[drandall]

So, i think i want a pair of senns and thanks to the unbelievably crappy audio shopping in knoxville, TN i haven't found a place to audition them...so i'm going on written reviews only.

EVERYONE seems to love the HD600 and it's my natural inclination. however, with that higher impedance comes the need for a decent desktop amp which may or may not have a good DAC, and really requires a decent one considering my imac is the source, and so it goes. I fear that i'll shell for the great phones and decent amplification only to find my source material now sucks and recordings i used to love and enjoy are now sounding feeble and uninspired. Mo' Money, Mo Problems?

then there's a simpler option like the senn 595. lower impedance means i can get by with my Udac without any additional amplification. It will lack the grandeur of the 600 and the overall sound may not astound, but it stands a better chance of not showing every flaw in the material, is half the cost, and its essential goodness is well documented.

i guess my problem is a philosophical one. do you need 100% if you can get 90% for half the cost and effort?

i'm interested in why people have chosen their particular path. it's easy to set your feet on the pure audiophile path, but it's harder to walk. the path of simple enjoyment is broad and less expensive, but does it demand too much compromise?

i'm throwing it out there. any additional insights about the all-around abilities of the 595 or 600 would be welcome too.

 

[HenrySsy]

i have chosen to take the audiophile path. and now i'm living in the confusion of which amp/dac to get. i'm one who will constantly be thinking of what i'd be missing. if the HD600 is within your reach, why not take the plunge rather than live in wonder.

+ i'd think the gap would be more than 10%?

 

[debitsohn]

well, i think my setup right now is pretty cost effective and produces great soundquality for the price. you should look into little dot amps and a dac like the musiland 02 US. if they go well with my 650s, i imagine they go well with the 600s.
most ppl here will recommend against the 595s. they say its the same as the 555s but with a foam part taken out. so i guess it depends on your budget. i had the 555s and they were a great upgrade from what i was using b4 but the 650 is a whole new ballgame.

 

[drandall]

so far the only piece i've committed to is the nuforce Udac. if i go HD600, i'll go from my imac to the Udac to the EF2 for amplification. if i use anything else, i'll just use the headphone amp in the Udac

 

[Ham Sandwich]

No, you do not need to go all out 100% to satisfy the HD600. It is possible to enjoy the HD600 without venturing into the $2000+ amp world and $1000+ source world. That level of ampage and sourceage gets a little silly IMHO for the HD600.

Be careful going just by reviews here. People listen differently, people listen to different music, people are after different things in music, people have different preferences, and all those preferences are not often spelled out in reviews. You can get completely different opinions on the same headphone and amp from two different people. Neither person will be wrong, but the result is a completely different opinion. YMMV.

For example, the EF2 amp. Some like it with the HD600. I don't. I found it too smooth and a little dull. If you want to smooth out smooth jazz and you like the tube flavor it gives then yeah, that amp will do it. But that's not for me. I'd rather have a solid state amp that gives the HD600 some needed kick. The HD600 is already smooth enough on its own. It doesn't need an amp that makes it even smoother. I'm happy with my AV123 x-head with the HD600 for an affordable amp. If I was to move up to a better amp I'd be looking for one that can give the HD600 even more kick, not something smoother or with less kick.

So until you know from experience the kind of sound that you want and you can find reviews by people who also are after that same kind of sound the reviews do you few favors and only lead to confusion.

 

[vai-777]

Quote:

Originally Posted by drandall /img/forum/go_quote.gif So, i think i want a pair of senns and thanks to the unbelievably crappy audio shopping in knoxville, TN i haven't found a place to audition them...so i'm going on written reviews only. EVERYONE seems to love the HD600 and it's my natural inclination. however, with that higher impedance comes the need for a decent desktop amp which may or may not have a good DAC, and really requires a decent one considering my imac is the source, and so it goes. I fear that i'll shell for the great phones and decent amplification only to find my source material now sucks and recordings i used to love and enjoy are now sounding feeble and uninspired. Mo' Money, Mo Problems? then there's a simpler option like the senn 595. lower impedance means i can get by with my Udac without any additional amplification. It will lack the grandeur of the 600 and the overall sound may not astound, but it stands a better chance of not showing every flaw in the material, is half the cost, and its essential goodness is well documented. i guess my problem is a philosophical one. do you need 100% if you can get 90% for half the cost and effort? i'm interested in why people have chosen their particular path. it's easy to set your feet on the pure audiophile path, but it's harder to walk. the path of simple enjoyment is broad and less expensive, but does it demand too much compromise? i'm throwing it out there. any additional insights about the all-around abilities of the 595 or 600 would be welcome too.

buy the 600's..listen to them and enjoy them...get the amp when you can...trust me your record collection will sound better than ever even without the amp.

 

[charliex]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ham Sandwich /img/forum/go_quote.gif No, you do not need to go all out 100% to satisfy the HD600. It is possible to enjoy the HD600 without venturing into the $2000+ amp world and $1000+ source world. That level of ampage and sourceage gets a little silly IMHO for the HD600. Be careful going just by reviews here. People listen differently, people listen to different music, people are after different things in music, people have different preferences, and all those preferences are not often spelled out in reviews. You can get completely different opinions on the same headphone and amp from two different people. Neither person will be wrong, but the result is a completely different opinion. YMMV. For example, the EF2 amp. Some like it with the HD600. I don't. I found it too smooth and a little dull. If you want to smooth out smooth jazz and you like the tube flavor it gives then yeah, that amp will do it. But that's not for me. I'd rather have a solid state amp that gives the HD600 some needed kick. The HD600 is already smooth enough on its own. It doesn't need an amp that makes it even smoother. I'm happy with my AV123 x-head with the HD600 for an affordable amp. If I was to move up to a better amp I'd be looking for one that can give the HD600 even more kick, not something smoother or with less kick. So until you know from experience the kind of sound that you want and you can find reviews by people who also are after that same kind of sound the reviews do you few favors and only lead to confusion.

Totally agree - I have HD 580's (same drivers as the 600) and modded with 600 grills and 650 cable. I purchased the Little Dot Mk III Amp and Cambridge Audio DacMagic DAC all for around $800, and I am quite pleased. Any further upgrade to obtain less than 5% to 10% improvement is not cost effective and would be difficult to justify let alone hear the audio differences.

 

[Uncle Erik]

I'd take the HD-600 over the HD-595 any day. It is a much better headphone. Don't worry too much about the amp. You can always go the used receiver route (there are several threads on this) and power them inexpensevely. The HD-595 isn't that bad, but occupies the weird mid-fi zone where improvements are slight over entry cans and fall
short of the better ones that aren't much more. I'd go with the HD-600 and an old receiver then upgrade to a good amp when finances permit.

 

[tintin47]

the 600 is worlds better than the 595 even out of a computer phone port. If you are worried that you can't audition, buy used from the forums here and you'll only lose shipping if you decide they're not for you. The FS forum is a very safe place to buy and people keep their gear in great condition.

 

[wharfrat1]

There are multiple sponsors of this fine website that sell headphones and have a 30 day return period. So, try the 600, if they do not work return them and try another can. It doesn't get any better than that!

 

[Ham Sandwich]

Oh, and don't worry about the HD600 showing every flaw in your recordings and gear. It doesn't. There are headphones that are brutal like that, the HD600 isn't one of them. Try the HD800 if you want an example of a headphone that is brutal to poor recordings. In fact, the HD600 is the headphone that I reach for when I want to listen to something that is poorly recorded. So there you go. YMMV. And remember that the post count of anyone making comments here means nothing other than they post a lot (that's a sublet jab at myself).

Take into consideration your music tastes as well. If you listen to hard rock or metal the HD600 is not the best choice. It lacks the punch and speed and some of the bass pretense necessary for that type of music. There are better hard rock headphones. For mellower rock, jazz, classical, and similar the HD600 can be fantastic. My general impression of the HD600 is that it is a great headphone because it never sucks. There are just times when it doesn't excel (like for hard rock).

 

[tintin47]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wharfrat1 /img/forum/go_quote.gif There are multiple sponsors of this fine website that sell headphones and have a 30 day return period. So, try the 600, if they do not work return them and try another can. It doesn't get any better than that!

That isn't really accurate. The sponsors don't have 30 day return policies so that you can try any headphone you like. They have them in case you order a headphone that you end up not liking.

When you send an item back to headroom or the such because you were basically demoing it, they have to sell it as a B stock item and end up losing possibly hundreds of dollars.

What they are doing is extremely generous and it is very nice to have a level of insurance on your purchases, so don't abuse that generosity by viewing them as a supplier of infinite new headphones to "try" without risk.

 

[wharfrat1]

Did I state in any way that you can try a heaphone and send it back for giggles? No. What is the HR slogan. Get it right between your ears. The OP said he is having a hard time deciding what Senn to get. What I was implying is, try one, say the 600, if it does not meet your needs, send it back and try the 650. That way you do not get stuck shelling out $250 - $350 for something you end up not liking.

The reason they have these policies, is it shows they are willing to do what it takes to make sure the customer gets the sound they are looking for, hence building a very loyal customer base. Do a search and read my posts, I have promoted HR (as they are my preferred vendor) more than a few times. Add to this that listening to headphones is such a subjective thing, and this is why the policy is in place.

To accuse someone of abusing a policy based on what I stated is a pretty ignorant assumption. You know what they say about assuming. So, please, think before you attack someone for no reason with a post.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tintin47 /img/forum/go_quote.gif That isn't really accurate. The sponsors don't have 30 day return policies so that you can try any headphone you like. They have them in case you order a headphone that you end up not liking. When you send an item back to headroom or the such because you were basically demoing it, they have to sell it as a B stock item and end up losing possibly hundreds of dollars. What they are doing is extremely generous and it is very nice to have a level of insurance on your purchases, so don't abuse that generosity by viewing them as a supplier of infinite new headphones to "try" without risk.

 

[tintin47]

I must have misread your post, and if I did, I am sorry to appear as though I attacked you specifically. I really just have a problem with it when people suggest using the 30 day returns as if they were demos, and I read your post as such. My apologies.

 

[Bilavideo]

I recently acquired the HD650, which rewards the use of a decent amp. But even unamp'd and straight off an iPod, the 650 sounds great. When I asked around about the differences between the 600 and the 650, lots of people said they preferred the 600s - unless I had a decent amp. But if I can get great sound with the 650's off an iPod, you should have no trouble getting decent unamped sound with the 600s.