ARCHIVED FORUM -- March 2012 to February 2022READ ONLY FORUM
This is the second Archived Forum which was active between 1st March 2012 and 23rd February 2022
I did not really like the H6 when it was released, a bit thin on an iPhone and a big headphone. And expensive. So I bought the B&W P5 instead. Quite good comfort and good sound. But.. I just had to give the H6 a try so I bought a pair a few days ago (the black model - after a lot of pondering).I now have a completely different feeling about the H6. They sound very natural and good. I like how detailed and precise the sound is. You can hear so many details very well and how acoustic noises changes in frequencies in a wonderful way. They are also very comfortable, I don't get any pain on or around my ears but I do feel some pressure from the cushions on the top of the headphone after a while so I move them to another place on my head after a few hours. It is ok. The biggest concern I have with the headphones is that they are so demanding. I have listened to them a lot on both iPhone and my MacBook Pro Retina and the difference is night and day. The Mac can drive them quite well on its own. The iPhone (5S) can drive them fairly ok but it is very obvious that the power output is much weaker. The sound is much more dull and you can't play very loud. I play music on my Mac at home mostly, not much noise to care about around me there. But I play music thru my iPhone on busses, trains and other crowded places - in these places the H6 doesn't sound very good on the iPhones output, it needs more power.
I am thinking about buying a headphone amp but I don't want to loose the headset feature (microphone, volume and answer buttons). I might end up designing my own Cmoybb-amp if I can design it to be very thin and send the data for the controller on the H6-cable. (I know I can use any other stereo cable but I want to be able to talk and adjust volume easily). I still have my P5´s and I'll probably use both pairs since the H6 is much bigger but I am not sure. Will have to try them more before I know if I will sell the P5s or keep them.
Beolab 50, Beolab 8000 x 2, Beolab 4000 x 2, BeoSound Core, BeoSound 9000, BeoSound Century, BeoLit 15, BeoPlay A1, BeoPlay P2, BeoPlay H9 3rd Gen, BeoPlay H6, EarSet 3i, BeoVision Eclipse Gen 2 55", BeoPlay V1-40, BeoCom 6000 and so much else :)
My wife has a pair of H6's in tan, and I am consistently impressed by them. As you say, they sound good on an iPod/iPad, really good IMO, but come alive with a better headphone amp. I have never worn a more comfortable pair of headphones, nor perhaps a more neutral set. I did have yrs ago a great set of JVC HA/D-990's, they were wonderful, but nowhere near as comfortable, and would not have been drivable at all with an iPod. I wish I still had them though to compare sonically, it's been so many yrs I can't recall their sound in detail.
I won't know of any amps with a pass thru, I get the odd catalog and as Xmas is drawing nigh am innundated, if I see any with pass thru I'll let you know.
Jeff
I'm afraid I'm recovering from the BeoVirus.
Beosound Stage, Beovision 8-40, Beolit 20, Beosound Explore.
Nice to hear Jeff. I tried the tan-edition also, which I like but it made me look like Princess Leia. The black one is a bit more discrete and thats good for me, I just want to be invisible :). Soundwise, also nice to hear your opinion (and Chris´s). I can't remember hearing a pair of headphones with a more true sound.Im not sure how to pass the controller-data and mic-data but I think Apple sends this data over the extra pin + ground. Not the biggest issue but I want it :). Thanks for keeping an eye open in the catalogs!
Has anyone tried the H6 with a BeoSound/Beomaster/Beocenter?
I am looking for a pair of good headphones for home, so I am wondering if the internal headphone amps of (classic) B&O audio products will drive them nicely, or if an outboard headphone amp will be necessary?
Thanks.
I like the princess L idea!
I saw some light coloured H6 headphones on display at John lewis in London and they'd been tried on a few times ,making them a bit grubby. They reminded me of the Ferrari headphones by Logic 3
http://store.ferrari.com/en/home-office/logic3-audio/headphones/ferrari-cavallino-t350-audio-headphones.html
Beo Century ,Beoplay V1, Beocenter 6, Ex-Beolit 12, Beotime , A8. Beolit 15 , Form 2i , Beolab 2000, Beoplay A3.Beosound 1
My wife went for the tan ones, how they will look as they "patina" from dirt and such I don't know, but I sure like the way they look new. I guess I'm just tired of black headphones, though that color certainly has dirt showing advantages.
I'm not sure if Peter has commented on the H6's, but if I was "stepping up" I'd be benchmarking them against Senheisser HD600's. I'd be interested to hear Peter's comments on the H6 vs HD600, knowing he is an owner of the 600's.
Ban boring signatures!
I have never been a great fan of headphones - heavy, ugly, bulky, tinny sounding things useful for keeping your ears warm in winter!
Until now!
I was in the UK visiting my 25 yr old son in Birmingham a few weeks ago and we ended up looking for the B&O shop (as we all do on visits to strange places) only to find it gone - what a surprise. So on a look around Selfridges I noticed a Beolit 12 on the shelf amongst Bose and B&W stuff and asked a great guy called 'Jonny' how come the B&O but no publicity. We spoke for ages then he said they did have some headphones.
My son has a broken pair of Senheisser's so we looked to see what they had in Selfridges, only to be presented with a pair of H6's in a sealed glass case. Jonny got them out for us and we tried them and my son's eyes lit up, saying a huge 'WOW' and that they were far better than his Senheissers. I then tried them and couldn't stop smiling.
My old preconceptions of headphones evaporated. The H6's are light yet feel robust. So comfortable on the head that I forget I'm wearing them. All sound from the Selfridges audio department was eliminated by the cushions and the sound was sublime.
I've now got a tan pair of my own (240£ for a new pair via eBay) and use them every day. I've been listening to some of my favourite music which I've listened to for over 40 years on CD, vinyl, digital via an ipod and A8's and can now pick out musical detail that up to now has eluded me. The separation of instruments on some of my live recordings is incredible, so much so that I've found that even Steve Hackett playing live does make some mistakes! None of the music is muddied and I have to say that I don't find the volume when using an ipod too low. If I want loud music I'll play it at home on a bigger amp set-up with some bigger speakers. When using the headphones I want the isolation of me and my music.
With the H6's, that's what I now get. No interference from the outside and pure, clean music to my ears. I've just bought my son a pair in limited edition Agave Green for a Christmas present.
If you have'nt got a pair, buy some now and open up your ears.
Many thanks to Jonny in Selfridges Birmingham. Nice, helpful guy who would like to sell some more B&O equipment.
Dave.
Bump
Has anyone tested if the inboard headphone amp of the typical Beomaster/Beocenter/Beosound audiomasters is sufficient to drive a pair of H6 to its best?
Thanks
I tried it both on the headphone jack of the BeoSound 5 Encore and the headphone jack on a BV11. Still very much like the iPhone/iPad in terms of being properly driven.
Ah, you know... A little B&O here, a little there
we tend to forget there is more to design than designing.
Mark:I see on the box they are made in Japan, do we know who makes them on B&O's behalf?
It says China on my box so I think they are made in the same places as the other headphones they do, and a lot of other things in the Beoplay (and B&O) portfolio, such as BeoLit etc.
BeoMegaMan: I tried it both on the headphone jack of the BeoSound 5 Encore and the headphone jack on a BV11. Still very much like the iPhone/iPad in terms of being properly driven.
Sad news, I would have liked to get the best out of the H6 without adding an extra box for the outboard headphone amp
Well I've just tried my H6's via the required Stereo Width Box for my restored Beolab 5000 system from Frede at Classic Audio and at volume 2 out of 10, I'm not sure I'd want to turn the volume up much more! They sound excellent - very clean, clear sound and no problems with bass underperforming.
I´ve been listening to the H6´s for a little more than two weeks now and I think that the sound is getting better as they are being worn in. I find tremendous amounts of detail in bass on some tracks, for example the album "Pure heroine" by Lorde has a lot of bass, song and other details that I think sounds very good now on my H6´s even from my iPhone 5S.
I hope they will continue to develop a little more and I am sure they will. The H6´s are hard to love immediately, you have to listen a bit until you realize how it surprises you with very high quality - precise - sound. Can almost feel my heart rate go down as I enjoy the sound!
I never thought there would be a site with even more info on the H6 than here.....
http://www.head-fi.org/t/659291/press-release-bang-olufsen-announces-beoplay-h3-and-h6-headphones/135
Puncher: I'm not sure if Peter has commented on the H6's, but if I was "stepping up" I'd be benchmarking them against Senheisser HD600's. I'd be interested to hear Peter's comments on the H6 vs HD600, knowing he is an owner of the 600's.
I did go into Newcastle and listened to them very briefly against my HD600s. They are very good but not as good as the 600s. The 600s have a very flat response and have better bass - the H6s are not quite as extended and also not quite as comfortable but I do have an unfeasibly large head!
Peter
Peter: Puncher: I'm not sure if Peter has commented on the H6's, but if I was "stepping up" I'd be benchmarking them against Senheisser HD600's. I'd be interested to hear Peter's comments on the H6 vs HD600, knowing he is an owner of the 600's. I did go into Newcastle and listened to them very briefly against my HD600s. They are very good but not as good as the 600s. The 600s have a very flat response and have better bass - the H6s are not quite as extended and also not quite as comfortable but I do have an unfeasibly large head!
It should be noted that the HD600s are open style earphones that is the best headphone to use in public, the H6 is a closed over ear-design. I can´t find prices for HD600s in sweden but HD600 is actually about 100 dollars cheaper in sweden than H6. Also they look terrible.
Hi,
My wife is now the lucky owner of a H6. Sound from the BV11 headphone jack was good and louder than from the iPhone 5S. To be able to turn up the volume on the iPhone we bought a FiiO E12 headphone amp, which is a great, portable combination. Connected through the 30pin/lightning adaptor, the 30pin in FiiO cable from the iPhone to the headphone amp.
The only downside is that the microphone on the headphone cable with iPhone is not working with the amp.
Cheers,Frank
I think it is a big shame that Bang & Olufsen uses cheap plastic on the housing surrounding the speaker instead of aluminium.
For this price, it should have been aluminium !
I just got a pair of H6s and really like them. I am noticing a little bit of crackling occasionally, but I am wondering if I am just being overly sensitive (as I am sometimes when I just make a big purchase). Is there possibly something wrong with these?
pnewelljr: I just got a pair of H6s and really like them. I am noticing a little bit of crackling occasionally, but I am wondering if I am just being overly sensitive (as I am sometimes when I just make a big purchase). Is there possibly something wrong with these?
There should be no crackling. The only time I ever hear anything like that is when the headphone jack turns in the output so it's hopefully just a physical connection issue. You could try cleaning the jack and trying to blow out any contamination from the output socket - they can get a lot of dust in them.
It's very faint in the background. I am wondering if it is just due to my sound quality. I am using an iPhone and AAC 256. What would be a good flac track for me to use to test?
I seriously doubt it's the encoding, I use AAC 256 kbs VBR and have no issues either on speakers or the H6 or my Form 2s. I'd try it with another source, that kind of thing has in my experience usually been due to bad contacts, dirty contacts or a plug not completely snapped in, or a defective wire with a bad connection to the plug. And/or try a different set of cans on the iPhone. My iDevices won't play that loudly with the H6, it's not as efficient as the Form 2s but I don't have any real issues.
pnewelljr:It's very faint in the background. I am wondering if it is just due to my sound quality. I am using an iPhone and AAC 256. What would be a good flac track for me to use to test?
"You think we can slap some oak on this thing?"
Hmm, that isn't reassuring. I feel like I might just be imagining it. Isn't it really unlikely that brand new headphones would have an issue?
On a side note, I am shocked people think these are weak in bass. I think it sounds perfect personally. Are the earphone vibrating from the bass? No. But the bass is very much present and sounds great in my option.
Now that I listen again, it kind of sounds like what happens if you don't use a pop filter when recording sounds. And again, it very faint. Which is making me thing it is the recording, maybe the pop filter they used sucked? I am listening to Taylor Swifts new album btw
H6 looking good value tonight on Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00C4VFYRC?colid=3IR721MNWWYM8&coliid=I2AI2Z7YQORWKW&psc=1&ref_=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl
Guy:H6 looking good value tonight on Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00C4VFYRC?colid=3IR721MNWWYM8&coliid=I2AI2Z7YQORWKW&psc=1&ref_=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl