[phon-o-phile]

Thanks for the nice feedback. It is appreciated.

The Sennheiser HD 600s were the biggest surprise to me. Based on everyones reviews I thought I had finally found the cans that I could live with forever (or at least a couple of years until upgraditis worked its way through the rest of my sytem and brought be around to headphones again). Veiled or not, I figured I could live with all the good things they do.
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But ultimately, I agree with Davesrose. There are details that you just could not hear on the 600s, but can hear on other phones. When you look at the frequency response curve, this should not be the case. Not only can I not understand this, but I am surprised I have not seen many other people commenting on this. I thought I could be me, but yet those details are there when I switch to different phones with everything else in my system the same.
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At some point in time I may try the HD 650s, just to hear their sonic signature. If the 650s have solved this problem and are less veiled, I can understand why they are so attractive to some. That is what makes this hobby fun.

 

[Davesrose]

Quote:

Originally Posted by phon-o-phile /img/forum/go_quote.gif The Sennheiser HD 600s were the biggest surprise to me. Based on everyones reviews I thought I had finally found the cans that I could live with forever (or at least a couple of years until upgraditis worked its way through the rest of my sytem and brought be around to headphones again). Veiled or not, I figured I could live with all the good things they do.

Frequency response graphs are tricky things when comparing to what our hearing perceptions are (be it what our brains interpret vs the acoustic properties of our earlobes). I think some of that factors into what heaphone we find most enjoyable. In an example of perception, take a gander at the frequency response graph of the HD600 and HD595. With frequencies being so close together, you'd think they may sound exactly the same. But perceptually, they're very different. The 595's driver is angled and sits over the ear canal, while the 600 is farther away from our ear lobe. So the 595s actually get perceived as being much brighter and having a slightly narrower soundstage (while I percieve them as still retaining bass, but others think it's bass light). Before getting the 650s, the 595s were always my general cans since they were bright but still warm. Actually, phon-o-phile, you may prefere them over the 600s because of that. I think they're a good comprimise to the Grado house sound.....but Grado folks think they're still on the slow side. To each his own! Wonder how much of that is just how some of us like to have certain emphasis on one region of the audio spectrum.

I'm finding on my setup that the 650s are not bass heavy monsters, but are actually really well balanced. The extra bass umph helps with certain rock genres (trip hop especially!!!!!)....but the 595s brightness still makes it well suited for symphonies and certain faster rock genres. So I guess I'll be keeping all my Senns as I audition some of those Grados!!

 

[vai-777]

I cant agree on the 600 review. They are quite revealing in detail, if its on the recording its coming through those phones even at low volumes.

I would say go out anf get a well produced album "HYSTERIA" "JAGGED LITTLE PIL" "POWER WINDOWS" and compare one of the songs from these albums on all the phones in the same setup. i can bet that the 600s will reveal just as much as the other phones if not more so. The 600s may just be presenting the information in a different way.

Since the soundstage is different on each of these phones, certaint "details" in the mids will either be brought out in the mix or they will lay back in the mix, but the details are there. You just have to adjust your listening to each of the phones presentation of the music.

 

[Chops]

Boy, talk about an excellent read! The comments from other members are also great.

 

[sgrossklass]

A good read, agreed. The "missing detail" on the HD600 could be what has (in)famously been termed the "veil", and which I noticed as a strange unbalancedness between lower and upper highs on the HD580s. I did not notice this on the HD650 during the short time I spent with this model.

 

[Skylab]

Nice review. The more different comparative reviews that are on head-fi, the more people can read and help get some ideas of what people think of different cans.