Sennheiser HDB 630

[Steakhouse]

I would’ve already bought it if that were the case. It’s truly odd that no headphone does both: you can either have gaming headphones with a 2.4ghz dongle but they’ll sound bad, or other headphones but they’ll he bluetooth and so unusable for gaming because of the lag.

That would have saved me an additional device also. I use the Astro A50 gen 5 for gaming. Their tuning is really good and they offer PEQ.
What I find interesting concerning the BK 5128 in another thread is the bass response of the HDB 630. It is on point concerning level for me. My DAC Noire X are much weaker here and more resemble DMS's measurement where bass is also on the low side. I have to boost my Noire X by about 6 dB below 100Hz to get them on the same level als the HDB 630.

DCA Aeon Noire X Measurements & Official Discussion

This is the place to discuss all things to do with the DCA Aeon Noire X. DCA were kind enough to send us some units for testing. Check out DMS’s Aeon Noire X review: Here are the measurements: DCA Aeon Noire X Frequency Response (HpTF Variation) Resolve Unit (GRAS KB50XX & B&K...

forum.headphones.com

 

[solderdude]

why are we still waffling on about a different product on the Senny product page? What is it with ASR and every thread devolving into this bottomless argument scenarios

That's not unique to ASR.
Threads always have a tendency to drift anyway.

 

[kharan]

You fail to grasp that it is not the claim but the lack of substantiation, as I've pointed out 3 times now. Their claims are empty if they cannot specify the technicalities that make them equal or superior.

That's an opinion shared by no one else. Good up to maybe $500 closed backs, let alone all open and closed back models.

If you know a little about DMS as a reviewer, it's wholly consistent his older reviews and statements. It's not unknown that he thinks that deviations from neutral can be very enjoyable and he even loves some of them but they are personal. In general he gives a great importance to a good tuning ie. a good relationship between the various parts of the frequency response, ie. timbral accuracy. He's mostly an objectivist review in that he thinks the frequency response* mostly characterises how a headphone sounds.

From there, a lot of the higher end products just get esoteric and less tuned to timbral accuracy (read neutral) and don't get better once a minimal cost threshold is reached around several hundreds of dollars. The situation is even worse for closed back headphones where the vast majority of offerings, regardless of price aren't well tuned.

So when encountering a closed back headphones that mostly falls within the preference bounds of a neutral frequency response, and which offers on board parametric EQ to tune it to your own preferences, the conclusion that it ranks above a majority of offerings at a higher price point is almost a foregone conclusion.

*with the caveat that everyone has a different HRTF and that headphones can react differently to different HRTFs.

 

[theobserver]

Got my pair on Friday.

Been using it mostly with my iPhone 16 Pro. I've had no issues with the dongle (using multi-point connection) or with any elements of the Smart Control+ app which, BTW, is one of the best I've seen out there. Crossfeed is surprisingly well implemented and the PEQ seems to be pretty good though I haven't done much tweaking because the stock (neutral) tuning is very good.

Build quality could be better but it's actually not that bad. Wish it had a replaceable battery, but battery life (60 hrs) is impressive and it should last years. The Momentum 4 originally retailed for €400 and now, 3 years later, the HDB 630 for €500, but the latter includes the €50 BTD 700 dongle, so I think the price is not outrageous.

SQ-wise, like I said, the stock tuning is pretty damn good, and I was rather sceptical before my purchase, TBH. Have tested all manner of genres, good and bad quality masters at different volume levels, and the 630 does not disappoint. This is as close as we can get to a very transparent and uncoloured pair of headphones. And the fact this is an ANC headphone is just a very welcome addition in a world of far too many embarrassingly bad sounding headphones. I think Sennheiser deserve praise for the work they've done on this product.

 

[kharan]

Best vacuum cleaning headphones on the planet?

 

[Steakhouse]

I got a home cinema system which consists of 3x Neumann KH420 for LCR. I always compare song in listening in 2 channel mode as my reference there with my headphones and try to get the timbre matching. The stock tuning of the HDB 630 is pretty close to the KH420 in stereo. Crossfeed set to low also helps to get closer to a 2 channel speaker like representation.

 

[SoySalsaPicante]

Best vacuum cleaning headphones on the planet?

For this, I recommend listening through AirPods Pro 3 with ANC turned on, while simultaneously wearing a pair of AirPods Max over them, also with ANC turned on.

 

[staticV3]

Best vacuum cleaning headphones on the planet?

The Airpods Pro 3 is the current king of noise isolation: https://www.rtings.com/headphones/tools/table/180857

 

[evernessince]

And btw you also fail to substantiate your claim.

/facepalm

You mean the video I linked showing down to the second where they said what I claimed they said?

I have to believe that you are just arguing in bad faith at this point.

The claims are not empty. My impression is that you just want to after some reviewer by spitting hairs. And btw you also fail to substantiate your claim.

You don't understand what splitting hairs means (and apparently can't spell it either). Splitting hairs is when you make an argument based on a technicality.

Calling for evidence itself is not splitting hairs, it's calling for those "hairs" in the first place.

If their claims are not empty, point out where the detailed sonic comparison between the $190 headphones and $1000+ headphones is in that video. Lacking that, they are empty.

 

[Steakhouse]

Telling me about splitting hair while splitting hairs. You just dont seem to get it. And btw, yes my spelling ist not very good. Mostly because I am not a native speaker and typing on a ipad where autocorrection is more of an obstacle. Pretty poor of you trying to male some cheap point about it.

Resolve also does not to give any proof. He said that FOR HIM it is better than most expensive closed backs. He is entitled to have his own opinion. You by the way have to give proof for the claim that his opinion is „audacious“. It is not. And that is also why he does not elaborate on a claim that is pretty in line. You however are splitting hairsby constantly trying to claim proof for something that is not really a bold claim.

Splitting hairs is when you make an argument based on a technicality.

It is exactly what you do while demanding proof for an opinion that is pretty in line.

 

[kharan]

@Steakhouse

Can you confirm something for me? I understand that the dongle supports AptX Lossless and LC3, but the headphone unit itself supports neither of those protocols. To be honest, I'm more disappointed about the lack of support for LC3 than for AptX Lossless. LC3 is supposed to provide both low latency and resilience to packet loss, and that's what makes it nice. I'm equally uncertain about whether headphones can be used to handle Auracast with or without the dongle.

 

[Steakhouse]

How can I test for Auracast?

 

[theobserver]

Can you confirm something for me? I understand that the dongle supports AptX Lossless and LC3, but the headphone unit itself supports neither of those protocols.

That is correct, it doesn't.

 

[Steakhouse]

From p13 of the manual. It seems with the dongle it supports aptX lossless. Puzzling.

 

[kharan]

View attachment 485924
From p13 of the manual. It seems with the dongle it supports aptX lossless. Puzzling.

Not sure how to test for Auracast, it's a standard for train station, museums...

Yes, the dongle supports lossless, that means it can emit lossless but the headphones won't be able to receive and decode it. It's the same for LC3. At least, that's what I understood from reading the manual.

 

[Steakhouse]

What I also found out is that ANC is disabled when I am having a call. Not atter what setting I toggle it makes no difference. Only transparency works but it is the opposite of what want during a call.

 

[oleg87]

Can anyone please confirm that using the microphone over USB works well with these things?

 

[SoySalsaPicante]

Can anyone please confirm that using the microphone over USB works well with these things?

I had zero problems with participating in an MS Teams conference with my pair of HDB 630 over USB-C to my Windows laptop earlier today. Everyone heard me just fine.

 

[campermate]

What I also found out is that ANC is disabled when I am having a call. Not atter what setting I toggle it makes no difference. Only transparency works but it is the opposite of what want during a call.

Have you checked the submenu where you can enable transparency for calls at different levels? This feature is enabled by default. In addition to that there's another setting named "comfort calls" or something.

Apart from that, the headphones have to make your own voice audible somehow. I find it extremely annoying when you're talking to someone and can't hear your own voice. It's like talking to someone while your ears are underwater.

 

[Mike_Trueman]

It’s very frustrating that every YouTube review I’ve seen of this headphone seem to claim or at least heavily implicy that these headphones do lossless audio over Bluetooth (aptX lossless) - presumably because the DONGLE supports it but the headphones don’t. Same with the AptX low latency mode.

It’s a bit dissapointing - I know you probably couldn’t tell, but it’s a little unsatisfactory that the headphones don’t support all the features of the included dongle.

I do have a real problem with Sennheiser’s marketing team being very active and commenting on many of these videos - without pointing out the mistakes. That feels like misleading marketing to me.

I almost bought this headphone assuming it supported low latency mode - so I figuren I’d be great for gaming too - because that’s what reviewers claim. But they don’t. Sennheiser’s marketing team should really point those mistakes out if they’re going to be commenting on reviews.

With the USB-C connection there should not be much lantency.