Hifiman HE6SE v2 : Mods and Stuff

This is a continuation of my previous review of the Adorama Edition of the Hifiman HE6SE and this article will focus on some of the simple mods I've made.

Headbands & Grills:

For physical mods, I've performed two thus far: A grill swap and a headband suspension strap addition.

Grills: 

The first simple mod to do is to just remove the grill from each cup. This is pretty simple to do. You can use your finger nail to remove the holding ring on each cup and it'll de-clip and pop off. Running it without a grill will open up the soundstage a bit and also increase sub-bass performance.

Here's a measurement of the two variables:

The bold gray line is the normal configuration with the default grills. The pink line is what it looks like without grills on at all. As you can see, the sub-bass rises a bit, and the mids are more evened out. 

Of course, some may prefer to have a grill in-place and one that is available to quickly purchase and use is this one that I use featuring a honeycomb pattern. It is linked below:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/HIFIMAN-Aluminum-Headphone-Honeycomb-Grilles-Set-of-2-Satin-Black/264869083077

This grill measures pretty much identical to the grill-less measurement above. You can make your own with any grill material you find. People have used car grills, bird prevention grills, and other things you can find online or at your hardware store. Some have made 3D-Printed grills too!

Headband Mod:

When I first got this unit, the headband was a little uncomfortable, with a hot spot right in the center top of my head. Aside from that, I actually really like this headband, though it is a little heavy. One thing to help with both of these comfort nitpicks, is to create a suspension strap, similar to how the other Hifiman headbands have.

For this, I used a piece of leather from a local fabric/hobby store and trimmed it down to size. I then punched a couple small holes on either end and used twisty-ties to thread it through the holes and around the metal sliding part of the headband, as shown in the photo above. It works quite well, and adjusts with your head. I've found this helps comfort quite a bit. Someone more crafty can make something much better than me probably! :)

Headphone Pads

I've tried several pads on this unit in the past few weeks and there's been a few that I've kept and measured. Here are three of them:

The dashed-gray line is the Hifiman HE6SE V2 with Grill Mod and default Pali Pads.

Blue: Dekoni Elite Leather Pads for Hifiman

Purple: Defean Hybrid Leather Pads for Hifiman

Green: Dekoni Elite Hybrid Pads for Fostex TH610

One other pad that I did not put on this chart was the Hifiman Focus pads. These pads measure identically to the Pali pads but use a velour fabric for the skin-touching top surface instead of the perforated and itchier fabric material on the Pali pads. I find these are perfect for sound and comfort for my tastes.

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