[LCMusicLover]

Sorry, too confusing to have @silversurfer616 & @SilverEars commenting so closely in the same thread

Agree that the intensity might seem a little less on Hedd, and also that the more condensed stage on HD-6xx might help account for that. re: on Diana, I would use the same term (blistering) for that track playing on Utopia.

‘Zombie’ is another good track for heavy distorted guitars.

 

[Najam]

Well, according to rob watts, dark sound is actually a good sign.

I'm also not impressed by the build but the sound so far is the best I've heard!

You can see my impressions in my unboxing video

 

[KaiSc]

Are you saying 5-6 dB louder for the same input level?

BTW, I heard NO vocal distortion @ 3:03 on that Shelby Lynne track from Qobuz or Spotify (out of Hedd, HD-6xx, Utopia or HEKse) so it must be an artifact of the Tidal track.

I visually averaged the curves, looking at midrange frequencies.
Standard measurements have more weighting on the higher frequencies, where the HD-6xx is quieter.

Measured in dBA the level difference is:
The HEDDphone's level is 4.8 dBA below the Sennheiser HD-6xx.
I don't think that's too important in home use anyway.


I rechecked the vocal distortion on Tidal Hi-Fi, Shelby Lynne Just A Little Lovin', position 3.03 on the word "loving".
I used the shortest possible chain, direct connection to my iPad Pro:

The distortion is strong, very obvious on Sennheiser HD-6xx and HD-800S - very faint, close to inaudible on the HEDDphone.
Probably the HEDDphone's 5-7 kHz suck out (that I can see on every published measurement) makes it almost inaudibe.

Distorted itself may well be a streaming / Tidal HiFi artifact, need not to be present anywhere else.
I don't have the CD to check.
The distortion is same, present on Spotify Free and on DEEZER Free too.

It's much fainter on the Spotify "Saturn Exclusive Edition" Album "Love Songs Pop".
There might be different versions out, or the mastering engineer of this compilation did his best to reduce the distortion (that's what it sounds to me).

Again, I am not a sound engineer and probably the Hedd is not the best choice for such activities...but that doesn’t bother me at all.

I am, and I wouldn't have mentioned it if the HEDDphone wasn't marketed in Gemany as: "für Mixing & Mastering", mainly offered here in Pro Audio stores.

Might have something to do with the fact that HEDD Audio is a company that builds studio monitors.
I would 100% neglect that HEDDphone is appropriate for that purpose, especially for mastering you need a neutral reference.
Every anomaly in the playback chain finds its way, reversed, in the final music master.

Well, according to rob watts, dark sound is actually a good sign

Well - according to Helmut Newton photographing black and white is good.

Joke aside, it depends on your personal taste and very much on the listening level.
If you listen loud darker sound is more comfortable.

I don't listen loud I have to preserve my ears.

 

[Najam]

I hope someone can compare the Heddphones to the Abyss AB 1266, chances are slim but it would be an interesting battle.

 

[silversurfer616]

I have both and the 1266Phi CC is technically superior having probably the best bass in the *headphone world*. Everything sounds*real* on the Abyss and the only criticism I have is the midrange which can sometimes appear a tad thin...that I can fix with a tube amp.
On the other side I find the sound signature of the Hedd addictive and it’s a very comfortable headphone.
I don’t see this as a race to the TOTL headphone throne because it is a clear winner here...Abyss.

 

[pataburd]

Have not tried the HEDD balanced cable, but am getting excellent results with various aftermarket 4-pin XLRs. All are constructed using Neotech UPOCC solid core hook-up wire:

(1) 4x 22 AWG copper,
(2) hybrid: 4x 28 AWG silver + 4x 24 AWG copper,
(3) 4x 22 AWG silver [w/Furutech terminations and Mundorf Supreme solder, this cable is being fabricated as we speak].

The issue of recabling can be both divisive and ardently--often impolitely--contested on these threads. That said, IMHO, the stock SE cable supplied with the HEDDphone does not do these fine cans justice.

 

[Superpong]

Neotech UPOCC solid core hook-up wire:

May I ask where I can get or buy this hook-up wire? Is it stranded wire or solid core?

 

[pataburd]

PartsConnexion, in Ontario, CA, has it.

https://www.partsconnexion.com/neotech-silver-ptfe-hook-up-wire.html

It is available in both solid and stranded configuration, but I have come to [strongly] prefer the solid core wire.

 

[pataburd]

Headphones.com now has the balanced HEDDphone cable:

https://www.headphones.com/products/heddphone-balanced-4-pin-xlr-cable?utm_campaign=Sales campaign October 14th (WuZYVB)&utm_medium=email&utm_source=4. Subscribers&_ke=eyJrbF9lbWFpbCI6ICJwYXRhYnVyZEBob3RtYWlsLmNvbSIsICJrbF9jb21wYW55X2lkIjogIk1GekxVYiJ9

A nice-looking cable on the exterior. No detailed description, however (i.e. what kind of metal(s) used), offered either here or at the HEDD website--at least I could not find one. For $189, UPOCC copper would definitely be a possibility.

 

[SilverEars]

I visually averaged the curves, looking at midrange frequencies.
Standard measurements have more weighting on the higher frequencies, where the HD-6xx is quieter.

Measured in dBA the level difference is:
The HEDDphone's level is 4.8 dBA below the Sennheiser HD-6xx.
I don't think that's too important in home use anyway.


I rechecked the vocal distortion on Tidal Hi-Fi, Shelby Lynne Just A Little Lovin', position 3.03 on the word "loving".
I used the shortest possible chain, direct connection to my iPad Pro:

The distortion is strong, very obvious on Sennheiser HD-6xx and HD-800S - very faint, close to inaudible on the HEDDphone.
Probably the HEDDphone's 5-7 kHz suck out (that I can see on every published measurement) makes it almost inaudibe.

Distorted itself may well be a streaming / Tidal HiFi artifact, need not to be present anywhere else.
I don't have the CD to check.
The distortion is same, present on Spotify Free and on DEEZER Free too.

It's much fainter on the Spotify "Saturn Exclusive Edition" Album "Love Songs Pop".
There might be different versions out, or the mastering engineer of this compilation did his best to reduce the distortion (that's what it sounds to me).

I am, and I wouldn't have mentioned it if the HEDDphone wasn't marketed in Gemany as: "für Mixing & Mastering", mainly offered here in Pro Audio stores.

Might have something to do with the fact that HEDD Audio is a company that builds studio monitors.
I would 100% neglect that HEDDphone is appropriate for that purpose, especially for mastering you need a neutral reference.
Every anomaly in the playback chain finds its way, reversed, in the final music master.

Well - according to Helmut Newton photographing black and white is good.

Joke aside, it depends on your personal taste and very much on the listening level.
If you listen loud darker sound is more comfortable.

I don't listen loud I have to preserve my use

To be honest, touting yourself as a sound engineer doesn't give much cred. There was another member here who praises these headphones and is a sound engineer. At least if majority of sound engineers agreed that it's the best headphone ever, that might be something, but two sound engineers with opposite opinions? That just tells me it really don't matter if you are sound engineer or not. It only shows people will formulate your argument toward their subjective taste.

Just because one is a sound engineer doesn't mean they have more experience in observing sound.

 

[silversurfer616]

I do love the Heddphone but I also understand where he is coming from; he needs a neutral headphone because it’s a working tool for him. The Heddphone is not neutral and as such useless for him in the studio.
I give him more credibility than some famous american sound engineer endorsing the Lcd4( or whichever manufacturer pays more) as studio tool... just to give this a wider context.

 

[KaiSc]

To be honest, touting yourself as a sound engineer doesn't give much cred. There was another member here who praises these headphones and is a sound engineer. At least if majority of sound engineers agreed that it's the best headphone ever, that might be something, but two sound engineers with opposite opinions? That just tells me it really don't matter if you are sound engineer or not. It only shows people will formulate your argument toward their subjective taste.

Just because one is a sound engineer doesn't mean they have more experience in observing sound.

Beeing sound / recording engineer with an additional electrotechnical engineering background does not qualify me for anything, per se.

It does mean that I have a deep insight in the practical AND theoretical basis of acoustics and electronics.
Doing recordings for several decades now - means doing A/B comparisons all day long, with the original acoustic sound as reference - has trained my ears for sound differences, and much more.

Music that ends up at your ears is created in a long chain that does not start with your DA converter, but in the recording studio, in front of the microphone.
Decisions made here have much more influence than any cable or amplifier on your side ever can.
"PRAT" is created in the studio, by the musicians - or not, if they and the producer fail.

The dominant item, where the biggest sound changes happen, is the selection of your acoustic transducer.
No two headphones models sound the same, neither do speakers in a room.
This part is, as sound engineers and producers, our biggest single point of the concern:
how does our work sound at the consumers side.

Personally I would not like my recordings to sound like they do from the HEDDphone on my ears.
Fortunately, for me, soundwise the HEDDphone is an outlier compared to what's usual.


Taste is a very personal thing, and all ears and listening habbits are created different.
HEDDphone seems to fit to your ears.
There's nothing I could and would say against this.

The other way round, my personal taste :
I'm testing the HEDDphone for one week now, and the more I use it the less I like it.
The only reason I did this that long, is the praise that is going on here, and the HEDDphone's A.M.T. technology I had high hopes on, tried to find out what's about it.

HEDDphone is not for me.
PERIOD

 

[pataburd]

"To each his own."
The HEDDphone are definitely for me!
: )

[May I ask which headphones you, as a recording engineer, consistently use and/or endorse?]
Thank you.

 

[SilverEars]

Beeing sound / recording engineer with an additional electrotechnical engineering background does not qualify me for anything, per se.

It does mean that I have a deep insight in the practical AND theoretical basis of acoustics and electronics.
Doing recordings for several decades now - means doing A/B comparisons all day long, with the original acoustic sound as reference - has trained my ears for sound differences, and much more.

Music that ends up at your ears is created in a long chain that does not start with your DA converter, but in the recording studio, in front of the microphone.
Decisions made here have much more influence than any cable or amplifier on your side ever can.
"PRAT" is created in the studio, by the musicians - or not, if they and the producer fail.

The dominant item, where the biggest sound changes happen, is the selection of your acoustic transducer.
No two headphones models sound the same, neither do speakers in a room.
This part is, as sound engineers and producers, our biggest single point of the concern:
how does our work sound at the consumers side.

Personally I would not like my recordings to sound like they do from the HEDDphone on my ears.
Fortunately, for me, soundwise the HEDDphone is an outlier compared to what's usual.


Taste is a very personal thing, and all ears and listening habbits are created different.
HEDDphone seems to fit to your ears.
There's nothing I could and would say against this.

The other way round, my personal taste :
I'm testing the HEDDphone for one week now, and the more I use it the less I like it.
The only reason I did this that long, is the praise that is going on here, and the HEDDphone's A.M.T. technology I had high hopes on, tried to find out what's about it.

HEDDphone is not for me.
PERIOD

Never said HEDDphone is for me. You keep addibg you're a sound engineer as a suport for your opinion. That doesn't tell me anything.

Somebody could come out here and say some crappy heaphone sounds tonally correct because they play an instrument and try to justofy their stament with stating they play an instrument. That's still doesn't support the opinion in any more valid way than somebody that doesn't play an instrument.

 

[LCMusicLover]

... The dominant item, where the biggest sound changes happen, is the selection of your acoustic transducer...

No doubt. When I was 'growing up' in audio it was the transducer, then the phono cartridge, then everything else, and the biggest 'matching issue' was to make sure the transducers and cartridge worked well together. I recall that my JBLs and the top Shure cartridge (V15 iirc) didn't go well together because the combo was too 'hot'. Shure was much better with my Advents -- kept them from being 'too polite'.

... HEDDphone is not for me.
PERIOD

You are absolutely entitled to your tastes/preferences.

However, your posts seem to be using your professional cred to turn your preferences into something other than opinions (absolutes ??), and reinforcing them with your measurement graphs. Problem is, what you are reporting doesn't match what many of us hear, and your graphs don't match others which have been published. I don't know enough about measuring audio equipment to say whether the differences are due to methodologies, equipment, or actually reflect differences in the devices measured. But you've posted assessments which don't match others, and then posted graphs which also don't match other graphs for Hedd and said 'See, there it is'.

Your assertion that the HE-4xx is preferable to Hedd makes me wonder if we're listening to the same two headphones. I suppose that you feel the same way about my opinion of the two cans (with reversed polarity of course) -- specifically that Hedd are preferable to HE-4xx by a wide margin. Of course I don't really care for HE-4xx -- they don't sound 'clean' to me (THD?)