RockStar2005
Headphoneus Supremus
**Update: I no longer have the H6s. See this review for more information.**
**Note: All music referred to in this review is Hi-Res only.**
The AKG K550 MK II (which is THE SAME SOUNDING as the K550, K551, & K553) have been my favorite pair of headphones for months now, but really for almost 2 years if you consider the beginning of this sentence and that I've owned all of them except the K551 at one time or another. The K55X family to me gives music lovers SO much and for very reasonable prices too! I got my K550 MK II for only $142 brand new off eBay, and they repeatedly OUTDID so many more expensive headphones, some of which cost about $400! The clarity (balanced/neutral sound), bass that WASN'T boomy, super wide soundstage, great comfort, nice premium look, and price offered up something to people of all preferences. When I listened to music on =407991]the other headphones, it sounded like I was listening to music on really good to great headphones. But when I listened to music on the K550 for the first time in late 2014 in the Magnolia section of a Best Buy (on display) using just a portable amp, it was MAGICAL! It was while listening to a Fleetwood Mac song called "Crystal" that I realized how great the Hi-Fi arena was, and that I was no longer going to avoid it like I had in the past. I had a $30 pair of V-Moda earphones for YEARS up until that winter (before trying out the Sennheiser HD 598 & Audio-Technica ATH-M50x in the pre-K550 era) and I thought I was cool. lol That era was officially over, and I don't miss it at all!
But the worst thing you can do in most if not all walks of life is become complacent. Things change, and new headphones will come along that will make you question what you know and believe. About a week or two ago I was speaking with some new friends on here (jodgey4 & RoundRound), and while talking about how the K550 compared to the Bowers & Wilkins P7, these 2 individuals told me about the Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H6 2nd generation. What caught my attention was that they, as well as some reviewers on Amazon, said they came from owning the K550 to realizing the H6 had more to offer, though at a higher price, but with some added benefits (below). It was also new reviews like this one on the H6 2nd gen that also piqued my interest. I decided I would order these off Amazon along with the $15 upgrade cable that everyone and their mother said was mandatory to replace the H6's very lackluster stock in-line remote cable with. I wanted to get to the bottom of this, and so I did.
The H6s came in, and over a number of days I gave them a good 37 hours of burn-in on my bedroom stereo. So then it was time to decide................was the 2nd gen H6 REALLY superior to the K550 MK II??
The showdown began. I chose several rock songs of different types & styles to focus on with both headphones, both soft and hard. Using my trusty Oppo HA-2 premium amp/DAC, I gave each pair of headphones a chance to show its stuff.
Comfort: I found BOTH headphones to be very comfortable, with a slight though practically negligible edge given to the K550 MK II. They both fit on great with no noticeable clamping. The H6 'phones are new so I stretched them out a few times, but it really was just to make them as comfortable as possible, and they didn't really need it.
Looks: Both headphones are beautiful, with premium parts as well. The K550 comes with big pillowey faux leather ear cups, mostly metal parts including the metallic padded headband, and machined outer design over the exterior of the speakers. The H6 features genuine sheepskin leather ear cups and a headband made of real leather as well, with a similar machined speaker exterior. Gorgeous! (see pics below)
Bass: This is where I was most focused on honestly, because though most said the 2nd gen H6 had a better, stronger, yet more refined bass sound than the 1st gen did, I didn't want to deal with ANY bloated bass at all, which was a big reason why I didn't go with many of the more pricier headphones I'd auditioned extensively in the past. So the question was, what would I THINK of the bass?? Well when it came down to it, they certainly did have more bass than my K550 MK II did, but except for a handful of songs, the bass, though stronger, really was more refined and controlled. So in the end practically every song sounded BETTER because of the added bass! I was both shocked and relieved to find this out! I really wanted the 2nd gen H6 to win (see Misc below), and now they had the kind of bass sound I was looking for. Although I didn't before, in recent months I'd started using the Bass Boost feature on my HA-2 more and more often because I realized that MOST of my songs benefited from it when played on the K550 MK II. Only some of the more bassier songs didn't. But now I didn't need it anymore, and on many where I did, the bassier H6 made up for that naturally & beautifully!
Mids & Highs: Very clear. It's possible that the H6 has better mids & highs than the K550, but I'm not sure. See clarity for more.
Soundstage: Another shocker was that even though the H6s only had 40mm speaker drivers (vs. the K550 MK II's 50 mm ones), because of how they were EXPERTLY angled by Bang & Olufsen, they appeared to have the same WIDE VAST soundstage of my K550! Another characteristic that like all my other closed-back headphones (aside from the Blue Lola) didn't.
Clarity: I find both headphones to be very clear, but yet ANOTHER shocker of the 2nd gen H6 was that I was starting to notice even MORE details in my music for the first time on certain songs that I hadn't really before with the K550. Just little fills, harmonies, echos, etc. One great example of this was noted while listening to the first track off the band Garbage's remastered debut album........a song called Supervixen. The verse parts of this song feature a very distinct hi-hat drum fill coming out from the left side. On the K550s these could definitely be heard, but on the H6s, they were even MORE present even at the SAME volume! It made listening to the song all the more ENGAGING! Although the K550 lifted the "veil" off from my music, it was like I'd just realized there was still another thinner veil still there that only the H6 could do away with. And do away with it, it did!
Misc: I don't agree that the K550 are "huge" headphones, but they are a little big I guess. Since I often ride the train into downtown Chicago with my headphone "setup" ('phones, HA-2, smartphone using Poweramp music app, aka the best!), I wouldn't mind having something a bit smaller. But it's not just that. AKG for whatever reason not only made the headphone cable on the K550 MK II a FIXED one, but it's also 10 feet long (have to tie it up)! The H6 however comes with a detachable cable (which means I can use a MUCH shorter one like the 3' upgrade cable I bought), the option to plug the cable into either the left OR right side, and a smaller more portable design. Are these more important than the sound quality of a headphone? Absolutely not! But if the H6s SOUND better AND are more portable and easier to transport around and use (etc), then they make for a fantastic option to very strongly consider for sure!
Conclusion: So after a couple extensive listening sessions, I ended up declaring the Bang & Olufsen Beoplay 2nd Generation H6s the WINNER of this competition!! The portability benefits, the extra clarity and bass that seemed to add more to the sound without taking anything away, having the SAME great soundstage as the K550, etc.............there were simply too many pluses to ignore! Yes the H6s cost double what I paid for the K550 MK II, but they also gave me more to enjoy too! Now, if someone came to me and said I really want great headphones (and assuming they already had a solid amp/DAC or DAP) but $315 is too much, I'd without hesitation refer them to the K550 MK II. But if they could swing $315 (H6 + upgrade cable), then I'd most certainly tell them to get the H6!
So there you have it! Thoughts or questions? Please feel free to post them below!
Note: There werer only about a handful of "bassy songs" that the 2nd gen H6 rendered a bit boomy for my tastes. I could've simply just gotten the 1st gen H6, but I don't know if that would've been the right move. According to the Marco review I linked above, the 2nd gen also had better mids and highs than the 1st gen did (1st gen they say was also slightly harder to drive), so I may not have been AS impressed by the 1st gen H6 as you might've thought. So instead, Poweramp has an option to let you create and save a custom EQ for only certain songs. I simply went ahead and applied that custom EQ to Poweramp's memory for when it played those certain songs, and that fixed the issue right there! All I did was take the Flat EQ and lower the first 2 low-end left-side bass bands just a tad under "0".....the farthest left one a bit lower than the 2nd farthest left band. And wallah! Since I found it only necessary to do this on a very small handful of songs (about 6), I really consider it to be a non-issue. For what the H6 offers, it was WELL worth it!
AKG K550 MK II:
Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H6 (2nd Generation):
Below: (2nd Generation H6 ((right)) pictured with 1st Generation ((left)))
**Note: All music referred to in this review is Hi-Res only.**
The AKG K550 MK II (which is THE SAME SOUNDING as the K550, K551, & K553) have been my favorite pair of headphones for months now, but really for almost 2 years if you consider the beginning of this sentence and that I've owned all of them except the K551 at one time or another. The K55X family to me gives music lovers SO much and for very reasonable prices too! I got my K550 MK II for only $142 brand new off eBay, and they repeatedly OUTDID so many more expensive headphones, some of which cost about $400! The clarity (balanced/neutral sound), bass that WASN'T boomy, super wide soundstage, great comfort, nice premium look, and price offered up something to people of all preferences. When I listened to music on =407991]the other headphones, it sounded like I was listening to music on really good to great headphones. But when I listened to music on the K550 for the first time in late 2014 in the Magnolia section of a Best Buy (on display) using just a portable amp, it was MAGICAL! It was while listening to a Fleetwood Mac song called "Crystal" that I realized how great the Hi-Fi arena was, and that I was no longer going to avoid it like I had in the past. I had a $30 pair of V-Moda earphones for YEARS up until that winter (before trying out the Sennheiser HD 598 & Audio-Technica ATH-M50x in the pre-K550 era) and I thought I was cool. lol That era was officially over, and I don't miss it at all!
But the worst thing you can do in most if not all walks of life is become complacent. Things change, and new headphones will come along that will make you question what you know and believe. About a week or two ago I was speaking with some new friends on here (jodgey4 & RoundRound), and while talking about how the K550 compared to the Bowers & Wilkins P7, these 2 individuals told me about the Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H6 2nd generation. What caught my attention was that they, as well as some reviewers on Amazon, said they came from owning the K550 to realizing the H6 had more to offer, though at a higher price, but with some added benefits (below). It was also new reviews like this one on the H6 2nd gen that also piqued my interest. I decided I would order these off Amazon along with the $15 upgrade cable that everyone and their mother said was mandatory to replace the H6's very lackluster stock in-line remote cable with. I wanted to get to the bottom of this, and so I did.
The H6s came in, and over a number of days I gave them a good 37 hours of burn-in on my bedroom stereo. So then it was time to decide................was the 2nd gen H6 REALLY superior to the K550 MK II??
The showdown began. I chose several rock songs of different types & styles to focus on with both headphones, both soft and hard. Using my trusty Oppo HA-2 premium amp/DAC, I gave each pair of headphones a chance to show its stuff.
Comfort: I found BOTH headphones to be very comfortable, with a slight though practically negligible edge given to the K550 MK II. They both fit on great with no noticeable clamping. The H6 'phones are new so I stretched them out a few times, but it really was just to make them as comfortable as possible, and they didn't really need it.
Looks: Both headphones are beautiful, with premium parts as well. The K550 comes with big pillowey faux leather ear cups, mostly metal parts including the metallic padded headband, and machined outer design over the exterior of the speakers. The H6 features genuine sheepskin leather ear cups and a headband made of real leather as well, with a similar machined speaker exterior. Gorgeous! (see pics below)
Bass: This is where I was most focused on honestly, because though most said the 2nd gen H6 had a better, stronger, yet more refined bass sound than the 1st gen did, I didn't want to deal with ANY bloated bass at all, which was a big reason why I didn't go with many of the more pricier headphones I'd auditioned extensively in the past. So the question was, what would I THINK of the bass?? Well when it came down to it, they certainly did have more bass than my K550 MK II did, but except for a handful of songs, the bass, though stronger, really was more refined and controlled. So in the end practically every song sounded BETTER because of the added bass! I was both shocked and relieved to find this out! I really wanted the 2nd gen H6 to win (see Misc below), and now they had the kind of bass sound I was looking for. Although I didn't before, in recent months I'd started using the Bass Boost feature on my HA-2 more and more often because I realized that MOST of my songs benefited from it when played on the K550 MK II. Only some of the more bassier songs didn't. But now I didn't need it anymore, and on many where I did, the bassier H6 made up for that naturally & beautifully!
Mids & Highs: Very clear. It's possible that the H6 has better mids & highs than the K550, but I'm not sure. See clarity for more.
Soundstage: Another shocker was that even though the H6s only had 40mm speaker drivers (vs. the K550 MK II's 50 mm ones), because of how they were EXPERTLY angled by Bang & Olufsen, they appeared to have the same WIDE VAST soundstage of my K550! Another characteristic that like all my other closed-back headphones (aside from the Blue Lola) didn't.
Clarity: I find both headphones to be very clear, but yet ANOTHER shocker of the 2nd gen H6 was that I was starting to notice even MORE details in my music for the first time on certain songs that I hadn't really before with the K550. Just little fills, harmonies, echos, etc. One great example of this was noted while listening to the first track off the band Garbage's remastered debut album........a song called Supervixen. The verse parts of this song feature a very distinct hi-hat drum fill coming out from the left side. On the K550s these could definitely be heard, but on the H6s, they were even MORE present even at the SAME volume! It made listening to the song all the more ENGAGING! Although the K550 lifted the "veil" off from my music, it was like I'd just realized there was still another thinner veil still there that only the H6 could do away with. And do away with it, it did!
Misc: I don't agree that the K550 are "huge" headphones, but they are a little big I guess. Since I often ride the train into downtown Chicago with my headphone "setup" ('phones, HA-2, smartphone using Poweramp music app, aka the best!), I wouldn't mind having something a bit smaller. But it's not just that. AKG for whatever reason not only made the headphone cable on the K550 MK II a FIXED one, but it's also 10 feet long (have to tie it up)! The H6 however comes with a detachable cable (which means I can use a MUCH shorter one like the 3' upgrade cable I bought), the option to plug the cable into either the left OR right side, and a smaller more portable design. Are these more important than the sound quality of a headphone? Absolutely not! But if the H6s SOUND better AND are more portable and easier to transport around and use (etc), then they make for a fantastic option to very strongly consider for sure!
Conclusion: So after a couple extensive listening sessions, I ended up declaring the Bang & Olufsen Beoplay 2nd Generation H6s the WINNER of this competition!! The portability benefits, the extra clarity and bass that seemed to add more to the sound without taking anything away, having the SAME great soundstage as the K550, etc.............there were simply too many pluses to ignore! Yes the H6s cost double what I paid for the K550 MK II, but they also gave me more to enjoy too! Now, if someone came to me and said I really want great headphones (and assuming they already had a solid amp/DAC or DAP) but $315 is too much, I'd without hesitation refer them to the K550 MK II. But if they could swing $315 (H6 + upgrade cable), then I'd most certainly tell them to get the H6!
So there you have it! Thoughts or questions? Please feel free to post them below!
Note: There werer only about a handful of "bassy songs" that the 2nd gen H6 rendered a bit boomy for my tastes. I could've simply just gotten the 1st gen H6, but I don't know if that would've been the right move. According to the Marco review I linked above, the 2nd gen also had better mids and highs than the 1st gen did (1st gen they say was also slightly harder to drive), so I may not have been AS impressed by the 1st gen H6 as you might've thought. So instead, Poweramp has an option to let you create and save a custom EQ for only certain songs. I simply went ahead and applied that custom EQ to Poweramp's memory for when it played those certain songs, and that fixed the issue right there! All I did was take the Flat EQ and lower the first 2 low-end left-side bass bands just a tad under "0".....the farthest left one a bit lower than the 2nd farthest left band. And wallah! Since I found it only necessary to do this on a very small handful of songs (about 6), I really consider it to be a non-issue. For what the H6 offers, it was WELL worth it!
AKG K550 MK II:
Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H6 (2nd Generation):
Below: (2nd Generation H6 ((right)) pictured with 1st Generation ((left)))
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