yea I’ve seen the adapter on HiFiman. If you go up since my post got moved, the Flux Labs is 10.5 wpc, so that’s killer.

I would agree, but what are the chances of getting to hear it now under the circumstances we are facing.

I am not familiar with amps in general, so I am trying to see if there are any other suggestions in the range of 7 wpc or more. I doubt it though that’s brutal power.

I will check those two you mentioned

879

Do you live near a major metro area with high-end audio stores? Many of them will allow in-store demos with an appointment.

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880

Well I am glad you see the whole picture, but the only reason it caught my attention is it’s on sale. It’s nearly the price of the Ananda, I know it’s subjective but people + or - it to the Arya in rank even though it’s on a higher threshold.

I really want to get planars. So this is all kind of falling in place.

I need to buy a dac and amp. I waited until Black Friday and nothing good happened.

So how much longer do I wait type situation. I was about to pay 500 for the ananda OB and I’m glad I did.

So it just seems like an opportunity to embark on.

I am basically just going 200 above what I was going to spend a few days before. But you are absolutely right, I mean this seem to be pushing me over probably 800 dollars more than what I wanted to spend and I saved about 300 on the headphones. I see that He6Se does go to 1000 often. But there are many places having it between the 1600-1800 ball park.

I mean I don’t know, just considering it’s not a bad idea. It’s definitely going to rank up way more than anything else I bought. I think the only thing that comes to mind is weight and comfort and it’s not major for me.

So it would be what would you suggest cause the only thing making this a bad deal is the additional expenses, yet if I bought Arya id be in the same price range with the dac and amp as well which I would 100% need.

You guys know I overthink everything :joy:

881

Yes, I live in Los Angeles, my issue is that you go to those websites and they usually list the brand and you click on it in there website and it redirects you to the manufacturer. So idk what they have, I will contact the SourceAV. They had a pretty large selection.

I will look again.

882

Yea that amp would be killer and a great price too

883

Something like the Schiit Bifrost 2 with FA-10 and HE-6se would be a great combo imo. All of those components punch above their weight class and the FA-10 will power just about any planar you throw at it.

However, just like @PaisleyUnderground said, you’ll want to consider what you like. A lot of this is about testing different gear to get to what you enjoy. The HE-6se might not be what you’re looking for even if the combo is great. If for sure you think the HE-6se is what you’re looking for sound wise, then the above is what I would do. If you want to be more budget conscious, then I would skip the HE-6se cause you honestly need something like an FA-10 at the bare minimum to power them correctly.

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884

Start here. Crawl, walk, then run.

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885

Be wary of those sales you see on Adorama, the Hifiman they sell are typically marked up then advertised as on sale. Also I recall the HE560 model they carry is very different than the mainstream HE560 and is subpar.

I won’t mean to be preachy, nor deter you from sonic bliss. You seem to be bouncing between building a Home Theater system and a quality headphone system simultaneously. What is the rush, take it slow and learn form each phase of this journey, that is part of the fun. It is YOUR experience, what works for someone else will most definitely not translate in working for you.

Preach Out

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886

Yea, I had my eyes set on that, but it didn’t even hit 249 open box or on sale anywhere.

I mean I am just in the process of debating. Like gentleman said, yes I got Elegia, yes I like it. But I know no better, that’s just my first. They say the 4xx is kind of like the HE6, again that’s someones opinion. Just something to think about[he6] just based on the price vs similar priced headphones.

Just evaluating if it’s worth it, and even as bpcard has mentioned before if you don’t like it you can sell it, right

887

I mean I wouldn’t doubt it, but that’s where I got my Elegia from and liked it. Now they’re selling it for 700 on sale.

I personally think they only did that sale for cyber week, it’s actually no longer on sale I believe. But I added it to my cart while it had the sale price so they said they would honor that if I were to proceed to purchase. I called to ask.

Not trying to pitch reasons why this is correct, and therefore this is the right decision.

It’s just a debate, I mean also I can always return it if I don’t like, I got 30 days and 15 days for the amp. I mean I don’t like doing things like that, but if I don’t like it it’s an option available.

Which makes everything more difficult

888

Hi, I’m looking for ideas on on system design and how to adapt to all this new hardware and software technology which keeps appearing (and I don’t mean MQA). There is so much choice: streamers, network players, network servers and software, PCs, Macs, Raspberry Pi, phones, tablets
portable players etc. and that’s before you even start on DACS, amps, headphones etc. What is the best direction to take? I have tried to navigate this sea but have ended up with an overloaded ship.

I’ve recently started listening to my headphones more than I used to as I’m stuck in the house a lot of the time. I listen to music mainly but also films and TV. I had an old-fashioned amplifier CD and DAC system and stereo speakers and a head phone amplifier. I had a multichannel system at one point but didn’t like the sound of it with music so I gave it away.

Anyway I wanted to add extra functionality, I started off using an Apple TV via Airplay to feed my DAC from my phone. Then I got a Roku DVB Now Tv player and a PS4 which all lived on the same HDMI switch to the DAC and a projector.

So that is already a bit of a mess and I’ve just made it worse by buying a cheap second hand Intel i3 NUC (tiny box PC) so that I can play around with a bit of DSP on the music and video playback mainly for 3-D headphone surround sound effects. There is a USB to SPDIF converter so that the i3 NUC can feed the DAC live streamed virtual 3D audio at 96/24 from its own audio and video apps. I was hoping to replace all the other media boxes with this.

I use my phone and tablet to control the NUC via a VIrtual Network Computer server on the NUC but still sometimes Bluetooth to PC or airplay to the apple TV as well as using some remote controls for the amp and switch and remote controls for the media players and a PSVR as well.

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So now I find I have about five different ways of doing everything and it has really become unnecessarily complicated rather than simpler. The trouble is I’m now reluctant to let any of this go - functionality like airplay, terrestrial digital video broadcasting, 3D DSP and being able to remote into the i3 NUC for example which summons the PC to your phone when needed.

I’ve got some rough ideas about how I might be able to simplify/improve on this setup but I wondered if anyone had any suggestions about how best to achieve the functionality in the smallest number of boxes without spending very much and maintaining a high quality data stream to the DAC with 3D DSP, EQ and remote control via phones and tablets?

General purchase advice: Ask your questions/for advice here!
889

I don’t have a solution but I remember heading into your situation.

One day I decided to watch my large screen projection tv with surround and multiple subwoofers, picked up a remote and just stared at it. I couldn’t remember how to turn on my own gear.

At that moment I decided the gear was controlling me instead of the other way around. I vastly simplified things by just having headphones and iPad for video. One extreme to the other which most people wouldn’t want to do.

But I can say life is much simpler and surprisingly I don’t miss the big toys.

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890

I’m rapidly coming to the conclusion that I need to pay attention to how easy it is for my wife to access. Not only is there a plethora (that sounds vaguely obscene) of choices, most of the interfaces were designed by idiots. Specifically male idiots that are 30+ years younger than us who can read the Lord’s Prayer on the head of a pin. In poorly contrasting colors.

Or you can try and delve into one ecosystem and spend ages teaching arcane “skills” to some creepy device that has to “listen” to you all the time in order to see if something you say approximates a voice command that both you and the device are supposed to find “intuitive”. Speaking of creepy devices, don’t get me started on that “mirror” thing I see advertised.

If you don’t have a wife, see if you can rent one, (suitably masked) or facetime one. Then take advice on how to interact with what you’ve got. I’m starting to be convinced that the first priority might be interface, and that one should work one’s way back from there. There are a few companies that do comprehensive home automation, and the best ones seem to work in much this way.

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