The HiFiMAN HE-6se V2 is 50Ω at 83.5 dB (no reference unit printed); the HiFiMAN HE600 is 28Ω at 94.0 dB (no reference unit printed). This page is only about what they ask of an amplifier — not how they sound, which no specification on either sheet can tell you.
The HE-6se V2 needs 10.5 dB more than the HE600 to reach the same loudness — 45 mW against 4.0 mW.
| Specification | HE-6se V2 | HE600 |
|---|---|---|
| Impedance | 50 Ω | 28 Ω |
| Sensitivity | 83.5 dB | 94.0 dB |
| Sensitivity (voltage) | 96.5 dB/V | 109.5 dB/V |
| Power for 100 dB | 45 mW | 4.0 mW |
| Voltage for 100 dB | 1.49 V | 0.33 V |
| Current for 100 dB | 29.9 mA | 11.9 mA |
| Highest source impedance that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule) | 6.25 Ω | 3.50 Ω |
| Sources that reach 100 dB out of 280 | 240 | 280 |
One caution before reading the rows. HiFiMAN HE-6se V2 and HiFiMAN HE600 printed a decibel figure with no reference unit, so this page reads it as per milliwatt. If it is really per volt, each of them needs far more than the table says. Why the two readings differ by so much.
40 of the 280 sources have the power for the HE600 but not for the HE-6se V2 — Apple USB-C dongle (US), Apple USB-C dongle (EU), Generic CX31993 dongles, 37 more.
1 source is low enough in output impedance for the HE-6se V2 under the one-eighth rule but not for the HE600 (Shanling H5).
240 of the 280 sources here reach 100 dB on both. That count is about power only — the output-impedance and hiss lines above are separate questions, and a source can pass this one and fail those.
The gap between these two in decibels does not change with volume — it is a property of the two headphones. What changes is the size of the numbers, and it changes fast: every 10 dB costs ten times the power. The row that matters is the one nearest the level you listen at, and for most people that is nearer the top of this table than the bottom.
The HE-6se V2 is more demanding than 99% of the 567 non-electrostatic models in this database; the HE600 than 78%. Both figures use the same measure as the rest of the site: whichever runs out first against a 2 V, 100 mW dongle, voltage or power.
| dB SPL | HE-6se V2 power | HE-6se V2 voltage | HE600 power | HE600 voltage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 80 | 0.45 mW | 0.15 V | 0.04 mW | 33 mV |
| 85 | 1.4 mW | 0.27 V | 0.13 mW | 59 mV |
| 90 | 4.5 mW | 0.47 V | 0.40 mW | 0.11 V |
| 95 | 14 mW | 0.84 V | 1.3 mW | 0.19 V |
| 100 | 45 mW | 1.49 V | 4.0 mW | 0.33 V |
| 105 | 141 mW | 2.66 V | 13 mW | 0.59 V |
105 dB is included because forum power figures are usually quoted there or higher. It is also a level that damages hearing in minutes — how many minutes is its own calculator.
| Source | Price | Headroom, HE-6se V2 | Headroom, HE600 | Output impedance | Noise |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FiiO KA11 | $29 | 4.6 dB | 17.1 dB | 0.7 Ω | 1.7 µV |
| FiiO BTR13 | $59 | 1.5 dB | 14.1 dB | 0.6 Ω | 1.0 µV |
| iBasso DC03 Pro | $69 | 1.5 dB | 13.3 dB | 0.12 Ω | 0.9 µV |
Of the 280 sources here, 240 reach 100 dB on both. That is the easy axis. 67 of them also publish an output impedance low enough for both under the one-eighth rule and a noise figure that stays below the audible-hiss threshold with both — the rest either fail one of those or never printed the number at all, and 171 of them are in the second group.
The cheapest of the 67 is the FiiO KA11, at $29. It leaves 4.6 dB of headroom on the HE-6se V2 and 17.1 dB on the HE600, its output impedance is 0.7 Ω against a one-eighth limit of 6.25 Ω and 3.50 Ω, and its noise figure puts the hiss floor 39 dB and 26 dB below the 20 dB SPL this site treats as the point where a quiet room stops hiding it.
Cheapest that satisfies three published numbers is not the same as best, and none of it is about how either headphone sounds. To put either model against a source this page does not mention, or to change the target loudness, use the amplifier matcher.
| Model | As printed | Tolerance | Standard |
|---|---|---|---|
| HE-6se V2 | 8Hz- 65 KHz | not printed | not printed |
| HE600 | 8Hz - 65kHz | not printed | not printed |
HiFiMAN prints 8Hz- 65 KHz for the HE-6se V2 and 8Hz - 65kHz for the HE600.
Neither range has a tolerance printed beside it, and that is the whole of what this section can tell you. A wider range on one sheet is not deeper bass or more treble on that headphone: without a tolerance, neither number says how loud either model is at the ends of its own range, so the difference between the two is a difference between two pieces of marketing copy. A ±dB figure is what turns a range into a specification, and of the 490 models whose maker prints a range, 58 print it.
None of this is a measurement. What each maker publishes, and what it is worth, is set out in the frequency response audit.
Each model has a page of its own with the full source list, the hiss estimate and the provenance of every figure above: HiFiMAN HE-6se V2 and HiFiMAN HE600. Each figure on this page is labelled on those pages with where it came from, including the ones HiFiMAN never published — what that maker publishes, counted.