[Leeco]

I think HD600 series is kind of a relaxing headphone, which to some pp means it's boring.
I don't listen to headphones 8 hours a day, because there are many other fun things to do. I also prefer more engaging sound, more Grado-ish | Denon-ish to HD600.
That being said, sound is highly subjective, and here are some notes you might find helpful.

I just did a quick A/B(/C?) comparison between Sony 7506, Sennheiser HD700 and Meze 99 Neo.

Sony's frequency is very flat, with slight brightness in higher frequencies. Sony's also have a nice bass slam, even though it goes more into quantity, and less textured then HD700.

Going to Senn HD700, they are more spacious, less bright and vocals take a backseat in the music. The bass of HD700 has a lot of texture comparing to Sony 7506. On my system (Fostex HP-A8 Amp/Dac) 7506s is flat from bass to midrange, with a little bright treble. Sony has also a very intimate sound, basically inside the head only.
HD700 have slight dip in vocals, and it feels like you are in front of bass speakers at the concert. The high frequencies on HD700 are not as bright as in 7506s, but have more quality to them. HD700 also feels very open (which they are).

Meze 99 have more textures bass, when comparing to Sonys, and much more recessed treble. Also, they are quite bass-y, which is nice for dance music, but they can sound completely off with something like “Africa” by Toto or acoustic music.
(From what I understand, the current Meze 99 Classics have even more bass-y signature then Neo, since Meze changed the pads. And all the early reviews on 99 Classics were made with original smaller pads. But I have never heard Classics.)

Here is FR comparison between HD700 & Denon 5000:

And Sony 7506 and Denon 5000:

I hope it was helpful ...
P.S. I do love HD700
Good luck with your search!

 

[ProtegeManiac]

I'm looking for the best pair of no-amp needed over-ears I can find. Here is a list of headphones i've had from best to worst.

1. Denon D5000 - Best headphones I've personally heard to date. I want to find something a little less bright and with a wider soundstage. These are often described as having a "fun" sound and a v-shape signature. Well they certainly are the closest to what I'm looking for. I just feel like there has to be something out there I like even better. Something!

2. Sony MDR-7506 - Best under $100 headphones i've heard to date. I have people over to compare my better cans with these. The results still shock me to this day.

3. E-Mu Teaks - I just got this a couple of days ago. I've desperately been trying to break them in to see if the sound settles to my liking. These cans are often cited as fixing all the short comings of the denon and fostex headphones. I disagree. I wanted something less bright than the D5000s but these sound dark and less interesting to me. I've had 6 people come over and do side by side listenings of these and my Sony 7506s. Everybody picked the 7506s on everything except rock. The darker sound of these (in comparison to the brighter D5000s) does well with rock but thats pretty much it. The soundstage is too tight and the overall sound just is less interesting. When I first put my D5000s on back in the day, I immediately said "woah". When I first put the E-Mu Teaks on, I immediately said "god dammit, these aren't it either...".

EDIT: An interesting quality of the Teaks I've noticed is that with most headphones, if you are really into the music you have an urge to turn it up. With these, they actually sound better when you turn them down.......

4. Sennheiser HD660S - One of the most boring headphones i've ever listened to. I hear a headphone amp would of helped but honestly I had a hard time imagining a quality amp over the one in my avid interface would fix what I wasn't getting from these. Hated them immediately and after a week decided to get rid of them.


Help me people. HELP ME! I'm getting so tired of running around looking for something that works for me when my $500 E-Mu Teaks are sitting on the table right now while I have my $80 7506s on. I dont have the money to just buy a bunch of $500+ headphones. I need someone to help me cut some corners here because I've waited for months to get the e-mu teaks just to realize they aren't for me. I want a good pair of headphones sometime this century. :')

Maybe sell the E-Mu and get either the HiFiMan HE400S or the Grado RS2e. They're less at risk of suffering form the high output impedance on audio interfaces (ie I wouldn't advise getting the K7xx line from AKG unless you can try them on your interface first), and if yours has a relatively low power output (ex the more affordable Scarletts for example have less than 30mW), the high sensitivity of these


Notes:

1. K702 is a stand-in for HE400S; somewhat similar curve just so you can see them all on the same scale graph
2. RS2 here is RS2i; current version is RS2e with shorter peaks in the treble and a little bit more bass extension (you can get more of the same effects by doing the sock mod on the earpads)
3. This graph assumes a low output impedance amplifier however, so if your interface has a fair bit too high on that, the graphs on the D5000 and MDR-7506 below might not be accurate. While you may be hearing the HD660S without this effect, you're already sure you don't like it; with lower impedance headphones, even a planar like HE400S (given its very low 24ohm nominal impedance, though it doesn't swing) or a dynamic that is also less susceptible like Grados, if the output impedance is high enough it will still have a significant enough effect on the response.

 

[openbaffle9978]

I don't know. I just bought a pair of HD 6XX and a SMSL IQ amp/dac on CL today and it sounds pretty freaking amazing. Not boring.

 

[RollsDownWindowsManually]

Considering you like the 7506, maybe a used pair of Mr. Speakers Ether Flow Opens. I'm going to assume you like a bit of elevated bass because of the EMU-teak purchase and 7506 preference. The EFO has the treble sparkle and open soundstage to keep it exciting, pretty good bass impact for an open headphone. No amp required, they are low impedance and relatively efficient for a planar (my cellphone gets them to over 100 dB easily at 50hz).

 

[lugnut]

Might want to try out a pair of Audioquest Nighthawks for $399 new. Very easy to drive, comfortable, good dynamics !

 

[PointyFox]

Nighthawks are good. Also the AKG K7XX. These are fairly open sounding and have deeper bass than the HD600.

 

[bagwell359]

I used my MassDrop 4XX's as my mobile (yes they are open backed) - I hike a lot, and I don't over go 92 db (except to test headroom which they have); They are light enough for me, and they have the very nice trait of being not totally accurate, but delivering the "gestalt" of the music every time. They are more exciting and suave then the Senn HD-600. A-B'ing them with the HE-500 makes it clear there are details missing. I run them with the FiiO X1, and there is more than enough power to drive them. I added a felted plastic tube around the outside diameter of the pad - nestled inside the felt pads, which does a great job enhancing the bass from 60 Hz down a problem for the 4XX, until that I turned up the bass on the player +1 or +2 to get the lower bass to come up.

-

 

[bcaulf17]

The pair I have and use right now are the B&O H6 2nd Gen and I find them to be very good. No need to worry about them being too bright. They have an extended treble but it's non-fatiguing, it's curated very nicely. The lower bass frequencies dig deep. My one negative statement on them is a bit of a recessed lower midrange, and a bit of a hollow/glossiness to the upper mids, so vocals are a little bit affected by this. Despite that they have a very enjoyable sound and they're smooth. I'm pretty inexperienced in the headphone game but they're the best I've heard so far. They win in a lot of comparisons between the Sennheiser M2, the Oppo PM-3 and the B&W P7 but don't get mentioned enough, just not as popular I guess. Part of the reason could be because when they were sold for $400 they didn't have much for offer with the competition but now that you can get them for around $250 they stack up against many other closed backs in that price range.

Neutral and balanced, with nice depth and dynamics. Oh, and the soundstage is pretty good too, and no need for an amp.