Sennheiser HD 600 Appreciation Thread - Page 147

 

Different grill, and the hd600 has tighter driver specs.

If the hd580 sounds more neutral, I'd imagine it's only marginally so.

 

but yeah, there is no debate... the hd600 is neutral.

Because you say so? Elevated mid-bass is neutral? The treble on the HD-600 seems a bit too polite and makes some bad/harsh recordings sound much easier on the ears than they should be.

I guess I don't go by the usual consensus of what a headphone is supposed to sound like. I guess 95% of everyone thinks it is.

 

Neutral enough I guess since very few headphones i've seen measure ruler flat. The only headphone i've seen that does that is the K601 and that certainly doesn't sound that way.

 

You can probably mod the HD-600 to be completely flat, but why bother..I guess nobody cares about a little extra bass.

 

The 580 to my ears has more neutral bass, but slightly more forward upper mids and a tad more treble. Very minor differences. Just due to the grill of course. Putting foam on the back of the 600 driver gives a similar effect.

 

I've read reviews saying it has recessed mids, which is bizarre. Must be the old version.

 

What also stupid is that my HD-650 has more neutral bass than the HD-600 I have. Sometimes it's not even worth posting due to such weird variations between pairs of the same headphone. I do agree that the 650 has a little less treble than the 600. I'd be crazy to say the 650 is neutral though.

There is always going to be a debate, but I do feel that the HD600s are about as close to neutral as you can get in dynamics.  I just took delivery of the V-Moda M-80, which supposedly have a very neutral FR curve.  I think the HD600s are more flat than the M-80s.

 

There is a distinction between "neutral sounding" and "flat."

I agree the HD 600 doesn't have a flat response, but with most music, it sounds neutral - ie, it doesnt highlight or minimize any particular frequencies. It just sounds "right."

K601 / HD600

 

Which one has a more flat FR?

 

Which one has a more neutral sound?

 

Hard to say. The HD-600 sounds like it has more bass and is warmer sounding. The K601 to my ears has more treble. Mine seems to have some weird lower treble peak (not too badly). Then maybe another in the upper mids.

All the frequency graphs for the K601 i've seen are so dramatically different. The one on Goldenears make it seems much more colored than the Q701, but the mids of the K601 seems more neutral than those of the Q701. The K601 also doesn't seem to have as much treble as the Q701.

 

So overall, i'd say both are pretty well balanced.

 

Check out this graph:

 

 

Not sure why, but ever since getting the ODAC, the K601 has been sounding so neutral it's almost boring now Still good though and I don't mind some slight coloration.

 

Oh yeah, what's funny is that the 598 measures flatter than the HD-600 on some websites, but yet sounds like it has more forward mids and more treble.

People will want to punch me for this, but the 598 sounds smoother through it's whole signature. Doesn't mean better, just different. Smoother sounding than the HD-650 even to my ears maybe.

The 598 seems at times even more forgiving of harsh tracks than my HD-600 and 650. I think the reason it sounds like it has more treble is that it has much less bass than the 600 and isn't as warm. I guess it's easy for the brain to be fooled. I guess graphs do show it has more upper treble than the HD-600.

 

BTW one of the flattest sounding headphone I ever heard was the HD-600 with Creatology foam behind it's driver. Just a small piece behind the circle. It seems to just reduce it's bass to just under HD-580 levels. It really interesting what that does for the entire sound. Sounds much clearer too.

Edited by tdockweiler - 11/21/12 at 10:29am

 

The hd600 being considered neutral is as close to consensus as I have read about any audio product.

They don't sound very neutral to me when comparing them to the DT880 and JH13 Pro, but they get pretty close. They feel a bit on the warm side and are a quite laid back sounding.

Compared to the DT880s, anything will sound warm and laid back. The DT880s are very dry and lean to the bright side.

 

Haha, yep that's very true. Since getting the HD580 the DT880 has been demoted to a gaming headphone as it just doesn't sound as good for casual listening than the HD580/HD600, to me at least.

Edited by ProjectDenz - 11/23/12 at 4:42pm

The DT880s have fantastic imaging, do I can see them being great for gaming.

 

What would you suggest for fast, dense music?

 

I would like instrument separation and neutral bass.

 

Edited by suburbanite - 11/24/12 at 8:32pm

DT880. It does fast music better than the HD580/600 to me.

Do the dt 880 and hd600 compliment each other well? how so? Or  are they just too similar?

 

Yes they do IMO, and no they aren't (similar sounding).

 

 

Just my impressions ......

DT880 is a little dryer sounding, extends further (bass and treble), and handles faster music a little quicker.  The bass especially is quicker (less mid-bass anyway), and they are a little brighter sounding.

 

HD600 is a little lusher sounding,  They handle most music very well, but can sound a little congested with really fast music.  They have more mid-bass, which can sound a little 'thumpy'.  Although not as bright, they still have good detail.

 

The two things the HD600 have (again just IMO) over the DT880 is better timbre and a more believable sound stage & imaging.

 

I have both - and still use both regularly (along with my 325i and K701)