I’ve already had my 580s for WAY longer than that, and the 600s are probably in that range. My 650s were a more recent, preowned pickup - and they were supposed to be IT, but I failed to stop myself and GAS started to kick in. Now I think I’m going to do like @BobG55 and get rid of everything else. Three stations, three Senns. Of course, there is this limited edition pair of Bocote ZMF’s…
Honestly think having one of the HD 6xx series whether it’s the HD 580, 600, 650, or 660 S is something about every headphone audiophile should have even if they’re not their favorite headphone. Because honestly everything is compared to them and are the defacto baseline audiophile headphones.
Agreed. Plus I always miss that timbre, especially after listening to planars.
Thank you!
Thank you!
I read it and I fully understand. A lot of what you mention, I did also : more expensive headphones that I eventually sold, etc. You also hit the nail on the head about the HD600‘s main quality which I also share and agree with : balance. When Tyll Hertsens retired in 2018 from Inner Fidelity, the HD600 was still part of his famous “Wall of Fame”. At the time the HD600 was a 21 years old. Tyll always raved about the HD600’s midrange. I’m not proficient at describing sound and I’m not tech savvy which means, I don’t really understand audio measurements, etc. I tried but I was lousy in math also during my school years meaning, some things just don’t register with me. What I rely on are my ears and the type of sound I prefer. As mentioned before, a few very expensive headphones have come and gone over the years but I have never been without the HD600 since 2003 or the HD650 since 2005 and those are the only two headphones I now own and which I’m quite content with. I don’t feel I’m missing on anything.Dear HD600s -
I have spent much of the last week and a half trying to bend a pair of Grado RS-1e to my will. They’re very nice and they definitely have a high ‘coolness’ factor, but for me (and nothing I’m writing here necessarily applies to anyone but me - just writing out something’s I’ve been thinking about for my own benefit - you don’t have to agree or even be interested, and certainly no one should get agitated) they have proven to be fraught with problems. I continue to try and I have yet another set of Dekoni pads coming to try to round out the overall sound to the way I like it. In the meantime, at the end of the afternoon today, after an unsuccessful session with the full sheepskin Dekonis which made the Grados into bass cannons lacking any detail, verve or presence - the Grado hallmarks, I put on my CC/Dekoni modified HD600’s, as a palate cleanser. And you know what, my shoulders unclenched, my ears stopped hurting and I started enjoying my music (yeah, I know it’s cliché - it’s also true). Over the last three or four years I’ve bought and, for one reason or another, sold several Audeze, HIFiMan, Focal, Quad, DCA, even higher end/newer Sennheisers, ALL OF WHICH ARE WONDERFUL HEADPHONES, but I keep coming back to the HD580/600/650. So this apparently psychotic behavior from an otherwise merely neurotic midfle-aged man begs the question: what’s wrong with the Sennheisers that I keep trying to replace them? I can’t come up with a satisfying answer. Certainly, there is nothing glaringly sonically wrong with them I know there are naysayers - I disagree with them completely). I’m NOT suggesting that they are the best at anything, except the thing that is most important to me - balance. But that explains why I keep coming back to them, not why I keep trying to replace them. And then, suddenly, the answer dawned on me. Their unmatched success for the last essentially 30 years has made the ubiquitous. They’re made, extremely well, of plastic. And they don’t have the best, bass, or the best soundstage, or the best definition - nothing obvious to separate them from the crowd. So, it turns out, much to my own dismay, that, natural curiosity aside, my search has not in fact been for the most satisfying sound, I have that, it has been a search for ‘pride of ownership’. I believe that if the Sennheisers were hand made of wood and leather, they would be regarded even more highly than they already are. The Grados very great and deserve their following, but for me the tuning of the Senns is where it’s at, especially with the little tweaks I’ve added over the years (pads, wire, foam removal, copper weights, etc.). The only reason I’ve spent all this time with the Grados is that they’re hand made in small batches out of leather and mahogany, they are not a sleekly finished, relatively mass produced commercial product made mostly of plastic. I guess if he hsppier if Sennheiser came out with a limited edition made of exotic wood and leather, or exotic carbon fiber (‘member the Jubilee - I ‘member and still rue declining the one opportunity I had to buy a pair). Anyway, I’ve sold my Audeze and HiFiMans (HiFiMen?) and everything else but a pair of Aeon Open X (which are listed for sale cheap on USAM.) and the wood Grados, which I’m still working on but will soon be ready to give up and follow in the footsteps of @BobG55, leaving myself with nothing the 580/600/660 siblings, my 50 years in the making and still growing record an cd collection and a big smile on my face.
Love,
Neil
I don’t expect anyone to read or, frankly, understand what I wrote above or the reasons I wrote it. My own personal catharsis, perhaps, with little expectation of actually being heard.
But, for anyone who did bother to read some or all of this rambling post: Thanks. Sorry for all the typos and even more sorry if I failed to move you or even make any sense at all.
For everyone else (just so it’s not a total loss), this is Kurt Vonnegut's drawing of an @$$hole:
YMMV, just my $.03, etc., ad nauseum
Dear HD600s -
I have spent much of the last week and a half trying to bend a pair of Grado RS-1e to my will. They’re very nice and they definitely have a high ‘coolness’ factor, but for me (and nothing I’m writing here necessarily applies to anyone but me - just writing out something’s I’ve been thinking about for my own benefit - you don’t have to agree or even be interested, and certainly no one should get agitated) they have proven to be fraught with problems. I continue to try and I have yet another set of Dekoni pads coming to try to round out the overall sound to the way I like it. In the meantime, at the end of the afternoon today, after an unsuccessful session with the full sheepskin Dekonis which made the Grados into bass cannons lacking any detail, verve or presence - the Grado hallmarks, I put on my CC/Dekoni modified HD600’s, as a palate cleanser. And you know what, my shoulders unclenched, my ears stopped hurting and I started enjoying my music (yeah, I know it’s cliché - it’s also true). Over the last three or four years I’ve bought and, for one reason or another, sold several Audeze, HIFiMan, Focal, Quad, DCA, even higher end/newer Sennheisers, ALL OF WHICH ARE WONDERFUL HEADPHONES, but I keep coming back to the HD580/600/650. So this apparently psychotic behavior from an otherwise merely neurotic midfle-aged man begs the question: what’s wrong with the Sennheisers that I keep trying to replace them? I can’t come up with a satisfying answer. Certainly, there is nothing glaringly sonically wrong with them I know there are naysayers - I disagree with them completely). I’m NOT suggesting that they are the best at anything, except the thing that is most important to me - balance. But that explains why I keep coming back to them, not why I keep trying to replace them. And then, suddenly, the answer dawned on me. Their unmatched success for the last essentially 30 years has made the ubiquitous. They’re made, extremely well, of plastic. And they don’t have the best, bass, or the best soundstage, or the best definition - nothing obvious to separate them from the crowd. So, it turns out, much to my own dismay, that, natural curiosity aside, my search has not in fact been for the most satisfying sound, I have that, it has been a search for ‘pride of ownership’. I believe that if the Sennheisers were hand made of wood and leather, they would be regarded even more highly than they already are. The Grados are great and deserve their following, but for me the tuning of the Senns is where it’s at, especially with the little tweaks I’ve added over the years (pads, wire, foam removal, copper weights, etc.). The only reason I’ve spent all this time with the Grados is that they’re hand made in small batches out of leather and mahogany, they are not a sleekly finished, relatively mass produced commercial product made mostly of plastic. I guess I’d be happier if Sennheiser came out with a limited edition made of exotic wood and leather, or exotic carbon fiber (‘member the Jubilee - I ‘member and still rue declining the one opportunity I had to buy a pair). Anyway, I’ve sold my Audeze and HiFiMans (HiFiMen?) and everything else but a pair of Aeon Open X (which are listed for sale cheap on USAM.) and the wood Grados, which I’m still working on but will soon be ready to give up and follow in the footsteps of @BobG55, leaving myself with nothing the 580/600/660 siblings, my 50 years in the making and still growing record an cd collection and a big smile on my face.
Love,
Neil
I don’t expect anyone to read or, frankly, understand what I wrote above or the reasons I wrote it. My own personal catharsis, perhaps, with little expectation of actually being heard.
But, for anyone who did bother to read some or all of this rambling post: Thanks. Sorry for all the typos and even more sorry if I failed to move you or even make any sense at all.
For everyone else (just so it’s not a total loss), this is Kurt Vonnegut's drawing of an @$$hole:
YMMV, just my $.03, etc., ad nauseum
I read it and I fully understand. A lot of what you mention, I did also : more expensive headphones that I eventually sold, etc. You also hit the nail on the head about the HD600‘s main quality which I also share and agree with : balance. When Tyll Hertsens retired in 2018 from Inner Fidelity, the HD600 was still part of his famous “Wall of Fame”. At the time the HD600 was a 21 years old. Tyll always raved about the HD600’s midrange. I’m not proficient at describing sound and I’m not tech savvy which means, I don’t really understand audio measurements, etc. I tried but I was lousy in math also during my school years meaning, some things just don’t register with me. What I rely on are my ears and the type of sound I prefer. As mentioned before, a few very expensive headphones have come and gone over the years but I have never been without the HD600 since 2003 or the HD650 since 2005 and those are the only two headphones I now own and which I’m quite content with. I don’t feel I’m missing on anything.
BTW Strat, I recognized Kurt Vonnegut Jr.‘s signature immediately.
Great post.
Thank you, gentlemen.
I agree with you, and I could set forth multiple thoughts on why those ‘technical’ things are less important to overall musical satisfaction than timbre, dynamics and tonal saturation, which primarily boil down to something like “when I attend a concert at Carnegie Hall, I don’t listen for spatial placement, etc., but I do listen for the sonority and texture of the instruments” and I would be right, for myself at least.
