HiFiMAN HE-Adaptor

HiFiMAN HE-Adaptor

The HiFiMAN HE adaptor represents the royal road to drive a pair of HiFiMAN headphones without a separate amplifier by connecting it to the speaker terminals of a Hifi amplifier of elevated quality. Thus, one is no longer dependent on powerful headphone pre-amps in order to drive HiFiMAN magnetostats.

How does one connect it?

The HE adaptor has got speaker terminals located at the back of its enclosure permitting  connection of bare wire, cable shoes, and banana plugs. On the front there is a four-pin XLR socket, suited for HE-5 LE and HE-6 models. The adaptor connects like a common pair of loudspeakers.

Inside the HE adaptor operates a simple network of resistors fulfilling two purposes: One, linearization of impedance to 6-8? (correlating with the respective headphone), permitting the use of both tube amplifiers and dated transistor amplifiers without risking unwanted resonance. Two, Hifi amplifiers with undistorted output rating of up to 100W at the given impedance may be used with the HE adaptor.

In the event your HiFiMAN comes without a four-pin XLR jack, your Hifi retailer will be happy to manufacture an appropriate cable.

What is to be paid particular attention to?

Under no circumstances ought the four-pin XLR jack be converted to a TSR connector, also known as headphone jack. This would result in short-circuiting a symmetrical amplifier. HiFiMAN headphones are symmetrically wired and can, therefore, be driven by a symmetrical amplifier.
The HE adaptor ought not be used simultaneously with a pair of loudspeakers. We recommend either connecting it instead of existing loudspeakers or operating it on your amplifier's separate speaker terminal, i.e. commonly labelled Speaker B.
Please do not use amplifiers exhibiting high levels of noise floor. In spite of the HifiMAN's  elevated  power requirements—unusual for a headphone—it is nevertheless 1,000 times more sensitive than a common loudspeaker, for it sits closely to your ear.
A good headphone pre-amplifier continues to be the optimal option to drive a pair of HifiMAN  headphones.