Sennheiser Massdrop HD6XX Afternoon Yak Devolved into Shitposts

Well that's dampened my spirits, great news for people entering the hobby but for those of us with HD6x0s already it doesn't make a difference.

A used HD650 is not too far from $XXX anyway.

 

I was shocked too! Keep in mind this was back in July, so only insiders know if they were able to keep to that price, but given their track record I would think it's achievable.

 

I got my good as new used 650 for just over $200. Throw in shipping and the Massdrop one will probably be more expensive.

BUT if they make any positive changes I will still consider it. If it's literally a 650 painted black with nothing changed that affects the sound I will pass.

 

It does if they're extra black.

 

Perfect for listening to Cradle of Filth.

 

If it does not sound any better after 13 years I'm going to be pissed.

They can keep their fancy paint jobs and Massdrop branding.

 

Unless it's so black, it's reflective. Then it can be none more black as it provides a mirror to the soul and what's inside is black.

Please reinforce the plastic headband that cracks with stiff black paint to add more clamp. And free Apogee Groove. I'm super serial. HD 650 + clamp + black + dongle for Massdrop prices would be f'ing nuts and change the game of the hobby. There would be nothing else to recommend other than paying a bit more at Amazon for the Sennheiser warranty.

Edit: Please use HD 25 tough plastic. That would be OVER THE TOP!

 

More like, @CEE TEE ?

 

Just as another data point, I recall during some other run of speculation about a marriage between MD and Senn that @Will posted something to the effect that $300 would be too high a price, but we would have to wait and see what @CEE TEE could pull off.

At $XXX, if the styling (color) is modernized, and anything else is tweaked, it seems like an auto buy to me. By the way, how has no one added "the f'ing pads on the 600 headband" to the wish list for "best HD6XX"?

 

The TH-X00 was cheaper but better than the TH-900 in many aspects. I don't see why the HD6XX shouldn't be better than HD650 despite the lower price tag.

While I'm hopeful that the HD6XX is better than stock HD650, I wonder how it would fare against a modded HD650. Best scenario would be that the HD6XX is essentially a production version of a modded HD650, but if not, then I'm sure we'll all be looking into HD6XX's modding potential.

 

Ah true, I am less whelmed by the idea of an extra-black HD600, even though the colour scheme of the normal 600 does badly need changing..

 

That was largely due to fucked up tonal balance in TH-900, distortion figures became worse. There isn't any clear issues with HD650/HD600 tonal balance, it's bloody great. So it expect it to be harder to pull of that improvement.

 

There's no way we're getting any meaningful improvements over a stock HD650 if $XXX is the target price. It will probably be a different color headband and the HD6XX name on the button. Any meaningful sound quality or comfort/build differences would require higher R&D and production costs and drive it past the $XXX mark. We're fooling ourselves to think Sennheiser is slapping on precision-cut pieces of dampener or completely changing the foam.

Shame if that's the case because I stand by my argument that a slightly improved HD650 with minor SQ tweaks, dampening, leather headband, and a good balanced cable would easily sell for $XXX on Massdrop. Basically the HD650S.

 

That's what I want, and I assume what most of us here want. Still, why bother to go to this trouble if there are no changes to the SQ at all? Paint it black and sell it for less just to milk a few more purchases out of people who felt that ~$300 was too much to spend?

 

Counter-point: Tyll will be posting measurements tomorrow. Inference: there is something to report based on the measurements, meaning they are somehow different.

I would not be surprised if Senn left the driver alone (it is excellent already) and instead tweaked shit with the earpads or enclosures. I mean that is all we have done with the various mods, and it improves the sound. This is also (essentially) what MD and AKG did with the K7XX. Those are cheap efforts at R&D that could still keep it in a low price bracket with the kind of volume MD can push.

 

Tweak and dump the last stock of HD6X0 stuff and introduce the successor for Christmas...#devilsadvocate

 

Mmmmm....sorry.

 

So much for me being Nostradamus. . .