[blueangel2323]

  So, HD600 is consider bright or a neutral or slight bright headphone? Thinking of C5, Shonyun 306a, C421, Dot MK III. If somehow still bright for me, maybe sell this and get HD650. Hopefully I don't need to trade or sell tho/. I love this can so much.

Mostly neutral. They don't have much of a peak at 10k like bright headphones do, but there is some very high frequency emphasis (around 15k) which gives it some spark. Other than that they are quite smooth and laid back.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

  So, HD600 is consider bright or a neutral or slight bright headphone? Thinking of C5, Shonyun 306a, C421, Dot MK III. If somehow still bright for me, maybe sell this and get HD650. Hopefully I don't need to trade or sell tho/. I love this can so much.

 
They're just slightly warm - if neutral is dead center it's just a bit off towards warm. Earpad condition however affects the response - on perfectly new and stiff pads, they're as close as possible to neutral. Once the pads are broken-in, they tend to get a bit warmer as the pads get too squishy; when they're too worn, the drivers are too close to your ears, so you get a lot more bass but some range in the treble also gets a little too sharp.
 
I suggest not waiting to wear out the pads before buying a new set, and rotate them regularly. I'm using an older pair now, and with the newest set broken in - each set gets about a few weeks, max 2hrs a day, and on rotation the sound isn't too different going from one set to the other as opposed to wearing out one set, then get another one to wear out while having a basically useless (for my preferences anyway) set lying around.

 

[PETEREK]

I'm considering DIYing a set of leatherette ear pads. Could be fun and I'd like to see how it affects the sound. If anyone has an old pair of pads they wouldnt mind getting rid of cheap let me know. I need the plastic parts that connect to the headphones on the backs of the pads. Thanks!

 

[amcananey]

FWIW, my experience has generally been that leather pads on open-backed headphones are not an upgrade. I do have leather pads (including several pairs of J$ pads) on all of my closed-back headphones. My guess is that creating leather pads for the HD600s (a) isn't worth it, and (b) will be much harder than you anticipate. I suspect that the leather will make it very difficult to get the plastic parts to hold to the frame.

Best regards,
Adam

 

[diaBoliQu3]

  Mostly neutral. They don't have much of a peak at 10k like bright headphones do, but there is some very high frequency emphasis (around 15k) which gives it some spark. Other than that they are quite smooth and laid back.

Yeah, I think it's my T1 amp is the culprit. Need to get warm amp or tube rolling I think. But for the price of tube rolling and entry level amp, I think it's better to spend that amount for better amp right?
 

   
They're just slightly warm - if neutral is dead center it's just a bit off towards warm. Earpad condition however affects the response - on perfectly new and stiff pads, they're as close as possible to neutral. Once the pads are broken-in, they tend to get a bit warmer as the pads get too squishy; when they're too worn, the drivers are too close to your ears, so you get a lot more bass but some range in the treble also gets a little too sharp.
 
I suggest not waiting to wear out the pads before buying a new set, and rotate them regularly. I'm using an older pair now, and with the newest set broken in - each set gets about a few weeks, max 2hrs a day, and on rotation the sound isn't too different going from one set to the other as opposed to wearing out one set, then get another one to wear out while having a basically useless (for my preferences anyway) set lying around.

Mine is still new, about two month. And yes the driver close to my ear. It's not always bright but it can be too sharp sometime especially in a song that involve a lot of cymbal or high pitch voice or fast rift distorted guitar. But for Kitaro, Muse, or Nightwish, my hair stand up while listening.

 

[Velocity]

  Yeah, I think it's my T1 amp is the culprit. Need to get warm amp or tube rolling I think. But for the price of tube rolling and entry level amp, I think it's better to spend that amount for better amp right?
 
Mine is still new, about two month. And yes the driver close to my ear. It's not always bright but it can be too sharp sometime especially in a song that involve a lot of cymbal or high pitch voice or fast rift distorted guitar. But for Kitaro, Muse, or Nightwish, my hair stand up while listening.

Your setup should be quite bright to get the HD600 sibilant...
I mean, even with my worst recordings, that was a plain torture to lissen with the DT990s, my HD600 doesnt sound to sharp.
And that is with my SS-amp and a HRT-musical-streamer DAC that is quite neutral sounding, nor warm or cold. 

 

[diaBoliQu3]

  Your setup should be quite bright to get the HD600 sibilant...
I mean, even with my worst recordings, that was a plain torture to lissen with the DT990s, my HD600 doesnt sound to sharp.
And that is with my SS-amp and a HRT-musical-streamer DAC that is quite neutral sounding, nor warm or cold. 

Thanks for the reply sir.. What amp you paired with your DAC? So, it must be the amp that cause the over bright. I guess with budget around $200, my choice very limited isn't it?

 

[blueangel2323]

  Yeah, I think it's my T1 amp is the culprit. Need to get warm amp or tube rolling I think. But for the price of tube rolling and entry level amp, I think it's better to spend that amount for better amp right?
 
Mine is still new, about two month. And yes the driver close to my ear. It's not always bright but it can be too sharp sometime especially in a song that involve a lot of cymbal or high pitch voice or fast rift distorted guitar. But for Kitaro, Muse, or Nightwish, my hair stand up while listening.

Voices should never sound sharp on the HD600 - there is no emphasis in any frequency that a human voice can hit. Cymbals, triangles and maybe horns can.

 

[DefQon]

Damping factor only affects the low end region on low z headphones which need current to get it substantially decent sounding. High z headphones which is anything beyond 250ohms have less of a damping factor especially when powered from a source with the ample voltage swing, not so much currents, this pronounces the low end a bit more. For 300ohms and greater you can't get any better than a well designed OTL based amp, before arguments come in about gain, gain is not power.

 

[diaBoliQu3]

  Voices should never sound sharp on the HD600 - there is no emphasis in any frequency that a human voice can hit. Cymbals, triangles and maybe horns can.

Pardon me. It's not the sharp voice but it's sibilant what it's called perhaps? "Sweet", "yes", and other "s with t" sound can be too sharp. Seems like some user said that sibilant can happen with my current setup. Mariah Carey - One Sweet Day, 192kbps. Bad compression perhaps? Other few female vocal mostly.

 

[Jmstrmbn]

There are gonna be some recordings where that hard "S" noise just sticks out.  If you find that it only happens in a few albums its likely recording artifacts.  If your finding all of your music is making that noise I would suspect that the amp or source is pushing it forward in order to sound more "revealing" I had this problem with my Nuforce HDP and now use a Bottlehead Crack, a big improvement and now only select songs/albums make the hard "S" noise.

 

[diaBoliQu3]

  There are gonna be some recordings where that hard "S" noise just sticks out.  If you find that it only happens in a few albums its likely recording artifacts.  If your finding all of your music is making that noise I would suspect that the amp or source is pushing it forward in order to sound more "revealing" I had this problem with my Nuforce HDP and now use a Bottlehead Crack, a big improvement and now only select songs/albums make the hard "S" noise.

Not all. Just certain song. I wish I can get Crack but unfortunately, my wallet say no.

 

[LugBug1]

  Not all. Just certain song. I wish I can get Crack but unfortunately, my wallet say no.

My wallet once said no to me too... 

 
 
So I punished it by forcing a new credit card down its throat!! 

 
 
 
 
 
 
(only joking. Credit can be a very dangerous thing. Take heed kids!)

 

[ProtegeManiac]

  Yeah, I think it's my T1 amp is the culprit. Need to get warm amp or tube rolling I think. But for the price of tube rolling and entry level amp, I think it's better to spend that amount for better amp right?
 
Mine is still new, about two month. And yes the driver close to my ear. It's not always bright but it can be too sharp sometime especially in a song that involve a lot of cymbal or high pitch voice or fast rift distorted guitar. But for Kitaro, Muse, or Nightwish, my hair stand up while listening.

 
How long have you been using it daily? Two months at four hours a day will squish the pads enough too far. On very new pads, yes the treble is detailed, extended, and most importantly, smooth. Songs like Fantasmic, Astral Romance (I prefer the remix with Tony Kakko) and 10th Man Down are just fantastic on these; if I hadn't heard them on Stax (407 and Omega), K1000, Sonus Faber Guarneri and Aurum Cantus Volla, I'd still be getting goosebumps from the HD600. For the money though I'm hardpressed to like anything else.

 

[diaBoliQu3]

   
How long have you been using it daily? Two months at four hours a day will squish the pads enough too far. On very new pads, yes the treble is detailed, extended, and most importantly, smooth. Songs like Fantasmic, Astral Romance (I prefer the remix with Tony Kakko) and 10th Man Down are just fantastic on these; if I hadn't heard them on Stax (407 and Omega), K1000, Sonus Faber Guarneri and Aurum Cantus Volla, I'd still be getting goosebumps from the HD600. For the money though I'm hardpressed to like anything else.

My ear pad still feels like new. On weekend, more than 5 hours usually. On weekdays, around 3 hours depend on my day. Though I'm not listening to music, I wear for gaming and surprisingly accurate and fun. Playing Devil May Cry with those metal songs while hack and slash turn me on. But too bad, doesn't comfy as Beyer pad, the most comfortable I ever tried.