Sennheiser HD600 Review (Headphone)

[Ajax]

Hi Amir,

I have a pair of HD650, which I purchased about 10 years ago. I assume there have been upgrades since then?

Please thank your son for his work - nothing better than sharing something together with your boy.

 

[solderdude]

updates: looks (different color)
downgrades: Box it comes in.
Pads have changed slightly in velour material and foam shape.
Different material is used around the driver (see post JIW).
Driver has had some minor changes over the years (source Sonarworks) but the later ones are comparable to those from 10 years ago.

 

[Inkey31]

Thanks for the findings @amirm, so much discussion about them being different across all audio communities . I only owned HD 600 once.

They are different, the HD650 is a better headphone. It performs better technically, it gives you a bit more resolution and for sure soundstage. The HD600 has no soundstage. However, you lose a bit of that treble clarity on the HD650.

 

[the_brunx]

Sennheiser Just got sold. Time to stock up.

 

[Robbo99999]

Back in the early to mid noughties, I bought HD600's on a trade promotion (around £120 from memory). used via preamp and tape deck headphone outlets I found them a bit meh frankly and bland. I now appreciate the flatter response they offer and the need for a proper headphone amp for best dynamics BUT, the bass distortion bothered me -

- I was alarmed by the percussion 'thumps' at the beginning of Tangerine Dream's 'Poland,' the mid noughties remastered disc having significant distortion and 'doubling' when played via these headphones (like now, speakers weren't really a regular thing for me). Preamp then was a Bryston BP25. I sold the 600's shortly after, returning to my highly funky but hugely 'characterful' HD25SP's which do 'take off' higher up at sibilance and 'sparkle' frequencies rather than the 'fizzle' of other models. Looking at the distortion plots in this review, I wonder if this is what I heard - this kind of 'doubling' effect.

Interesting that the 580 may well be more similar than different. I regarded these as 'restrained' at the time - we had the Sennheiser 'headphone bar' with several pairs connected all ready to compare.

P.S. Can someone please send some Grado's in (doesn't have to be the expensive ones) as these have been incredibly popular in the UK for decades and it now seems the bottom two or three models are basically much the same except for the ear-pads...

In support of what you say re bass distortion, when I eq'd up the bass to Harman levels I found the bass to be not very well defined and a bit loose. I'm quite certain that bass distortion is not a problem if you use it at stock, but EQ'ing up the bass doesn't give the great well defined bass that some headphones can offer, even my AKG K702 open backed headphone responds better to bass EQ, not to mention various closed backs & planars.

To be honest, this review kinda questioning the credibility of the the site, because basically anyone can tell that there is a clear difference between the 650 and 600's sound. Would be really good to measure a new pair of HD600, because this review are kinda useless in this form. 20year headphone with ancient, flattened pads..

This could become a meme/ laughing stock. Every subjectivist a**hole would mention that this is the joke site where people think that the 600 and 650 are the same, while every random people in the street could tell the clear difference.

I disagree that it invalidates the site & Amir's assessment, his HD600 didn't differ massively from the HD650 as seen in this compensation graph:

If you're being honest with yourself, it's very difficult to tell small differences between headphones given the relatively long time to switch between headphones, as accurate auditory memory is measured in seconds. That doesn't mean there isn't a difference between the headphones though....most of the measurements out there are showing some broad/wide small differences, with Amir's measurements showing less of a difference by the looks. So you're overreacting and not putting things into perspective with your comment there.

 

[Fernando]

With eq they are sure to be identical!

 

[Robbo99999]

With eq they are sure to be identical!

They share so many similarities in build that this is almost guaranteed to be true.

 

[NDRQ]

In support of what you say re bass distortion, when I eq'd up the bass to Harman levels I found the bass to be not very well defined and a bit loose. I'm quite certain that bass distortion is not a problem if you use it at stock, but EQ'ing up the bass doesn't give the great well defined bass that some headphones can offer, even my AKG K702 open backed headphone responds better to bass EQ, not to mention various closed backs & planars.

I disagree that it invalidates the site & Amir's assessment, his HD600 didn't differ massively from the HD650 as seen in this compensation graph:
View attachment 128786
If you're being honest with yourself, it's very difficult to tell small differences between headphones given the relatively long time to switch between headphones, as accurate auditory memory is measured in seconds. That doesn't mean there isn't a difference between the headphones though....most of the measurements out there are showing some broad/wide small differences, with Amir's measurements showing less of a difference by the looks. So you're overreacting and not putting things into perspective with your comment there.

Similar tonality but clear differences. Leaner bass, little harsh/shouty middle and airier, more open sound in the case of HD600, both of them are easy to spot. Even from memory, its hard to mix the little congested sounding HD650 with the open sounding HD600. The 650 has a warm/dark sound, while the HD600 is neutral, borderline bright with the low treble peak and lean bass.
Probably the problem is the worn, flat earpad, thats why i said that this review is kinda useless.

 

[crinacle]

RE: HD600 vs HD650, I got a slightly different result. Do note that in this comparison I've managed to measure brand new 2020 versions of both the HD600 and HD650 ("2020 versions" being that the granite countertop aethestic of the older HD600s are done away) as well as fresh pads.

(3 samples per channel for a total of 6 samples per headphone, averaged out.)​

Not a huge difference of course, but enough for me to prefer one over the other (HD600 over HD650 in my case). I don't think the two are functionally identical though I will concede that pad wear actually does minimise the differences between the two, to the point where well-worn HD600s and HD650s are virtually indistinguishable to my ears.

(Before anyone comments that my 43AG-7 setup makes my data unreliable, do note that I have a custom-built mounting solution that spaces out the cups to the width of an average human head, much like the 45CA.)

 

[taisho]

https://www.rtings.com/headphones/t...heiser-hd-600/245/325?usage=20&threshold=0.10

HD650 has more clamping force and better channel matching (and the headband has different padding).

It's the other way round.

 

[DeepFried]

I just got a pair of HD600's last month and am very pleased with them, easily the most neutral and natural sounding headphones i've heard, with nice clarity in the treble. I guess they're my new reference headphones, but my other headphones still have their place. one thing i've discovered more and more as i've been getting into headphones and audio is that different headphones definitely complement different types of music, so deepnding what i'm listening to i'm swapping my headphones

 

[Robbo99999]

Similar tonality but clear differences. Leaner bass, little harsh/shouty middle and airier, more open sound in the case of HD600, both of them are easy to spot. Even from memory, its hard to mix the little congested sounding HD650 with the open sounding HD600. The 650 has a warm/dark sound, while the HD600 is neutral, borderline bright with the low treble peak and lean bass.
Probably the problem is the worn, flat earpad, thats why i said that this review is kinda useless.

I think you're right about the worn earpad point. Amir's measurements don't differ that much from HD650, could well be the worn earpads of the HD600. It's true that earpad wear is quite a big factor, and is certainly measurable, for instance this is the difference between worn & fresh pads on my K702 courtesy of Oratory's measurements (note: not the HD600!):

Each headphone model will generally have it's own trend of differences when it comes to worn vs fresh pads, and if you wanna be accurate in your EQ's then it pays to either know what that trend is so that you can compensate with EQ, or replace your pads often enough.

We can't devalue the site or Amir's impressions of the headphone just because he used old pads on the headphone, that was clearly implied that he was using old pads.

RE: HD600 vs HD650, I got a slightly different result. Do note that in this comparison I've managed to measure brand new 2020 versions of both the HD600 and HD650 ("2020 versions" being that the granite countertop aethestic of the older HD600s are done away) as well as fresh pads.

View attachment 128789

(3 samples per channel for a total of 6 samples per headphone, averaged out.)​

Not a huge difference of course, but enough for me to prefer one over the other (HD600 over HD650 in my case). I don't think the two are functionally identical though I will concede that pad wear actually does minimise the differences between the two, to the point where well-worn HD600s and HD650s are virtually indistinguishable to my ears.

(Before anyone comments that my 43AG-7 setup makes my data unreliable, do note that I have a custom-built mounting solution that spaces out the cups to the width of an average human head, much like the 45CA.)

That's good to see a comparison of the latest builds of each headphone being tested & compared, and as most of us are aware there's some broad small differences. Also your observation that old pads on the HD600 would minimise the difference between HD600 & HD650, which is also what Amir experienced here by the looks of it, both in measurements and impressions.

 

[WickedInsignia]

To be honest, this review kinda questioning the credibility of the the site

I think people need to be aware that “reviews” here aren’t at all in the traditional sense. Amir tests the technical validity of a headphone and then calls it a day.
It’s never meant to be a fun explorative piece. Just factual and highly objective information.

In addition to that Amir’s personal impressions have always been underwhelming. He has a self-admitted fetishism for sub bass and leaves very bare-bones listening impressions. Almost everything is recommended “with EQ”.
However his technical insight is excellent along with the likes of SolderDude and Crinacle. Things could be more comprehensive, but this is a freely provided service on an ad-free forum.

Lastly I agree with you. He is wrong that they sound the same, plain and simple. Fortunately the measurements say differently, as pointed out by Solderdude.
I get the impression that Amir knows better than to assume his ears supersede measurements cross-examined with preferential research spanning decades, so he doesn’t make that a focus in his reviews.
Subjectivists don’t respect this approach so of course they’ll dogpile on that.

 

[MZKM]

It's the other way round.

Fixed.

 

[Objectivist01]

Thank you for destroying another audio myth . I hope the PROVEN similarity of HD 600 and 650 will make all the subjectivist owners think about the perceived differences, which they wrote about in forums for years.....

Cliche :" if you need neutral sound go with 600, if you want more "audiophile" sound go with 650"

 

[KxDx]

I loved my 600's when I had them... and I had them for over a dozen years. But I almost never listen with headphones in the house anymore and when I'm out walking the open back is a detriment.

That's why I have the Meze 99's, even if they are inferior.

But speaking of inferior, I hope amir gets to review V-Moda Crossfades someday. I think they copied the Beats "lifestyle" sound in that they were all bass, and not much else. I simply could not tolerate those headphones at all. I can all but guarantee their response curve will make the Meze look desirable in comparison.

 

[JIW]

I loved my 600's when I had them... and I had them for over a dozen years. But I almost never listen with headphones in the house anymore and when I'm out walking the open back is a detriment.

That's why I have the Meze 99's, even if they are inferior.

But speaking of inferior, I hope amir gets to review V-Moda Crossfades someday. I think they copied the Beats "lifestyle" sound in that they were all bass, and not much else. I simply could not tolerate those headphones at all. I can all but guarantee their response curve will make the Meze look desirable in comparison.

Oratory1990 has measured some. For comparison, there are also some Beats and Meze 99 and HD600. They are all normalized at 500 Hz.

 

[KxDx]

Holy shit, that's even worse than I imagined. 3db higher than Beats across the whole bass range! No wonder I couldn't stand them.

I think I might try the HD 569's and see how I like Sennheiser's closed back. I should almost break even if I decide to sell the Meze.

 

[frogmeat69]

When I had my iCan Pro amp, I could hook up 2 headphones at the same time, and tried that with my HD 650 and HD600.
I tried to switch them as fast as I could, and did notice some difference in their sound, like most people say, the 600 is a bit "airier" or "brighter" than the 650, which is why I sold the 600's.
But, I would be happy with the 600's, too.

 

[frogmeat69]

Oratory1990 has measured some. For comparison, there are also some Beats and Meze 99 and HD600. They are all normalized at 500 Hz. View attachment 128821

No wonder my pair of 99s never get used, lol.