OFFICIAL: Massdrop Sennheiser HD6XX

Discussion in 'Headphones' started by purr1n, Nov 1, 2016.

  1. gamerstudent

    gamerstudent Acquaintance

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    I got these delivered on Christmas Eve (surprisingly!) they are being run through a modi multibit via SPDIF (optical) off my motherboard into a Jotunheim and single ended (still waiting for my balanced cable to arrive).

    I haven't jumped into any mods yet, but very quick impressions, compared to my Hifiman HE-400, are looks and comfort wise:
    • The HD6xx are lighter in weight, but higher in clamping force.
    • The ear pads are not as open compared to the HE-400
    • The HD6xx look nicer than the HE-400
    • They are more comfortable to wear
    • The HD6xx cable is a bit short for my liking, but the connector and the cable seems to be of better quality than the HE-400. The connectors for the HE400 are TERRIBLE.

    Quick impressions sound wise without EQ:

    • The HD6xx doesn't have any of the strange treble quirks of the HE-400
    • The HE-400 has MUCH better bass slam, esp sub bass, you can really feel it with the HE-400
    • I prefer vocals on the HD6xx
    • The HD6xx is not fatiguing, whereas the HE-400 can get fatiguing
    • When moving to the HD6xx it's like another level of clarity compared to the HE-400, although I feel on some instruments the HE-400 has better speed and attack
    • I can also enjoy the HD6xx at a lower volume than I can with the HE-400
    • I can listen to the HD6xx for longer without discomfort. I have some pleather pads on the HE-400 and they get sweaty, so having the velour pads might be different
    I have a trial with sonicworks headphone plugin, I'll try it out soon, but I'm waiting on my balanced cable first.
     
  2. gamerstudent

    gamerstudent Acquaintance

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    Okay so I ran the sonarworks headphone plugin via foobar and a VST wrapper. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't amazing. I was really looking to get those low notes improved as I like hard hitting bass notes. I just couldn't get those notes no matter what I did. However, I got the no-limits calibration curve which allows the plugin to go down toe 20hz instead of sloping down to no correction from 40hz down to 20hz, I'll try to get some screenshots to show this.

    I am currently really happy with this plug in, I'm quite impressed with how easy it is to use (which means less ways for me to screw it up). I'm currently playing with it with the bass boost & tilt along with the B&K options, it's made IMO these headphones sound even better.
     
  3. a44100Hz

    a44100Hz Friend

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    My HD6XX appears to have a channel imbalance, which is a bit frustrating. It's hard for me to nail down exactly how much because I also hear better through my left ear than my right, especially vocals / phone calls (oh, bodies) but to achieve volume balance between my ears on the HD650M I throttle down the left channel to 0.75 (out of 1.0 in Matrix Mixer for foobar) and to achieve the same on the HD6XX I need it to be about 0.60.
     
  4. Case

    Case Anxious Head (Formerly Wilson)

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    Driver matching is supposed to be excellent for stock Sennheiser HD6XX. I'd send it back.
     
  5. a44100Hz

    a44100Hz Friend

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    Yeah, I'm going to have an audio engineer be a second set of ears first. I have a head cold and it's been doing weird things to my hearing, so want to be sure it's not just that somehow.
     
  6. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

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    You could double check and make sure the driver housing is fully pushed in. Also make sure the dome didn't get pushed in. Otherwise, driver matching should be excellent.
     
  7. borrego

    borrego Incessant Audio-GD #1 Fan Boy

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    My HD6XX has been delivered to my office, will only pick it up next week after holiday. I am having my finger crossed now. It looks like the QA of the HD6XX isn't much better than the wide spread Beyer unmatched drivers issue.
     
  8. SSL

    SSL Friend

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    What gives you that impression?
     
  9. a44100Hz

    a44100Hz Friend

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    I did that; and had my audio engineer friend take a listen. It's about 1 dB unbalanced so the left channel is louder. But apparently my 650M is also unbalanced, probably due to the dynamat not being perfectly symmetrical, except that one skews to the right. So my ears, which skew left already, have adapted to the right-skewing 650M (which sounds more comfortably balanced to me, maybe because I'm used to it, maybe because of my ear imbalance) and so the slightly left-skewing 6XX is throwing my brain off. In short: thisisfine.jpg

    He also agreed my USB out sounded compressed compared to optical out. He said it sounded like it had been sampled down to a lower bitrate on USB, smaller soundstage and snares and decay sounded wrong compared to my optical out. This was with a Bifrost Multibit using WASAPI in foobar.
     
  10. gamerstudent

    gamerstudent Acquaintance

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    I've just tested on mine using a very unscientific method...running test tones alternately between the right and left ear at various volume levels, and having my self and another person check. Doesn't seem to be any audible volume difference with my set.

    I would contact massdrop and see what they say.
     
  11. gamerstudent

    gamerstudent Acquaintance

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  12. gixxerwimp

    gixxerwimp Professional tricycle rider

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    I like this:
    • Specially modulated connecting cable (detachable) made from highly conductive OFC copper, with very low handling noise, i.e. low structure-borne sound sensitivity
    Not sure what "specially modulated" means, but "low structure-borne sound sensitivity" is the most interesting way of saying "cable noise" (a. incorrectly k.a. microphonics) that I've seen.
     
  13. chakku

    chakku Friend

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    Hey for all those buzzwords at least the cable is $20.

    Can't say the same for those aftermarket cables with even more nonsensical descriptions
     
  14. AllanMarcus

    AllanMarcus Friend

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    I think that, technically, microphonics is when physical noise is transformed into electrical noise. Think of vibrations in a tube being amplified through the electronics. From the source of all unverified knowledge:

    Microphonics or microphony describes the phenomenon wherein certain components in electronic devices transform mechanical vibrations into an undesired electrical signal (noise). -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microphonics

    We in the headphone word have co-opted the word to also mean structural noise carried through a cable or headphone structure and then heard. Technically, at least to me (being a pedant), "low structure-borne sound sensitivity" is the correct engineering explanation from noise carried through the cable, since the vibrations aren't changing the electrical signal.

    P.S. my post proves that nothing, no matter how innocuous, goes unchallenged on the 'net! :)
     
  15. gixxerwimp

    gixxerwimp Professional tricycle rider

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    Totally agree. By interesting, I didn't mean incorrect. I know that microphonics has been misused to the point that it's now the accepted term for "cable noise", just as "beg the question" now has a totally different meaning from its original definition (makes me cringe every time I hear a news presenter or journalist use it). I always struggled to find a brief way of saying, "the noise that you hear when the cable rubs or bumps against something". "Structure-borne sound" doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, but it's fairly succinct, and accurate. So instead of saying a cable doesn't have much microphonics, we should be saying it isn't prone to structure-borne sound (transmission).
     
  16. AllanMarcus

    AllanMarcus Friend

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    Every time my cable rubs against something I often hear "get away from me with that thing, you pervert".
     
  17. borrego

    borrego Incessant Audio-GD #1 Fan Boy

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    Open up my HD-6XX in office today after long holiday. The first thing I do is replacing the short cable with the stock 3M Sennheiser HD650 cable. Praise the Lord my HD-6XX does not have channel imbalance issue.

    Initial impression of listening with my 12AX7/832A SET amp in office:
    Pros: Very good tonality and resolving ability as everyone has said. To my surprise it also sounds as dynamic and not darker comparing to my current Grado SR325e in office. I actually think in its current state my pair of HD-6XX sounds brighter than my SR325e. I think no further mod is needed for my HD6XX.
    Cons: While soundstage width is very good, soundstage depth is IEM like and beaten even by my SR325e. Not sure if further burn-in will improve this. I think applying some crossfeed in J. River may be helpful.

    [​IMG]

    Update: applying -3db to -2db EQ between 250Hz to 800Hz improves the HD6XX sound stage depth a tiny bit, making it less congested along the Z axis. I can understand why there are people preferring the HD600 now.
     
    Last edited: Jan 3, 2017
  18. Dino

    Dino Friend

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    I was browsing Massdrop today and saw this "45751 users have requested this product.". I was not expecting this kind of number!
     
  19. gixxerwimp

    gixxerwimp Professional tricycle rider

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    Pretty amazing. It's up to 45811 now. They'd better be prepared with rented server farms or whatever to handle the onslaught when it drops next.
     
  20. chakku

    chakku Friend

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    Very impressed with these. To me the finish is much nicer than the standard 650 too, very dark, it would be a stretch to call them blue at all.

    Did some quick measurements for the hell of it

    HD6XX L/R

    [​IMG]

    VS. HD800S matched @ 1kHz

    [​IMG]

    VS HD800S/DT880 250ohm matched @ 1kHz (that's not normally how the bass measures on the Beyers, but those are the only plots I have available and I no longer have the headphones)

    [​IMG]

    Distortion

    [​IMG]

    With the KISS mod to tame the midbass a little bit I don't see myself needing another pair of headphones, maybe just a new cable.
     

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