Okay, everything arrived today and I really love the sound of these headphones combined with this amp + dac! The soundstage is very nice, I feel like I'm sitting a couple rows back on some songs instead of being right in front but I like that better anyways . The bass is a bit lacking for my taste but I would consider myself a basshead, nonetheless it's still pretty good. The mids are very nice and forward but I have two complaints so far. The treble can be I don't know what to call it but I would say too high pitched or screechy sometimes at least to my ears. And the clamp is very strong at least right out of the box but everyone says the initial clamp force is really strong but gets better over time so I was expecting it. I have used the Fidelio X1, ATH-M50S, ATH-M50X, and HD650's before getting these and the HD600's are definitely my favorite out of the bunch! People say the X1's have a wider soundstage than the HD6xx's but to me it doesn't compare the HD600's kill them, maybe it's because I didn't use an amp on the X1's though. 
 
Another note, I plugged the HD600's straight into my iPhone 6 Plus without amping it or anything and they get to a comfortable listening level at about 75% volume and don't sound too terrible. Is this odd because what I have heard 300 ohm or anything of above like 100 ohm headphones straight into an iPhone or something like it everyone says they don't power it enough even at full volume and sound terrible?

jordannn15 said:

  Okay, everything arrived today and I really love the sound of these headphones combined with this amp + dac! The soundstage is very nice, I feel like I'm sitting a couple rows back on some songs instead of being right in front but I like that better anyways . The bass is a bit lacking for my taste but I would consider myself a basshead, nonetheless it's still pretty good. The mids are very nice and forward but I have two complaints so far. The treble can be I don't know what to call it but I would say too high pitched or screechy sometimes at least to my ears. And the clamp is very strong at least right out of the box but everyone says the initial clamp force is really strong but gets better over time so I was expecting it. I have used the Fidelio X1, ATH-M50S, ATH-M50X, and HD650's before getting these and the HD600's are definitely my favorite out of the bunch!

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protegemaniac said:

   

That can be from two things:

1. Your other reference for sound. If you've been using transducers that don't have as good fullrange performance, then you're just not used to hearing treble in the first place. I have the Aurisonics ASG-1 and the HD600, and if I go from the IEM to the headphone immediately, the latter sounds too bright because the other one lacks treble (and sounds even darker on my smartphone).

 

2. Response. That said, the HD600 has a spike somewhere in the lower range of the treble, which can make the above worse. You can check out the response graph on www.headphone.com an you can EQ that peak a little bit with the right software.

 

3. Earpad condition. Since you listed the HD650 also, they might have drastically different levels of wear on them. If the HD600 are brand new (or have brand new pads; ditto the HD650) the bass is a lot flatter, so you tend to hear more of the treble, making #1 worse; alternately, if the earpads are worn out (if you bought them used), the treble and bass get boosted at some point due to the drivers being closer to your ears.

 

4. Clamp. If the headphones are new, then the stiffness of the new pads won't overcome the clamping force - they'll squish the pads and get the same effect on, for example, well-used HD600s (with a more relaxed headband) on a slightly new set of earpads.

 

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Try bending the metal frame of the headband near the earcups outwards, only slightly but hold them in that position for a few seconds at a time, and repeat, alternating on each side, everyday before using them. Then, when you do put them on, push them forward a little bit until they rear of the earpads are gently pushing your earlobes. This puts the drivers out of direct alignment with your ear canal, so there is less glare and fatigue, most easily noticeable with the treble.
 
 
 

The HD600s aren't too bad on newer devices - my iPad2 is good enough when the power's out. That said, I have a much cleaner and more powerful (not that I use even 40% of its total output) amp, the Meier Cantate.2, so of course getting back on that one produces a much cleaner, clearer, more dynamic sound. These are things that you could miss when for example you're not sure what to listen for (don't worry, a lot of people go as far as writing well-informed reviews informed mostly by psychoacoustics or a misconception about what "hi-fi" means, so just keep listening and enjoying what you have), or maybe your music doesn't have much of that, or least likely maybe the amp you're comparing it with isn't really that much cleaner.

 

 
 
Unless the sound is getting EQ'd in some way the amp does not help the soundstage size in any way. A cleaner-sounding amp vs one that is distorting would have better pin-point instrument placement but that's because there's no unnatural "bloom" to the sound reproduction, hence it's easier to pick out where it came from. Soundstage size is affected more by the relative position of the headphone drivers, given comparable frequency response curves, for example if the drivers were directly over the ear canals, which you might notice is not how speakers are positioned.

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For the treble problem I don't think I ever listened to the couple songs I did with the hd600 with the other headphones I mentioned so I like you said I hadn't ever heard it before. And, the clamp isn't too bad after bending it and after about 6+ hours of use I'm getting used to it anyway. Yeah using it out of my iPhone definitely isn't as good but it's way better than people make it seem. I didn't figure the amp made a difference but I'm wondering why I was told the Fidelio X1 had a wider soundstage than the HD600's (Fidelio X1's have angled drives also)? But then again everyone's ears are different.

jordannn15 said:

  I didn't figure the amp made a difference but I'm wondering why I was told the Fidelio X1 had a wider soundstage than the HD600's (Fidelio X1's have angled drives also)? But then again everyone's ears are different.

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I just looked it up on Google, and it looks like they do. Not as much as Ultrasones or Beyers as best I can tell from the photo (then again there's the lens distortion, lighting, lack of actual measurement, etc), or even the AKG earpads, but for the most part it's there. The HD600 only gets a very slight angle from how the headphone fits (it's naturally tighter at the front of the earpads than the rear).