What are your thoughts on H6 2nd Gen?
I tried them on at the store and honestly I felt blown away at the time. At a $300 price point I didn’t think it was a good idea but after the employee offered them for $250 I thought it was a deal I couldn’t pass up, so I pulled the trigger. Last black model they had in stock at the store too, lucky me!
I had bought the 770 Pro 32 ohm two months before. Really tried to like them but had trouble getting used to the sibilance, and the emphasis on the treble meant I had to listen at lower volumes to avoid hurting my ears. Anything in the upper registers sounded unnatural and digital to me. I’ve had the H6 for a week and I really love them! They do everything so well. Bass might not hit as hard as the 770 but still makes a statement and subbass is surprisingly strong for its size. The treble is awesome, extends but is relaxing, not bright at all, very smooth and rounded. THIS is the kind of treble I like. The mids are good, but they lack some body in low mids and the upper mids/lower treble are a bit forward, giving them a bit of a hollow sound, and lower vocals lack some meat. But it’s not major, and my ears seem to adjust to it after a while. Guitars sound awesome on this and mids are clean. They sound even and balanced and smooth, while the 770 was harsh and vocals didn’t have as much presence and too much treble emphasis for me. They also didn’t look as good on my head at the office and don’t work as a portable, something I value with the H6. Both are very detailed, but the H6 can expose treble detail without a large peak. Soundstage and imaging is slightly wider/better on the 770 but not by much. That, the bass and the overall bigger/more dynamic sound of the 770’s are my only positives of them OVER the H6’s, and the H6 still exceeds in these categories. Add to that much easier and balanced sound, better looks and portability, I prefer them greatly. Sorry for the long post but that’s my 2 cents
Honestly, problems like this happen very rarely to me on brand new headphones, in fact, I can only recall one other time, and that's when I bought my first planars, the T50RP MK3, and they arrived out of the box with a piece literally broken... in that case, though, I quickly arranged a return, although that was from Amazon, unlike the M1 MKII, which were from New Egg, and for whom I've never arranged a return and I think that was part of the calculus as well -- that and the fact I had only paid $40 for the M1 MKII, unlike the $159 I paid for the Fostex.
