CHANGSTAR: Audiophile Headphone Reviews and Early 90s Style BBS

  • December 31, 2015, 09:37:00 AM
  • Welcome, Guest
Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  
Pages: 1 [2] 3 4 5 6 7 8

Author Topic: HE-6 modding/amping thread  (Read 6224 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Armaegis

  • Uphill, both ways
  • Able Bodied Sailor
  • Pirate
  • ***
  • Brownie Points: +76/-3
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 883
  • metallurgist, rocket scientist, swing dancer
Re: HE-6 modding/amping thread
« Reply #10 on: February 08, 2015, 10:04:48 PM »
I wonder if just the L-bracket can be replaced? Does that plastic cap come off easily? (I don't see anything obvious, but I don't want to just yank and break it either... my confidence in the build quality is rather low right now)
Logged
Do you think there may be an acoustic leak from the jack hole? ~Tyll Hertsens

Not sure if I like stuffing one hole or both holes. Tending toward one hole since both holes seems kinda ghey ~Purrin

knerian

  • Mate
  • Pirate
  • ****
  • Brownie Points: +26/-4
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 328
Re: HE-6 modding/amping thread
« Reply #11 on: February 08, 2015, 11:16:06 PM »
Quote from: Armaegis on February 08, 2015, 09:59:36 PM
Thanks. I'll have to look into that reseller...

Frak, it's like they've put loktite on everything. That screw isn't budging even with two vice grips.

They put loktite on it, when I unscrewed mine there was loktite (or something like that) on the screw.
Logged

Armaegis

  • Uphill, both ways
  • Able Bodied Sailor
  • Pirate
  • ***
  • Brownie Points: +76/-3
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 883
  • metallurgist, rocket scientist, swing dancer
Re: HE-6 modding/amping thread
« Reply #12 on: February 09, 2015, 12:56:54 AM »
I wonder if I really crank it with the vice grips if it'll unscrew or will I simply break it...

idea: use pliers and bend the existing L-bar and drill a new hole into it; what have I got to lose right?
Logged
Do you think there may be an acoustic leak from the jack hole? ~Tyll Hertsens

Not sure if I like stuffing one hole or both holes. Tending toward one hole since both holes seems kinda ghey ~Purrin

JoelT

  • Able Bodied Sailor
  • Pirate
  • ***
  • Brownie Points: +8/-0
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 115
Re: HE-6 modding/amping thread
« Reply #13 on: February 09, 2015, 03:07:14 AM »
I've done the following mods with mine, and power the headphone with the Ragnarok on high gain:

- Regrill the back side of the driver with an open mesh and remove all back damping material.

- Partial "Fuzzor" application; the 3 center magnet strips are fuzzored, but nothing else. The fuzzor seems to act as front side damping in addition to being a waveguide of sorts, so as you add more material, you begin to compress the soundstage that was opened up by removing the back side damping. Fully fuzzor'd, I felt the sound was actually quite close to the stock damping (not a good thing IMO). The problem is that without something to provide focus (such as Fuzzor), the imaging lacks specificity and isn't cohesive. My solution was to find how much of the fuzzor I could add, before the stage began to be shrink. I then combine the partial fuzzor with a pad insert of non-slip rug liner. The liner material improves the imaging considerably, and just as importantly, removes almost all of the remaining etch and glare. Here's a pic of the liner material insert:



- Swap the pads for Audeze Vegan pads, and then mod the pads. I agree with Clem that the Audeze pads have issues. Unfortunately I felt that the Focus-A's were a bit too bright and weren't as comfortable to boot. I noted a couple of problems with the Audeze pads that I addressed: A dip in the lower treble (sound familiar?), a loss of bass impact, a pervasive sense of softness. I made an overly verbose post on head-fi about what I've done with the pads, including some crackpot theory's about what I did: http://www.head-fi.org/t/493214/hifiman-he-6-planar-magnetic-headphone/15630#post_11237667

- Finally, seal the pads to the cup with the Audeze supplied adhesive once the fuzzor configuration was finalized. This provided better sub-bass response vs. using the HFM rings.
Logged

ohhgourami

  • Bad at NDAs
  • Able Bodied Sailor
  • Pirate
  • ***
  • Brownie Points: +129/-2
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 393
Re: HE-6 modding/amping thread
« Reply #14 on: February 09, 2015, 08:51:05 AM »
Damn it Joel! You got me interested. If it's something that will improve imaging and increase the lower treble, I'll do it.

Looks like I need to buy myself some rug liner now.

How do those 2 sheets of plastic around the inner pad affect comfort?
Logged

knerian

  • Mate
  • Pirate
  • ****
  • Brownie Points: +26/-4
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 328
Re: HE-6 modding/amping thread
« Reply #15 on: February 09, 2015, 10:10:51 AM »
Joel thanks for the link to your other thread, I saw the pics of your re-grill, it looks the same as mine.  Just curious - was your source an Ikea wastebasket?
Logged

Armaegis

  • Uphill, both ways
  • Able Bodied Sailor
  • Pirate
  • ***
  • Brownie Points: +76/-3
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 883
  • metallurgist, rocket scientist, swing dancer
Re: HE-6 modding/amping thread
« Reply #16 on: February 09, 2015, 03:53:34 PM »
I personally found the vegan pads a bit too darkish, probably related to that upper dip. I have J$ Beyer pads on mine, with a "sort of but not really fuzzor"1 in front and additional felt and angel hair2.

(1) basically thin strips of acoustic foam, no tapering, I think these are more just acting as spacers for the damping in front

(2) I glued some nylon stocking onto the mounting ring, added a small puff of angel hair fibres inside the ring, then a circle of soft thin felt on top (teensy bit smaller than the mounting ring, so it lifts the pads up for more breathing room). This is all held down when the pad is mounted.

Granted, my config is probably darker than most (personal preference), but still feels quick and clean to me. The J$ pads are brighter than vegans, maybe only a tiny notch below stock pleathers, but take out some of that edge (they do already have perforations on the bottom to allow more leakage into the foam). Then I varied the angel hair until it was where I wanted it.

I should post up pics sometime.
Logged
Do you think there may be an acoustic leak from the jack hole? ~Tyll Hertsens

Not sure if I like stuffing one hole or both holes. Tending toward one hole since both holes seems kinda ghey ~Purrin

Armaegis

  • Uphill, both ways
  • Able Bodied Sailor
  • Pirate
  • ***
  • Brownie Points: +76/-3
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 883
  • metallurgist, rocket scientist, swing dancer
Re: HE-6 modding/amping thread
« Reply #17 on: February 09, 2015, 07:53:18 PM »
Quote from: Armaegis on February 09, 2015, 12:56:54 AM
I wonder if I really crank it with the vice grips if it'll unscrew or will I simply break it...

idea: use pliers and bend the existing L-bar and drill a new hole into it; what have I got to lose right?

Well... I went and did it: http://www.head-fi.org/t/493214/hifiman-he-6-planar-magnetic-headphone/15915#post_11305678

Not perfect, but it works. Since my amps seem to be on the fritz, that'll probably be the next money sink so might as well save a few bucks on not buying a headband.
Logged
Do you think there may be an acoustic leak from the jack hole? ~Tyll Hertsens

Not sure if I like stuffing one hole or both holes. Tending toward one hole since both holes seems kinda ghey ~Purrin

JoelT

  • Able Bodied Sailor
  • Pirate
  • ***
  • Brownie Points: +8/-0
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 115
Re: HE-6 modding/amping thread
« Reply #18 on: February 09, 2015, 10:15:07 PM »
Quote from: ohhgourami on February 09, 2015, 08:51:05 AM
Damn it Joel! You got me interested. If it's something that will improve imaging and increase the lower treble, I'll do it.

Looks like I need to buy myself some rug liner now.

How do those 2 sheets of plastic around the inner pad affect comfort?

It might be worth a try, considering it's cheap and easy. Especially if you perceive some weaknesses in the areas mentioned. I use my modded HD800 as a reference for the treble and imaging, which offered some good perspective. The tape application on the inside of the pad doesn't impact comfort assuming that you take note of where your ears touch the pad, and make sure not to apply any of the tape to those areas. I would recommend starting with just the front application (that's all I currently am using), and then adding more to the back side of the pad if you want to continue boosting the lower treble. It make take a couple of attempts to get it right, and to get a nice clean application. Kinda stupid looking, but it seems to work. :-\

As for the liner material, I just ordered another material that I noticed Jerg using on his HE560 mod and Bill using on his LCD-2 mod. I'll report back how it compares once I receive the shipment. Based on the shape, it may prove more effective: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001TGOAHI/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


Quote from: knerian on February 09, 2015, 10:10:51 AM
Joel thanks for the link to your other thread, I saw the pics of your re-grill, it looks the same as mine.  Just curious - was your source an Ikea wastebasket?

I think mine was a file holder from Officemax, haha. Not the sexiest looking HE-6 grill, but I wasn't able to find anything better when I looked. Any suggestions for a better material would be cool.
Logged

knerian

  • Mate
  • Pirate
  • ****
  • Brownie Points: +26/-4
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 328
Re: HE-6 modding/amping thread
« Reply #19 on: February 09, 2015, 11:28:59 PM »
Quote from: Armaegis on February 09, 2015, 07:53:18 PM
Well... I went and did it: http://www.head-fi.org/t/493214/hifiman-he-6-planar-magnetic-headphone/15915#post_11305678

Not perfect, but it works. Since my amps seem to be on the fritz, that'll probably be the next money sink so might as well save a few bucks on not buying a headband.
Oh man congrats, at least you don't have to deal with the hassle of getting a new headband.
Logged
Pages: 1 [2] 3 4 5 6 7 8
« previous next »