[Sonic Defender]

  OK, so everyone is back to their HD600's and being nice to each other. I took a big music break and listened to my HD600's and HE500's two of my favorite headphones.

Nice, tonight is my LCD2 night I think. Next week when my tubes arrive it will be a great HD 600 binge for sure!

 

[StanD]

  Nice, tonight is my LCD2 night I think. Next week when my tubes arrive it will be a great HD 600 binge for sure!

I see you enjoy Orthos as well. The HD600 may lack some of the extreme sub bass of Orthos, but it's not all that far behind. It has very good transient response as well.

 

[Midgetguy]

  I see you enjoy Orthos as well. The HD600 may lack some of the extreme sub bass of Orthos, but it's not all that far behind. It has very good transient response as well.

Still does a good job actually for EDM even though it lags behind my HE560 in bass response.

 

[Argyris]

I might drag my DT880 out of its case soon, since it's been pretty much shelved since the HD 600 arrived. It'll be a nice reminder where I came from.
 
Speaking of which, I was just listening to my SRH440, which I've had for almost as long as my DT880. I have to say I'm surprised at how well it holds up*. This is after placing a piece of felt over the driver, which tames the highs a bit and, more importantly, seems to clean up a lot of the ringing and impulse noise that give the treble a tizzy quality in the stock configuration. The balance is surprisingly HD 600-like, with similar strong presence in the upper mids, a similar midbass hump, and similar rolloff in the bass thereafter. Overall, it's just a bit lacking in detail and refinement, which isn't really apparent except in direct comparison to better headphones.
 
*Sonically, at least; physically, it's in pretty poor shape, including a broken peg that holds the cup on the gimbal

 

[Sonic Defender]

  I see you enjoy Orthos as well. The HD600 may lack some of the extreme sub bass of Orthos, but it's not all that far behind. It has very good transient response as well.

Yes, I do like orthos for sure. The HD 600 is rather nice as you say, excellent transients, and it has so much upside (in my brief experience).

 

[StanD]

  Still does a good job actually for EDM even though it lags behind my HE560 in bass response.

Does a great job for all sorts of things, that's the appeal of the HD600. Even though it isn't an Ortho, the bass response is rather nice and is easy to perk up with some EQ, if that is what one wants.

 

[StanD]

  Yes, I do like orthos for sure. The HD 600 is rather nice as you say, excellent transients, and it has so much upside (in my brief experience).

It has withstood the test of time in a market where everyone is always looking for the next big thing. They just sound great.

 

[BobG55]

Looking forward to Tuesday which is when I'm receiving my Eddie Current Zana Deux Super.  I can't count the number of posts & testimonies  I've read stating that this is the one, the best amp for the HD6X0 siblings which I've always owned.  This will be my last shot at finding the best amp synergy (some head-fiers don't like this term) wise for the HD600.  
 
Many very good & some excellent headphone amplifiers (amp/dac combos, headphone amps & vintage receivers/ integrated amplifiers) have come & gone & I'm not willing to spend any more money on this hobby.  There have also been many very good, some excellent headphones that have come & gone but I could never even contemplate selling my HD600.  
 
The HD650 I did sell a few years ago after purchasing the Audeze LCD 2 Rev. 2.   Within a couple of weeks I put the LCD 2 Rev. 2 up for sale & ordered another pair of HD650.  
 
I remember as if it happened yesterday; when I received the HD650 I rushed to my audio set-up & started listening to them again.  A sense of relief & joy came over me & I've never looked back since.  
 
I'm not the best qualified when it comes to writing 'sound description'/ impressions but I will try to post something coherent & hopefully, helpful to members on this thread on my listening experience with the ZDS & HD600 .

 

[jazzwave]

  Does a great job for all sorts of things, that's the appeal of the HD600. Even though it isn't an Ortho, the bass response is rather nice and is easy to perk up with some EQ, if that is what one wants.

Agreed, a good amp will help HD600 in bass territory.
I prefer to change the amp rather than change my HD600, even though I tempted to have planar  or electrostatic cans.
 
~ron~

 

[henkie196]

  yup finding a reference is the most common problem. for that sadly I don't know of any method that doesn't involve going to a store of a meet and try an bunch of devices. for DAC and amps, electrical neutral and fidelity are enough to me so I don't really need to hear them most of the times if I can find enough specs. but for headphones of course you can't know what a frequency response graph means until you have the graph of something you're hearing yourself, and then use the same source of measurements for next time.

Not that many meets over here in Europe. The problem I have with frequency response graphs is that I can find one for a headphone that I like, but then there will be a similar looking one for another headphone that I don't like. The additional graphs for step response that they make at innerfidelity are also an additional factor in how a headphone may sound.
 

Ifwe cant even standardize the concept of neutral, the discussion becomesa mess. Neutral is a flat frequency response. Wr need some kind of objectivity because otherwise reading amd trying to figure out the performance of audio equipment without actually listening to it is as close to impossible as itgets.

If we establish and accept that neutral is a flat frequency response from 20hz to 20khz, the discussion could start to makesense, and as long as you have heard what abump/peak ora dip in a givenarea represents FOR YOU, you van start to get a solid idea of wjat you are looking for.

As Argyris said, a flat frequency response might be considered scientifically neutral, but due to the sensitivity of our ears, it would probably sound anything but neutral. Hence the compensation curves, which again leads to some subjectivity about which compensation curve is the correct one. A flat response in the bass area, according to the harman compensation curve, sounds quite bass heavy to me, for instance.
 

  Pinning down the concept of neutrality certainly isn't made any easier when we consider that we still don't have a consensus on which curve headphones should follow to produce a flat response at the eardrum. It may well be that, due to the unnatural arrangement of having drivers acoustically coupled to the ear, there is no one correct curve that will result in a natural sound for all recorded material, and that any selection will be to some degree a compromise.
 
[...]
 
Ultimately we need a compensation curve that takes into account the sound most people seem to feel is natural, so that a flat line on the chart is actually the ideal result. Then, at least, we will have a graphical target to shoot for that makes sense. Determining what this target should be, though, isn't easy because it's largely subjective. This is more or less what Tyll is working on currently, in collaboration with Harman. Preliminary results aren't surprising at all: the HD 600 charts as mostly flat but with bass rolloff and a slight push in the upper midrange.

I agree completely, though averaging a line to something most people would feel to be neutral, probably means that for many people, it isn't going to sound 'neutral'. And what one seems to find natural, may also vary with the type of music one is listening. What sounds natural for EDM, wouldn't sound natural for live music, or jazz music, for instance. The HD600 does sound quite neutral to my ears, though might perhaps benefit from some more bass extension (not too much).
 
I've heard speakers that sounded, to me, not that great at all with my metal and electronic music, but once I heard a live performance on them, their sound suddenly made sense to me. Natural for live music, not natural for metal (to my ears, at least).
 

  Looking forward to Tuesday which is when I'm receiving my Eddie Current Zana Deux Super.  I can't count the number of posts & testimonies  I've read stating that this is the one, the best amp for the HD6X0 siblings which I've always owned.  This will be my last shot at finding the best amp synergy (some head-fiers don't like this term) wise for the HD600.  

I'm personally not that fond of synergy, because it's very hard to find and would require a lot of 'buying & trying' (due to lack of availability of anywhere to listen around here). To me, it's frankly a hassle, so I just tend to settle for good enough (although, if I'd been consistent, I'd have bought the HD600 instead of the HD800, because the HD600 is definitely good enough).
 
But my only requirement for a DAC or an amp is that they don't colour the sound, just let the headphones sound as I like.

 

[StanD]

Quote:
Originally Posted by StanD 
 
Does a great job for all sorts of things, that's the appeal of the HD600. Even though it isn't an Ortho, the bass response is rather nice and is easy to perk up with some EQ, if that is what one wants.
 

 
Agreed, a good amp will help HD600 in bass territory.
I prefer to change the amp rather than change my HD600, even though I tempted to have planar  or electrostatic cans.
 
~ron~

 
I said EQ, not amp. Unless the amp is a real loser, it's hard to find a modern amp from a good vendor that has a bad FR.

 

[Fearless1]

Looking forward to Tuesday which is when I'm receiving my Eddie Current Zana Deux Super.  

With the current movement of self justifying minimalism on this thread lately, I am sure your impressions will be a welcome relief for some of us.

 

[raybone0566]

With the current movement of self justifying minimalism on this thread lately, I am sure your impressions will be a welcome relief for some of us.

Yes, also looking forward to these impressions.

 

[alitomr]

  Looking forward to Tuesday which is when I'm receiving my Eddie Current Zana Deux Super.  I can't count the number of posts & testimonies  I've read stating that this is the one, the best amp for the HD6X0 siblings which I've always owned.  This will be my last shot at finding the best amp synergy (some head-fiers don't like this term) wise for the HD600.  
 
Many very good & some excellent headphone amplifiers (amp/dac combos, headphone amps & vintage receivers/ integrated amplifiers) have come & gone & I'm not willing to spend any more money on this hobby.  There have also been many very good, some excellent headphones that have come & gone but I could never even contemplate selling my HD600.  
 
The HD650 I did sell a few years ago after purchasing the Audeze LCD 2 Rev. 2.   Within a couple of weeks I put the LCD 2 Rev. 2 up for sale & ordered another pair of HD650.  
 
I remember as if it happened yesterday; when I received the HD650 I rushed to my audio set-up & started listening to them again.  A sense of relief & joy came over me & I've never looked back since.  
 
I'm not the best qualified when it comes to writing 'sound description'/ impressions but I will try to post something coherent & hopefully, helpful to members on this thread on my listening experience with the ZDS & HD600 .

 
At almost $2400 i would expect them to stand up and change CD/Bluerays for me. Anything short of that makes it too much. Too expensive. 
 
Please DO share your first impressions when you get it. 
 
In my case, at this point, I cant think of many ways on how to improve the Modi2Uber-Valhalla 2 - HD600 combo. I suspect that to get that little(marginal) gain one has to be willing to go ultra deep, like this case. Im not into it, thankfully. I also suspect that they could be a little more aggressive, without the congestion and "struggle" I often hear from the magni 2 uber, and that is why I will eventually try them with the Asgard 2.
 
Oh, and dont confuse my words: the HD600 with magni 2 uber is terrific sounding. In some songs it is hard to hear a difference with the Valhalla 2. 
 
Yesterday I had a blast gaming with my HD600, connected from the receiver. The sound from the headphone out of the receiver is quite muddy when compared to the amps, but damn you can hear a lot of detail. Playing Call of Duty Black Ops 3 using "Standard" DSP in the receiver is almost too much. Way too many steps, shots, people screaming. Close, far, in between.  Very nice indeed and I would recommend it as a strong upgrade to the most popular Sony Gold Wireless Headset. 

 

[castleofargh]

 

Looking forward to Tuesday which is when I'm receiving my Eddie Current Zana Deux Super.  

With the current movement of self justifying minimalism on this thread lately, I am sure your impressions will be a welcome relief for some of us.

that moment when a guy who has plenty of TOTL gears gets frustrated to see people happy with less.
2000$ amp for 300$ headphone, there at least we don't need no silly self justification right? what a relief.