A look inside the fascinating HifiMan HE6se V2 and comparing it to the Edition XS
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- Опубликовано: 14 июл 2024
- This week I have pushed the boat out and purchased some HiFiMan HE6se V2 to take a look at. I could not really afford them but I had to take a look at the super interesting driver design on them.
If you fancy chipping in some money towards this kind of thing then we now have a Patreon or you could buy something from our store.
/ customcans
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Nice to see a HE6SE v2 in 2024. These are fantastic, my vest set of cans and I feel no need to upgrade.
Im blown away by the sound each time i put them on. They do everything exceptionally well for me (with EQ).
Enjoy!
Joined your Patreon. I'm an EQ guy so tuning mods aren't even my thing, but I love this kind of tinkering which pushes the market further.
Thank you very much indeed... We will put it to good use
@@CustomCans Don't spend it all at once xD
The original he6 was hifimans flagship pre susvara, the se v2 is a modern take on it, that is actual gold on the driver, which the reasoning for if i remember is because the gold is more compliant than silver. The he6 series is known to be highly resolving (arya level or higher) but less than the he1000. Albeit with benefits over he1000, it is an extremely hard to drive headphone, that shares a lot of dna with the susvara flagship. A lot of people call these "angry planars" because of the dynamic impact on them. which is pretty comparable to focal headphones when amplified properly. The timbre on them is also supposed to be better than all the egg shaped hifimans (xs,arya,he1000) but worse than the susvara. I should also mention this is a double sided planar so magnets on both side. Other things to note resolve from headphone show is a particular fan of the original he6. and he ranked the se v2 in "A" tier (along utopia 22, lcd4, heddphone, mm500, lcd 5, focal radiance, etc) In their 2023 tier list. The he6se v2 since its original adorama discount to $1000 down from $1800, started to become more popular, with it now going for around $600 I believe on the hifiman website. They have kind of become some what of a modern classic on reddit, and other forums due to their incredible value, and really capable driver. They are the best headphone I personally own so I am excited to see what you come up with :)
Yes, I have only had a quick listen during the video but am looking forward to having a proper play over the next month to get used to the sound and then make another video where I try a few mods
@@CustomCans Hope enjoy them, and see what fixes you come up with ;)
IIRC the reason they went with gold is because gold plating can be literal atoms thick. The really thin traces have the benefits of being less rigid but also lighter despite gold being heavy. The downside being that it creates a higher electrical resistance because the traces are so thin. This is why the traces of the HE6 driver are quite wide for a planar. Most planars are very low impedance, but the HE6 is already 50-64 Ohms despite having significantly shorter traces than other planars. All this combined create a very power hungry headphone due to how these factors interact with its electromagnetic forces which is why the Susvara is also so inefficient and why the Modhouse Tungsten which also has gold traces but does not choose to go for wider traces has such a crazy high impedance for a planar and is also appropriately impossible to drive.
@@RNeeko ah so that’s what makes it more compliant/ flexible. I wonder if this plays a role into why from my understanding the susvara seems to be the most liked totl planar. Since it would have these inherent advantages over like an lcd 5.
Give the HE6 some serious burn in. Measure them before and after too because it's pretty drastic. That thick diaphragm needs to loosen up a little and they sound a lot better. Lowest bass distortion headphone on the planet and my personal favorite all around headphone regardless of price with a little bit of mods and EQ. One of the most important things you can do with them is stiffen the cup and driver housing. The old HE6 models used to have a bar that ran across the driver housing to help with resonance of that metal cage so putting something to stop the resonance can be pretty helpful. People have incorrectly stated that the "fuzzor" mod helps with reflections, but what it's doing is helping with that driver housing resonance and it makes a pretty big difference in treble smoothness and helps reveal some detail that can be obscured. You have access to a 3d printer so you might want to try printing out some really stiff ring inserts to butt up against the outside of the driver and stiffen the whole cup with a press fit. Really deep non angled pads is a big help too, it lets the dynamics of that driver really show.
Top tips - I will have to do another video and test a few things
This is interesting because I don't usually believe in a physical burn-in period (apart from brain burn-in), but with these I did get a substantial change and improvement over the first month or so. They are easily my favorite pair now and I have a few TOTL in my collection.
@@willielast now you gotta understand that it's the thickest diaphragm planar there is and that though it's drastic on the HE6, that same burn in exists on every other headphone but to a lesser degree. It sucks, but it's impossible to ignore if you've experienced it yourself.
The HE6se V2 needs a lot of current. I wasn't a believer until I tried with my Emotiva BasX A100 with the jumper mod. They are amazing. The grill mod would be the icing on the cake! Keep on the great job! I'm waiting for the XS grill as well! Thanks!
Thanks - I might try them of a few different amps and see which one we have can get the most out of them
Not really current. More so total available power. Considering the only thing separating it's power requirement from the Susvara is 10 ohms of impedance. While they say officially it needs/requires a 2 watt amp, I've got a 7 watt IHA6, and I'm on high gain.
Love the videos man. Also listening to this using the 400se with custom grills from you peeps. Keep up the good work !!!
Thanks ;)
Try it without the grille to start with, the aftermarket ones are very open and it helps with the clarity in the bass. And yes, they need a beefy amp, I've had luck with the Schiit Jotunheim 2, but there are others out there. As someone said, they need current.
Yes - I will give it a go once I have finished the XS project
The modified Edition XS looks so sexy! Hopefully I'll get the chance to be one of the lucky testers soon. Keep up the good work with your content on youtube and the modding ideas and solutions for our beloved hobby!
Thanks - I will
Try graphing the HE6seV2 with an air gap, or vent the pads with a hollow punch. I did that to mine and glued in a brass tube to "port" the pads like a speaker cabinet, got a noticeable bass boost.
Yes, once the XS project it done, I certainly will do another video and try some basic mods and get a few graphs
Ive worked with gold and done a fair amount of gold leafing. It looks like gold BUT has been applied poorly, technically speaking. That may be because of the gold 'size' (glue) they had to use. IF you apply gold leaf perfectly you can get it to be almost mirror like in its perfection! Very interesting!
Yes - I have played with gold leaf and that is exactly what it looks like - It is interesting as you could just stencil the size onto the membrane in the shape of the traces, apply the leaf and then remove the excess with a soft brush. I may have to have a go a making one
@@CustomCans I wonder wht size you could use? The best is lead based..not ideal! We use a safer one now but its more finicky - We use an undercoat first but that is maybe more important to get right as that can go off sometimes which then makes the gold (appear) to go off.
Oooh, looking sharp! I mean the new grills for the Edition XS. Sorry to hear about your printers.
thanks and ... It happens - I think anyone that runs new projects on 3D printers regularly has the odd period where everything goes wrong and you have to spend a week chasing problems - But.. you always end up learning something along the way
Hi Jason, had you ever thought about implementing controlled venting on the pad side as a tuning method. You might already be aware but I don't remember you ever talking about it.
Basically undamped planar drivers will often see a bass boost around their resonant frequency if there is a break in the seal on the pad side. This is paired with a roll off below this resonant frequency, but with some of these drivers that resonance is so far down into the sub bass that there is no appreciable roll off. This has been done with the likes of abyss headphones where they offer a thin vented ring that sits between the pad and earcup.
Thought you might be interested, if nothing else it'd be a less challenging item to print.
yes - I have seen a few people doing that and a couple of people have mentioned it but it is not something I have tried. I will give it a go
HE6se V2 is by far the most technical headphone under $1500 and mostly above. Ridiculous value.
I look forward to having a proper listen and a play over the next month
Looking at your closeups of the driver, i was wondering whether your unit suffers from a stuck diaphragm problem. This is a fairly common problem with the
He6sev2. I have two pairs of these and returned another two with stuck diaphragms. The distance between the diaphragm and the magnets should be the same on both sides of the diaphragm. If it looks like the diaphragm is touching the magnets on either side, you have a defective unit. Strangely, it will still play music, but it will sound nothing like as good as fully functional unit.
Some people say this can be fixed by performing a "reverse" CPR, i.e. getting a good seal on the opposite side of the stuck side, and sucking some of the air out.
I will check that out, thanks
Hey can you confirm there’s a new HD 25 Light model ? On Amazon it shows HD 25 Premium so I did a research and the headband design changed and now is using the same drivers as the HD 25
The HE6SE V2's are a really boggling heaphone. On the one end the Anorama edition has one of the worst Hifiman builds with slight dark blue and really choked grill as well as bad build quality overall (Not to mention the near *unbearable* included default cable), It's sound is another story. The Driver looks amazing as well and If memory serves, It's somewhat similar to the susvara's
Now I'm a bass head, and I like a punchy EQ, and from it's frequency response it's more neutral headphone overall... But even with deficient bass, Man it still hits semi hard un EQed. It's extremely dynamic and resolving with excellent micro details. Almost close to Tungsten levels (what I'm currently driving.)
I will have to have a good listen. Everyone in the comments seems to be quite positive about them
You're probably the only person to ever call the HE6 cable "nice". Most of the rest of us refer to it as medical tubing. It's also highly microphonic.
Different concerns. It's a good quality cable even if it looks and feels like shit.
To be fare... I did not try using it but it looks like some thought went into making it... Custom Cans cables are vastly superior ;)
ayyyyyyyyyy
fo shizzle
@@CustomCans you’re the best brother keep it goin
So are the traces on the se version still made out of gold?
Yes I have had a good look and it seems to be gold leaf applied to the diaphragm to make the traces
@@CustomCans That's cool I thought the se version got the rid of them.
Hey can you confirm there’s a new HD 25 Light model ? On Amazon it shows HD 25 Premium so I did a research and the headband design changed and now is using the same drivers as the HD 25