If you really want to see what more treble sounds like, try the Moondrop Chu. I got both and literally returned it because the treble was too much for me. But for my ears, Beyerdynamic headphones are much too shrill. So take my advise with a grain of salt lol

That would be the HD 700. I have both and the 700 is better in every way, except the 560s has better sub bass. That being said, the 560s are surprisingly close to the 700 and apparently the 660s uses the same drivers as the 700. I think you should try the 660s in person before committing.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that the HD 700 are discontinued unfortunately. The 660s are similar but idk if the soundstage is similar as well. In that case, the HD 800s would be better for you, if soundstage is a priority.

Planars do that for me. It feels like removing cotton balls out of my ears. Even the Hifiman HE 560 does that for me, although the mids are a bit dry for my taste. But that’s not to say that only planars do that. The Sennheiser HD 700 also does that even though it has dynamic drivers. And as others have mentioned, the HD 800 also does that.

Username checks out :)

No, no… you ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO spend at least 10x more on an amp and DAC. That’s how you get the most out of your headphones! Otherwise, they’ll just sound like poo poo.

^(in case this wasn’t obvious since there’s some weird people who actually believe this…)

#/S

15 Step by Radiohead

As others have said, a cardboard box with bubble wrap or newspaper works. I have a sizable stash so I have a separate box for input tubes and power tubes. I’d love to get something like this eventually but idk. I’m cheap lol

I wear glasses and headphones at the same time. I do use some of the most comfortable headphones ever, which are the HD 700 and the Aeons. Changing pads on other headphones can help sometimes.

Use whichever works best for you. I know, that doesn’t really answer anything. Rule of thumb is low gain has less distortion than high gain. Some headphones require a bit more juice, so the high gain option would work better if you’re not getting enough volume. In my experience, it can also help increase the bass and slam a tad bit. So if they’re sufficiently powered on low gain, stick to low gain. It really depends on the headphones.

I still browse head-fi from time to time, especially since they tend to have more information on higher end or obscure items. But then there’s posts like these where people go completely overboard. They’ll mod their headphones, amp, DAC, PC trying to chase those 1% improvements. I’m just like… maybe you need to change something else in your life and not your setup if you’re not enjoying it 😬

Man, as if this hobby wasn’t esoteric enough. That’s why people think we’re insane

What is this pile of horseshit???

Crossposting a comment I literally just made regarding a similar situation

Yeah… it’s hard to say for sure since I don’t have the same exact gear. I do have the Aeon Open Flow which is rated at 13ohms with a sensitivity of 93db and a Creative Sound BlasterX G6. While it drives the Aeons more than loud enough, it sounds harsh and grainy compared to the Magni 3+ and the tube amp I have. It could be a similar scenario or the XS just aren’t to your liking. That’s the difficult part about this hobby.

>couldn’t hear the good sound stage it is supposed to have.

>not much depth

>quickly fatigued

I’ll take a wild guess... Do you not have a proper amp/DAC? I don’t have the Edition XS but I do have other planars and they typically require a good amp with lots of current.

My bad, having more options doesn’t make it any easier lol! Man, I’m super tempted to see if I can turn my Elekit into a preamp and get a pair of monoblocks to power some crazy speakers.

And building the amp was fun and easy to me! I didn’t really have much experience either, it’s just that well designed. My amp was damaged by a brownout recently so all I had to do was change the damaged FETs. Victor actually helped me out with that. I got the replacement parts from him as well. He replied quickly, very pleasant to deal with. Here’s a look at the insides when my older brother and I repaired it back in April this year.

Lol you’re welcome! 😇

Honestly, I don’t think the Elekit struggles with the HE6se. I just can’t say for sure since I have no other reference point. Emotiva has some awesome looking amps spec wise. I mean, 8.5w @ 47ohms????? That’s ridiculous! And it’s cheap lol

Yeah… I’m only using it since I already have it lol! In your case, it’s better to just get a powerful amp. Maybe even a speaker amp since the HE6se need lots of current.

You, sir or madam, are what everyone should aspire to become in this hobby. Someone who actually listens to gear instead of reading graphs, or parroting the same narrative without having much experience in said parroted narrative.

My gear isn’t the typical stuff you usually find. I got the Elekit TU-8200 tube amp and the Questyle CAS192D DAC. I also have a Peachtree Audio DAC•iT^x and a myriad of other amps. Why do I have such relatively esoteric gear? Because I listened to a bunch of different crap when I first started. That’s how I knew that DACs do in fact make a difference and how I learned that tube amps aren’t just distortion galore. My favorite solid state amps sounded similar to tube amps so I was like… I’ll just get a tube amp that’s easy to fix!

I honestly have no idea if a preamp would help, hopefully someone smarter than me can chime in. I believe a preamp’s job is to boost a low or quiet signal to line level by increasing the voltage. It will make the headphones or speakers louder but they won’t sound as good since they won’t have the required current to drive them properly. That is my understanding but I could be totally wrong. (I’m not a scientician)

That issue can be solved by using the Elekit as a preamp instead, then hooking it up to some monoblock amps to have more than enough current. EDIT: It doesn’t have to be monoblocks, a stereo or multi-channel power amp works too. Unfortunately, the Elekit TU-8200 doesn’t have pre outs. The TU-8500 is an actual preamp so it does. Something like this might work to convert the banana plugs into pre outs. But… I’ve never used it so I’m not sure if the Elekit’s noise floor is too high. That could be solved by adding a passive volume control but now there’s hella crap in the signal chain lol!

But the Elekit by itself is a great amp. Really fun and easy to understand. My older brother did the soldering and I assembled it. It took a total of 8 hours to build, but we went slow lol. It sounds fantastic! Definitely rivals some $2000+ tube amps I’ve heard. I highly, highly recommend it.

Not quite ringing in my ears but I would get fatigued after a 1-2 hour listening session. Upgrading my amp and DAC did away with the fatigue and I could enjoy music again. Always at safe volumes though.

The amp I have is the Elekit TU-8200DX. There’s an updated version available now. It’s a DIY kit though. I believe you can buy a pre assembled one for idk how much more from vkmusic.ca but I’m not sure.

To be completely honest, I’m have no idea if my amp is properly driving them. I don’t have a 100w speaker amp or a headphone amp with more power to test it out. The Elekit is rated at 8wpc at 8ohms in ultra linear. I keep seeing people saying that Hifiman recommends 2w at 50ohms but I couldn’t find anything on their website. I will say this though, I love how the HE6se sound on the Elekit. Compared to my other planars, (Aeon Open Flow, HE 560) they need a tad bit more volume but they don’t seem to struggle. Still sounds full, clear, and punchy

Maybe something like the Schiit Jotunheim would be better for you. It’s $400 by itself or $500 with a DAC built in. It’s rated at 4w @ 50ohms balanced so more than enough power for them. People also like to use them with speaker amps connected directly to them with speaker taps. I honestly don’t know which is better since I haven’t used either method.

+15db high shelf????? 😱😱😱🤢🤮

Ovals are fine. Circles can be a bit uncomfortable at times, even if they have a large inner diameter. Depends on the headband, clamp force, weight as well.

Telefon Tel Aviv - Fahrenheit Fair Enough