I usually put new pads on headphones I'm trying to sell as a courtesy anyway. So yeah, I'd just get new pads. They're cheap and prospective buyers will appreciate it

The M50 is the most overrated headphone, easily. All the people who praise it are tech bros who just bought their first nice headphone on the recommendation from random tech YouTubers. Meanwhile, I've never heard any actual audiophile say anything nice about it.

4-pin mini-XLR is SSS-tier

Crin is just a man on the internet with opinions. Nothing more, nothing less.

Forza

Aukey

Actually yeah, the Emotiva A2m has been on my radar for a while, and writing these comments lead me to discover the current sale, so I pulled the trigger on my own last night, too, lol. I'm excited to give it a listen. It very well could be the most wattage for your dollar currently, and while there aren't tons of reviews out there yet, the ones there are are positive.

I can't comment on how much DACs influence the HE6se V2 as I only have my one, the Schiit Modius. I think it mostly depends on the amp in your chain. Some amps might not have enough headroom to EQ to headphone if they're only getting a 2V signal from a non-balanced DAC. Similarly, some hybrid amps are Class A through most of their volume range and switch to Class A/B at the top end, and a 4V signal might provide the headroom to keep the amp in its pure Class A range, whereas a non-balanced 2V signal might require pushing the amp into a volume range that means it switching to Class A/B and thus degrading the quality.

So, it's hard to say how important the DAC is without knowing what amp it's being connected to. But the Schiit Modius like I have is a good 4V balanced DAC that can be had for just $200, so again you don't really need to break the bank. You just need to know what to buy.

I don't have any experience with specifically 2-3W amps, my amp collection jumps from 1W to 4W. So maybe there's a 2-3W amp that would make the HE6 shine, but the general consensus from the Head-Fi HE6 community is that you need to start around 4W.

A thing I dislike is that this all can sound very gatekeeper-y and I hate gatekeeping in any hobby, so I am again eager to point out that, while this headphone does seem to benefit from every watt you can give it, you don't have to spend a lot of money to get all those watts. Good +100WPC speaker amps can be found used for around or under $100 very easily and they are a very popular and inexpensive way to get heaps of enjoyment out of this headphone. There's also the Emotiva BasX A2m that's normally $350, currently on sale for $250.

You don't need to spend a lot of money to get the best out of this headphone, you just need to get exactly the right gear.

Honestly, the problem is pretty unique to the HE6se v2 and a small handful of other headphones still on the market. The HE6's problem in particular is that it is a bit of a dinosaur, based on driver design that is almost 15 years old now. These days, most modern headphones will sound just fine on most modern amps and you don't have to worry about any of this. But the dinosaur HE6, unfortunately, really does benefit from every watt you can give it.

What the HE6se V2 can sound like when properly amped is very raw, energetic, aggressive, ultra-detailed, ultra-fast, great bass slam, etc etc. Properly amped, this headphone can keep up with others three or four times its price. Without adequate power, the bass slam and speed vanishes, the soundstage narrows, and the highs lose all energy and become very vague and dull. Sounds like a completely different and just much worse headphone.

For instance, the way I normally listen to my HE6se V2 is by connecting it to the speaker taps on my Onkyo AVR that's good for 150WPC@8ohms (which is about 24WPC@50ohms). I'll be the first to tell you that this is extreme overkill, that much power is absolutely not necessary, but 1) it certainly eliminates any doubts you could have about providing adequate power, and 2) the AVR only cost me $100 used. Driving the HE6 this way, the wattage-to-dollar ratio is out of this world.

So my overkill Onkyo AVR is my point of reference. It allows me to hear everything that people endlessly praise this headphone for. And so from there, I experimented with how it sounds on other amps I own. The least powerful amp I tried was my little Liquid Spark, which is good for about 1W or so. Totally inadequate. No slam, no speed, no energy, etc. Honestly just bad. I love the amp for a lot of headphones in my collection, but it just doesn't cut it for the HE6.

It wasn't until I bumped up to my Liquid Platinum, which is good for about 4W, where I really started hearing that greatness that I was hearing with my overkill Onkyo. Such that if all I had was my Liquid Platinum, yeah, that'd be fine. I would say the LP's 4W is enough to get you nearly everything this headphone can deliver. It turns out that I don't really care for the planars-on-tubes sound, so I don't pair them often, but I found the LP to be technically capable for sure.

The community for this headphone on Head-Fi, we find that amps like the Liquid Platinum or the Schiit Jotunheim are about as low as you want to go in terms of wattage to extract most of what this headphone is capable of. One lesser-known amp that's been getting a bit of attention lately from HE6 owners is the Emotiva BasX A2m, which when set up in direct drive mode, is good for a whopping 8.5WPC@50ohms, and the amp only costs $350. Good bang for the buck.

All of the amazing things you hear people say about this headphone, honestly it's 100% true, it's real, the headphone can do it. Unfortunately, unlike modern headphones, you do just need to work for it. That's not to say you have to spend money to get there. Like I said, my Onkyo AVR I use with mine only cost me $100 used, and there is a good crop of dedicated headphone amps available new today that have adequate power without absurd price tags, like the ones I mentioned earlier. Just... some specialized gear is unfortunately required to really extract every ounce of greatness out of this dinosaur headphone.

Adequate volume =/= adequate power

Circles are cheap and easy to make.

NewFantasia and Youkamoo are two budget cable manufacturers that I've purchased from a number of times and never been disappointed.

Who doesn't love a +40db boost at 5hz

At least Beyer isn't saying the same headphone is "New and improved!" every year while jacking up the price 10% each time

Come to the dark side

RTings are absolute geniuses when it comes to TV and monitor reviews. Headphones, though... not so much.

I love mine. I bought one last year, got my giggles out of it and sold it. Then the other month I had to buy another one to scratch the itch because I just missed the darn thing. It's a silly, stupid, absurd headphone in the best ways and it's an extremely fun thing to listen to a couple times a month. Audiophiles look elsewhere, and if you're the kind of person that wants to own one headphone and one headphone only, this is not it. But if you've already got a collection of a couple good headphones or more and want something to add to your collection that's just a bonkers laugh, it's wonderful.