HD600 Thread

I will definitely need to give the HD600 a listen. Good I didn't pull the trigger on the HD650 yesterday!

At Canjam London there was no HD600 whatsoever.

When I asked the Senn rep where the bloody HD600 are, she looked at me as if I was a poor midget who can't afford their godly HD800S. Her face soon changed when I told her the HD800S should be thrown down into the slimy waters of the river Thames!

I think the Utopia will still win me over next weekend though. My plans to buy the Salk Song3s and now with Schiit announcing their 2-channel gear makes me wonder why am I bothering with headphones at the moment.

I will await your impressions @zonto. I can't f**k up another 2 years, as I just did, stuck with the HD800 and then HD800S!

 

I finally had a chance to hear my HD 600 with DIY balanced cable and Bryston HPA 1: 650 cable terminated with two Neutrik 3 pin connectors. The sound stage is bit better, resolution as well but the overall effect is much more than that. I can only compare it to taking pictures with manual focus lenses. You think you got it right and you turn it a bit more and the picture becomes so clear.

 

I'll admit I felt a bit silly buying an $850 amplifier (Mjolnir 2) for what were a $200 pair of secondhand headphones (HD600). It can seem counterintuitive but the degree to which the HD6X0 are able to scale is pretty incredible (I've heard this stated many times before but having finally heard it for myself I believe it). Should my budget allow for an upgrade in the future, I can tell you it won't be my HD600/HD650 I'll be upgrading

 

Quick 2-cent HD600 impressions while I still remember how they sound. I killed the left driver while cleaning them last night.
Oh, I forgot an important data point last time: It's a new HD600 bought from amazon.com early this year (2016) and brought over here from America by my sister.

On some occasions I find HD600 lacking in bass slam and weight for electronic music. But not for anything else, acoustic stuff and vocals sound right. Bass has just enough quality and quantity to provide a bit of weight and a lot of life-like...ness(...ness) to cellos and vocals, while still keeping the focus on the mids and lower-treble. That gives a fast, forward, light on its feet sound. Yes, bass is solid enough and combines very well with the rest of the spectrum to produce excellent, tactile impcats, bite and (vocal) growl. I would not call it punchy, as the bass is never the focus (at least with dynamat mod, that is - bass just sounds very fast). Then again, ok, sub-bass is a bit lacking, you don't get any of the Hifiman seismic rumble... So overall I would describe HD600 bass more as slappy and snappy. Reminiscent of trying to produce drum-like sounds with your mouth.
Regarding treble, it's so clean and smooth that it disappears! It is very well integrated into the mids. It's only a part of a whole thing. It completes the mids' texture and energy, plus it adds the air. Like when super-comfortable clothing disappears and becomes part of your body and make you feel light, agile and vigilant. HD600! BOOM!

To sum up, the HD600 is transparent! I wish to illustrate that:
2:18-2:42

...
SIDE NOTES: (This is a very familiar track to me, I have listened to it hundreds of times via JRiver>OldGamingPC>WASAPI>wyrd>modi1>magni1>HD600.
So I'm only using youtube now for the purpouse of sharing with y'all - I use JRiver for all my listening. For the few tracks that I can not find elsewhere, I download the audio off of youtube and then use that in JRiver+wasapi. I hear a significant difference between youtube as the player and JRiver+wasapi as the player.)

...With the HD600 I could clearly feel and hear the strain of his voice (due to his shouting), without the reproduced sound being strained itself! Like, I can hear all the little nuances and I can feel the growl, all of that served with the snappy bite of 3-5kHz, and all the air above that, yet it does not sound sharp or strained or sibilant, not even harsh... Just a bit grainy. It sounds fast, tactile, clear and very energetic. Yes, it's indeed clear, but you could also say it's not exactly 100% clean (as mentioned, it is a tad grainy), but overall I like it this way - again, it's forward and energetic.

I tried passages of this track just now via same setup, but with my mom's HD598 instead. Well, overall it's significantly different. Even if mids and highs are similar, just a bit dirtier, hint of sparkle... Bass is the real culprit. It's no where near as solid, deep or tactile. It's fuzzy. Worse than I remember it. Ultimately it kills the life-likenessness, leaving a fuzzy, soft, tad digital, strained sound. Yes, his growl is strained. Not solid. Not deep! Not tactile in the same way.

From distant memory, HE-400 (velour pads) bass works great for this track, providing extra life-like attacks and growl, but, of course, the rest of the spectrum makes the sound ultimately unnatural and plastickey. To me (and evidently to many) the lacking HD600 sub-bass is a very worthwhile trade off for, well, all the other amazing frequencies that you get.

I did refresh my memory of HE-400 (velour pads) a few days ago (but with other music, not the track linked above) and I wish to retract my earlier statement (in the introduction thread) about HD600s' bass being "way faster". Overall it's not a wrong statement, as that is indeed how I perceive it, but I now believe that it is only the HD600 significant bass roll-off that produces this "fastness" illusion, while 100-200Hz actually sound pretty similar on both cans.

Sooner or later I'll buy a replacement HD600 driver. God, I already miss 'em xD
I hope I made sense. I love you all!

PS: WTF just as I finished writing this I got the feeling of "meh, HD600 is just and energetic, mid-forward, sub-bass-rolled-off can, not too special". I randomly+suddenly feel this once in a few days, otherwise most of the time I feel more like "OMG SENNHEISER ARE GODS, HOW DID THEY BALANCE THIS SO WELL". Either way, bottom line is if you want a flat can, HD600 does a ton of things right at a competitive price (as suggested by earlier posts - I have not heard great audio outside of my mentioned gear).

Bonus side note: I can't hear a soundstage. Even binaural recordings produce around-my-head-sounds. Given that, HD600 sounds to me like this: when someone is singing I feel as if two of the same singer are standing at my sides, full 180 degrees apart, 1 or 2 feet away from me (each), singing or shouting loud and clear, directly into my ears. Plus a bit of extra grain and energy. On the other hand, 598 makes sounds come from only inches away, is more closed in and more diffuse.

EDIT: LEL I SAID QUICK IN THE BEGINNING XD anyways extra ultra bonus note: HD598 is actually still fun and engaging for some music like Gangnam Style LOL (just listened to it) and mostly ok for J-pop/anime songs (listening now) and generally bad for most other things. HD600 is a bit colder and way more technical, so it's, like, great for, like, everything, maybe outside of very demanding electronic bass.

 

My new work rig:



Modi 2 Uber (original) > Vali 2 > 600

Decided to grab a 600 for work use since I already have a 650 at home. I thought the 650 was rather mid centric, these take it to another level. The upper mids are almost too forward. Female vocals are as clear as I've ever heard them. The overall tonality is very similar of course to my 650. I'd say the most noticeable difference to me is the upper mids/lower treble. Mid bass is apparently lower than on 650, but I can barely tell, although I'm not a basshead by any means. The sweet natural tone that everyone loves about the 6x0 series is here.

On certain tracks, the upper mids/lower treble forwardness can be slightly fatiguing. Usually with already forward recordings with female vocalists or electronic music. I have an EH 6CG7 tube coming in for my Vali 2 which should pair well with my 600 based on impressions here.

Both my 600 and 650 are stock (though I will be buying a 6xx to mod the hell out of to compare).

 

My HD600 doesn't get much head time, because of the forward upper mids. So I listen to the HD650 (stock or modded). I want to hear my HD600 with the Vali 2 and a "Hands/atomicbob approved" EH 6CG7. I ordered both a couple of days ago. I'll be using Modi Multibit.

Looks like we have something similar going on, @Mystic.

 

As a counterpoint, I usually grab my stock HD600 over my HD650M with my T3 / Yggdrasil.

 

Interesting. Synergy/personal preference maybe.

 

I also preferer 600/M to 650/M, with most of my actual or previous gear, my crack and the 600 are a match made in heaven with most of the dacs ive tried them with, i love their synergy. There were very few times i prefered the 650 with some gear but they really were exceptions.

 

Every headphone meetup I've ever been to I've taken the time to compare the 600/650. Every single time I've come away liking the 600 more, until this past weekend...

I heard them both on the Bifrost Multibit/Valhalla 2 stack and suddenly the 650 veil seemed gone and the 600 sounded shrill and shouty in comparison.

It was an eye opener for sure. I've always appreciated the importance of gear synergy, but this one took me a little by surprise.

 

Hilarious... I just did the same thing! I am using GO2A-->Vali 2 stock tube-->stock HD600. I also ordered a EH 6CG7 to see what the fuss is about. I originally had the Vali 2 with stock HD650 and it was very laid back, detailed but boring to listen to. I changed to Jotunheim and dynamat modded my HD650 at home and wanted a new work HP so I thought HD600 would be fun to try.

My initial impressions are extremely favorable and I feel Vali 2 stock tube and HD600 are a nice match. Maybe I like my mids prominent. I don't get fatigued listening to this setup compared to HE400S.

 

I've been a HD600 man for the past several years, and I believe they turned me into a bit of a "mid-head" until I recently picked up and modded a HD650. I'm finding the 650 gets more head time now (w/Mjolnir 2), however there are a number albums which benefit from the extra upper mid energy/engagement and still have me reaching for the HD600 instead. The relative flatness of the HD650 mids can just be a bit too polite for me at times, but most of the time I find them just right. Think I will keep them both

 

Don't get me wrong, my 600 is amazing. My 650 is my favorite headphone of the many I've owned. The 600 is either a VERY close second or even tied. I couldn't have picked a better setup for out of the house I think. The synergy between the Vali 2 and 600 is fantastic.

I'll eventually bring them home to play on my Bifrost/Valhalla 2 stack at some point. Based on my experience with my 650, should elevate the 600 even higher.

The performance of the 6x0 driver is fantastic, just need to find a used 580 now to compare them all.

 

Someone posted something in one of the Massdrop HD6XX threads, speculating the HD6XX signals Sennheiser discontinuing HD600/HD650. That got me to thinking that I really take this family of headphones for granted. Sennheiser was really on a roll back then and luckily has kept these in production all of this time. And lately, for very low prices.

When I bought HD650 I appreciated the sound and shortly thereafter bought HD600. I intended to keep my favorite of the two. But they were different enough in ways and similar enough in other ways that I felt I would some day regret it if I didn't keep both.

Then there is the HD580. Last time I looked at ebay selling history the average price sold was $155. Most of those look like they need new ear and headband pads. (Mine did.) Still a good price imo, if one takes their time looking for a nice used one.

Then there is the HD650 mod. That makes it into yet another flavor in the family. One that i quite like. I haven't seen "definitive" mods for the HD600 nor HD580, yet.

I keep an eye out for @Bill-P to feel inspired to post guides to modding those when/if he feels inspired. I am especially interested in a HD600 mod.

 

This probably should go in the HD6XX forum but there is a lot of noise there...
I was debating trying to snag a pair for spare parts. Just the cost alone of genuine replacement pads is $50. I also think there will eventually be a bunch of HD6XX on HF marketplace because many people don't realize how to utilize these the HD650.

 

Three good points, @Gaspasser. They had crossed my mind, too.

On the first point, I almost did not hit "Reply to Thread". I was kind of expressing my thoughts of the HD600 as part of a family of headphones.

Maybe too much family and not enough HD600...

 

I have them wired with custom cans balanced cable into a rggy with Gungnir Multibit. Could use more bass under 80 Hz (but what they have is clean). Does have a medium peak in the lower treble. Other than that considering you can get them for ~265 new, it's hard to justify mega buck cans. One should note the very low count of mods these have. The 650 has a lot more to fix more problems. They say when its gooped up with dynamat with a quarter sized hole cut in the foam it's really good. Maybe. I know going to balanced cable with a very potent amp has given the 600's a huge new lease on life for me.

One key point I want to make: spending big bucks on stuff like cardas cable with the same connections (i.e. not balanced) is money not well spent. I'm not a scold EE, I was there in the last 70's when AQ, Monster, etc. got going. I used to own cardas golden cross for my TT, Kimber 8TC for my speakers, Nordost balanced, etc. It all changed when I walked into a showroom (guys living room) with some great gear (Verity Parsifals, Blue Circle, etc.) and $5k power cords. WTF? You could buy a whole set-up of ASC traps which make a decisive difference with that money. I started getting into AB testing, and can attest that I can't reliably hear any difference in any balanced cables, and can only hear differences in speaker cables when the amp isn't up to the speakers, or the electrical values are well off from each other. Make sure you have solid connections, avoid cooper that's exposed to air. Audio nervosa meets the King has no clothes meets snake oil salesmen. Think about it. Oh yeah, I sold high end audio from 1975-1981, and I've built dozens of kits, modified speakers and electronics (just rebuilt a pair of ProAc Tablettes).

 

i remember the first time my dad let me listen to his HD580s on an X-CAN V2 when I was in 7th grade i think around 1997

changed my life lol

 

Yes, similar enough that if you like one you will probably like the other, but different enough that you will want both

 

So I just tried out the rear foam removal mod on the left side of my HD600, and as expected there is a small bump in the bass... but unexpectedly there is also a noticeable increase in soundstage. Seems ya'll have shown me a way to correct the only 2 things I've ever disliked about the HD600