I've been doing a lot of research regarding this and I've tried using an hdmi to vga adapter that has an audio output. I can plug in a headphone and listen to the audio that is being recorded, but as soon as I press record the LCD blacks out. So I was wondering what are my alternatives so I can actually hear the audio that is being fed into the A6500. I looked into the XLR-K2M and it would be THE perfect solution, expect that it's way too expensive. Is there another alternative? Are there other companies that manufacture audio devices that can feed the A6500 audio via hotshoe?

How about a small monitor that has a headphone output? I believe that many do. You could also switch to 1080p and the a6500 LCD would stay active.

I dont know about your budget or need to run and gun but I use a Atomos ninja 2 as a backup recorder with headphone out. kinda serves 2 purposes
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/759460-REG/ATOMOS_ATOMNJA003_Ninja_Video_Hard_Disk.html/BI/2855/KBID/3801