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Sennheiser HD600 Review (Headphone)

Limopard

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I was rather thinking about the Drop cable. It's $50 and a PITA to have it shipped in Europe so it would have been nice to see it sold by Sennheiser directly... but I'm not even sure they are the ones manufacturing it in the first place.
Maybe some third party cable is a better choice. But I have mixed feelings reagrding the connectors on the headphones. If they are too loose there is a risk of straining/bending the contact springs inside the ear cup.
 

MayaTlab

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Honestly this would all be a moot point had Sennheiser took the opportunity during the recent re-tooling of the plastic parts to switch to 2.5 or 3.5mm connectors...
 

Blank Verse

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I got a challenge for you if you know what natural sounds like and base your judgements on measurements then draw up the optimum frequency response and point out the hd600 problem spots. The treble is clearly scooped out even on the. Easurements of this review. So correct me if you can by drawing it up for me. Correct everything I said by showing your work on the measurements
What headphones you you like best, or at least prefer to the HD600?
 

ApexEight

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https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000140057659.html



About 2dB more (mid)lows, different paintjob, different headband padding, different cable (at least in the old days), different price.
Just a heads up, I ordered the pads from this link and the ones I got have black plastic instead of the clear. And I'm not sure if they were just squished during shipping, but the openings seem a bit narrow. Might still give them a shot. I'll report back.
 

THW

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I can answer that for him.
A fully 'burnt-in' DT990.

I vaguely remember this guy, wasn’t he going on and on about how the pads basically need to be so worn that your ears are touching the insides?

FWIW, I have had pads that were quite worn, and I can assuredly tell everyone that having your ears touching anything is very uncomfortable, I cannot wear a headphone like that for more than an hour so measuring in such conditions is useless for me
 

Darwin

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I think they only similar because of the used/heavily flattened pad, but if u try a new HD600, that is really different.
I am using the HD650 and wanted to try HD 600 so i bought it.
The 600 have much less midbass, the sound is more clear and airier , while the higher mids / lower highs are a little harsh.

I am an a objectivist so i was a bit skeptic but the differences are really there.
In the end i returned the 600 after 1-2 week, because the overall sound was too harsh and lean after the 650.

Yeah I don't get why measuring with worn pads is a good idea.
 

NoSnakeOil2

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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.....
I'll bet it doesn't. lol
 

netforce

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New 600 Series pads in the house

QbhwVxI.jpg

Left Old Matte 600 Series Pads, Right New Glossy 600 Series Pads

Tnw73ZC.jpg

Left Old (Used) vs Right New (Unused)

Little misleading as my left pad is used vs the new pad is brand new.

Fc087Ao.jpg

And the packaging.

Hanging out with a friend tomorrow who has brand new unused 600 series pads and a few variety of 580/600/650 plus an EARS to use for measurements.
 

Robbo99999

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New 600 Series pads in the house

QbhwVxI.jpg

Left Old Matte 600 Series Pads, Right New Glossy 600 Series Pads

Tnw73ZC.jpg

Left Old (Used) vs Right New (Unused)

Little misleading as my left pad is used vs the new pad is brand new.

Fc087Ao.jpg

And the packaging.

Hanging out with a friend tomorrow who has brand new unused 600 series pads and a few variety of 580/600/650 plus an EARS to use for measurements.
The newly designed pads look exactly the same as the old pads in terms of thickness if accounting for wear when compared to your old pads there. It'll be interesting to see if you notice any measured differences between the old pads vs new pads on the EARS measurement system. You'd have to use them on the same headphone to make comparisons, and you'd have to decide if you were gonna take multiple measurements and average them, or if you could instead reliably unmount the headphone & remount it on the EARS without changing the frequency response (ie exact same position)......if it turns out you can get the exact same frequency response then you probably won't need to take lots of measurements and won't need to compare the average of old pad vs average of new pad. Lots of variation between headphone seatings on your EARS measurement system will mean you would need to do lots of measurements, average them & then compare the averages between the 2 sets of pads.
 

netforce

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The newly designed pads look exactly the same as the old pads in terms of thickness if accounting for wear when compared to your old pads there. It'll be interesting to see if you notice any measured differences between the old pads vs new pads on the EARS measurement system. You'd have to use them on the same headphone to make comparisons, and you'd have to decide if you were gonna take multiple measurements and average them, or if you could instead reliably unmount the headphone & remount it on the EARS without changing the frequency response (ie exact same position)......if it turns out you can get the exact same frequency response then you probably won't need to take lots of measurements and won't need to compare the average of old pad vs average of new pad. Lots of variation between headphone seatings on your EARS measurement system will mean you would need to do lots of measurements, average them & then compare the averages between the 2 sets of pads.
No worries, will try to be as thorough as we can tomorrow.

So far timeline wise in post #322 had the confirmation email from Sennheiser of the pads change. But with Sennheiser saying it should be within a 1db difference

Another friend went so far to buy 5 pairs of the pads direct from Sennheiser to get the older matte versions

Vs the ones received Oct 2020

Back last month I bought a secondhand pair of HD 580 from ebay and immediately after getting them June 25th, ordered replacement pads from both Sennheiser direct and Amazon. Sennheiser direct was backordered but just arrived whereas the Amazon pads arrived in proper packaging on the 27th. So my used pair I had in the 2nd pic is a little over 2~ weeks old but I had been going between 580 and 800S lately plus taking a trip to Ohio last weekend. I wouldn't say I had a terrible amount of hours on them but enough to where I would like to use fresh matte pads for testing.

July 16th I received the new glossy pads and had just taken them out to inspect and confirm they were indeed now the new glossy pads.

Previously, the friend had put together a writeup of the 580/600/650 with his impression and backstory between the various versions plus a few measurements:
http://audioslams.com/audio/6XOBreakdown_580Series_AcousticScreens.pdf
http://audioslams.com/audio/6XOBreakdown_600Series_AcousticScreens.pdf
http://audioslams.com/audio/6XOBreakdown_650Series_AcousticScreens.pdf

Certainly took quite a bit of time, effort, and patience for those writeups. Tomorrow I do have a few other things planned but we will try out best!
 

threni

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Whilst everyone's talking about replacement earpads, I'm currently renovating a 10 year old HD 595 - Sennheiser doesn't carry spares, so how can I be sure that if I get pad online they're compatible, both in terms of fit and acoustically? Is there a range of Sennheiser headphones where the pads are interchangeable? There are several sellers on eBay but that's the wild west (ie I can buy a replacement HD 595 cable which is a usb C to 3.5 mm lead!).
 

ragecandy

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Have both 6xx and 600 on hand, they sound REALLY different, accidentaly blind tested me cause I was messing with swapping the drivers between both shells, can tell the difference 10 out of 10 times, I downright kinda dislike the 6xx cause they sound boomy and bloated in comparison while the 600 isolates the vocals much better and sounds incredibly clear to me.
Can’t say I trust Amir’s ears if they actually sound the same to him…
 

DeepFried

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Have both 6xx and 600 on hand, they sound REALLY different, accidentaly blind tested me cause I was messing with swapping the drivers between both shells, can tell the difference 10 out of 10 times, I downright kinda dislike the 6xx cause they sound boomy and bloated in comparison while the 600 isolates the vocals much better and sounds incredibly clear to me.
Can’t say I trust Amir’s ears if they actually sound the same to him…

Although similar, the 6xx is not the same as the 650. So not really fair to equate your comparison of the two with Amir's comparison of the 650 and 600.
 

solderdude

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No worries, will try to be as thorough as we can tomorrow.

Previously, the friend had put together a writeup of the 580/600/650 with his impression and backstory between the various versions plus a few measurements:
http://audioslams.com/audio/6XOBreakdown_580Series_AcousticScreens.pdf
http://audioslams.com/audio/6XOBreakdown_650Series_AcousticScreens.pdf

Certainly took quite a bit of time, effort, and patience for those writeups. Tomorrow I do have a few other things planned but we will try out best!

There is an error in the 580 and 650 pdf's.

The credits under the pad measurements went to:
Red BS 650 New Pads vs Green BS 650 Old Pads - Credit to Psalmanazar on SBAF
Psalmanazar, however, had nothing to do with this and is not the creator of this plot. I am.. solderdude on DIYAH
Perhaps you could forward this info to the author ?

I also measured new vs old pads.
 
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ragecandy

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Although similar, the 6xx is not the same as the 650. So not really fair to equate your comparison of the two with Amir's comparison of the 650 and 600.
Pretty sure the 6xx and the 650 are the same headphone, and absolutely sure the 650 and the 600 aren’t.
Only reasonable explanation would be testing a 600 with insanely worn pads vs completely new pads 650, and the 650 would still be bassier.
Even then It would be flawed methodology, so yeah…
 

Shazb0t

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Pretty sure the 6xx and the 650 are the same headphone, and absolutely sure the 650 and the 600 aren’t.
Only reasonable explanation would be testing a 600 with insanely worn pads vs completely new pads 650, and the 650 would still be bassier.
Even then It would be flawed methodology, so yeah…
650 and 6xx are the same headphone with a different paint job.
 

Sombreuil

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Can’t say I trust Amir’s ears if they actually sound the same to him…

You're not supposed to trust his ears, that's why measurements are used. Take one pair of headphones, ask 10 different persons and you'll get 10 different answers on how said headphones sound like.
 
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Robin L

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You're not supposed to trust his ears, that's why measurements are used. Take one pair of headphones, ask 10 different persons and you'll get 10 different answers on how said headphones sound like.
Think of it this way: it would be like the same speaker in ten different rooms.
 

Explorer

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Have both 6xx and 600 on hand, they sound REALLY different, accidentaly blind tested me cause I was messing with swapping the drivers between both shells, can tell the difference 10 out of 10 times, I downright kinda dislike the 6xx cause they sound boomy and bloated in comparison while the 600 isolates the vocals much better and sounds incredibly clear to me.
Can’t say I trust Amir’s ears if they actually sound the same to him…
Please stop spreading false information. I compared and measured 2 brand new pairs of HD600 and HD650, and they both measured the same (taking measurement errors into account).

They sounded exactly the same as well. Level matched at 109dB volume (my standard listening volume)
 
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