This is a review and detailed measurements of the Sennheiser HD600 headphone. I purchased this sample new after I visited major labels around year 2000 and noticing this was a reference headphone they used. I handed it to my son Karman who has been using it for years and replacing the worn out pads. He was visiting us (we are all vaccinated) and brought it with him. I had shown him how to make measurements and what you see below are his.
Other than showing some wear, you can't tell the HD600 from HD650:
The measurements you are about to see are made using a standardized Gras 45C. Other measurements made using different fixtures and protocols will vary from mine. I confirm the approximate accuracy of the measurements using Equalization and listening tests. Ultimately headphone measurements are less exact than speakers with large variations in bass and treble as a minimum. As such, you better take a high level view of headphone measurements. Anything else is not supported by the state of measurement system for headphones.
Sennheiser HD600 Measurements
Let's start with our usual frequency response measurements:
This is basically the same as HD650 given the vagaries of headphone measurements, fit, pad wear, etc.:
Distortion is higher but this could just be wear and tear:
Here is Group Delay which again is similar to the HD650:
Sensitivity is essentially the same. Variation is due to slightly different reference point:
Sennheiser HD600 Listening Tests
I only made a brief evaluation of the HD600 with and without equalization I made for HD650. I could not tell a difference between the two in the confines of slow switching time between the two headphones. As with HD650, I was yet again impressed by how good this headphone sounds. Equalization made an improvement but the headphone was very listenable without it.
Conclusions
I don't know what is supposed to be different between HD600 and HD650. Based on both objective and subjective testing, these two headphones perform the same.
To the extent the HD600 is available and costs less than HD650, it would make just as good a purchase.
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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
Other than showing some wear, you can't tell the HD600 from HD650:
The measurements you are about to see are made using a standardized Gras 45C. Other measurements made using different fixtures and protocols will vary from mine. I confirm the approximate accuracy of the measurements using Equalization and listening tests. Ultimately headphone measurements are less exact than speakers with large variations in bass and treble as a minimum. As such, you better take a high level view of headphone measurements. Anything else is not supported by the state of measurement system for headphones.
Sennheiser HD600 Measurements
Let's start with our usual frequency response measurements:
This is basically the same as HD650 given the vagaries of headphone measurements, fit, pad wear, etc.:
Distortion is higher but this could just be wear and tear:
Here is Group Delay which again is similar to the HD650:
Sensitivity is essentially the same. Variation is due to slightly different reference point:
Sennheiser HD600 Listening Tests
I only made a brief evaluation of the HD600 with and without equalization I made for HD650. I could not tell a difference between the two in the confines of slow switching time between the two headphones. As with HD650, I was yet again impressed by how good this headphone sounds. Equalization made an improvement but the headphone was very listenable without it.
Conclusions
I don't know what is supposed to be different between HD600 and HD650. Based on both objective and subjective testing, these two headphones perform the same.
To the extent the HD600 is available and costs less than HD650, it would make just as good a purchase.
-----------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/