The 660s just did not have the sennheiser magic that I love imo. I think it’s the sweetness of the midrange maybe? Not completely sure. The 660s I would call “dryer” and leaner than the rest of the Senns that I’ve heard.
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I think the things people are saying make sense. I think they are very music/instrument type dependent, more than amp even. For me some music genres sound absolutely gorgeous on the 660s and others very average. That dryness for example is what I think gives violins a gorgeous timbre.
The price thing makes sense too. I think they are a bit cheaper in the EU so the value judgement is different. Since most online headphone/hifi commentary is very US biased this does have a big impact.
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Sennheiser HD600 OG
So it’s only been a few days in with this headphone, however my world has been completely turned upside down. The OG 600 while I expected to love, it’s completely surpassed my expectations as it’s become my favorite headphone by so much. I’ve already had a few crying sessions in awe of it. It really feels like the closest I have/will ever get to the artist as it really feels like I’m there in each session. It just puts a smile on my face.
There’s so much that baffles me, many companiess angle pads, drivers, choose different drivers such as bio dynamics, berrylium dynamics, Planar and it feels like they all choose them to get a specific sound however the HD600 somehow seems to do all these things without an obvious method? The HD600 OG are so flat in between your ears, so are the pads and yet the Soundstage is unexpectedly wide considering their position. There is so much depth where it reminds me of the TH-900 in terms of depth, the treble, mids and bass too are all really good. Idk, at some point I gotta ask myself if these drivers were bestowed with some good old magic lol.
If I had to describe the Sennheiser HD600 OG in one way, it would be that it’s the most magical sounding headphone without the magical sounding keywords behind it. It’s not a 5K+ headphone, dosent have a Berrylium or Planar driver, it dosent have angled drivers to give a 3D landscape nor is there a specific shape or 3D printed chambers to create a magical experience. It just seems like a flat plane with normal dynamic drivers with some normal Beyerdynamic style road bump pads that creates the most amazing audio experience I’ve had in a headphone. It takes you to the time of the recording, the mids are the most detailed and natural mids I’ve ever heard and the Soundstage is unexpectedly decently wide with awesome width. There is some good bass rumble, good midbass with stellar treble. Really good imaging too in terms of left and right. Love love love them 
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Once you get them scaling, yes, there may have been some magic on those assembly lines.
If all goes well i should be able to try an older unit soon and should be able to compare it to my hd6xx. You know theyre good when they have their own revision lore sites. I know there was a korean? forum that someone posted with all the revision details. Maybe itll explain why some call it eggshell green when it is not green and doesnt look like an eggshell.
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Yup. Going back and forth between my HD600 and Abyss 1266 TC is certainly an eye-opener.
Mid-range performance is BETTER on the HD600. The only things you really miss are the insane bass response of the TC which only a well-amped HE6 can come close to; and the staging and imaging is clearly superior to the HD600 as well. But honestly… everything else is close enough to piss you off, consider you could buy DOZENS of HD600s’ for the price of one Abyss.
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100%
BRO I know wartchu mean lol idk if it’s close enough in any way to be called eggshell. Also the site was Chinese but yeah I’m starting to get the lore sites lol!!! THERE’S LIKE A CULT BEHIND THESE AND IM SO IN
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OH REEEALLY 
I believe that bro, the HD600 OG midrange is so nuts. I mean I expected it to maybe be better than the VC in midrange but it blew it out of the water. And not just midrange, the 600 is so much better in most ways where IDK WHAT TO DO.
Lol bro I’m totally getting that. Also it’s like, more money for the chain instead of distributing some of that dough for the headphone lol. I’m all about the 600 man.
I’m a bit tempted, having not heard any of the 6 or 5-series headphones before (except the 598s 10+ years ago at a Best Buy which doesn’t count imo lol.) I’ve been looking for the ultimate mid-range experience, and it seems like everyone else w/ TOTLs still flock to these headphones, so I’m curious with what I’m missing out on.
Which would be the best for the most intimate/center-fill vocal presentation with girthy/soulful vocals?
*Correction, I refer more specifically to in-head localization when I mention “center-fill”
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If you are looking for girthy/soulful I think the 6xx might be right up your alley. Extremely intimate sounding and full of soul! Looove the 6xx! 600 OG are debatedly less soulful since they don’t sweeten up the vocals like the 6xx does. But the 6xx on the right amp is 
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Just to bring it back down to earth here for a second, it should be known that while the senn 6XX series has amazing midrange vocals they still don’t compete with higher end headphones that also excel in the midrange. can they get close? sure in some regards, but then you also have other aspects of the tuning that don’t scale quite as high or compete in that range. So while there has been a lot of hype giant killing talk recently just be aware that these are still <$500 cans and no matter how high they can scale they have limitations and compromises.
Sure the midrange vocal texture and timbre will absolutely get you close to Verite closed level, and in some instances you might prefer it over, but at what cost? The VC will beat the 6xx technically in all other aspects. I can’t speak for unicorn vintage models but I’m willing to bet it’s not that big of a difference that it would close that gap in any significant way. I love my senn 6xx but they fall behind fast in most ways when compared to >$2000 sets.
sorry didn’t mean to be a party pooper, just wanted to get this out here as it seems like the discussion was trending in a somewhat misleading direction.
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I think you would be incredibly surprised lol. Honestly it’s just one of those things where you have to hear to believe.
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It depends. There’s is definitely enough feedback out there to surmise that the vintage models are different and indeed sound better than the modern counterparts. but my point was that even if that is the case it won’t magically fix all the shortcomings of the tuning and driver. It still won’t compete with the VC or other totl technically, for example stage size (height, width, depth), sense of space, instrument placement, imaging layering, sheer detail retrieval, dynamics, etc. all of which I would consider better on the VC in comparison to a 6xx. but yes i probably do need to hear a vintage example first to say for certain
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That’s one of the reasons I’ve previously floated the idea of owning a ZMF, but while not out of the question, I’ve been looking more into presentation recently over other qualities (to round out my collection.) My recent interests have been related to vocal body and in-head localization recently with things in my collection like the TH900/Philphone with really stellar in-head localization for a V-shaped headphone and the LCD-5 which does have a mid-forward stock tuning. They get close, but I do remain a bit wanting. Granted, playing around with other sources is also another option.
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I just want to add that I’m in no way saying dont buy a senn 600 series headphone, they are absolutely worth hearing. A legendary design that still makes sense and holds up 25 years later. Just make sure your expectations are in check is all 
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I’ve got an original 90s senn, with the black instead of white and all that, and while I do think they are awesome and also noticeably better than the current non eggshell production, I also would agree they don’t really (for me) compete in most aspects with some of the really higher end cans.
From when I had a verite and vc, I would say that midrange wise, while I did prefer it to the verite, for the technical aspects like resolving power I did still think the verite was better. Something was pretty interesting was that the 600 could actually scale higher than the verite could imo, which could lead itself to situations where the 600 became pretty damn close, but those were entirely unreasonable setups to run.
I don’t really think the 600 competes on a technical level for cans of that range, but I can absolutely see someone choosing a vintage 600 over something like a verite, but for people I know who have picked the old senns over the new higher end most of them do agree the upper tier is a noticeable technical bump, they would just prefer listening to the senns anyways
Would definitely agree that from a value perspective an og 600 makes a verite look like a joke though, but that’s an unfair comparison since imo the verite is not that great of a value sound wise, and the 600 has always been known for crazy good value (assuming source gear is there)
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That’s fair, although I did go off the same thing he wanted. Essentially he said that even though there’s a ton of people with super high end headphones, ultimately many of them do still have a 600 series headphone. I’m not saying the 6xx in particular will outperform the VC in width, layering, speed etc but that dosent seem to be a big focus on what @comfylife is looking for. (although personally I would debate that the 600 OG is outperforming the VC in most ways lol, in terms of how organic it is, general timbre and tonal balance a cross the board, midrange and treble detail etc)
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There are people who run them on insanely expensive setups, who consider them endgame.
So for some it clearly ticks the right boxes.
The midrange is special, but I personally fall into the same camp as @Towa it scales extremely well, but to me it doesn’t compete with technically more competent headphones.
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Lol…the Senns sell allot because for most (insert bell curve diagram here🤪) they are “good enough” and plenty musical.
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+1.
I had an early 2000s speckled pair. Yes, I regret selling mine, but I sold them for a reason. I miss the midrange and soul it had, but I always gravitated to something else instead.
I can agree with most everything here. The 600 on a $20K chain sounds like an endgame can. That said, that same chain makes the VC sound much better as well. I can draw comparisons in the midrange but the VC is, well CLOSED which is a must for me during a lot of my listening sessions. And is just has a different type of magic IMO in certain chains. The type of inexplicable magic that NOS R2R DACs posses, not perfect at anything, but just the right level of good enough at everything it needs to do and it scales decently.
I was fortunate enough to buy my HD600 via reddit a couple of years ago for $160 bucks no box no cable no nothing. It needed a new foam for the headband and new pads but it’s that speckled design that makes them sound the way they do. It’s something to do with the negative ions as I’ve heard it said on other forums. The microscopic speckled pattern also acts as a defracting surface for the audio waves between the left and right cups. 
There, I said it, feel free to share, it’s why they sound better. If you don’t have the speckled, well, I pity the fool. @Souldriver
They look cool too.
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