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Can't EF600 drive HE6se? (alien.top)

submitted 1 year ago by Quiet-Fee7728@alien.top to c/headphones@hi-fi.community

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I'm confused. I went to a pretty big and renowned store. I was told that EF600 is not enough for HE6se or Susvara. Way not enough. But that's what I'm using at home! It's working fine with the knob at 9 o'clock for decent volume. I didn't believe this info at all. Am I mistaken or was he just saying nonsense to sell more expensive gears? What's your thoughts?

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[–] Warlord_Okeer_@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

While your HE6se gets loud enough, it might sound compressed if it's under powered. I found that my HE6se V2 had a tighter bass and better stage depth when given a lot of power. I remember seeing an interview with a Hifiman employee that said the v2 needs 10W per channel.

To see if you need more power you could just buy a cheap $100 speaker amp like a Fosi Audio v3 or a S.M.S.L DA-6, and pair it with Hifiman's HE-Adapter, or get Another cable . If it doesn't sound better then just return the amp.

[–] tomatillo_@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

huh, which store is this? no comment re: HE6se but the EF600 is legitimately designed FOR the susvara

[–] Quiet-Fee7728@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Yea, now that you've mentioned it, I recall it being advertised somewhere vaguely that EF600 is capable of driving Susvara with no problem.

About the store. It's one of the biggest retailers in China, 天域联达. Possibly the biggest. They have stores in Beijing, Guangzhou(where I'm at), Shanghai, along with numerous online stores. They have a great number of headphones and DAC/amps in store for demo and the staff there are experienced with lots of brands and products. That's exactly why their words made me confused about my understanding of amps.

I'm Chinese btw. As far as I know, the Chinese hifi community is much less educated. People tend to be overly stubborn with intangibles and snake oil. I just didn't expect a boss or manager from a renowned seller would act like this. I guess they have to sell stuff after all.

[–] wolandi@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If someone talks in watts, they don't know what they're about. The measure that matters is watts into 50 ohms load. This will be completely different (around 1/10th) of what an amp cam output into an 8 ohm load, which is typical for a speaker.

Hifiman list 2W into 50ohms on the HE6se.

But that's not the full story. The amplifier wattage spec is just where distortion gets high, not the maximum output. Many amps can sound amazingly good operating above that spec. I have used amps rated at 1W into 50ohms that have sounded amazingly good on HE6se.

[–] Quiet-Fee7728@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

Ah in that case EF600 should be enough with 5.12W per channel @32ohm balanced. Also the advertised 2W requirement maybe too loud for normal listening so perhaps just 1W would suffice. Everyone listens at different volume after all.

[–] hyde0000@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

On head-fi there is a guy that swear by EF400 pairing with HE6v2se.

While I haven't look at the spec of EF600, I'm going to assume if EF400 can drive HE6v2se then most likely EF600 will do just fine.

[–] blargh4@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

I think if ~110dB of headroom is not enough for you, you need to take better care of your ears. He’s a salesman, his job is to sell you things. If you don’t listen at dangerous volumes or need a ridiculous amounts of headroom for some other reason (ie, heavy EQ), it should be just fine.

[–] maXXXjacker@alien.top 1 points 1 year ago

I had similar concerns with my EF400 and my HE6se V2. To figure out whether or not I was getting the most optimal experience with my headphones, I picked up another amp that could do 8 watts into 50 ohms. The amp that I purchased was a Emotiva BasX A2m.

Honestly, the only real difference that I could pick up on was that the Emotiva could get much louder and I have no idea where the volume would max out but it's not something I care to find out as I will never be listening to where the Ef400 max out and the Emotiva.

I tend to listen around 75-80db on average which I measure through a dedicated dB meter I picked up off amazon and measuring in the cup and with the cups sealed in on the mic.

Since getting the Emotiva, I have lost interest in thinking what I have is not enough. EF400 is probably all I needed, I would like to think the EF600 is as well, so it's not something I would worry too much about or think you are missing out on some kinda sound quality leap by throwing more at the headphone.

I kept the Emotiva because the feeling of unlimited volume is nice and the amp sounds amazing.