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Sennheiser HD 600 Impressions Thread
Sep 24, 2014 at 11:36 AM Post #8,716 of 23,499
The HD 598 does not sound like the 600. The 600 is more neutral and higher fidelity with no grain like you hear in the treble of the 598.

I have the 598, The 600, and the 650. But I almost always reach for the 600 because they are so darn good sounding. Neutral.
 
Sep 24, 2014 at 11:50 AM Post #8,717 of 23,499
Do you think any of my amps would pair well?
 
Sep 24, 2014 at 2:22 PM Post #8,720 of 23,499
I got to spend a little time with a HD650 and Bottlehead Crack last Spring.   The things you hear about this pairing are, in my opinion, NOT exaggerations.    I would venture to guess that due to the electrical and mechanical similarities of the HD600 and HD650 drivers the 600s would sound equally fantastic driven by a Crack.
 
Sep 24, 2014 at 2:51 PM Post #8,721 of 23,499
matttcg said:
 
I have officially switched over to the (not so) dark side. 
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 Picked up a mint pair of 600's this weekend. Love 'em!! 
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Considering that you already have the HD650 which are much darker, picking up a pair of HD600 would be the opposite of going to the dark side 
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cadcam said:
  I've been toying with getting the HD600 as well but unlike you I had the HD598 and was not impressed. They always sounded veiled to me with a grain in there also. Not horrible but not the sound I was looking for. I do have the DT880 (600Ohm) and really enjoy them. They do so many things right IMO. Since the HD598 sound wasn't for me do you feel the HD600 would be a wrong move?
I have tube and SS amps but would hate if I got the HD600 and felt it was more or less a step up from the HD598 with the same sound signature.
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If the HD598 sound veiled to you, the HD600 probably will too. You're probably just used to the big 10k peak on the DT880. However I would consider the DT880's treble peak north of neutral. The HD600 is more neutral with flatter treble response.
 
Grain, on the other hand, is something you will lose completely moving to the HD600.
 
Sep 24, 2014 at 4:15 PM Post #8,722 of 23,499
cadcam said:
  I've been toying with getting the HD600 as well but unlike you I had the HD598 and was not impressed. They always sounded veiled to me with a grain in there also. Not horrible but not the sound I was looking for. I do have the DT880 (600Ohm) and really enjoy them. They do so many things right IMO. Since the HD598 sound wasn't for me do you feel the HD600 would be a wrong move?
I have tube and SS amps but would hate if I got the HD600 and felt it was more or less a step up from the HD598 with the same sound signature.
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I'm facing a similar conundrum as you, and I don't have a clear answer. I would agree with potterpastor with his comparison with the HD600 to the 598 as "neutral and higher fidelity with no grain", as I compared both the 600 and 598 for nearly an hour with different songs. I haven't heard grain with either headphone, but my ears are probably untrained to it.
 
Quote:
blueangel2323 said:
 
If the HD598 sound veiled to you, the HD600 probably will too. You're probably just used to the big 10k peak on the DT880. However I would consider the DT880's treble peak north of neutral. The HD600 is more neutral with flatter treble response.
 
Grain, on the other hand, is something you will lose completely moving to the HD600.
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This too. Personally, I don't think the 598 or 600 is veiled - I find they're quite present in a lot of ways. Of course, I don't have any of its close competitors to make comparisons.
 
What I'd also say is that with many of the comparisons to the 600 and DT880 I found, is that both are talked very fondly of. Similar to the 600 vs Fidelio X1, or vs MA900, in which people had a hard time deciding what was the clear winner. I think it could be said that in terms of overall sound quality and enjoyment, they're all closely matched - and that the final deciding factor was "if I had to choose only one", with the 600 winning that decision more often than not. There are a handful of people think the DT880 is the clear winner over the 600, however.
 
I'd also mention that I'm a fan of EQing, and that I intend to use it to address any weaknesses I might find with the 600 (haven't used it yet though - still learning how to EQ properly).
 
Sep 24, 2014 at 4:24 PM Post #8,723 of 23,499
blueangel2323 said:
  Considering that you already have the HD650 which are much darker, picking up a pair of HD600 would be the opposite of going to the dark side 
tongue_smile.gif

 
If the HD598 sound veiled to you, the HD600 probably will too. You're probably just used to the big 10k peak on the DT880. However I would consider the DT880's treble peak north of neutral. The HD600 is more neutral with flatter treble response.
 
Grain, on the other hand, is something you will lose completely moving to the HD600.
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I don't agree, the midbass hump and bad subbass make HD600 a less neutral headphone than the DT880, that sounds a lot more linear with only exception the treble. But you can use EQ or tone control to put that treble down a bit and then it's extremely linear, neutral sounding. On HD600 you can't really improve that subbass, or get rid of midbass hump. So all in all, for neutrality I definitely vote 880.
 
HD600 is very natural sounding sure: instrument often sound more lifelike on HD600 then DT880. And quite neutral also, but it is still Sennheiser approach of neutrality.
 
Sep 24, 2014 at 4:27 PM Post #8,724 of 23,499
cadcam said:
  I've been toying with getting the HD600 as well but unlike you I had the HD598 and was not impressed. They always sounded veiled to me with a grain in there also. Not horrible but not the sound I was looking for. I do have the DT880 (600Ohm) and really enjoy them. They do so many things right IMO. Since the HD598 sound wasn't for me do you feel the HD600 would be a wrong move?
I have tube and SS amps but would hate if I got the HD600 and felt it was more or less a step up from the HD598 with the same sound signature.
Click to expand...

 
It sound veiled because you are used to DT880. Instead of getting used to 598 and make it reference, you talk from reference point of DT880. That is fine, no problem ofcourse. But this means you do not take enough time to understand why HD598 sound the way it does.
 
And this will be similar with HD600. Simply the Sennheiser approach is a whole lot different from Beyer. If you take enough time to try understand HD600, you will appreciate it. But that would be same for HD598.
 
Sep 24, 2014 at 4:28 PM Post #8,726 of 23,499
grandcross said:
   
This too. Personally, I don't think the 598 or 600 is veiled - I find they're quite present in a lot of ways. Of course, I don't have any of its close competitors to make comparisons.
 
What I'd also say is that with many of the comparisons to the 600 and DT880 I found, is that both are talked very fondly of. Similar to the 600 vs Fidelio X1, or vs MA900, in which people had a hard time deciding what was the clear winner. I think it could be said that in terms of overall sound quality and enjoyment, they're all closely matched - and that the final deciding factor was "if I had to choose only one", with the 600 winning that decision more often than not. There are a handful of people think the DT880 is the clear winner over the 600, however.
 
I'd also mention that I'm a fan of EQing, and that I intend to use it to address any weaknesses I might find with the 600 (haven't used it yet though - still learning how to EQ properly).
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I only found the HD 600 veiled the first few hours I had them then it went away over time. I personally find both the HD 600 and my Q701 compare very favorably with each other, honestly can't decide which I think is better, I have found the HD 600 is more consistent sounding amp to amp while the Q701 is all over the place. In regards to the HD 600 and Q701 compared to the DT 880, I personally found the DT 880 falls a tad short of the other two in terms of texture.
 
Sep 24, 2014 at 4:46 PM Post #8,728 of 23,499
kman1211 said:
I only found the HD 600 veiled the first few hours I had them then it went away over time. 
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It "went away over time" because it was never there.  When you first listened to them, you expected to hear a veil and you heard it.
 
I really wish people would stop simply parroting what some Grado fanboy said 20 years ago and let the myth of the "Sennheiser veil" just fade away.
 
I'm not really attacking you personally. I'm just ranting at the community as a whole for keeping this nonsense alive.
 
Sep 24, 2014 at 4:50 PM Post #8,729 of 23,499
cswann1 said:
   
It "went away over time" because it was never there.  When you first listened to them, you expected to hear a veil and you heard it.
 
I really wish people would stop simply parroting what some Grado fanboy said 20 years ago and let the myth of the "Sennheiser veil" just fade away.
 
I'm not really attacking you personally. I'm just ranting at the community as a whole for keeping this nonsense alive.
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