Used HiFiMan HE6se Full-Size Over Ear Planar Magnetic Audiophile Adjustable Headphones V2

2025-05-15T10:07:57

Build quality is 3 stars, that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone familiar with Hifiman. I still gave 5 stars because I absolutely love the sound. Fast and punchy. Hits well above the price. Yes you'll need a fairly powerful amp. I run them off the ef500. I'll probably end up replacing the headband, not particularly comfortable nor enough clamping force for me. Supplied cable works fine but is just an awful plastic tubing thing. I started with the he-500s, mistake ever selling those. Went with the he560s, never really liked them. Now I'm in my happy place again.

Shelton K.

2023-01-31T15:50:27

Wonderful sounding headphones with very punchy bass and great soundstage. They do require a lot of power (current) to drive properly though. The build on them is fine, but they may not be very comfortable for you, depending on your head shape. Luckily this can be easily solved with a little DIY suspension strap. Soundstage can also be opened up even further with a very simple grill swap.

Mark M.

2023-01-23T23:41:30

Very good performance ^^

Sang k.

2023-01-21T03:08:31

The HE6se is based on an older design but it still has it where it counts. The sound slaps. It works well about everything I play through it and the low, low distortion and fine details allow me to tweak equalization when I want. Build quality doesn't match the MSRP but I was able to buy them at a discount and plastic components and headband seem fine for the price I paid. Comfort is a very personal thing, but I find these very comfortable. I already owned a pair of HE400se headphones so I expected these to be similar. The only drawback is these need a pretty beefy amp if you're going to get and volume. If you're only listening to contemporary, compressed music you could probably get by with a watt but I would recommend 2-4 watts.

JOEL R.

2023-01-18T12:50:37

Great sounding headphone! Base is punchy & goes down deep, really deep. neutral midrange, highly resolving treble. but I gave it 4star. Because of headband. If it comes with hifiman hybrid headband it would be perfect. yes, you need powerful amp. I connect it to speaker amp.

SEONG H.

2023-01-18T11:15:34

Poor build quality but the sound is great if paired with right amp.

DON S.

2023-01-12T11:08:34

Great sound quality. Needs a powerful amplifier. Wonky cable and weird build, but fits comfortably

ANDREW Y.

2022-12-27T07:32:55

I consider myself an audiophile, having a collection of over 25 headphones (assorted brands, all top end) and a number of amps. I have several Hifiman headphones ( Sundara, Edition X, Arya, Deva, HE560) and find the HE6 se to be the headphone I reach for almost every day. There is just something unique about them - from their realistic vocal, to their exquisite detail, to amazing imaging and texture/layering - they just bring out details and something special in every song you play through them. They took about 20 hours of play to really open up but just seem to get better and better as I use them more. They are the quite plain looking headphones which is funny considering how they sound - build quality is decent and comfort is too - they are a little heavy but you get used to the weight quickly. They need a potent amp to run them - don't even try anything with less than 2 watts - the more the better. The more power the better. Pick up a pair - you will not be disappointed - at 399 they are an absolute steal!

FRANK A.

2022-12-24T22:30:38

Recommended at $400 sale price.

PHIL D.

2022-12-22T17:40:15

Paid a lot less than it's often listed. One of those Adorama deals I couldn't resist. My first planar over-ear. Sounds pretty great. Pretty weak band with heavy cups, it slides around if I look up or down. I see people often replace the band on this. The cable is ridiculous, kind of like a couple thin wires run through a kinked-up plastic straws, never seen anything like it. A schiit magni 3 turned ALL the way up is good enough for me, but this thing likes the juice for sure. I've read up on Hifiman's sound and build quality and I basically knew what I was getting. I can work with this. I didn't expect it to be so blue.

ERICK P.

2022-12-22T08:57:40

Great Headphone but needs a powerful amp to drive them to full potential. I use speaker taps from my tube amplifier and they sound great with classical and jazz music. Vocals are great also.

WILLIAM H.

2022-12-10T18:38:51

I purchased the HE6seV2 as my first planar magnetic headphones based upon the positive feedback others have had of its sound quality and overall legendary status of its precursor, the HE6. The build quality/fit and finish are more or less what a headphone of the price paid (<$500) and I didn't expect much of it either with packaging commensurate with the price. However, I did not buy this for the fit and finish or packaging. Initially, I was slightly concerned prior to purchasing because of others claiming the high power requirements that this headphone had. Soon after purchasing my concerns were laid to rest. With the Fostex A4BL balanced headphone amp/DAC and running in balanced mode with high gain, I can comfortably listen at about the volume knob at 50%. At 100%, the headphone would cause defeaning levels of sound, at least to my ears. With power requirements out of the way, I found the sound quality to be the highest of all headphones/IEMs I currently own. This was after about 30-40 hours of music listening - all reviews of the sound quality speak of the neutral yet musical nature with impactful slam of percussion in music and I would agree wholeheartedly. This is not a basshead's headphone but the low end is accurate and tight, not dissimilar to how electrostatic headphones would present lows. Other reviews have indicated that the highs are sibilant but I found no evidence of this. It may be a YMMV issue with amp/dac used. I found the mids to be this headphone's strength, with microdetail representative of a flagship headphone. Additionally, the musical nature of this headphone does not make it fatiguing. Overall I am pleased with its purchase. It comes with a 2 year warranty so lets see how it holds up.

ALFONSO Y.

2022-10-31T13:01:11

Very nice headphone. Very good value. Punches well above its weight (price). I have a bunch of well regarded headphones - Dan Clark Stealths, Audeze LCD-5s, Sennheiser HD800S, etc. This is the only headphone I?ve got two of.

STEPHEN B.

2022-10-10T09:29:56

Very good neutral sound. Almost the same like you get from large speakers. Orchestra sounds great!

Max E.

2022-10-10T08:49:36

This planar is is amazing, clarity, spacious, positioning, subjecting that you have a DAC which is detail enough and powerful amp to push it well (FYR when doing comparison, I am using HugoTT2 high gain volume between 0 and +5 while -5 ~ 0 for DCA Stealth for similar sound pressure) (PS: the "steal" is true when on sale below <$500)

PETER S.

2022-10-02T18:40:37

On sale these are just as good a value for the money as the HE-560 which I also love when you factor cost in. There's a lot of drama about powering these, the key is to have a balanced DAC for 4 volts or better of input voltage. They need current and then you won't run out of volume wheel. The Sabaj A20d with it's 5.14v of output made it the easiest with a Topping A90 amp. The HE-560 is the same way, on a single ended Atom stack the treble sounded grainy and bass was MIA. Give them both current and you'll probably want to keep them for years. The most affordable way to power these is a used SMSL SP200 and Topping D10b DAC and you're set without melting down a credit card. The HE6se is basically an HE400i with more detail resolving. I have both and they really do sound to me like similar tuning. I prefer these over the Arya V2, but overall the best value is the HE560, as long as you have a balanced amp/DAC for those too. If you see a couple of photos of the stuff I have, the Amp/DAC I use every day is a Topping D10b and a Topping A90 (original version). The A90 just rocks it, everything sounds better than any other amplifier I've heard. If you equalize these with a big preamp reduction (-6db cuts the volume in half) then go big on power because you're going to need it.

NILES B.

2022-09-27T15:28:03

Great headphone, even better at the sale price. The one thing I've found is that it takes a good deal of power to drive these properly, but man, does that power reward you. I started driving these from my M1 Mac mini, usb to a Denafrips Ares II R2R DAC, balanced out to a Topping A30 Pro, and connected the HE6se V2 via the 4-pin balanced output. To get the best volume, I switched to the high gain setting. Beautiful sound. Punchy bass, plenty of low end with these, and I loved the the detail in Pink Floyd's Shine On You Crazy Diamond ... Wow, was a great listen. I then hooked the headphones up to the PrimaLuna EVO 300 Tube Integrated Amp in my 2-channel setup driven by a hi-res from Qobuz, into a Denafrips Iris DDC, to a Denafrips Venus II R2R DAC and into the PrimaLuna ... took a bit on the volume nob, but again, super nice headphones. Very detailed, plenty of bass, great detail in the midst and highs ... zero regrets getting these HE6se V2s ... and that's right out of the box. I expect they'll sound even better in a day or so. Don't put this purchase off like I did, when great sale, super nice headphones. Very highly recommended.

Edward B.

2022-09-05T10:04:49

Nice he6se! It has really nice voice and large sound space with a lot of details

Han W.

2022-08-01T15:34:55

Exceed expectations. Only getting better as I get more hours on them. Bass is more than adequate. Would recommend if you have the power necessary.

James R.

2022-04-16T21:00:44

Pretty good headphone. I use HE6se + EF400 combination. Plenty of power, a lot of details, clear sound. Beat my hd650 almost all the specs.

SHENGCHAO L.

2022-04-11T20:36:52

Wonderful headphone. After some break in period they sound even better. I love my Sundara's but they bass extension on these signature planar's is excellent. My SMSL SP200 is providing enough juice for these without a struggle.

Kavic D.

2022-04-08T08:45:17

These are wonderful when powered correctly. I was powering them with my Schiit Asgard 3 and was very disappointed with the sound output. Then I purchased the Jotunheim 2 and plugged the cans into the balanced out and wow, these sound amazing with the Jot. I barely have to turn the volume knob past 11 o'clock, while with the Asgard I had it at 3 o'clock which still wasn't that great. These cans sound so rich and detailed with the perfect amount of bass. Highly recommended if you have a powerful amp.

PALJOR S.

2022-03-14T08:32:00

Good price and amasing quality!

SUNG O.

2022-03-10T13:01:49

If you can get these at the sale price and have appropriate amplification to drive these they are absolutely fabulous! Driving with dual phone outputs from RME ADI-2 pro which is a great pairing in my opinion. I'm a long term audiophile and these are the best headphones I've heard from a frequency response perspective. The imaging is quite good too but probably not the best I've ever heard. But for the sale price you can't beat it!

JOEL F.

2022-02-11T13:54:58

This is a fantastic sounding set of cans, with the right amp. My Asgard 3 wasn?t enough, but the Lyr 3 seems to be the sweet spot. If you?re wondering if you have enough amp, then you probably don?t. They?re heavy, and the headband isn?t the best, but the build quality seems fine. I?m not a fan of the glossy blue, but whatever. That?s ok. Do yourself a favor and order a hart audio cable the day you order these. Then when you open the headphone box, just throw the stock headphone cable in the trash where it belongs. With the right amp, you?re REALLY going to like the sound of these, and for the sale price (about $600 iirc), you just can?t beat them.

MITCH A.

2022-01-27T08:45:13

Right out from the BOX they are good but a bit flat in sound but after 1-2 days of playing they sound amazing. They are so perfectly neutral with huge tons of micro details, refined, quick and punchy bass (not whoomp for bassheads). A way better than HEX v2. Of course they need powerful AMP but that mustn't be expensive. I use with ifi iCan Pro mainly ... ok it is not cheap but not very much down of SQ what I'm getting from Emotiva BasX A-100 with 100 Ohm home made jumpers. You have tons of power from it more than you need and great SQ in same time. For actual price of HE-6se V2 it is steal and there is no, absolutely no other headphones so good under 1000USD. After month of listening I think I do love them more than 4x times more expensive headphones from known brands.

Marcin M.

2022-01-26T07:34:04

This HE6SE V2 needs a lot of power to drive. Currently running a basic dac with Schiit Modi3 + NFJ&FX Audio Tube preamp + Schiit Madni 3, it already sounds better than my Sundara, though only marginally. Will wait for my Flux FA-10 to arrive to fully achieve HE6SE's potential. I haven't done any mod yet, will try the grill and pad mod after I have my AMP.

Wenge Z.

2022-01-20T09:35:13

I returned my pair due to the stuck magnet problem well known in the forums. I'm not sure if they're regurgitating the same old busted sets or if the Q.C. Is actually that bad. Needless to say I'm a little sour over the whole thing.

MIKE M.

2022-01-20T04:51:01

This is very nice equipement. Except cable, of course, but it's easy to replace with a better one. If you try silver one, you become clarity at highest level. Power hungry headphones, but you can good feed them with any obsolete amp or receiver. No need for modern, fancy, pointlessly expensive headphone amps. I can recommend Technics SU-Z2, nice little integrated amp (70´), with HE6SE addictive combo. And yes - sheepskin earpads are comfort improvement too.

31plan

2022-01-12T06:31:54

To me, this is the best headphone under $1000, much better than hd600, bigger sound stage, clean, detailed, more enjoyable, tight bass. It works great for all kinds of music I throw to it. Surprisingly, I feel it very comfortable (better than Focal Elegia), maybe just me. The cable looks very cheap but works OK. The only drawback is it requires lots of power, currently I use Drop thx 789 and also tried with speaker amp. THX 789 can barely provide enough power.

Dong W.