• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

New Sennheiser HD 620S

Amazon is selling for $299 at the moment. I received my pair 3 days ago. They have been running 24 hours a day since with my listening time about 6 hours. Compared to my Meze Classic 99, they have less bass but significantly better spatial effects. Meze is overblown on bass, so the 620s may be more accurate. Compared to my Zero 2 IEM's the Zero's bass falls in between them but does not quite equal the 620s in the "spatial" department. Overall, the Zero's sound best but are not as comfortable as either headphones. Have 30 days to evaluate but the 620s is looking like a keeper.
 
Just got these yesterday. Initial impression of them was good though not wowed. Bass weight seems significantly greater than HD650 so I guess I'm getting a good seal. Moderately strong clamp for me, but not uncomfortable. Not as open sounding to me as some reviews claim, but the passive isolation is better than any closed back I've tried. Easy to drive (only used with Qudelix so far). Haven't tried any EQ with it...maybe there are some recommended settings around here? Will probably keep these and sell my Beyer 700x
 
As someone who is fairly sensitive to extra energy around 2-3k that graph just doesn’t look right. I have owned the 620 for a good while and one thing it isn’t is a forward sounding can. It also doesn’t sound as bassy as pictured.
The frequency response made by Solderdude looks like the way it sounds…at least to my ears.
1724321612451.png
 
Last edited:
As someone who is fairly sensitive to extra energy around 2-3k that graph just doesn’t look right. I have owned the 620 for a good while and one thing it isn’t is a forward sounding can. It also doesn’t sound as bassy as pictured.
The frequency response made by Solderdude looks like the way it sounds…at least to my ears.

I'd agree with you. After trying the Oratory1990 Preset for a few days, I really don't like it. Seems to give a very wonky, bass light response to my ears.
 
I’ve come across quite a few owners of the DCA E3 wanting for more bass and generally a little more warmth up top. I think the Sennheiser HD620S is the ticket unless they want to play around with EQ.
This frequency response also fairly well shows how I personally hear it’s tonality vs the E3. A warm but ultimately fairly realistic sounding closedback headphone. I still love mine.
IMG_2478.png
 
I use it without EQ and 1 single ply of a 3-ply toilet paper sheet. (stock)
hd620s-1ltp.png

I actually like the small 'dip' in the clarity range (3kHz).
The 2dB dip around 200Hz and 2dB elevation around 500Hz don't bother me.
The only thing that is somewhat annoying is the seal. One cannot EQ for that so it sounds fine to me as is (with toilet paper to remove the light 'sharpness')
 
Last edited:
I use it without EQ and 1 single ply of a 3-ply toilet paper sheet. (stock)
hd620s-1ltp.png

I actually like the small 'dip' in the clarity range (3kHz).
The 2dB dip around 200Hz and 2dB elevation around 500Hz don't bother me.
The only thing that is somewhat annoying is the seal. One cannot EQ for that so it sounds fine to me as is (with toilet paper to remove the light 'sharpness')

That's how I've ended up using mine (without the toilet paper trick). Every EQ attempt that I've tried and the few that have been posted in other places just don't sound right to me and certainly haven't improved the basic tonality of these headphones. The only thing I think could be improved slightly is sub-bass levels.
 
So, a pair of closed back phones for bedtime listening that don't need EQing, that's worth the price alone! The only other phones I have that don't are the Truthear red crinnacle IEMs but they're a bit insensitive to drive off some phones. My current goto closed backs are Shure SRH840A that are a lot better than I thought but they are almost unusable without EQ

Can you roughly recreate the toilet paper filter using an HS? My hearing is done at 13kHz anyway so anything above that is irrelevant to me.
 
Got mine today, quick A/B between them, my current goto for easy listening Shure SRH840A and also Beyer DT770 Pro, and Yamaha HPH MT5. I warmed my ears up on the Shures which are heavily EQ'd, and tbh they are amazing for the price, a real find. Without EQ they are as filthy as a big mac and large fries.
Out of the box the 620S were slightly underwhelming. That upper bass hump is there making bass guitar sound a bit one note, and the treble was harsher, too bright despite my ageing ears. so I've punched in Oratory's PEQ settings, and modified them to taste. The bass hump has gone, so it's much more even, and I can now hear below 50Hz and make the notes out; it's actually very good, better than the Shures which have a great low bas response. Treble smoother without losing any punch to the sound, so I'll try leave it like this for a few days and see how it goes. The pads fit my ears without any sealing problems, and are comfortable
One thing I did notice is that there's plenty of detail going on, my Pink Floyd background dialogue test tracks were fine, and I can perhaps understand why some reviewers keep banging on about timbre, whatever that is a measure of.
Given how close I can EQ the £40 Yamahas though makes me still want to scratch the MT8 itch, but that's for another thread
The EQ settings are attached.
2024-09-03 (3).png
 
Got mine today, quick A/B between them, my current goto for easy listening Shure SRH840A and also Beyer DT770 Pro, and Yamaha HPH MT5. I warmed my ears up on the Shures which are heavily EQ'd, and tbh they are amazing for the price, a real find. Without EQ they are as filthy as a big mac and large fries.
Out of the box the 620S were slightly underwhelming. That upper bass hump is there making bass guitar sound a bit one note, and the treble was harsher, too bright despite my ageing ears. so I've punched in Oratory's PEQ settings, and modified them to taste. The bass hump has gone, so it's much more even, and I can now hear below 50Hz and make the notes out; it's actually very good, better than the Shures which have a great low bas response. Treble smoother without losing any punch to the sound, so I'll try leave it like this for a few days and see how it goes. The pads fit my ears without any sealing problems, and are comfortable
One thing I did notice is that there's plenty of detail going on, my Pink Floyd background dialogue test tracks were fine, and I can perhaps understand why some reviewers keep banging on about timbre, whatever that is a measure of.
Given how close I can EQ the £40 Yamahas though makes me still want to scratch the MT8 itch, but that's for another thread
The EQ settings are attached.View attachment 390073

I am not a headphone expert - having only got into them a couple of years ago. When I received mine I thought they were a little bass shy when compared to Meze 99's - which are bass heavy. I left them on for 10 straight days and was away 5 days. When I returned and put them on my head, something just clicked and I was very happy with the overall tone and imaging. Maybe give them some time - for either mechanical loosening up or for your ears to adapt without any EQ. On the other hand, it could be a general lack of hair and shape for a better fit/seal.....
 
I am not a headphone expert - having only got into them a couple of years ago. When I received mine I thought they were a little bass shy when compared to Meze 99's - which are bass heavy. I left them on for 10 straight days and was away 5 days. When I returned and put them on my head, something just clicked and I was very happy with the overall tone and imaging. Maybe give them some time - for either mechanical loosening up or for your ears to adapt without any EQ. On the other hand, it could be a general lack of hair and shape for a better fit/seal.....
The fundamental issue with over ear phones is the variation in head and ear shapes that they have to accommodate, so the HRTF is different for each of us. What works perfectly for you might be abhorrent for me. In an ideal world, your headphones would be custom made to fit your head and HRTF. You can use an EQ that's generated for your own ears here, though I'm highly sceptical about how well this would work:

 
Sennheiser charges one-third the cost of HD620s for their HD620s balanced cable. In description on Sennheiser website, they omit length of the cable. I’m assuming cable purchaser would like to know length of cable before purchase? I could submit question (with name/address/email) to Sennheiser support, but frankly I want a larger audience to gripe about cable prices in this era of shrink flation and sky high home/audio insurance (v;
 
Last edited:
Oh Lord, not another cable debate!

There is no logical cost / price ratio for audio cables, or indeed probably much of consumer audio kit. It's the wild west; snake oil salesmen selling to flat earthers, an investors dream, except often the price / demand curve wasn't always properly evaluated.
 
Oh Lord, not another cable debate!

There is no logical cost / price ratio for audio cables, or indeed probably much of consumer audio kit. It's the wild west; snake oil salesmen selling to flat earthers, an investors dream, except often the price / demand curve wasn't always properly evaluated.
I purchase audio gear that most audio hobbyists consider low cost. Paying rip-off prices for audio cables is not me. Sennheiser could have included a balanced cable along with unbalanced cable with purchase of their headphones like Audio Technica has done, and added a reasonable markup to cover the cost. I can imagine they'll say not everyone who purchases the headphones uses a balanced cable, so they give their customers a choice. The real choice is their choice to make fat profit.
 
Back
Top Bottom