Sennheiser HD600 series

Headphones
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Recently got the 6xx on loan from nick, and it’s been nothing but a pleasure so far! First got interested in the series after i found the 58x. Which was just suuuper dope at the time. The only issue is that realistically i didn’t see myself having a tube type of thing going on for a while due to just starting to get even some decent beginner level stuff that would play well with my budget, lifestyle (portables baby!) so i didn’t pursue them. All this time ive been going hard on SS since it’s much more convinent. However since i got my andros which i love UwU pursuing headphones has been kind of redundant in many ways. Honestly if i wanted to listen to headphones for soundstage i would rather use my speakers, and if i want to listen for intimacy my iems do better. In fact, i can’t think of many enjoyment aspects that a headphone does better than my andros or speakers.

I almost gave up on headphones after getting the clears because i expected them to be good enough to be a good replacement when i can’t listen to my speakers. But everytime i put them on, i was like, might as well just listen to my andros tbh. Buuuuuut my boi @j.fopps kept on eargasaming over the SOUL that his 6xx have etc. Both my focal alphas and andros have SOUL but it’s also not their main focus, so i thought to my self, fooooook it i need to try that senheiser 600 series shit :eyes:

First impressions: First of all the box these came in is fairly fancy lol, i don’t know why but i kind of thought of it as a 58x where i assumed it would be fairly beginner type of basic packaging. But it’s actually quite nice, guess it make sense since new i believe it’s competetive with sundara in pricing. Comfort is great since it’s a senheiser. Sound is indeed a fair bit more relaxed than stuff like my andros and alphas, and MIDS are crazy fricking nice so far. This is for sure the warmest headphone ive ever tried, it is the definition of warm lol. Not mushy, but very thick and lucious sounding mids with very forgiving vocals no matter what type of mix i hear. It’s been suuuuuuper awesome having this, because i seriously cannot overstate how wildly different it is from my other gear, and legit is filling a gap that the other two don’t really do. It’s got it’s own charm that the other two can’t replicate and that is something i can’t ask more than. Stuff like the LCD2PF for example is more awesome as a whole but it’s stilll just a headphone. That i ended up finding myself changing for the speakers etc, while the 6xx is soooo dang intimate sounding, so sweet and has a veeery big emphazis on just the mids that it feels LIKE ITS OWN FUCKING THING. Had a solid hour and a half with the senheisers today, so far liking how relaxed they are, don’t really care about some technical abilities like detail and separation or imaging because when i want that shit i can just put on my andros, ive just been glued to the super sweet and thick sounding mids, how intimate they are. It’s just completely different from my other gear lol and i love it.

For cons, its hard to really give it anything since the way i think about them is not as a headphone to be the one and only piece of audio equipment that i have nor did i buy it to be the most well rounded item i have in terms of pleasant sound signature, playing well with all music and also having very good separation etc, i got it for the different sound signature. In terms of what it tries to focus on, guess going deeper with the bass never would hurt but besides that can’t think of anything negative with it!

Started listening to it with pure vocal stuff first like devita, britany campbell, marco antonio solis etc however also tried tons of hip hop with it and the midbass was super sweet lol just really fun

Source gear :bottle head crack amp and bifrost 2 dac

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Im happy you are enjoying them so much. Ive owned my HD650 since 2016 and I don’t plan on selling them. The BF2 BHC chain with them is really really good…pretty damn good all rounder for enjoyment listening. The amount that they scale with higher tier gear is ridiculous too.

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I remember back in the day when we both had 58x’s and we were both pretty happy with them. Waaaay back when. Soon after I bought a 650 and later a 600 and a 580 Precision. My somewhat unpopular opinion is the 650 sounded pretty dang good to me on lesser solid state amps but the one you have there is certainly a sweet spot.

My opinion of it on the Crack however is a bit different from your initial impressions. I feel like the amp corrects many of the faults the 600 series has on lesser or ss amps. Sound signature becomes much more complete and extended. Soundstage is also a tad wider and deeper and more complete as well while the vocals remain intimate. It’s really a special pairing.

My 600 more recently has been mated to an Ampsandsound one off amp. Still smitten after all this time.

Look forward to your more longterm impressions :beers:

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Daaaaaang ur right lol. Not just you and I but sumeet even, I remember having the 4xx at the same time as he did hahaha. How times change.

Very interesting btw how much you experimented with the senheisers! Btw you did mention I believe that u got the 600 atm right? How do u like it in comparison to the others?

Gotcha gotcha niceeeeeee. I’ll believe you on that. Personally haven’t heard the 6xx on any amplifier besides the crack so I don’t really know myself exactly what the amp is doing as opposed to what the headphone is doing but it like you mentioned os certainly fairly wide! Which senheisers aren’t known for so chalk it up to the amp. Also bass is indeed legit pretty dang great! Maybe not subbass type of extension but fairly good extension for sure

Also just read about ur 600 being hooked up to your ampsanssound leelo/pendant, super awesome to hear that ur still loving it!

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I think that’s when I graduated high school lol but likewise dope to hear you still enjoy yours. Out of curiosity, any particular time you like to listen yours as opposed to your other headphones?

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When I’m working and I’m really deep into it, it is nice to have something to listen to that is not overly distracting and Uber detailed. Having something warm and pleasant to listen to while working is helpful to my thought process.

I also tend to really enjoy classic rock, 80s rock and new wave, motown, soul and reggae on the HD650. A stunning example of how good vocals can be on the HD650 is “Picture Book” by Simply Red.

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I landed on the 600 solely based on preference. They’re all very close to one another going off memory now. The 580 Precision just felt like a slightly less refined 600 and the 650 has that addition mid bass hump. Those are my main takeaways looking back on it.

Also, you may want to correct the title of this thread. You’ve misspelled Sennheiser (there’s 2 n’s). Just so that it shows up when using the search function. :theface:

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:theface: thanks hahaha. And gotcha gotcha fair enough fair enough

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Understood! That makes sense for sure, bet they really do sound better with that type of thickness in the lower mids. And fair enough about the whole detail thing, don’t need detail shoved into your face at all times

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Even though vocals are low on my preferences, there are times when I do want something more forward in the vocal range. That’s absolutely when I reach for the HD650. They also excel with acoustic strings, piano, and some woodwind instruments.

Another genre that sound good (kind of surprisingly) is some electronic music (Big Beat Electronic music in particular). Right Here, Right Now by Fatboy Slim is a good example.

Definitely check out Picture Book by Simple Red. I can’t overstate how amazing the vocals are on that song.

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I’ll add that the HD600 series responds very well to pad changes, and it can be tweaked quite well that way in whichever direction you choose to take it if need be.

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i think you might be in the minority there man… stock pads or nothing here lol

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Didn’t Sennheiser update the pads? Though they did mention no change in sonics, more on durability.

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I couldn’t live with the stock pads of my HD600, just found it too bright and that was with the BHC/SpeedBall. Tried the suede, too dark. Wound up with the fenestrated lamb. But like I said, they change quite a bit. Available tuning is always a plus!

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Can’t confirm it but the recent pads I’ve purchased (always stock, I never waver) have seemed to have a tougher suede on them. For lack of a better word. No sonic difference to my ears beyond the normal improvement you’ll hear if you let your old ones go too long lol.

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I have lambskin and hybrid I’ll have to try on the 600, but when I did that on the 58x, I generally didn’t like it as much. Made them too congested and muddy to my ear. Hybrid was the closest to stock, and more comfortable.

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I have had my HD650 since 2016ish, and stock pads are the only ones that sound tonally correct to me. I also believe that many people tend to underestimate how quickly the velour wears out. Because of that, when you get new pads, it can seem like they are different in some way.

I also don’t care for my HD650 on solid state much unless it is a lake people or Violectric amp…tubes are the only way they sound right to me.

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That particular HP has Less than 10hrs on it total, just saying…Anyway, i seem to remember you also received a whole bunch of tubes with that amplifier, yes? Now is your chance to spend the next few weeks, at least, figuring out which combination of tubes you enjoy best with which different genre’s on that chain. That HP & amplifier combination should keep you occupied and learning for many many hours. Don’t speak much to the character of the HP until you figure out what the different tube combos bring out in it :wink:

I told you last night as i was comparing almost identical IEM’s once i swapped the stupid little earbuds, they both sounded like the other did before the swap. Don’t discount what changes your amp makes to the HP is all I’m trying to say. It will still have the same general characteristics but we all sit here and talk about all the small changes a dac swap, cable or tube makes all the time. Have fun and enjoy! :+1:

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definetly, i know that at the moment im listening to two new things. First of all the amplifier and the headphone, both of which ive never ever used in general and less in combination with other things to figure out the main characteristics of the gear lol. I just thought i would write my impressions though since i wanna let people know where i’m at :eyes:. I’ll have another session tonight before i sleep to see whats up. Very excited to see what happens, like you mentioned it has 10 hours max, that headphone so i’ll be curious to see if it alone changes too with more burn in and what type of changes

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Tube burn in is something to consider as well. :slight_smile:

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