Hifiman HE6Se V2

This is the place to discuss the Hifiman HE6Se V2 headphone!

https://www.headphones.com/products/hifiman-he6se

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@Antroid and I should have a similar pair of these on the way to each of us so I thought I would get a discussion going for those of you interested as well as those that currently own them and the many versions or iterations there has been.

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@voxkey you can showcase your Frankenstein He6se here :wink:

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Yeah it may need a headband replacement it sounds like!!

If you guys are open to it I’d love to re-vist HE 6SE now that I have the M3H as my primary solid state. I wasn’t impressed with V1 at all but maybe V2 has addressed some of my issues with V1

Either way looking forward to your guys impressions! @voxkey you have a Franken HE6SE :smiley: do share! The modded HE 6 I heard back in the day was wonderful!!!

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Time to invest in one of these: Power trip: Japanese audiophiles go to extremes to get pure energy - MarketWatch

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This is a great headphone. I’ve had mine for a little over two years, although they don’t get frequent use. They have a rich sound to them. I drive them with a Headamp GSX-mini via Cardas Cross 4-pin balanced cable. The pads had to be replaced pretty early on, since the pads had torn at the lip of the cup edge. Replaced with some Dekoni Fenestrated Sheepskin pads; those work well. I find them to be comfortable and no fatigue during longer sessions. I do baby them during use. HiFiMan isn’t known for QC and durability.

They need a lot of power, a couple of watts is a minimum. If you don’t have the right amp, I think you would be disappointed. With the right amp, they sing.

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10 mins into a new pair.

I’m finding the pads aren’t as comfortable as what’s on the HE-560 so might swap those around. As for power requirements, it’s only a little bit more than the HE-560 (so 10 o’clock for HE-560 to 12 o’clock for HE6SE). This is with a TCA HP-1.

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How do you like the new headband @deafenears ?

Got it tonight…

Ran ok at 100% volume on my Samsung Galaxy S10e.

My preferred listening volume on A90 was at medium gain and maybe 65% knob or high gain at 50% on balanced

It ran on Elise OTL at 60% for me. Sounded a little deeper in subbass and zingy up top with this.

Vs Arya:
More natural timbre and mids.
Smoother treble. Actually very smooth treble for a hifiman!
Less subbass , but punchier midbass.
Resolution similar.
Much more forward sounding midrange.

To most headphones, this would sound open and large but vs Arya, it sounds more intimate and forward

Arya sounds more diffuse and airier but with more low end rumble.

HE6SE v2: 515 grams
Arya: 410 grams

Weight isn’t a big prob surprisingly. My normal weight limit is like 460g. The headband does have a hot weight spot right in the center though.

Pads are kinda itchy. Need to replace asap.

Cable is hilarious.

Ok squiggles:

Taken from a clone 43AG and using a comp file from Crinacle…it has some variance in the upper mids 1-6K by maybe +/- 2 dB from headphone to headphone vs real GRAS.in this area. Also these are smoothed out using psychoacoustic smoothing…

Vs Arya

As you see, less bright and smoother than arya but arya has that canadian subbass that I like.

Ok vs Ant target:

This was typed on my phone, so excuse any typos, mistakes and grammar.

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damn… sub-bass was what I was looking for along with the mid-bass! What about if you put it on the high gain on the A90 @antdroid does that flesh out the lower end anymore? I will have to mess around with it on Thursday lol.

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Oh forgot… I listened to the original 6 screw version 2 years ago?

It sounded bright to me and that was my lasting impression of it. This one is not bright at all to me and is smoother. So that’s a possible change between versions.

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Headband is okay, I prefer the suspension style. The padding feels cheap like it’s made out of the filling ball thingy usually used in packaging. Also the old style headband with the yoke lets the cups rotate horizontally.

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Wow, nice write up, thanks!

This is why I’m not a reviewer :wink:

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Yea I tried to see if I could swap the he560 headband on it but it won’t work without taking the entire thing apart and I don’t wanna do that… Right now anyway haha.

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Subbass is still present, just arya has more of it.

I think the elise actually sounds deeper because the tubes I use have a small sub bass gain which I’ve actually measured before on a diff tube amp (PSVane CV181) to my surprise

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Coolio, thanks brother I will try it on all the tubes too. Looking forward to it! Great writeup @antdroid !

Oops forgot to mention I used balanced cables on A90 above.

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haha, that thought had crossed my mind too. I seem to recall reading an article on someone swapping out HiFiMAN headbands. Some drilling was needed. Let me see if I can find that article.

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Yea there is a nice post on headfi with pics on the older models. I think it’s the same process. Looks like a lot of work.

I started to take it apart but then put it all back together…