[Midgetguy]

  My HD600 is due for arrival tomorrow between 3pm and 7pm.  Practically salivating in anticipation... the skullcandys are so terrible I've stopped using them.
 
I wonder why the worst quality products get so much marketing and attention, while the genuinely amazing stuff hardly gets any.  I'm sure there are great IEMs in the same price range as skullcandy.

Without all the marketing, there's no way they could sell such crap; the livelihood of the product depends on the marketing. While with great stuff like the HD600, it only needs to be passed on by word of mouth because of how good they are. Basically, crap needs to play dress-up (the massive marketing campaigns) and good stuff can sell itself on pure merit.

 

[_gl]

> Why not just eq the 600 and make it sound like 650?
> I think they are so similar that you could make one sound exactly like the other with nothing but a touch of eq.
 
HD600 owners should try out my bass extension EQ curves.  They originally needed a VST plugin, but I've just converted them to impulse responses that can be used with foobar2000.
 
The idea is to reverse the drivers' low bass rolloff, in a flat way.   The strongest curve gives (restores) much more kick and presence, without faking it.

 

[FredrikT92]

Ive been 2 weeks without HD600/HD650 now cause I dont have an amp to drive them...
Its really hard to choose! Please help! 
I had WA6-SE, but tbh I want a SS, but if I cant find any ill just stick with a Valhalla 2

 

[Tigerhawk]

Here's a little "trick" to fine tuning the sound on your HD600s.. might vary depending on the size of your ears but the further up the can rides on your ear, the more treble sparkle you get. While sometimes this can be attractive I've found it sounds more sibilant, thinner and not as balanced. As you lower the cans by headband adjustment you end up with a more balanced sound, less treble sparkle and a taller sound presentation. I'm able to get more volume out of them without as much fatigue. You want to find just the right position for a non sibilant, balanced sound. It makes a lot of difference and I wonder just how many people over the years didn't like the headphone quite as much as they could have, because of how they positioned them. 

 

[perhapss]

  Interesting as I found the HD 600 soundstage much more intimate than the HD 650, the HD 650 was quite a bit larger in it's soundstage.
 

 
+1 And by quite a bit IMO.

 

[MorrisL]

 
I actually tried this myself a few years ago. 
I couldn't get the treble on the hd650 to sound as convincingly similar to the hd600. 
Conversely, I couldn't get as powerful/visceral a bass response on the hd600 as the hd650.

 
What I'm most interested is whether it's possible to get 650's warmth on the 600s. I think the bass on the 600 is just right for me, but I'd still prefer warmer trembles for long fatigue-free listening sessions. Can the 600 sound convincingly warm (like the 650) without any distortion whatsoever?

 

[yangian]

   
What I'm most interested is whether it's possible to get 650's warmth on the 600s. I think the bass on the 600 is just right for me, but I'd still prefer warmer trembles for long fatigue-free listening sessions. Can the 600 sound convincingly warm (like the 650) without any distortion whatsoever?

use tube amplifier

 

[Bob A (SD)]

MorrisL,
 
I've been extremely pleased with my  HD600/Schiit Vali + Modi2/foobar2k/Convolver-GlissEQ curve setup. 
 
You have a hybrid tube amp (great synergy) and slight tweaking of the FR especially bass/sub-bass bringing out, to my ears, the best of what the HD600 offers.
 
See this thread http://www.head-fi.org/t/797907/hd600-my-custom-bass-extension-curves/15#post_12454793() for info on the Convolver plugin/GlissEQ curves (vice Sonarworks) in foobar2k.

 

[DavidA]

   
What I'm most interested is whether it's possible to get 650's warmth on the 600s. I think the bass on the 600 is just right for me, but I'd still prefer warmer trembles for long fatigue-free listening sessions. Can the 600 sound convincingly warm (like the 650) without any distortion whatsoever?

Try a Woo Audio amp, WA3, WA2, WA22, and WA6 have all been on the warmer side.  Other possible amps would be Gustard H-10 or Polaris it SS is your preference.
 
The WA7d was a much more neutral but less dynamic amp which could have been due the DAC section.

 

[ColtMrFire]

I have the sonarworks plugin and swear by it.  It really brings out the best in cans.  I'll be using the HD600 preset for sure.  They just added a few new presets recently (Audeze LCD-2, LCD-X, Beyerdynamic T1, Shure SRH1840 and Sony MDR-7520)

 

[_gl]

  I have the sonarworks plugin and swear by it.  It really brings out the best in cans.  I'll be using the HD600 preset for sure.  They just added a few new presets recently (Audeze LCD-2, LCD-X, Beyerdynamic T1, Shure SRH1840 and Sony MDR-7520)

 
Personally I didn't like their HD600 curve, at least on my copy, that's why I did my own bass recovery curves (my thinking was that bass is likely to be closer on each copy than mid and treble).
 
There seems to be quite a variation in cans as they come off the assembly line.  Probably driver variations, mount and material tolerances etc.  Sonarworks work around this by measuring several instances of each can, and producing an averaged correction curve.  The downside is that the curve is then only +-3dB accurate according to them (that seems pretty loose to me).  They can do much better if you send them your cans to be custom-measured.  But that might explain why I didn't like their curve on my copy.

 

[Bob A (SD)]

_gl,
 
There may indeed be wide variances although folks who have the newest models with their firmer earpads, etc. seem to believe that the drivers are closer matched and more consistent than in years past.
 
Regardless I am thoroughly enjoying your GlissEQ curve #4 in the Convolver Plugin in my foobar2000 / Schiit stack setup for which I thank you for sharing 

 

 

[MorrisL]

  MorrisL,
 
I've been extremely pleased with my  HD600/Schiit Vali + Modi2/foobar2k/Convolver-GlissEQ curve setup. 
 
You have a hybrid tube amp (great synergy) and slight tweaking of the FR especially bass/sub-bass bringing out, to my ears, the best of what the HD600 offers.
 
See this thread http://www.head-fi.org/t/797907/hd600-my-custom-bass-extension-curves/15#post_12454793() for info on the Convolver plugin/GlissEQ curves (vice Sonarworks) in foobar2k.

I've been hanging out on the sound science section too much and they have little love for anything tube. Many say the warmth it gives to the sound can be easily recreated with ss amps like o2.
 
Haven't heard it myself, but I have little reason to doubt the anecdotes about multiple testing sessions which they reported there. I'd want nothing more than to be able to hear it for myself.

 

[Bob A (SD)]

  I've been hanging out on the sound science section too much and they have little love for anything tube. Many say the warmth it gives to the sound can be easily recreated with ss amps like o2.
 

I don't know about the O2 but several decades ago Bob Carver befuddled critics by proving he could build a relatively inexpensive high quality amplifier which would sound exactly like any uber mega-buck SOTA unit they cared to have him shoot for.  He was successful in blind A-B tests they conducted much to their chagrin.  
 
I'm a pragmatist.  The now discontinued "entry level" hybrid Schiit Vali headphone amp earned an enviable reputation for it's synergy with the HD600.   Didn't care if it was tube, SS, hybrid, or made of cottage cheese.  

  I bit and haven't looked back.
 
Much in the same way that my high amperage current delivery monoblock amplifiers I choose for my Magneplanars delivers the goods

 

 

[RickB]

  I don't know about the O2 but several decades ago Bob Carver befuddled critics by proving he could build a relatively inexpensive high quality amplifier which would sound exactly like any uber mega-buck SOTA unit they cared to have him shoot for.  He was successful in blind A-B tests they conducted much to their chagrin.  
 
I'm a pragmatist.  The now discontinued "entry level" hybrid Schiit Vali headphone amp earned an enviable reputation for it's synergy with the HD600.   Didn't care if it was tube, SS, hybrid, or made of cottage cheese.  

  I bit and haven't looked back.
 
Much in the same way that my high amperage current delivery monoblock amplifiers I choose for my Magneplanars delivers the goods

 

 
I could never get into the Vali (I still own one.) due to the audible/more noticeable distortion compared to the Asgard 2. I was recently incredibly pleased with the Vali 2 and decided to just upgrade to the Valhalla 2 and stop there.