VIDEO
This was a real surprise for me. A representative of Sennheiser reached out to me via head-fi asking me if I would be interesting in trying out their brand new and successor to their legendary HD650 headphone. Thank goodness this was in the form of private message because being overly excited at the opportunity to try something as new as the HD660 S most certainly raised my vocal octaves a few notches. So needlessly to say I happily accepted the offer.
What made this opportunity all the sweeter is that I’ve been having a few subscribers on my YouTube channel ask me for my thoughts on the new HD660 S and with each I’ve had to give a ‘I’ve yet to hear but I hope to soon response’, well thanks to the very kind gentleman from Sennheiser I can finally give my true opinion and thoughts on the proclaimed successor to one of the most legendary headphones ever to grace audiophilia.
Spoiler: A little about me
A little about me
I would like to say that first and foremost I am NOT an “audiophile” but rather an audio enthusiast. I listen to music to enjoy it. Do I prefer a lossless source? Yes, of course. But I can still be very happy streaming from Pandora or even YouTube's “My Mix” playlist. I also prefer equipment that sounds the best to me personally regardless of what frequency response it has or rather or not it's “sonically accurate” and I always have and shall continue to encourage others to do the same.
I'm a 26 year old firefighter, for the City of Concord, North Carolina as well as the U.S. Army, North Carolina National Guard. The cliché of wanting to do this since I was born couldn't be more present with me. I've worked hard over the last several years to earn this position and now it's time for me to work even harder to keep it.
My interests/hobbies are fishing and relaxing to audio products and reviewing them to help other decide on what products would work for them. Few things make me as an audio enthusiast/reviewer feel more accomplished than when someone tells me that I helped them find the type of sound they've always been looking for.
Now, the sound signature I personally favor is a relaxing, warm and sensual sound that just drifts me away in the emotional experience of the music being performed. Yes, accuracy is still important but I will happily sacrifice some of that if I'm presented with a clean, warm sound that can wisp me away into an experience that makes me yearn for more.
My ideal signature is that of respectably forward mids and upper bass range with the bass being controlled but with some slight decay. I like my treble to have nice extension and detail reveal with a smooth roll off up top as to not become harsh in the least. Examples of products that have given me chills and keep giving me the yearning for more feels are the (in no particular order) Bowers & Wilkins P7, Oppo PM-1/2, Empire Ears Hermes VI & Zeus XIV, Audeze LCD-XC, Meze Headphones 99 Classics.
Spoiler: Equipment used
Equipment used at least some point during the review
-Amp.
-Sennheiser HDVD800
-D.A.C.
-PS Audio Digital Link III w/ Cullen Stage 4 Upgrade
-Sources
-LG V20
-Playing Pandora, YouTube, and various lossless, FLAC, etc... music
-Misc. Equipment
-Source cleaner
-iFi Nano iUSB3.0
Spoiler: Disclaimer
Disclaimer
I am by no means sponsored by this company or any of its affiliates. Sennheiser was gracious enough to send me this product in exchange for a honest review. The following is my take on the product being reviewed. It is to be taken “with a grain of salt” per say and as I always tell people, it is YOUR opinion that matters. So regardless of my take or view on said product, I highly recommend you listen to it yourself and gauge your own opinion.
The Opening Experience
Spoiler: Why I feel so strongly about the unboxing experience.
Why I feel so strongly about the initial unboxing experience
Please allow me to explain why I feel so strongly about the initial unboxing experience with a product. Maybe it’s due to my southern roots in the hills of eastern Kentucky, but I’ve always been raised under the pretense of when you introduce yourself to someone for the first time you present yourself with confidence, class, character, pride, and competence. You greet the other person with a true warm smile, eye contact and a firm handshake. Anything less or short implies to other person that you either don’t care about them, are too full of yourself, too busy to be bothered by the likes of them, or worse, just generally disrespectful.
As a consumer, I take this same belief to when I open a new product. Why? Because think about it this way. How else can a company introduce themselves to their customers? How do they present their products? Are they packaged with pride and presented in such a way that makes the listener eager to listen to them? Or maybe they’re just wrapped up and placed in an available space. How about the box itself? Is it bogged down with jargon that says look at this, look what I can do. I’m better than anything on the market and here’s why read this and check out that. Or, is the package clean, simplistic and classy? As if saying to the customer ‘Good day, pleasure to meet your acquaintance. Please give me a listen and allow me to show you what I can do and allow my actions to speak louder than my words.’
This is why I feel so strongly about the initial presentation of a product, and I feel it’s truly a shame more people don’t. But with all that aside, let’s discuss how this products introduced itself shall we?
I believe I received a very nice “handshake” with the HD660 S, as I did with its predecessor the HD650. Sennheiser includes a very nice cardboard box that is really just a smaller version of the HD800 S box minus the nice silky material and the stop strap. The box itself, like the HD800 S, is my EXACT want in a headphone box. The exterior si super simplistic as in all it shows is a picture of the product and its name. This, to me, shows the competency and confidence of an audio manufacture.By doing this I see it as them telling their customers listen to my product and let it speak for itself; let it SHOW you what it can do instead of my boggling down the box with fancy words and look-at-me’s so that I can pretend to be competent. And for a company as legendary as Sennheiser, who’s over 70 year experience shows, they’ve got more than enough competence. So in other words, before I even get into this box, I’m extremely excited to put it on my head and see what it can do.
But I digress for my audio geek out, as you open the box to the HD660 S you’re greeted with that very nice new headphone smell and a headphone that’s nice and centered in cut out foam to keep the HD660 S safe during travel. Sennheiser also included the brand new 4.4mm Pentaconn balanced connector in addition to the traditional 6.3mm audio jack. Unfortunately I was only able to use the standard connection because at the time of the writing of this review there’s nothing in my inventory that takes that connector size. Then lastly you’re given the warranty and instruction manual in a nice packaging, that unlike the HD800 S only shows the HD660 S and not both it and the original HD650.
So again I’ll state that the “handshake” given to me from Sennheiser was firm and filled with confidence, which is exactly what I’ve come to expect from Sennheiser.
Construction
So I’m already super hyped up to put these on my head and try them out. The only issue I really had with the original HD650 was that for its price I felt it to be quite cheap feeling. So did Sennheiser make improvements in the successor to that legendary headphone? Nope…. In fact I feel that they’ve made the HD660 S even cheaper than the HD650. Granted, I’m no engineer and they’re both made of plastic so for all I know they may be exactly the same but with a different paint job but from me picking both up and feeling them I feel like the HD660 S is a lesser quality product (solely in terms of its construction) than its predecessor HD650. But that comparison aside, these headphones are very lightweight which should definitely help the users overall experience.
Moving down the headband still features it very nice and firm size adjustments that leave no doubts to the user what the cups have moved to a different size, for each adjustment is made with a notable pop. On that note, this headphone has more adjustment sizes than I think anyone will need. Unless you’ve a really tiny head, you’re more than likely to find the optimum adjustment out of this headphone.
The padding in the new HD660 S feel very firm to the touch and offer a really nice level of both give and support. This may be because these are a brand new pair and my HD650 is, how should I say, well experienced, the padding looks to be a little bit deeper than my ol faithful HD650. This is a good thing because my ears no longer touch and rub against the cloth covering the drivers.
Lastly we’ve the DETACHABLE cable. The cable on the HD660 S is the same that’s on the original HD650. It’s a decent quality cable. It’s not shielded or looks anything fancy but it does its job very well. To my ears there’s no microphonics or interference that I’ve ever heard during my time with either units.
So my thoughts on the build quality of the Sennheiser HD660 S is that it’s acceptable. Like in the HD650 I believe there’s a lot to be improved on considering these are $500, but I’ve also reviewed worse.
Comfort
So they didn’t improve the build quality of the HD660 S over that of its predecessor so how about its comfort? Ummm, depends on what you like really. Where as the HD650 felt like “sand conforming to your hand” as I said in my HD650 review, the HD660 S is like the bear hug a relative gives you after not seeing you in a really long time. It’s not that it hurts, but it’s quite tight, and as a personal opinion, it’s way too much so for my preference so I PERSONALLY (so do at YOUR OWN RISK) bent the metal band on each side of the ear pads just slightly and it made it, to me, considerably better.
Getting back on track, Sennheiser made very slight changes to the padding making it both thicker and denser. You can really only tell a difference if you’ve had a HD650 for a considerable amount of time or had a pair on you next to the HD660 S and could sit them next to each other. But I feel that this was a great improvement over the HD650 because on the HD650 my ears would just slightly rub the cloth mesh covering the drivers but now I think that maybe the very tip of my ears do slightly but I only notice that when I’m consciously trying to figure out if they’re touching or not.
During my time with them, post the slight bending, I had no issues with having them on my head and listening to them for several hours without any fatigue. They stayed firm in place regardless of my lying position and truthfully, I really enjoyed how they felt on my head (again post bending [which again I stress to do at your own risk]). Perhaps time will break these into the forming sand the HD650 is to me but even if it doesn’t, what’s so wrong with the loving brace of a relative who really misses you?
Sound
Oh ho, here we are. Time to find out rather or not the HD660 S can uphold the claim of it being a successor to the legendary HD650, even stating that “the legend continues” right on the front of the box. At first listen before A/Bing the two side by side I originally couldn’t tell much of a difference just going off memory and thought, ‘ok sweet, they’ve just made a HD650 that’s more sensitive and updated its looks a little bit’. But immediately after popping in ol faithful the differences immediately become apparent.
The new HD660 S takes a different direction from the HD650’s smooth and calm presentation and favors a more direct and in your face one. The new HD660 S makes the mids and upper bass much more forward which in turns heightens vocals and acoustic instruments presence in the audio. This in and of itself is actually a really comforting sound and a very relaxing on as well, at least to me personally for most of you reading my reviews have a pretty good understanding on my musical preferences, but it’s the fact that Sennheiser directly considers this an upgrade from the HD650 and thus will discontinue production is what’s so off putting. If you can, listen to the song “Colour to the Moon ” by Allan Taylor. There’s several songs that will pinpoint the differences between the two headphones but this song, to me, is the best I’ve personally found.
The comfortable soundstage and detailed imaging hasn’t changed much. This was kinda difficult to determine because the forwardness of the mids and upper bass makes the soundstage sound a bit closer than the original HD650 did but when playing normal classical/instrumental music, at least me personally, I can’t hear a notable difference between the two in the soundstage and detail side of things.
Imaging is also a really interesting one. If you were to ask me which of the two would be the “best” (I hate that word because I firmly believe there’s no such thing) for overall imaging I would side with ol faithful. The HD650 just plays so beautifully with pretty much every type of music that it’s ability to show the listener what they’re listening to is amazing. However, if you’re listening to a piece with a lot of acoustic presence, or even harder rock/metal, I think you’ll like the new HD660 S better. Check out this song “Rocketman ” by Ironhorse Bluegrass. The HD660 S makes the banjo and guitars sound so much more lifelike than the HD650 could that I could really understand why these would be called the successor. Now, listen to the song “Sound of Silence ” by Disturbed. Though this song sounds beautiful on both, the HD650 forces you to close your eyes and embrace the entire experience whereas the HD660 S shows of mainly just the singers.
But let me now talk about the individual characteristics of the sound signature so that I may be able to convey my thoughts on the HD660 S better.
Treble
From going back and forth between the original HD650 and the new HD660 S, to me, the treble hasn’t been changed much if at all. It’s still very relaxing to listen to and never gets harsh. The only difference I think exists is that the treble doesn’t balance in with the rest of the audio band like I’ve gotten so accustomed to. What I mean by this is that where the mids and upper bass are emphasized it almost over does the treble. I’ll use my oh so commonly showcased song “Diva Dance ” by Jane Zhang as an example. Oh the HD650 she reaches some really high notes and the HD650 matches them. Now, on the HD660 S, though I still get the same extension per say, I just don’t get the same magic as I’m so used to. This is not a bad thing I firmly believe that, it’s just a different headphone displaying what it showcases differently (I’ll touch on that statement at the end). There’s really not a whole lot for me to say about the mids on the HD660 S. They’re as good as the HD650 but you can’t quite enjoy them as much because they’re not balanced with the mids and bass. I know my explanation of the treble probably sucked but without putting them both on your head and letting you instantly hear the “oh yeah that’s what you’re talking about” that’s the best I can do .
Mids
The soul of the music, where emotions are expressed and feelings are created. And that is honestly a really good analogy of what the HD660 S can do. Whereas the HD650 presents music in a very relaxed and calm manner, the HD660 S makes the artists voice front and center in the presentation you’re listening to. And it really doesn’t matter rather it’s male or female vocals you’re listening to, both sound beautiful. You can even use the Diva Dance song I listed earlier, yes I think it sounds overall better on the HD650, her voice still resonates throughout her entire performance unhindered by the HD660 S’ forwardness. Or even take the song “The River ” by Blues Saraceno. The emotion of the song is easy to understand and even feel. When I just want to enjoy my music and listen to a lot of acoustic focused music as well, the HD660 S has become a go to. To talk more about instruments. Listening to the HD660 S just as its own headphone is a very enjoyable experience. The forwardness of the mids make every guitar string pluck or swipe of a bow of a cello sound so musical and enjoyable that I often get chill bumps when the solos take off.
So I really like the mids on the HD660 S and I think when considering the this headphone its own headphone, I believe most will as well.
Bass
I often call the bass the heartbeat of the music and like the mids the HD660 S plays my analogy very well. The bass isn’t overpowering whatsoever but it most certainly is more present than what was in the original HD650. The bass is heavy and full so most shouldn’t feel a need for more but it’s also very controlled and as said earlier, it’s not overpowering. It complements the mids surprisingly well and really shows off when listening to some rock music (again not a bass heavy can but it plays quite well imo).
Conclusion
My final thoughts on the HD660 S is that I believe that Sennheiser is making a mistake in calling it a successor to the HD650, for to me it’s not. The HD660 S is a great headphone but it’s its own personality and presents audio in its own way that I believe is way too different for it to be considered a successor. The HD800 S, to me, is the definition of what a successor is. But as an individual headphone the HD660 S is wonderful and a real treat to listen to. I do like how it can be played more friendly off mobile devices however I will say that in doing this Sennheiser has really handicapped the HD660S’ ability to scale. It still shows improvement when listening to top tier gear over a mobile phone but NOWHERE near the legendary degree that the HD650 can.
Also, make sure to check out my unboxing and review videos. They’re pretty awesome AND you getta put a face to the Army-Firedawg name. If this review helped you out at all please hit that thumbs up button for it really helps me out a lot. Till next time my friends, stay safe.