[daltonlanny]

Except no improvements in bass extension or distortion, and a ringing at 5khz on CSD plots...
Let us know your impressions

 

[Midgetguy]

According to some though, it's really questionable if it is actually even an improvement over the HD650.
And measurements, and some opinions I have seen so far on it aren't that impressive either, for example, the bass distortion is no better than HD650, and actually worse than HD600, and no improvement in subbass extension, a slight ringing at 5khz on CSD plots, etc.
And some say it doesn't scale as well as HD600/650, and sounds harsher.
Most say it's almost a sonic duplicate of the HD600, for more portable use, which ain't bad.
I just thought after so many years of research and development, that the HD660s might surpass both the HD650 and HD600 by a fairly wide margin in their weakest areas.
Would have been interesting to see an HD6xx series with a ring radiator type driver, or a sophisticated conventional driver.

I'd agree it makes less sense if that's the case. Could've just said they were doing a refresh and that the HD650 was just getting rereleased in a difference color.

 

[Arin7]

Guys there is something not right with my setup, I have hd600 for more than 6 months and I heard many wonderful things about them a many reviews pointed that positioning accuracy on the hd600s are like "laser accurate" (their exact same words)...but to me they are just ok there is nothing extra ordinary about them...I am sure the pair is working fine so I am suspecting maybe I am powering them with a wrong source which would be my Creative Sound Blaster Zx, I know its a decent card too so it makes me wonder maybe for some reason they are not a good match together, cause I know there is some important factors that should be taken account for when choosing a source for source dependent headphones like the hd600, I would like to hear you thoughts on this.

 

[daltonlanny]

I'd agree it makes less sense if that's the case. Could've just said they were doing a refresh and that the HD650 was just getting rereleased in a difference color.

....with a lower impedance to make it easier to drive as well.
I guess I was just expecting more, considering how many years it has been since the HD600 and HD650 were released.
I will try one out in a few weeks to see how it compares to the HD600/650.
You never know until you actually listen for yourself. We all hear differently...That's just the nature of this confusing and said variable hobby, unfortunately.

 

[trellus]

According to some though, it's really questionable if it is actually even an improvement over the HD650.
And measurements, and some opinions I have seen so far on it aren't that impressive either, for example, the bass distortion is no better than HD650, and actually worse than HD600, and no improvement in subbass extension, a slight ringing at 5khz on CSD plots, etc.
And some say it doesn't scale as well as HD600/650, and sounds harsher.
Most say it's almost a sonic duplicate of the HD600, for more portable use, which ain't bad.
I just thought after so many years of research and development, that the HD660s might surpass both the HD650 and HD600 by a fairly wide margin in their weakest areas.
Would have been interesting to see an HD6xx series with a ring radiator type driver, or a sophisticated conventional driver.

This fellow Head-Fi'er gave a fairly thorough first impression of his new HD 660S and compared it to his beloved HD 650 and feels it is definitely an improvement, and I've seen others as well:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/sen...or-for-the-hd650.862308/page-65#post-13837412

 

[DavidA]

Guys there is something not right with my setup, I have hd600 for more than 6 months and I heard many wonderful things about them a many reviews pointed that positioning accuracy on the hd600s are like "laser accurate" (their exact same words)...but to me they are just ok there is nothing extra ordinary about them...I am sure the pair is working fine so I am suspecting maybe I am powering them with a wrong source which would be my Creative Sound Blaster Zx, I know its a decent card too so it makes me wonder maybe for some reason they are not a good match together, cause I know there is some important factors that should be taken account for when choosing a source for source dependent headphones like the hd600, I would like to hear you thoughts on this.

I didn't think the HD600 had "laser accurate" imaging when I had them, like you I thought they were just Okay. I used a HD700 and STX sound card when I used to game and to me the HD700 was great at positional audio due to the wide sound stage.

@daltonlanny , I think you and I have similar thoughts on the HD660S at this point but I'm going to wait a while longer to see a few more impressions. FWIW I already have a replacement for the HD600 in the form of a Ypsilon build and a replacement for the HD650 in a Ypsilon R1 build. Best thing about them is they sound great out of a smart phone or computer headphone jack and don't need amps/DACs, but since they are DIY and cost a bit more than the HD600 or HD650 its probably not for everyone.

 

[Happytalk]

I

Guys there is something not right with my setup, I have hd600 for more than 6 months and I heard many wonderful things about them a many reviews pointed that positioning accuracy on the hd600s are like "laser accurate" (their exact same words)...but to me they are just ok there is nothing extra ordinary about them...I am sure the pair is working fine so I am suspecting maybe I am powering them with a wrong source which would be my Creative Sound Blaster Zx, I know its a decent card too so it makes me wonder maybe for some reason they are not a good match together, cause I know there is some important factors that should be taken account for when choosing a source for source dependent headphones like the hd600, I would like to hear you thoughts on this.

I was expecting more as well. Or at least a new driver. Not the HD700 driver in the HD600 housing. I'm sure there were other improvements, and I'm still excited. Just not as much as I was initially. I still love my HD600's with Cardas cable.

 

[Argyris]

Guys there is something not right with my setup, I have hd600 for more than 6 months and I heard many wonderful things about them a many reviews pointed that positioning accuracy on the hd600s are like "laser accurate" (their exact same words)...but to me they are just ok there is nothing extra ordinary about them...I am sure the pair is working fine so I am suspecting maybe I am powering them with a wrong source which would be my Creative Sound Blaster Zx, I know its a decent card too so it makes me wonder maybe for some reason they are not a good match together, cause I know there is some important factors that should be taken account for when choosing a source for source dependent headphones like the hd600, I would like to hear you thoughts on this.

I think you're just expecting too much. People have a way of hyperbolizing stuff they like. The HD 600 is a headphone. Its presentation is going to be similar to other headphones; it's not going to do something radically different. Things like imaging, soundstage, detail retrieval, etc. are all fuzzy, subjective topics that can seemingly be anything to anyone, and if you've noticed, they all seem to invariably get better the more the person spends on their gear...

If you're underwhelmed with the HD 600 in general, I can guarantee you that nothing you plug it into is going to fundamentally transform it. It might be time to move on. If you're just underwhelmed that it doesn't do all the extra special things some audio enthusiasts claim it does, well, the fault is with them making those claims, not the headphone or setup (see above). Either way, the HD 600 is not one of those bowl you over kinds of experiences. Its charm is its subtle ability to not sound terrible in the myriad ways so many other headphones can. This may appear to be damning with faint praise, but it's not—being able to play anything through a headphone without obvious, distracting flaws is a rare experience in this hobby. Even so, not everybody is looking for this. Some people want the headphone to add some extra excitement, even if that means clashing with some recordings or even entire genres. The HD 600 will probably disappoint somebody looking for this kind of experience.

Hopefully this perspective was helpful. What you ultimately choose to do is, of course, entirely up to you.

 

[yangian]

Guys there is something not right with my setup, I have hd600 for more than 6 months and I heard many wonderful things about them a many reviews pointed that positioning accuracy on the hd600s are like "laser accurate" (their exact same words)...but to me they are just ok there is nothing extra ordinary about them...I am sure the pair is working fine so I am suspecting maybe I am powering them with a wrong source which would be my Creative Sound Blaster Zx, I know its a decent card too so it makes me wonder maybe for some reason they are not a good match together, cause I know there is some important factors that should be taken account for when choosing a source for source dependent headphones like the hd600, I would like to hear you thoughts on this.

I would suggest to try a good amplifier, especially OTL tube amplifiers like Valhalla 2, Dark Voice, Bottlehead Crack or the very hyped Philiks Audio.
Or you can specify what headphones you compared with which make you think HD600 is mediocre. I don't think you can get better SQ at the price range of HD600.

 

[Arin7]

I think you're just expecting too much. People have a way of hyperbolizing stuff they like. The HD 600 is a headphone. Its presentation is going to be similar to other headphones; it's not going to do something radically different. Things like imaging, soundstage, detail retrieval, etc. are all fuzzy, subjective topics that can seemingly be anything to anyone, and if you've noticed, they all seem to invariably get better the more the person spends on their gear...

If you're underwhelmed with the HD 600 in general, I can guarantee you that nothing you plug it into is going to fundamentally transform it. It might be time to move on. If you're just underwhelmed that it doesn't do all the extra special things some audio enthusiasts claim it does, well, the fault is with them making those claims, not the headphone or setup (see above). Either way, the HD 600 is not one of those bowl you over kinds of experiences. Its charm is its subtle ability to not sound terrible in the myriad ways so many other headphones can. This may appear to be damning with faint praise, but it's not—being able to play anything through a headphone without obvious, distracting flaws is a rare experience in this hobby. Even so, not everybody is looking for this. Some people want the headphone to add some extra excitement, even if that means clashing with some recordings or even entire genres. The HD 600 will probably disappoint somebody looking for this kind of experience.

Hopefully this perspective was helpful. What you ultimately choose to do is, of course, entirely up to you.

As the matter of fact I do really like how they sound but after hearing all those comments about them in reviews I wondered what if something's wrong with my setup. And yes I agree with you that I am expecting too much from them after a while I too came to the same conclusion that maybe something's wrong with me and not the setup lol

 

[Pedro Oliveira]

• I wasn't listening to the X2's and the HD 600 in the same location, unfortunately, but just from my recollection, I didn't hear a significant difference in the presentation of the image.
• The vocals seem kind of rough/raw in general from the recording, on all the headphones I listened, although perhaps my ears aren't as sensitive as yours as I wouldn't describe them as severely harsh.

@Pedro Oliveira, @trellis, the vocals do drift to the left at 37sec and a bit more at 50sec on my HD650 and Nhoord Red V2 build. The song is decent on the HD650 but its a bit harsh with the Nhoord (which is my replacement for the HD600) which has a similar tone to the HD600 but is very easy to drive, has better bass and lacks the treble peak of the HD600.

I wasn’t able to test on Spotify or with the HD 600 but the song does change and gets a little sharp in the vocals on the second half, though I was just using a iPhone 7 with a 250 ohm headphone. Didn’t really notice any channel shifting seemed to stay pretty much center the whole time for me. Have you tried a different source such as YouTube and see if it happens there too?

If you guys dont mind....

Bad suns "outskirts of paradise"

Right on the begining, do you guys hear the vocals centered or do they lean to one of the sides?
Not going to say what happens on mine for now..... wanna know what you guys hear on your hd600s first....

Young the giant "something to believe in" vocals placement?

Cheers

 

[DavidA]

@Pedro Oliveira : sounds starts on left with guitar and then when the rest of the instruments/vocals come in the lead vocal is slightly off to the right while the lead guitar is slightly to the left in the sound stage. Doesn't seem like a good recording since there is quite a bit of distortion (youtube) to me.

 

[Pedro Oliveira]

@Pedro Oliveira : sounds starts on left with guitar and then when the rest of the instruments/vocals come in the lead vocal is slightly off to the right while the lead guitar is slightly to the left in the sound stage. Doesn't seem like a good recording since there is quite a bit of distortion (youtube) to me.

Thank you david. Sorry for tbe late response but i was waiting on more answers to see how everybody perceived the same track on their units.... without luck...

Anyway... i perceive that exactly the same way on my hd600s. Right on the beggining the track the vocals are on the right. What is really weird thoigh is that on any other headphone i one this is barely noticeable if not even centered. On the x2s i cant perceive that.... guess the hd6x0 line is really picky super accurate when it comes to placement of instruments and showing bad records. Inevef experienced this on any other headphone for sure wich can be very good and very bad at the same time.
I could speculate that we both have two f-ed up headphones but if it was the case we woukd hear this type of placement on all songs.

I really have a love/hate relationship with this hd600... on one hand is the more clear and resolving headphone i ever head without sounding thin or too bright... besg vocals i ever heard.... on the other hand there is sgill some peaky s... screwing my ears at timea, i wish they sounded a bit more full bodied and heavy on the bass. The x2 is verh fun in comparison and full bodied but after some time you realize the treble is not aso natural and that the vocals afe not as good and more recessed. I doubt the hd650 wluld completely satisfy me because despite the heat hurting peak i like the treble and mids of the hd600 and i am affraid the hd650 smooths that too much and i end with something not so natural, airy and resolving despite gaining bass. Now i am wondering of course of the hd660s and 700...

 

[Eldair]

I have to share my thoughts with you. Am i lunatic or something but i just feel HD600 is overall better headphone than Focal Elear in my ear.
I have listen them side by side few days now and this is my conclusion.
Ok Elear have more bass but HD 600 do so many things better in my ear. Anyone else who think same?

 

[god-bluff]

[QUOTE="Pedro Oliveira, post: /QUOTE]

Have you tried the HD600 on anything other than your Fiio?

Sorry for asking but I find it hard for anyone to find fault with these. They are spot on in natural and realistic tone and neutral balance

Same goes for the other poster DavidA who continually reminds us that he didn't like the headphone with these troublesome peaks that I dont hear or understand. If one doesn't like something then move on is my advice.

Sounds like the Philips may be the one for you