HD600 cable upgrade - worth it?
Jul 29, 2014 at 6:28 PM Post #241 of 275
Brooke: but is the 650 also really heavy? Case in point, I ordered the 'premium' headphone cable extension from monoprice and although it works very well it is heavy to the point of dragons my headphones off my ears :wink:

 
I'll weigh it when I get home later today :)
 
Jul 29, 2014 at 8:28 PM Post #242 of 275
HD650 cable is 81 grams - or at least mine is anyway.
 
May 6, 2016 at 10:19 PM Post #243 of 275
I got my hd600 used with stock cable and a spare pair of the original HD650 cable and headband pads. I must say the HD650 cable does something weird:

It sounds like mids are coming out more from the grills and are reduced in the stage, sounded slightly sharper than the stock cable.

Stock cable, less mids from the grill, more mids in the stage - more middy sound, preferring the original design. :)
 
Feb 23, 2017 at 6:04 PM Post #244 of 275
I just received my Sennheiser HD 600's today, a headphone that I have wanted since the later 1990's and never attained.  I purchased an upgraded cable because I can't stand using a 10 foot cord while sitting 2 feet from my desktop DAC.  I spent $18!  LOL
 
Apr 4, 2017 at 5:24 AM Post #247 of 275
The only reason why i change stock cables is just bout length because of my setup with players, amps and so on, so I just look for not to expensive but shorter ones
 
Apr 9, 2017 at 7:26 AM Post #248 of 275
I've had my Sennheisers HD 600 cans for more than fifteen years, they were my first and for a long time my only pair of audiophile headphones. Over the years I have run them direct from my main amplifier, a series of Musical Fidelity X-Cans of various versions, from stock to modified and back again; more recently they have had a dedicated Little Dot MkIII with NOS, grooved Voshkod valves. Each step along the amplification road has been an improvement, sometimes subtle, occasionally quite significant. In the early days, listening to the 600s had me thinking, "why can't my speakers sound like this?" There was incredible detail and I found myself immersed into recordings, dissecting favourite tracks and discovering new sounds on discs I thought I knew really well - for me they seemed unbeatable

And that's how things were for a quite some time, until a few years ago, I was given a surprise pair of Grado 325 cans by my wife for Christmas. At first the Grado's sounded all wrong, too bright and too forward in the mids, indeed I struggled to see what people saw or heard in them. However, after some burning in of both cans and ears they began to take over, they were much more fun, in fact switching back to the Senns had me wondering why was everything so dark and bass heavy, why vocals were now taking a back seat in the mix and where all that texture had gone. Those first Grados led me to track down a pair Grado X Bushmills that do all that famous treble and midrange detail but with real tuneful bass. The headphone bug had bitten and now I have a growing collection of Grados, and a pair of Audeze LCD2, all powered by a Schiit Lyr2 with vintage Amperex Bugle Boys.

All this has left the HD 600 sitting on the shelf, only getting the occasional outing and sounding so very different, perhaps even too different to my favourite cans, the beautifully well rounded Bushmills. However, rather than let them languish there, unloved and under used, I thought I might experiment with a new cable. I have searched around on eBay and etsy for some time and finally took the plunge with what looked like a bargain from UK eBay seller Mavismodz6, who by coincidence also happens to be a Keith. He his £30 upgrade cable, which he makes himself, thus:

"Cable upgrade for sennheiser headphones using the 2 pin type connection, eg HD600,650 etc (Not suitable for the HD25, please see my other listings for compatible cable's) 2 metres long pure OFC cable has 4 core cable's which have been twisted into pairs, 2 cable's per channel, this stops interference from effecting the audio signal and the black Teflon based sleeving further isolates the signal whilst cutting down the cable's microphonics considerably, The 2 twisted pairs are then reverse twisted into one cable and sleeved in a green paracord to protect and provide strength, also stopping it from tangling, The reverse twist eliminates cross talk between the left and right channels keeping the audio clean and clear. The cable is terminated with a 6.35mm trs jack which is filled with sound dampening resin after soldering, this not only aids with further minimising the microphonics, but it also makes the jack connection super strong, the custom Cardas style hpsc connectors are also filled after soldering making for a very strong, well built cable."

A quick word of caution - if like me, you rush straight to change over cables and are a little long sighted, you might miss that the pins on the cables are sided by being made in two different sizes. If you have to force the connection then you have got it the wrong way round. You might also need new glasses.

So what did they do? Well, they did something, in fact they did something quite surprising. I was hoping to hear something but wasn't expecting suck a marked difference. The Senns and the Grados are chalk and cheese, the Senns dark and immersive, the Grados bright and fun. With the volume set at position 2 on the Little Dot the cable gives the the Senns some extra sparkle and life. Switching cables back and forth on The Delines' "Colfax", track 9, "He told Her The City Was Killing Him" there is greater texture and increased detail, Amy Boone has more breath and seems even more real and the cans now separate wood from cymbal better than before - if you've heard it, you will know what I mean - my go to tracks to hear this is Radiohead's 'The National Anthem' and Grandaddy's 'He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's The Pilot" - I am hearing real cymbals being struck with wooden sticks. On The Lemonheads cover of 'Dandelion Seeds' the easily confused guitars are now more clearly separated and each individual instrument more readily followed. It's not simply a matter of a brighter presentation, there is more detail - this isn't just change, its a definite improvement. Never mind chalk and cheese or oranges and apples, comparing my Senns and the Grados is now more akin to comparing fine cheeses (Sorry but I never got a taste for wine), the Senns are much more fun now.

And there's more - on over bright CDs, like the otherwise sublime "Inside The Human Body" from Ezra Furman and the Harpoons, the Grados are just a little 'too much' but with its new cable, the Sennheiser's now have enough extra sparkle to do justice and extract the fun out tracks like "Take Off Your Sunglasses" without sounding glaringly bright. That's a nice trick and suits my headphoning, allowing me to tailor my cans to suit the music and my mood.

I'm impressed, if entry level cables can provide such a change, what might be in store further up the price ladder? The Sennheisers have been saved from the back of the shelf and will now get an outing more often. At these prices I intend trying others, especially as they come in such small packages and are much more easily sneaked past my lovely wife than either a new pair of cans or an amplifier might be. Yes, cables do make a difference and at these prices it seems silly not to at least give them a try. I'm hooked and saving for the next step up.
 
Apr 9, 2017 at 1:33 PM Post #249 of 275
I've had my Sennheisers HD 600 cans for more than fifteen years, they were my first and for a long time my only pair of audiophile headphones. Over the years I have run them direct from my main amplifier, a series of Musical Fidelity X-Cans of various versions, from stock to modified and back again; more recently they have had a dedicated Little Dot MkIII with NOS, grooved Voshkod valves. Each step along the amplification road has been an improvement, sometimes subtle, occasionally quite significant. In the early days, listening to the 600s had me thinking, "why can't my speakers sound like this?" There was incredible detail and I found myself immersed into recordings, dissecting favourite tracks and discovering new sounds on discs I thought I knew really well - for me they seemed unbeatable

And that's how things were for a quite some time, until a few years ago, I was given a surprise pair of Grado 325 cans by my wife for Christmas. At first the Grado's sounded all wrong, too bright and too forward in the mids, indeed I struggled to see what people saw or heard in them. However, after some burning in of both cans and ears they began to take over, they were much more fun, in fact switching back to the Senns had me wondering why was everything so dark and bass heavy, why vocals were now taking a back seat in the mix and where all that texture had gone. Those first Grados led me to track down a pair Grado X Bushmills that do all that famous treble and midrange detail but with real tuneful bass. The headphone bug had bitten and now I have a growing collection of Grados, and a pair of Audeze LCD2, all powered by a Schiit Lyr2 with vintage Amperex Bugle Boys.

All this has left the HD 600 sitting on the shelf, only getting the occasional outing and sounding so very different, perhaps even too different to my favourite cans, the beautifully well rounded Bushmills. However, rather than let them languish there, unloved and under used, I thought I might experiment with a new cable. I have searched around on eBay and etsy for some time and finally took the plunge with what looked like a bargain from UK eBay seller Mavismodz6, who by coincidence also happens to be a Keith. He his £30 upgrade cable, which he makes himself, thus:

"Cable upgrade for sennheiser headphones using the 2 pin type connection, eg HD600,650 etc (Not suitable for the HD25, please see my other listings for compatible cable's) 2 metres long pure OFC cable has 4 core cable's which have been twisted into pairs, 2 cable's per channel, this stops interference from effecting the audio signal and the black Teflon based sleeving further isolates the signal whilst cutting down the cable's microphonics considerably, The 2 twisted pairs are then reverse twisted into one cable and sleeved in a green paracord to protect and provide strength, also stopping it from tangling, The reverse twist eliminates cross talk between the left and right channels keeping the audio clean and clear. The cable is terminated with a 6.35mm trs jack which is filled with sound dampening resin after soldering, this not only aids with further minimising the microphonics, but it also makes the jack connection super strong, the custom Cardas style hpsc connectors are also filled after soldering making for a very strong, well built cable."

A quick word of caution - if like me, you rush straight to change over cables and are a little long sighted, you might miss that the pins on the cables are sided by being made in two different sizes. If you have to force the connection then you have got it the wrong way round. You might also need new glasses.

So what did they do? Well, they did something, in fact they did something quite surprising. I was hoping to hear something but wasn't expecting suck a marked difference. The Senns and the Grados are chalk and cheese, the Senns dark and immersive, the Grados bright and fun. With the volume set at position 2 on the Little Dot the cable gives the the Senns some extra sparkle and life. Switching cables back and forth on The Delines' "Colfax", track 9, "He told Her The City Was Killing Him" there is greater texture and increased detail, Amy Boone has more breath and seems even more real and the cans now separate wood from cymbal better than before - if you've heard it, you will know what I mean - my go to tracks to hear this is Radiohead's 'The National Anthem' and Grandaddy's 'He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's The Pilot" - I am hearing real cymbals being struck with wooden sticks. On The Lemonheads cover of 'Dandelion Seeds' the easily confused guitars are now more clearly separated and each individual instrument more readily followed. It's not simply a matter of a brighter presentation, there is more detail - this isn't just change, its a definite improvement. Never mind chalk and cheese or oranges and apples, comparing my Senns and the Grados is now more akin to comparing fine cheeses (Sorry but I never got a taste for wine), the Senns are much more fun now.

And there's more - on over bright CDs, like the otherwise sublime "Inside The Human Body" from Ezra Furman and the Harpoons, the Grados are just a little 'too much' but with its new cable, the Sennheiser's now have enough extra sparkle to do justice and extract the fun out tracks like "Take Off Your Sunglasses" without sounding glaringly bright. That's a nice trick and suits my headphoning, allowing me to tailor my cans to suit the music and my mood.

I'm impressed, if entry level cables can provide such a change, what might be in store further up the price ladder? The Sennheisers have been saved from the back of the shelf and will now get an outing more often. At these prices I intend trying others, especially as they come in such small packages and are much more easily sneaked past my lovely wife than either a new pair of cans or an amplifier might be. Yes, cables do make a difference and at these prices it seems silly not to at least give them a try. I'm hooked and saving for the next step up.

Extremely interesting, do you have some specific model/brand that you can advice? I'm always open to easy/cheap tests :)
 
Apr 9, 2017 at 5:04 PM Post #251 of 275
Apr 20, 2017 at 5:08 AM Post #252 of 275
Just my personal experience but I bought a custom XLR balanced cable for my venerable much loved HD600s earlier this year and wow, huge difference. That was mostly just due to shifting from the 1/4" to balanced outputs on my amplifier however the sonic difference was very noticeable and I much approve.
 
I mean the entire point for me was just to get a balanced cable but it's a very nice aesthetic and physically pleasing sensation to have a quality handmade braided cable in whatever colors you prefer. Plus getting a cable of the correct length for your personal audio setup that won't kink is a rather nice ergonomic upgrade too.
 
Apr 25, 2017 at 9:12 AM Post #253 of 275
I upgraded to an XLR cable to use with a balanced amp (from Custom Cans). Probably wouldn't have bothered if I hadn't wanted a longer cable than standard - but I do feel that the sound has improved somewhat, with better instrument separation. I know this is somewhat irrelevant, but I also think the stock cable for the HD6x0 feels pretty flimsy, not of the same quality as the headphones. Having a nicer cable just makes using them feel more pleasant, irrespective of audio differences.
 
Apr 25, 2017 at 9:35 AM Post #254 of 275
Just my personal experience but I bought a custom XLR balanced cable for my venerable much loved HD600s earlier this year and wow, huge difference. That was mostly just due to shifting from the 1/4" to balanced outputs on my amplifier however the sonic difference was very noticeable and I much approve.

I mean the entire point for me was just to get a balanced cable but it's a very nice aesthetic and physically pleasing sensation to have a quality handmade braided cable in whatever colors you prefer. Plus getting a cable of the correct length for your personal audio setup that won't kink is a rather nice ergonomic upgrade too.


Haha, Looks like we wrote the same thing!
 
Jan 25, 2018 at 10:54 AM Post #255 of 275
Tried my Oyaide hd25 cable on the hd600... Gosh, call me impressed! The sound is wider, a lot more air and space between instruments. The background is cleaner, you can pinpoint instruments clearly.
As I understand this Japanese cable uses only top materials, and they are very well priced. I paid 50 EUR for my hd25 cable.
So I'll buy one for my hd600 asap.
I have also the mavis ebay cable, and it's a good cable, a bit more open in the treble than the stock one but it is no match with the Oyaide.
I was not a cable believer, I was wrong!
 

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