Hifiman HE6Se V2

Hey everyone, Im concidering picking up an HE6se v2 as an upgrade from my Sundara. Seems like a good time as they’re quite easy to get a good deal on nowadays. However, i was wondering how the two compare when it comes to tonal balence/frequency response as i found it a bit hard to tell when looking at measurments from different people with different rigs. So to the people who has heard both, what’s your takeaway? And also, im trying to figure out if i need to upgrade my dac/amp for this headphone. I currently use the Topping DX3 Pro+ and im really happy with it sound wise as it’s clean and powers my Sundara well. But will it be enough for the HE6se v2? If not what are some other, relatively affordable amplifiers that are powerful enough and have a neutral sound signature?

Hello Bastian_Hollesli! Welcome to your forum.
Yeah, your HiFiMan Sundara will likely sound great from most any amp. But with the HiFiMan HE6se v2 they are going to sound like crap from most budget amplifiers. So I would upgrade to a better amplifier for certain to drive them.
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As I posted above, Rebel Audio RebelAmp pairs well with HiFiMan HE6se v2 and provides sufficient power to my ears. Some disagree with that assessment.
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Slightly less perfect pairing with HE6se v2 is the Schiit Jotunheim 2 at a cost of only $400. However, don’t bother with the internal DAC cards. The HE6se v2 is a high performer when properly amplified which begs for a better DAC.

Perhaps look for a used OG Bifrost 2 for $400ish and pair it with one of the aforementioned headphone amps. Or, look for a used Questyle CMA Twelve for around $600ish which includes a BEEFY amp with an okay DAC built in that will perform fairly decent.

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I can also throw in a budget option. I have the Jotunheim 2 which is pretty good with the HE6SEV2, but the Vali 3, running a GE5670W or a WE396A tube is really rather good. Yes, you are on high gain and at 2pm on the dial, but it sounds lovely, still punchy and we’ll extended in the bass. I think it’s the fact that it is running on 100V rails that may help, but this combination is getting most of my listening time right now. Also very good with the Arya Stealth.

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Hi guys, first message here :slight_smile:

I’ll soon receive the amazing he6se v2, can’t wait for it, I’ll pair it with a jot 2 with multibit dac module, i really hope the pair will be a good match to my ears.

Anyway, I own an old pioneer speakers amplifier, this one:
https://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/pioneer/m-73.shtml
I’d like to try to connect the he6se v2 to said amplifier’s speakers output, is it a risky move?
Can I just use the speakers output without anything in between the amp and the headphones?
Sorry for the bad English and thanks to anyone will help me out!

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There are people who run headphones directly off of speaker taps. There are people who think that’s asking for trouble unless you use a convertor box. Check out this thread for more info.

Personally I doubt it will be an improvement over the Jotenheim 2.

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Thank you! You saved me from destroying the headphones and possibly destroying a 30 years old amplifier :blush:

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I’ve got one a few days ago and they sound way better than I’ve expected on my underpowered system (modi 2u + magni 2u).
I will pick up an expensive amp next year, but would like to play around with speaker and vintage amps in the meantime.
Do I have to use speaker taps or will regular headphone jack be ok? As for the speaker tap cable, will the DIY one be in any way inferior to something that I can order?

You most certainly do not need an ‘expensive amp’ or speaker taps for these. That is an audiophile trap.I ran these on a Schiit Asgard 3, RME ADI-2 Pro and an SMSL SP200. All with TONS of headroom to spare.

Unlike other driver types, I have found ever since 1978 that planar speakers and headphones do best with the most power available. So a Classe CA-400 Class AB (800 wpc @ 4 ohms) drove Maggie speakers better than Class A amps such as the Krell KSA-100 or various Pass amps. This continues with headphones. I only listen at peak 94 db, but more often in the 70’s, and my and Rag 2 sound better than “better” amps of lower power.

So sure you can use an amp that has 1.5 wpc@50 ohms, and not notice any problems, but vs my 24 wpc @ 50 ohm Rag 2, there certainly would be a difference in my experience. This had been true for dozens of speakers and headphones I have owned or borrowed, and I can’t think of a case where this wasn’t true.

Differences to look for: quicker rise time, lower Q in the bsss (tighter/faster), blacker background in the mid/treble, better definition overall.

Bright as a copper penny. I have many watts driving my old Rectilinear III speakers, and yes the power does make a difference, controlling movement.

But I also miss when they were driven by 60 watts per channel from Dynaco Mark 3 tube mono blocks.

Rectalinear 3’s. I had a friend w/ 5’s, and he had a pair of the major rarity Dynaco VI amps driving hem with an ARC SP-11. Back then it was ADS 810’s for me, then Cizek 1’s, then Maggie 1’s and II’s. I started serious modding building w/ the DQ10 (4 way w/ ribbon tweet, and did a vertical driver alignment with the woofer on its side - drivers vertical at the 1/2 length of the xover point. Should have stopped there for a long time, but, ProAc EBS, Duettas, ML CLS IIz’s, and Verity Parsifals followed. Budget much lower now, so have a pair of BMR Philharmonic Monitors on order to go with my ProAc Tablettes.

You call out the names of old friends. We must have run in similar circles. But “Rectalinear”? Sounds like a shitty knock off.
I had a small Lafayette integrated amp, when I bought my modded Rectilinear 3 Highboys from a grad student in engineering acoustics in 1974-5. He’d blown one of the Phillips midranges, and had repaired it with a McGee of similar quality, then we got serious and added Phillips-Norelco 1 inch soft dome tweeters - that cost a lot back then into one leg of the tweeter/suppertweeter paths - up at the top. Then he took them down to the anecholic chamber and did engineer stuff with the crossovers. They still sound very good. I’ll probably replace them someday - maybe Vandersteen, maybe Harbeth 40.3, my wife won’t let me get Maggie 3.7i because we have a cat.

My grad-student friend used my cash to build BMF-1, an 8 cubic foot 6th order Butterworth design with 2 12 inch woofers and 2 passive radiators plus other assorted stuff so that his “theater organ” (half organ, half synth, his own home brew) would be able to do 64 foot pipes… This guy’s OLD roommate was a design engineer for Dynaco and had my friend had a modded Dynaco amp that would put out 400 watts DC forever if you put a battery across the inputs…

But Hi-Fi was what we all did, and those Rectilinears got a PAT-2 and a PAS-3x at various times for pre-amp, and in addition to the Dynaco Mark 3 monoblocs, at other times they had modded TigerSaurus 125 watt solid state monoblocs driving them. Our little dorm community liked to put the best stuff together, and since I had both the best speakers AND an AR1a turntable with a Shure V-15 type III (improved) cart, I was the lucky one who kept the goodies in his room.

I’m envoius of the ML CLS IIz, and we’d audition the DQ10 at one of the local stereo stores. Other equipment around the dorm included Rec-o-Cut turntable, Ampex tapes, Various AR-2 and AR-3AX speakers, Larger and Smaller Advent speakers, Marantz 400. One of my friend’s Dad’s had a quad setup with Polk SRS-1’s I think was the model.

My wife always claimed that she married me for my speakers, and she has over the years helped to improve the rest of the setup. I don’t know what I did to deserve it, but she’s bought me Hifiman HE-560v2 (see, I got something relevant to the thread mentioned), replaced the AR table with a VPI Prime Scout, and recently gave me ZMF Auteur Classic (Hawiian Mango) headphones for my last birthday.

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I sincerely hope it’s not your last birthday! You make it sound like the last supper! No kicking the bucket yet! :wink: :rofl:

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I’m a crappy speller when I type fast, these were the real things.

Nice stuff. I had a Tiger that blew up, very common back then.

My father had that OG AR table…

Thinking long and hard about a Auteur blem later this month, nice wife. Mine doesn’t care a bit about what its played on.

My ultra set-up was a TNT Jr w/ Souther linear tracking arm w/ Koetsu Rosewood Sig and two Pass X-150’s, a Pass P, a Pass Ono, and a pair of Verity Parsifal speakers and 12k vinyl collection, all of it gone now…

I just bought a pair of BMR Philharmonic Monitors (really large minis) 3 way w/ Raal ribbon tweet and bass that does mid 30’s, coming tomorrow. I have both Schiit Ragnaroks, a over built BHCs, a HD-600, HE-500, HE-6 SE - right now thinking HEX SE and Auteur and that will be it for me, except listening. I also have a pair of ProAc Tablettes that I replace the mid/woof, and using ribbon tweets with a total rebuilt xover. I have to say Im about done with modding and building stuff - just dont have the concentration anymore…

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I hope not either. I’m still working. But it was three score and ten. Anything more is bonus time!

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Right. Famous last words.

True enough. I knew what you meant of course but “…for my most recent birthday” sounds much nicer! :smile:

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Hey @pennstac,

Do you still have or listen to your Rosson RAD-0?

I recalled you have (had?) one, I kind of forget about mine. I recently got a new amp that matches really well with them (Violectric V590), reminded me what a great headphone it is! :smile:

Yes, I still have it, and I do - or would - still listen to it. But I’ve been short of music listening time. And as a balance to noisy entertainment, I like to read. I’m also a news junkie, but the constant din of politics has been making that less attractive.

My Sister, who is among other things a semi-retired counseling psychologist commented that everyone is pretty much hyped on political anxiety right now, and she predicts that after the election roughly half of us will feel better.

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:laughing:
No doubt true!