Maybe @antdroid’s?
His correction is at 1.6kHz. Removing the grill seems to help a bit there too but the biggest being pad swapping.
Yeah saw that. 1-1.5db nudges, probably works better with some corrections already done in the pads.
Can anyone compare this to Sundara and Ananda in these metrics:
1- Soundstage, perception of distance to ears. Does it sound forward, up close, shouting to your ears ? or have a defined atmosphere/room and plays there.
2- Imaging/Seperation, perception of individual elements in the music. Are they on top of each other or distinctly spread out in collaboration with the soundstage.
As for reference, i think Sundara is quite poor in these metrics. Sound feels like right/left stereo, tight and up close to my ears.
Ananda is fine but it lacks a bit of width and relies on it’s depth to separate individual instruments. It’s not spread out but it separate well. Sound feels like coming from in front of my eyes and i’m inside of the music.
DT 770 is quite good. The distance and width good. Images spread out and distinct. Sound feels like it plays in a room.
How is HE6 se V2 ?
Trying some Kennerton pads, no crinkling sound due to pressure build up!
I had some Audeze, they feel more comfortable but these are new so maybe these will soften over time.
(yes, yes, no layer to protect the drivers, if only Kennerton pads had those. I ordered these and another pair, to try on the Stellias, FWIW).
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Have Sundara and HE6SEv2 in hand, but HE6SEv2 is modded a bit (no grills, velour pads).
- Soundstage is not wider, but perception is different. It’s more “out of your ear”, while Sundara is more forwarded. So it’s more like DT 770, but in open-back form. Usually pretty distant, but 3-4k is a little bit too forward, so you probably want to EQ that.
- Separation is a little bit better. Imaging is weird. I can’t honestly tell from which side sounds are coming from. Closer sound are more or less distinct, but further ones are just hard to pinpoint.
They don’t sound as room for me, but honestly nothing I’ve heard is (including DT 770), so your experience may wary
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Thanks. So far what i’ve heard is positive about it’s soundstage presentation.
I think ‘‘room’’ sound maybe the effect of good soundstage and closed back isolation. Open backs doesn’t really have that.
Is stock earpad opening is small like Sundara or large like Audeze ? There are so much modded picture on the internet i can’t tell which one it’s stock pads lol. I hated the opening of Sundara earpad. Little small for my ears.
What am I doing wrong with these? Running them through JDS ATOM Stack with the AMP as a preamp out to a Parasound ZAMP v3 speaker amp.
I can for sure hear the great technical performance of this headphone ( it is way better through the ZAMP as opposed to the ATOM as expected.) However the issue, the tonal balance seems off compared to my OG Clears and HD800s with Oratory/Harmon EQ. The biggest offender to my untrained ears is that the vocals/mids have a “scooped” sound… like a weird hollowness. Any suggestions? Is this just a merely a preference of tonal balance? It’s just hard to believe that I’m one of the only few who thinks its a “weird” sounding balance that I want to blame it on my introductory sound chain.
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Welcome to the forum.
Other HFM headphones can sound hollow too. In my experience this trait may decline, or I no longer hear it, with regular use. I think hollowness is a common perception of their driver technology. The Clear and HD800 are both dynamic driver models and to my ears much more direct/punchy. Especially the Clear. You may simply prefer dynamic drivers. Live and learn.
Also, planar headphones often demand a lot of current – i.e., ZAMP versus Atom.
I’m guessing you are EQing your HE6se V2 using Oratory’s HE6se preset, which is not applicable. AFAIK Oratory does not have a preset for the V2. I’ve been meaning to send mine to him but I’m enjoying them too much using the EQ I created:
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Ok thanks, may very well be that I’m a fan of dynamic drivers, will play around with EQ a bit more and see if I can get it to somewhere where it sounds natural to me.
No this was using the HE6SE V2s without EQ and with slight EQ of just a lower bass shelf. Your EQ settings seem the best so far, it does fix that hollow mid sound quite a bit to my ear. Going to play around with it a bit but thanks!
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Ah ok. Glad you think it’s improved.
This also sounds a bit like my experience with the Beyerdynamic DT 880. Compared to my other headphones (including the HE6se V2) there’s just no “there” there. It’s like much of the harmonics are missing. Maybe the correct term is “thin” or “hollow” mids. It’s doubly strange because everything is EQ’d to the same target curve and tonally sound very similar. Of course true FR will vary with the individual, but still odd to me. 
Hey there… not sure if it was suggested to you yet, or perhaps you’ve already tried this, but you need to make sure your drivers aren’t stuck with this headphone. I know, I know, I sound like a broken record on the topic, but the rate of failure on these is pretty high. When the drivers are stuck to the stators it sounds hollowed out and thin, like you describe.
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No not stuck, but ready to give reverse CPR someday if they do stick. (Worked well when it happened on my HE400i)
They are sounding much better the more I listen, seems like there is a bit of brain burn in/adjustment time to adjust to the new sound before I could enjoy all of its technical competence.
Ok tried your EQ as-is again AudioTool, didn’t realize the pads I had tried after my failed initial EQ settings were also affecting the sound drastically. Switched back to the stock pads and with your EQ settings, these things are sounding incredible. That big bump at 2k seems to fix the hollow sound. When I turn the EQ off, the tuning just seems broken. Still have trouble seeing how people regard these highly stock as-is. With your EQ, these are an incredible set of headphones, more 3D sounding that my HD800s and Clears
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Yeah pads make a big difference. Oratory even has some presets for other headphones based on using different pads than stock. The age of the pad can make a significant difference too.
I’m glad you like them now! I still find my HD 800S have a better soundstage but nothing gets close to the punch of the HE6se V2 for me.
Ananda vs HE6SEV2: Ananda has bigger soundstage, especially taller image. Ananda also has better image separation. HE6SEV2 has more depth with everything more layered and at the same time everything sounds closer, especially vocals. What I like about the HE6SEV2 is the power. With a good recording, you can really sense the energy of a full symphony orchestra.
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A couple of days ago I picked up one of these, and it very quickly made me fall in love with it.
Anyway, I made a simple 6-band EQ to impart a bass shelf and alleviate its ~1.5-2kHz recession. I kept it simple, so it hopefully retains its sonic character as much as possible.
I thought I’d share it here in case anyone else wants to try it:
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Here is my 6 band toneboosters setting. Note Ether Angled Lamb pads, Custom Cans XLR cable, dynamat, screens off, fuzzor mod:
Low shelf 2 37 Hz 2.4 db 1.10
Analog bell 984 -1.6 db 5.40 (needed, otherwise next setting gets too much energy in mids)
Analog bell 1773 2.7 db 2.20
Analog bell 4150 -2.5 db 5.20 (trying to mildly cut ringing)
Analog bell 5140 1.5 db 8.60
Analog bell 9820 -2.7 db 7.90 (narrow band ringing cut) - will vary per each can most likely.
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PRELIMINARY oratory1990 preset based on Crinacle’s measurements.
EDIT: Changed to a link to the .pdf
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