[ToTo Man]

Regarding the Ireland-made HD600, I'm curious what users are doing to their headphones to cause chipping of the faux-marble paint finish. Are their desks made of unpolished concrete? My HD600 (bought in 2011) still look like new....

 

[TubeStack]

Man, I am getting incredible sound with the following modest setup:

M11 Pro w/high res FLAC or Tidal MQA via UAPP > Little Dot Mk III + Novosibirsk power tubes and Mullard M8161s > HD600.

I’ve found that running the LD on lowest gain helps with bass impact on the 600, too.

As far as favourite HD600 albums:

Beck - Sea Change
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
John Prine - John Prine
TOOL - Undertow
ZZ Top - Tres Hombres
Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue
Joe Satriani - Super Colossal

What setups are people running with their 600s? Favourite albums?

 

[pbarach]

I'm running Topping d50s ---->Massdrop THX 789 set on high gain. The sound is excellent, almost as good (except for weak low bass) as my Focal Clear headphones. I won't bother listening my favorite albums because everything I listen to (almost exclusively classical, a little jazz) sounds great.

This is my second pair of 600's. I bought the first pair a long time ago. A couple of years ago, I messed up the wiring while trying to replace the deteriorated padding of the headband and sent them to Sennheiser for repair. For a fixed repair fee, they replaced them with a brand-new set with the faux-marble finish in that nice solid box. I have no idea where the drivers are from--I'm not taking anything apart . I can't say if the second pair sounds any different than my original set.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

As far as Romanian vs. Irish. Look, the Irish HD 600 isn't made anymore. If you can find NOS (sometimes possible in small countries) then you have a choice. Otherwise, from now on everybody who buys a new HD 600 is gonna get a Romanian one. I haven't seen any posts that say they're crap or have any problems. If you don't buy one now, you'll end up buying a Bangladeshi HD 600 five years from now or a Botswanese pair 10 years from now. I regret the gear I didn't buy. I very seldom regret the gear I buy

 

[Majestyk]

1. Where are the posts from @Sennheiser stating these? I have dug through at least the last 200 pages of this thread but there is no such statement

The following post is from Sennheiser on the Drop HD6XX forum...

Sennheiser
Dec 9, 2020
Hello, thanks for your review!
The HD 6xx pads are made in Germany, drivers are made and matched in pairs in Ireland, the enclosure and final assembly is in our factory in Romania.

 

[frogmeat69]

Sennheiser aren't HiFiMan, who seem to change their crap up about once every week or so. I mean, how many versions of the HE 560 have come out in the last couple of years? At least 3, maybe 4?? And they all have some sonic difference from what I've read, kinda makes you wonder what you're gonna end up with.
The 600 has been consistent for years now, don't think they would mess with them.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

I agree they're different kinds of companies but Sennheiser has been running off the tracks for a long time now. I hope they don't mess with what works, but all bets are off.

 

[Sennheiser]

My issue then is

1. Where are the posts from @Sennheiser stating these? I have dug through at least the last 200 pages of this thread but there is no such statement
2. The fact that I bought it now is due to them advertising that they have the Ireland stock (albiet as B-stock, so it's like factory reconditioned but I am ok with that since they are willing to provide full warranty), them confirming that I have secured it on the day of shipping and then actually shipping me the Romanian version didn't sit well with me still.
3. How well will the new type of plastic stand against time? The new plastic reminds me of my Orbi router's, which is notorious for turning yellow under humid conditions like in Singapore's. Can I have the full reassurance that this won't happen to these new HD600?
4. There are still debates over here, A*R and S**F on how the new ones sound like. Are there proper and independant tests to prove/disprove the sound differences?

I am sorry for sounding this direct, I am still quite displeased at how this deal turned out especially since I missed out a better second-hand deal as I thought it would be better to support the manufacturer for the warranty. Currently, that deal is gone, other pricier deals took its place (most probably they are aware of this debacle)

Looks like I should be more cynical from here on

Hello Darkarn,
Just now seeing your message, lets address these point-by-point.

1. The final assembly of units and the enclosure molding is performed in Romania, following the same tolerance and quality assurance procedures and policies as always. Drivers are manufactured in Ireland, where they always have been. We may have shared comments on the HD 650 and HD 660S thread, and that could explain why you might not have found it. Essentially, there have not been changes to report, other than the external look.

2.The tooling for the old plastic molds was two decades old, and the new factory was an opportunity to use a new tooling with higher yield of in-tolerance enclosures. While the outer look is modernized with a few more angles than the rounded, almost bubbly look popular at the end of the 90's (also seen in cars of that period), the acoustic chamber has the exact same acoustic design as always... new or old enclosure, the sound should be within the same. We began using only the new tooling as of summer 2019, with the exception of the Drop exclusives... but again, the drivers are from the same Ireland factory as always, with the same acoustic design.

3. ABS plastic, often seen in keyboards and old game consoles, does yellow with age but is not the polymer we use in the HD 600. We still have HD 580 Precisions at KG (our headquarters) from the 90's that have only needed replacement pads for maintenance, and sound great!

4. The acoustic design and sound target have remained the same over the entire production history of the HD 600 and HD 650. Some minor changes such as the shape of the yolks or color of the screen have changed over the decades, but the tuning has been achieved in the same way throughout production.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

Hello Darkarn,
Just now seeing your message, lets address these point-by-point.

1. The final assembly of units and the enclosure molding is performed in Romania, following the same tolerance and quality assurance procedures and policies as always. Drivers are manufactured in Ireland, where they always have been. We may have shared comments on the HD 650 and HD 660S thread, and that could explain why you might not have found it. Essentially, there have not been changes to report, other than the external look.

2.The tooling for the old plastic molds was two decades old, and the new factory was an opportunity to use a new tooling with higher yield of in-tolerance enclosures. While the outer look is modernized with a few more angles than the rounded, almost bubbly look popular at the end of the 90's (also seen in cars of that period), the acoustic chamber has the exact same acoustic design as always... new or old enclosure, the sound should be within the same. We began using only the new tooling as of summer 2019, with the exception of the Drop exclusives... but again, the drivers are from the same Ireland factory as always, with the same acoustic design.

3. ABS plastic, often seen in keyboards and old game consoles, does yellow with age but is not the polymer we use in the HD 600. We still have HD 580 Precisions at KG (our headquarters) from the 90's that have only needed replacement pads for maintenance, and sound great!

4. The acoustic design and sound target have remained the same over the entire production history of the HD 600 and HD 650. Some minor changes such as the shape of the yolks or color of the screen have changed over the decades, but the tuning has been achieved in the same way throughout production.

This is the poster child for "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!" and "don't mess with a good thing, baby!"

 

[OneOddPhoton]

Finally have my endgame system. HD 600 (with mods) running from a 300B SET Tube Amp. I have plenty of other high-end headphones / amps in the stable but this one gets the most listening time.

I was blown away as a (young) fledgling Audiophile in the 90s when I first heard an Audio Note 300B monoblock system running highly efficient (paper cone) speakers. Always wanted 'that sound'. Now I'm in headphone heaven.

Personal taste only so take it with a grain of salt.

 

[Deolum]

Just put my Denon AH-D9200, Grado GS1000e and AKG K1000 on sale as they play around the same league as the HD600 and the K702. Let's see if the Utopia can beat them.

The more i use the HD600 however the more i see it's weaknesses. It's imaging is mediocre at best, transient response is so slow and subbass extension just so bad.

On the other hand female vocals are the best i've ever heard and i think even totl headphones will have a hard time beating that.

 

[Ichos]

"It's imaging is mediocre at best, transient response is so slow and subbass extension just so bad."

"On the other hand female vocals are the best i've ever heard and i think even totl headphones will have a hard time beating that."

So how come that a headphone that it plays only mids is a good headphone?

 

[Deolum]

"It's imaging is mediocre at best, transient response is so slow and subbass extension just so bad."

"On the other hand female vocals are the best i've ever heard and i think even totl headphones will have a hard time beating that."

So how come that a headphone that it plays only mids is a good headphone?

I don't know. I think it's because of it's extremely balanced and natural tonality without quirks or flaws. There is many that it doesn't offer like subbass, imaging and dynamics but the things that it offers it offers well.

 

[Ichos]

I don't know. I think it's because of it's extremely balanced and natural tonality without quirks or flaws. There is many that it doesn't offer like subbass, imaging and dynamics but the things that it offers it offers well.

OK , I just would prefer something more complete as a whole.
Enjoy.

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

Let’s just face it: there are no ‘perfect’ headphones out there. All headphones, at least in stock form, sacrifice something in order to do other stuff better.
The HD600 can’t do rumbles in the way say an LCD-2 can...yet the Audeze doesn’t do realistic mids and treble like the Sennheiser. Hell even one of the most pricey cans out there with one of the arguably finest bass performances, the Abyss flagship, sounds out of whack in the midrange compared to the 600.
I have bought and sold a couple of HD600s in my day - mostly due to the bass response and me having a fairly eclectic taste in music that encompasses a good deal of electronic music. I a/b’ed with my HE500 and it was just no contest. I did however learn that I can hear deep bass sounds fairly clearly over the old Sennheiser...but far from being as impressive and realistic sounding as over the Hifiman.
But...turn the competition around and play some Nick Drake, Talking Heads, Can or even an early Floyd recording..and suddenly it’s the 600 taking the lead.

What I love about the 600 though is that when I’ve spent a little time with it on my head, no genre seems lacking. Even modern electronic stuff like Burial flows naturally...all I really need to do is sit back and relax...and possibly keep the HE500 out of sight