[mysticstryk]

Welp. IIRC my phone didn't even managed to drive it to listenable levels, not to mention the overall sound quality sounded very... mushy.


Even my onboard audio on my PC did so much better after I had purchased it. 


Speaking of which, I'm currently in a budget of around 250USD, and I'm wondering if I should get a much more powerful amp for the HD600. I would be using my current Q1 as a DAC so does anyone have any suggestions within this range, or should I save up for something crazier?

Vali 1 ($99), Vali 2($170), Project Horizon ($250).

My suggestion is to dump the Fiio and buy a new dac and amp. With your budget you could get a Modi 2 + Vali 2. Or Modi 2 Uber + Vali 1. Or save $50 and get a Modi 2 + Vali 1.

 

[Pahani]

Been reading here that some prefered the 600 over thw 650. Will need to listen to them properely in a store.
But has someone compared the 600's with the AKG like 550's or 553's?
Curious bout the bass bc had some mixing problems with my K240's.

I have the K553 Pro and K7XX.
 
The K553 Pro are maaaaaaaaybe worth their $120 MD price, but no more. Build quality is quite nice, but I find the overall sound not at ALL to my liking :/
 
K7XX are definitely worth their $200 MD price. They are quite nice, with excellent soundstage. Build quality is somewhat lacking though, and the headband annoys the crap out of me. I can't specifically point to anything K7XX does WRONG.......but I just don't feel the "magic" with them that I do with most of my other headphones.
 
To my ears, HD600 is clearly better than both. Smooth, neutral, they never lose their composure. If you listen to EDM and such, you may find the bass somewhat lacking; but that's why I like to pair a neutral headphone with a similar bass-heavy can! Have all the bases covered that way.
 
Of the HP in my inventory, I'd pair X2 with HD600. My current pair of Stax with X00 PH is more than good enough to satisfy me for years

 

[fonkepala]

  Welp. IIRC my phone didn't even managed to drive it to listenable levels, not to mention the overall sound quality sounded very... mushy.

Even my onboard audio on my PC did so much better after I had purchased it. 

Speaking of which, I'm currently in a budget of around 250USD, and I'm wondering if I should get a much more powerful amp for the HD600. I would be using my current Q1 as a DAC so does anyone have any suggestions within this range, or should I save up for something crazier?

 
According to Fiio's website, the Q1 is only recommended for headphones up to 150 ohms impedance.

 

[komiez]

  I have the K553 Pro and K7XX.
 
The K553 Pro are maaaaaaaaybe worth their $120 MD price, but no more. Build quality is quite nice, but I find the overall sound not at ALL to my liking :/
 
K7XX are definitely worth their $200 MD price. They are quite nice, with excellent soundstage. Build quality is somewhat lacking though, and the headband annoys the crap out of me. I can't specifically point to anything K7XX does WRONG.......but I just don't feel the "magic" with them that I do with most of my other headphones.
 
To my ears, HD600 is clearly better than both. Smooth, neutral, they never lose their composure. If you listen to EDM and such, you may find the bass somewhat lacking; but that's why I like to pair a neutral headphone with a similar bass-heavy can! Have all the bases covered that way.
 
Of the HP in my inventory, I'd pair X2 with HD600. My current pair of Stax with X00 PH is more than good enough to satisfy me for years

Hey man thanks a Lot for this!!! Have been reading reviews, forum posts everything I could find on the internet for the last 5 days this week hehe. I live in a big city but somehow limited to all the specific headphones models out there.
I started THIS thread with no feedback and began my search. I first thought open-back headphones did not deliver the same bass as closed ones why I thought of the K553's, but if the HD600 deliver good bass for most of the genres that would be great.
I mainly do classical music like strings, pianos, basses, horns etc. I need Some bass and good soundstage and good mixing/mastering on. I have good monitors but not a treated room, so the stuff I hear in the headphones I'd like to have mixed good sounding on all other systems, as easy as possible and time saving, that's why new good headphones would be great.
I somehow mixed a track and thought of adding some More bass because the 1st mix sounded a bit thin, when we had a concert the 2 basses Completely overwhelmed the whole track and it was a disaster, and I could not hear that when mixing the track with my AKG K240's. So next ones should be better.
Not SO much EDM but pop/dance music is sometimes made for other types of tracks I make for films and series.
So you think the HD600 would be great ones, or The best ones? I still thinking bout the K702 but perhaps the HD600 is even better for everything? 60-70% will be classical. And I do not like the ATH-50s so much, DT770 are better I think, the mid/bass is confusing on the ATH's.

Your feedback is Super appreciated man! Really!! I just need another pair of headphones that translates the stuff I hear great, better than my K240's which misses some sounds especially the bass and sub bass...

 

[mixolyd]

I just need another pair of headphones that translates the stuff I hear great, better than my K240's which misses some sounds especially the bass and sub bass...

If you're looking for sub-bass you can forget about the HD600: it's pretty much not there. Bass is also rolled off when listening below 70-75db or so.

 

[StanD]

If you're looking for sub-bass you can forget about the HD600: it's pretty much not there. Bass is also rolled off when listening below 70-75db or so.

Bass appears rolled off when you reduce the volume, that's called Equal loudness Contour or Fletcher-Munson. This is not an HD600 thing, it's a human thing. IMO much of the HD600's bass issues are in the sub bass, which I fix with some EQ, which works well with the HD600. Try some EQ, you might like the results.

 

[mixolyd]

Bass appears rolled off when you reduce the volume, that's called Equal loudness Contour or Fletcher-Munson. This is not an HD600 thing, it's a human thing. IMO much of the HD600's bass issues are in the sub bass, which I fix with some EQ, which works well with the HD600. Try some EQ, you might like the results.

I'm aware that's it's due to the loudness curve but it's a particular problem with the HD600 (since it lacks either a bass hump or sub bass) that needs to be pointed out if someone is looking to buy cans with decent bass. Too often people say that the 600's have bass when they only do so when used in a certain way. As for EQ it's not an option in my setup but for someone else it may work.

 

[Tayyab Pirzada]

HD600 has great sub-bass at least to me when paired with a warm tube amp

 

[TheEldestBoy]

If you're looking for sub-bass you can forget about the HD600: it's pretty much not there. Bass is also rolled off when listening below 70-75db or so.

 
 

 
Bass appears rolled off when you reduce the volume, that's called Equal loudness Contour or Fletcher-Munson. This is not an HD600 thing, it's a human thing. IMO much of the HD600's bass issues are in the sub bass, which I fix with some EQ, which works well with the HD600. Try some EQ, you might like the results.

 
 

I'm aware that's it's due to the loudness curve but it's a particular problem with the HD600 (since it lacks either a bass hump or sub bass) that needs to be pointed out if someone is looking to buy cans with decent bass. Too often people say that the 600's have bass when they only do so when used in a certain way. As for EQ it's not an option in my setup but for someone else it may work.

 
Is there an open-back headphone where the bass is not rolled off when listening at volumes below 70-75 db?
 
The X1/2's maybe?  Any others?

 

[castleofargh]

that's not something that can be answered by others IMO. the bass not being rolled off for you might not be the same idea as mine. based on both taste and physiology as the loudness triggering the increased ear drum dampening(protection mechanism of the ear) is something that varies from one individual to another.
I use a typical V shaped kind of EQ when I listen quietly(equal loudness contour, blablablah), with a pretty massive boost around 30hz on my 650 so it would be around the same or even more boosted on the 600. but that's an EQ I personally hate when listening at normal (for me) volume levels or a little loud. I strongly suggest you play around with an EQ at whatever loudness you usually feel comfortable with, and go try the headphones yourself as the low end often doesn't just sound like the frequency response graph suggests. my hypothesis being that it might be linked to the massive distortions you can get on most dynamic drivers in low freqs. that possibly is what can make it feel like there is more bass somehow even when the frequency response seems to fall soon on most dynamic drivers(but I insist that's just my idea of why, I have no evidence to conclusively support it, so maybe it's BS ^_^).
did you try a few planar/ortho headphones? the low frequencies tend to survive better and feel different.

 

[TheEldestBoy]

  that's not something that can be answered by others IMO. the bass not being rolled off for you might not be the same idea as mine. based on both taste and physiology as the loudness triggering the increased ear drum dampening(protection mechanism of the ear) is something that varies from one individual to another.
I use a typical V shaped kind of EQ when I listen quietly(equal loudness contour, blablablah), with a pretty massive boost around 30hz on my 650 so it would be around the same or even more boosted on the 600. but that's an EQ I personally hate when listening at normal (for me) volume levels or a little loud. I strongly suggest you play around with an EQ at whatever loudness you usually feel comfortable with, and go try the headphones yourself as the low end often doesn't just sound like the frequency response graph suggests. my hypothesis being that it might be linked to the massive distortions you can get on most dynamic drivers in low freqs. that possibly is what can make it feel like there is more bass somehow even when the frequency response seems to fall soon on most dynamic drivers(but I insist that's just my idea of why, I have no evidence to conclusively support it, so maybe it's BS ^_^).
did you try a few planar/ortho headphones? the low frequencies tends to survive better and feel different.

 
 
Not sure if this is a dumb question...
 
How do I EQ if I'm listening via my iPhone (running through a portable amp/Dac like the Fiio Q1 or the OPPO HA-2, and into a set of HD600/650's)?
 
Would I be EQ'ing via a specific app?  

 

[StanD]

  that's not something that can be answered by others IMO. the bass not being rolled off for you might not be the same idea as mine. based on both taste and physiology as the loudness triggering the increased ear drum dampening(protection mechanism of the ear) is something that varies from one individual to another.
I use a typical V shaped kind of EQ when I listen quietly(equal loudness contour, blablablah), with a pretty massive boost around 30hz on my 650 so it would be around the same or even more boosted on the 600. but that's an EQ I personally hate when listening at normal (for me) volume levels or a little loud. I strongly suggest you play around with an EQ at whatever loudness you usually feel comfortable with, and go try the headphones yourself as the low end often doesn't just sound like the frequency response graph suggests. my hypothesis being that it might be linked to the massive distortions you can get on most dynamic drivers in low freqs. that possibly is what can make it feel like there is more bass somehow even when the frequency response seems to fall soon on most dynamic drivers(but I insist that's just my idea of why, I have no evidence to conclusively support it, so maybe it's BS ^_^).
did you try a few planar/ortho headphones? the low frequencies tends to survive better and feel different.

My Planar/Orthos definitely have a sub bass that extends very nicely, despite being open back, so we're on the same page. We left out the part about all heads are not created acoustically equal.

 So I dabble in some EQ.

 

[StanD]

   
 
Not sure if this is a dumb question...
 
How do I EQ if I'm listening via my iPhone (running through a portable amp/Dac like the Fiio Q1 or the OPPO HA-2, and into a set of HD600/650's)?
 
Would I be EQ'ing via a specific app?  

Yep, iDevices don't have much of an EQ option. You can get Neutron for iOS which has some very nice EQ options. The parametric EQ is very nice, however, you will need to learn about it. I think they've recently added a graphic EQ, but parametric rules.

 

[TheEldestBoy]

  Yep, iDevices don't have much of an EQ option. You can get Neutron for iOS which has some very nice EQ options. The parametric EQ is very nice, however, you will need to learn about it. I think they've recently added a graphic EQ, but parametric rules.

 
Thanks for the input.  I'll check out Neutron for sure.
 
I plan on getting a set of HD 600's (or maybe 650's) soon.  I generally listen at relatively low volumes, as I have a bit of tinnitus & sound sensitivity.

 

[Argyris]

According to Fiio's website, the Q1 is only recommended for headphones up to 150 ohms impedance.

Nobody better tell mine that. It might stop doing such a good job powering my HD 600, when I'm in a transportable mood.