[Wes S]

I agree all the way with Midgetguy.

 

[Argyris]

<a gorgeous photo>

Mine isn't that pretty. The paint has scraped off in places, and the model badges on the sides are chipped, scratched and smudged. I'm not all that tough on my gear, but for a while I was placing my HD 600 on a hard surface a lot when not using it, so that's most likely why the paint has gone. Oh well; it doesn't affect the performance.

My pads are similarly worn to your example, though my headband padding (early on I swapped out the HD 600 four bump pad for the HD 650 two section one) still has most of its loft after nearly two years. I like that both the ear pads and the headband pad are replaceable, and you can even choose between the HD 600 and HD 650-style headband pad depending on what you find more comfortable.

 

[mrphoebs]

Mine isn't that pretty. The paint has scraped off in places, and the model badges on the sides are chipped, scratched and smudged. I'm not all that tough on my gear, but for a while I was placing my HD 600 on a hard surface a lot when not using it, so that's most likely why the paint has gone.

Dude, paint your headphones

Anyway, I've got to replace my headband and find a good dust cover (I'm paranoid about dust).

 

[yangian]

Mine isn't that pretty. The paint has scraped off in places, and the model badges on the sides are chipped, scratched and smudged. I'm not all that tough on my gear, but for a while I was placing my HD 600 on a hard surface a lot when not using it, so that's most likely why the paint has gone. Oh well; it doesn't affect the performance.

My pads are similarly worn to your example, though my headband padding (early on I swapped out the HD 600 four bump pad for the HD 650 two section one) still has most of its loft after nearly two years. I like that both the ear pads and the headband pad are replaceable, and you can even choose between the HD 600 and HD 650-style headband pad depending on what you find more comfortable.

One of my HD600 bought used has the same problem - scraped of headband due to putting on a hard surface. But nothing wrong if the sound.

 

[Happytalk]

Would love to see if anyone has been able to make these portable. Folding flat would be ideal. I found one post where Simone sold a pair they modded but the pics are gone.

 

[dr cornelius]

I agree all the way with Midgetguy.

I agree on finding the cheapest balanced cable - but what I discovered is they don’t necessarily sound the same. The two balanced cables I bought were the same price - the Van Damme cables ended up costing $35 - the previous balanced cable I picked up about a year ago, so I was pretty used to its “sound”.

I’m a fan of speaker designer Alan Shaw - he cuts through a lot of the audio BS. I have a pair of Harbeths and they have the same Van Damme cables inside so I figured how bad could they be? I wasn’t looking for another cable but happened to stumble on these. Glad I gave them a try, but I won’t be replacing any other cables any time soon. I can see how this can become a problem for people.

 

[ToTo Man]

I agree on finding the cheapest balanced cable - but what I discovered is they don’t necessarily sound the same. The two balanced cables I bought were the same price - the Van Damme cables ended up costing $35 - the previous balanced cable I picked up about a year ago, so I was pretty used to its “sound”.

I’m a fan of speaker designer Alan Shaw - he cuts through a lot of the audio BS. I have a pair of Harbeths and they have the same Van Damme cables inside so I figured how bad could they be? I wasn’t looking for another cable but happened to stumble on these. Glad I gave them a try, but I won’t be replacing any other cables any time soon. I can see how this can become a problem for people.

Mind if I ask where you bought the Van Damme balanced HD600 cable from? I'm currently using an XLR-terminated stock HD650 cable on my HD600 but am curious to try reasonably priced alternatives.

 

[Midgetguy]

I agree on finding the cheapest balanced cable - but what I discovered is they don’t necessarily sound the same. The two balanced cables I bought were the same price - the Van Damme cables ended up costing $35 - the previous balanced cable I picked up about a year ago, so I was pretty used to its “sound”.

I’m a fan of speaker designer Alan Shaw - he cuts through a lot of the audio BS. I have a pair of Harbeths and they have the same Van Damme cables inside so I figured how bad could they be? I wasn’t looking for another cable but happened to stumble on these. Glad I gave them a try, but I won’t be replacing any other cables any time soon. I can see how this can become a problem for people.

And it's as close as we can get to being wallet-friendly around here......because we just aren't very wallet-friend here

 

[dr cornelius]

Mind if I ask where you bought the Van Damme balanced HD600 cable from? I'm currently using an XLR-terminated stock HD650 cable on my HD600 but am curious to try reasonably priced alternatives.

I found them on Massdrop. I’ve never purchased anything through them before, but got on their email list. I saw the email and got in on the drop before it ended. Unfortunately I haven’t seen the Van Damme headphone cables offered anywhere else.

 

[Adu]

Does somebody own Woo WA3 tube amplifier with HD600?

 

[DivineCurrent]

Ok, I'm going to have to revisit and revise my thoughts on the HD 600.

For about 5 years now, I have been using the HD 650 as my daily driver. A few weeks ago, I decided to try the HD 600 side by side with the 650. I hardly did any listening to make a fair comparison, and I immediately concluded the 650 was still superior because of it's warmth.

Well, I got the 600's again, this time without a 650 to compare. However, things are much different. I don't know if it's because I haven't listened to the 650 for weeks, or I'm just going nuts. But, the 600 sounds completely different than what I remember.

The one thing that surprised me the most was the bass. Everyone and their mother says there is more bass in the 650. While that may be objectively true according to measurements, I do not hear that much difference. Yeah, there's less mid-bass bloat, but extension sounds pretty much on par with the 650.
And, to make things more interesting, the quality of the bass actually sounds better to me. There's more definition and it sounds faster too. Especially if you EQ around 40 Hz just a bit, it sounds much cleaner than I remember the 650 being.
They can get a bit bright on modern pop tracks, as to be expected. Pop sounds bright to me even on the 650. On classical, the tone is just so natural and effortless, very realistic. Most headphones get the timbre wrong with brass instruments and vocals. The only headphone that compares here is the 650, which is warmer and less detailed.

I think I like the 600 better now. They EQ better, have better bass, and are more neutral. I also tried the 660S, and I still think the 600 is better in most ways.

 

[DogMeat]

Ok, I'm going to have to revisit and revise my thoughts on the HD 600.

For about 5 years now, I have been using the HD 650 as my daily driver. A few weeks ago, I decided to try the HD 600 side by side with the 650. I hardly did any listening to make a fair comparison, and I immediately concluded the 650 was still superior because of it's warmth.

Well, I got the 600's again, this time without a 650 to compare. However, things are much different. I don't know if it's because I haven't listened to the 650 for weeks, or I'm just going nuts. But, the 600 sounds completely different than what I remember.

The one thing that surprised me the most was the bass. Everyone and their mother says there is more bass in the 650. While that may be objectively true according to measurements, I do not hear that much difference. Yeah, there's less mid-bass bloat, but extension sounds pretty much on par with the 650.
And, to make things more interesting, the quality of the bass actually sounds better to me. There's more definition and it sounds faster too. Especially if you EQ around 40 Hz just a bit, it sounds much cleaner than I remember the 650 being.
They can get a bit bright on modern pop tracks, as to be expected. Pop sounds bright to me even on the 650. On classical, the tone is just so natural and effortless, very realistic. Most headphones get the timbre wrong with brass instruments and vocals. The only headphone that compares here is the 650, which is warmer and less detailed.

I think I like the 600 better now. They EQ better, have better bass, and are more neutral. I also tried the 660S, and I still think the 600 is better in most ways.

And this is what so many of us find as our reasons for that 600 Love.
I found the 650 bass muddish also, the 600 is da bom, when one is talking classical and acoustic and live. I very much enjoy jazz on them.

I'm trying to figure out where the 660's fall for me now....

 

[DogMeat]

Does somebody own Woo WA3 tube amplifier with HD600?

You should try the WA6. It's FABULOUS with the 600's.
REALLY.
I SWEAR.

 

[Argyris]

Ok, I'm going to have to revisit and revise my thoughts on the HD 600.

For about 5 years now, I have been using the HD 650 as my daily driver. A few weeks ago, I decided to try the HD 600 side by side with the 650. I hardly did any listening to make a fair comparison, and I immediately concluded the 650 was still superior because of it's warmth.

Well, I got the 600's again, this time without a 650 to compare. However, things are much different. I don't know if it's because I haven't listened to the 650 for weeks, or I'm just going nuts. But, the 600 sounds completely different than what I remember.

The one thing that surprised me the most was the bass. Everyone and their mother says there is more bass in the 650. While that may be objectively true according to measurements, I do not hear that much difference. Yeah, there's less mid-bass bloat, but extension sounds pretty much on par with the 650.
And, to make things more interesting, the quality of the bass actually sounds better to me. There's more definition and it sounds faster too. Especially if you EQ around 40 Hz just a bit, it sounds much cleaner than I remember the 650 being.
They can get a bit bright on modern pop tracks, as to be expected. Pop sounds bright to me even on the 650. On classical, the tone is just so natural and effortless, very realistic. Most headphones get the timbre wrong with brass instruments and vocals. The only headphone that compares here is the 650, which is warmer and less detailed.

I think I like the 600 better now. They EQ better, have better bass, and are more neutral. I also tried the 660S, and I still think the 600 is better in most ways.

The HD 600 is a bit like being in the front few rows of a performance. The HD 650 is often described as sitting about ten rows further back. They're basically the same venue (in this case one with exemplary overall acoustics), just different perspectives. If the HD 600 has a fault (aside from the bass extension, which is a design limitation), it's a slight tendency toward shoutiness with prone material. It's like standing a bit too close to the performance, and usually it can be alleviated just by bumping the volume down a touch. The upper midrange / lower treble (whatever the kids are classifying ~3.5 kHz as these days) is definitely the volume limiter.

About a month before I got my HD 600, I saw a classical performance from the front row of the excellent Max Fisher Music Center in Detroit. At the time I was taken aback at how different it sounded to any of the headphones I'd heard up to that point. There was noticeably more midrange and less treble, but certainly no lack of detail, in the real thing. It made me realize just how skewed the analytical headphones I was used to (e.g. the DT880) were from reality. When my HD 600 arrived, the first impression I had when I tried some classical with it was that the balance was almost spot on to what that live performance had sounded like. I imagine that if I'd bought my tickets sooner and selected seats further back (conventional wisdom is that these are prime seats for acoustics), what I would have heard would have more closely resembled the HD 650. I might have even ended up with the latter—I certainly would have been more interested in trying it. As it happened, though, the HD 600 just fit like a glove after a brief adjustment period, and I've been consistently happy with it ever since (it'll be two years in the middle of June). I'm still curious about the HD 650, but not enough to actually buy one. If I ever come across one, though, I'll definitely give it a try.

 

[Me x3]

The HD 600 is a bit like being in the front few rows of a performance. The HD 650 is often described as sitting about ten rows further back. They're basically the same venue (in this case one with exemplary overall acoustics), just different perspectives. If the HD 600 has a fault (aside from the bass extension, which is a design limitation), it's a slight tendency toward shoutiness with prone material. It's like standing a bit too close to the performance, and usually it can be alleviated just by bumping the volume down a touch. The upper midrange / lower treble (whatever the kids are classifying ~3.5 kHz as these days) is definitely the volume limiter.

About a month before I got my HD 600, I saw a classical performance from the front row of the excellent Max Fisher Music Center in Detroit. At the time I was taken aback at how different it sounded to any of the headphones I'd heard up to that point. There was noticeably more midrange and less treble, but certainly no lack of detail, in the real thing. It made me realize just how skewed the analytical headphones I was used to (e.g. the DT880) were from reality. When my HD 600 arrived, the first impression I had when I tried some classical with it was that the balance was almost spot on to what that live performance had sounded like. I imagine that if I'd bought my tickets sooner and selected seats further back (conventional wisdom is that these are prime seats for acoustics), what I would have heard would have more closely resembled the HD 650. I might have even ended up with the latter—I certainly would have been more interested in trying it. As it happened, though, the HD 600 just fit like a glove after a brief adjustment period, and I've been consistently happy with it ever since (it'll be two years in the middle of June). I'm still curious about the HD 650, but not enough to actually buy one. If I ever come across one, though, I'll definitely give it a try.

I've owned HD600 at some point, but ended up keeping the HD650.
To me, the most relevant aspect of HD650 was the difference in resolving power. The HD600 sounded a little bit 'grey' by comparison.
In my experience, you don't get the HD600's focused vocals on HD650, but other than that it sounds a tad more effortless and capable of finer detail.
Both were similarly mid-bassy to me, coming from K702 and DT880, but not so much to ruin the experience.

Anyway, these two (HD600 and HD650) are similar in the big scheme of things, so you're more than fine were you are.
There's always a slight trade off, so if you ever decide to make the move, try not to sell the HD600 first, just in case ; )