[volly]

Having had a chance to recently compare HD800, Utopia, HD600, HD540 and Etymotic ER4SR

I would rank for timbre accuracy

ER4SR / Utopia / HD540 / HD600 / hd800

For overall sound quality

Utopia / HD800 / ER4SR / hd600 / hd540

Best value HD600 - kind just hits a number of sweet spots all round. I could see the argument for one preferring these over all the others.

All of these headphones are great. I think one thing that confuses people so much is if the hd800 scores low for timbre accuracy how it isregarded so highly by many. People have to understand that Sennheiser has taken a very stylistic take on the diffuse field curve in order to relax / expand the overall sound field, creating atmosphere and depth. This is a quality of its own, and although a bit artificial makes the hd800 among the very few headphones to really accomplish this (Sony MDR-F1 says hi). The 600 is actually closer to the DF curve but is still a bit warm up top. The 540 has a brighter than neutral top end but it helps bring dynamic to stringed instruments. The 540 has a reference sound but the 600 matches it and exceeds it in some ways by adding more body.

For accuracy the ER4SR is among the most tonally accurate headphones I’ve heard. Love them. Etymotic are very much pioneers of the diffuse field curve which is much different than the harman curve and one that many still prefer. I will say music, especially classical, as well as binaural field recordings of nature are more lifelike and real than any of the other headphones. The DF curve might appear a bit bass light to some who are used to the bass oriented consumer cans and movie experience. Harman curve is fine but more for pop, dance and modern music styles. For realism DF all the way.

The Utopia is like a super 650. With technical excellence that edges out the 800. It is among the best balanced headphones ever made imo being able to be great at everything. It is also easy to drive and sound great out of almost all sources. It has realism, a bit of euphony with stark technicality combined. The only things I dislike are the price and comfort!

The hd800 I prefer unmodded as I like its spatial qualities. I let my mind acclimate to its sound and forgive its weaknesses. I’m not always looking to tune everything perfect, many times I like listening to a certain set for its character. If I want dead on accuracy I have the ER4SR (which is only lacking in the subbass extension). Listening to ambient or classical on the 800 just puts you in its own world. Bass is also excellent and easy to tune up if you want more impact.

Damn good read! Always wanted to try the ER4SR, they look comfortable too unlike some IEM's for my ears.

 

[Nik74]

Listening to the 650 since yesterday. Can see very much what all the fuss is about with these as musically they are very involving and extremely well rounded. The midrange is just so right ! Vocals in particular are so ...”human”, natural.
Wish there was a headphone with exactly the 650’s midrange tuning and the technicalities and incredible air and spaciousness of the 800S...

 

[SilverEars]

Listening to the 650 since yesterday. Can see very much what all the fuss is about with these as musically they are very involving and extremely well rounded. The midrange is just so right ! Vocals in particular are so ...”human”, natural.
Wish there was a headphone with exactly the 650’s midrange tuning and the technicalities and incredible air and spaciousness of the 800S...

I have the HD6XX, and cleanliness in performance depends on the setup, and interestingly a different DAC made a significant difference in my chain to the headphone. This is probably the oddest experience I've ever had. If you have the wrong setup, I am now convinced the headphone will sound overly warm and people will perceive it as veiled. It's a fantastic performer if you run into the right setup. Gumby to BHA-1 balanced output will make you rethink how HD6XX performs. To me, it's THE ideal chain for it (at least I've heard so far with it). HD6XX is a headphone you keep around IMO. New equipment, you plug into it, and hear what happens. I realized this after I tried feeding the BHA-1 with other DACs, and the Gumby just does it for some reason. It's quite puzzling. Why this is puzzling is, it's not just a swap of an amp making the difference, but the DAC making such a significance.

I noticed this with HD800S and HD650 with another amp, and it was the DAC causing the overly warm sig. DAC to amp have much more significance than people would expect (I guess probably in certain circumstances, like this one).

I now realize that when I had the HD650 in the past, it was a different setup that made me think veil. And with my current setup, there is no veil.

 

[Nik74]

It doesn’t sound veiled at the slightest in my current setup either. Just that in comparison to the 800S- which incidentally is the signature that my ears are used to- the space that the soundstage occupies, ideally would extend in all directions with the same dimensionality of the 800S.

 

[SilverEars]

It doesn’t sound veiled at the slightest in my current setup either. Just that in comparison to the 800S- which incidentally is the signature that my ears are used to- the space that the soundstage occupies, ideally would extend in all directions with the same dimensionality of the 800S.

BHA-1 generally widens the stage for pretty much all headphone I hook up to it. Particularly balanced, it can widen stage of a headphone you wouldn't expect. It's like the difference you hear of stage between a DAP and a desktop amp. Just gets to another level, and it just seems the characteristic of the amp.

What's another odd experience I had is feeding Mojo to my powered JBL monitors. No other DAC fed to it outputs sound like when feeding it Mojo. Mojo isn't particularly my top choice for DAC for my headphone amp. This is odd as well.

More combinations you try out, you start to notice this sort of behaviors of the different chains. It's quite interesting when something unexpected happens.

 

[dgozalie]

Hello

My friend just review this massdrop hd6xx.. check it out...

https://orronoco.blogspot.com/2019/09/sennheiser-hd-6xx-better-upgrade-over.html

Thanks