[Greggo]

   
I got the ATH-M50xBL for that same purpose. First impression was "oh, bass!", but it sure makes me miss the HD600, so I don't really last long in the studio with it. Things just seem to sound so much more harsh on the ATH-M50 in comparison, but of course after a few hours you get used to it.

Yeah, that doesn't surprise me... I am not expecting the M50 to be a big standout, just a reliable set of headphones for whenever we have a guest or I am just in the mood for something different.  I thought it would be cool to keep something like the M50 in my collection just to serve as a baseline  comparison headphone since it has such a great reputation at its price point and has been a bit of a milestone product for so many years now.
 
For studio work, I would strongly recommend the HD600 and the Focal Spirit Pro.  I haven't tried the Sony MDR-7520 yet, but I just got the Focal Spirit Pro a week ago.  If you can get past the fit issues, the Spirit Pro is an amazing headphone.  I don't think it gets any better than that for studio work.  I do think the HD600 has an important role to play in the studio as well, and of course the comfort and lack of fatigue combine to make the HD600 a very special headphone as well.

 

[allets]

 
For studio work, I would strongly recommend the HD600 and the Focal Spirit Pro.  I haven't tried the Sony MDR-7520 yet, but I just got the Focal Spirit Pro a week ago.  If you can get past the fit issues, the Spirit Pro is an amazing headphone.  I don't think it gets any better than that for studio work.  I do think the HD600 has an important role to play in the studio as well, and of course the comfort and lack of fatigue combine to make the HD600 a very special headphone as well.

You're quite lucky if you have a studio quiet enough to accompany the HD600. I'm really interested in the MDR-7520! I find 'oval' shaped headphones to be the most comfortable and Sony's old studio standard in MDR-7506 was quite the workhorse! I wonder though if the bass is rolled off like the 7509HD though. 

 

[koolas]

I had chance to compare HD600 vs. HD700 some time ago. I'd say Brooko is right saying HD600 are more laid back, and slow if compared to HD700, though I would say that for me it was HD600 that sounded daker.

One thing I remember brought my attention was that in HD600 soundstage was very wide and deep, while HD700 sounded like I was listening to stereo speakers standing 3m in front of me. It looked to me like Senn wanted to bring speaker listening experience to heaphones, and it was kinda weird.

 

[62ohm]

 It looked to me like Senn wanted to bring speaker listening experience to heaphones, and it was kinda weird.

 
I'd say they did it with the HD800.

 

[koolas]

I'd say they did it with the HD800.

But, why? Who needs that?

 

[62ohm]

 

I'd say they did it with the HD800.

But, why? Who needs that?

 
I do 

 
But seriously, try it. The HE-6 has a more "speaker-like" presentation, but the HD800 has bigger soundstage IMO.

 

[koolas]

I sort of liked this weirdness of HD700, but how did they achieve that?

 

[62ohm]

No idea, I've never heard the HD700.

 

[Brooko]

I sort of liked this weirdness of HD700, but how did they achieve that?

 
Would help if you described what you mean by "the weirdness of HD700".  If you can be specific - we might be able to help.

 

[HarleyZH]

I agree with this comparison mostly. The HD700 has an edgier/peakier sound overall though for me. The upper frequencies are chameleon like a lot of the time. With some albums even genres they sound somewhat laid back overall and expansive, while with others overly bright and peaky. The HD600 is more consistent throughout my music collection and seems to be pleasing with almost all genres I can listen to with them. The HD700 is actually a headphone I greatly enjoy electronic on though - which isn't oft talked about in regards to it. I'm a out of the ordinary for some though, despite owning and enjoying some basshead approved cans, I enjoy my electronic the most on the likes of the HD650, T1, HD700, HD800, HE6, DX1000 (ok this is basshead approved)... cans of that ilk with more impressive imaging, staging and I enjoy the sound of synths that much more. 
 
As for the HD600 vs HD700, I'd take the 600 over the 700 even at equal prices if I had to only own a single can. Just more consistently pleasing, inoffensive, genre diverse/allrounder. I couldn't bare a lot of my 90s/00s rock music with the HD700 treble.

 

[koolas]

Would help if you described what you mean by "the weirdness of HD700".  If you can be specific - we might be able to help.

The fact they sound like speakers 3 meters in front of you - Is that not weird?

 

[Brooko]

I guess it depends on the recording - but I didn't ever really get that impression from my pair.

 

[Rob80b]

The fact they sound like speakers 3 meters in front of you - Is that not weird?

Just to steal a quote from the advertising.
"Thanks to a proprietary angled transducer, the HD 700 angles sound to mimic the positioning of a set of reference monitors."
So you do hear them correctly.

 
 
Sennheiser have worked on angled transducers with the HD800 and the HD700 but AKG with their K1000 was probably the most extreme and were/are like little speakers placed on either side of the head, the beveled pads on the K700s series was also an attempt at getting the sound out of the head, but still minor.
The HD600 series and most phones have the drivers more or less parallel to the ears, also the distance of the drivers from the ears and openness the cups also change the staging characteristics of the phones.
Years ago I experimented swapping the pads between my AKG K501s and Grados , two diametrically opposed sonic presentations, the end result was that the K501s had a lot more bass, lost their spacious sound stage which was to be expected and sounded almost just like the Grados, and the Grados with the thick K501 pads sounded, well …. like the AKGs.
 
And what you found sounded weird/odd having them sounding more like speakers was exactly my reason for picking them up. 

Most audiophiles who are into speakers only have a hard time with headphones as they sound weird to them.

 

 

[koolas]

Hmm, it's weird because it does sound like speakers in front of you, but they are hanging in vacuum, since there is no reflections from walls. Some probably would consider that as good, as it is an ultimate goal of everyone doing room treatment...

 

[Empty Flower]

Wonder why so many people hate the HD700s. I wonder if there is a large degree of variability or something equally strange across the production line...