[danmlr]

  I think that the HD650 is an incredibly good buy for $200 bar none. And I do think that the HD650 and HD600 are pretty similar overall. Main difference for me is how the bass and treble come through on the HD650. It has more than the HD600, but the same quality which feels a tiny bit wooly. Because of how that, the treble region also feels like it has a little more sparkle to me. I'd be happy with either of them, but having listened to both, the HD600 is my slightly more preferred sound sig. No knock on the HD650, it's an equally good headphone and now ridiculously priced at $200 brand new. Not really much of a downside there

I hope I like them. I have a gnawing suspicion I'll be underwhelmed. I've read a few claims that Phillips 9500's are supposed to be very close to Senn600's but I found the 9500's to have exaggerated treble and nowhere near neutral. Fun to listen to, at least for a while. 
 
There's so much hype on head fi the reviews are often very unreliable. 

 

[barid]

 
I hope I like them. I have a gnawing suspicion I'll be underwhelmed. I've read a few claims that Phillips 9500's are supposed to be very close to Senn600's but I found the 9500's to have exaggerated treble and nowhere near neutral. Fun to listen to, at least for a while. 
 
There's so much hype on head fi the reviews are often very unreliable. 

What is your reference for neutral?

 

[DavidA]

 
I hope I like them. I have a gnawing suspicion I'll be underwhelmed. I've read a few claims that Phillips 9500's are supposed to be very close to Senn600's but I found the 9500's to have exaggerated treble and nowhere near neutral. Fun to listen to, at least for a while. 
 
There's so much hype on head fi the reviews are often very unreliable. 

9500 is not close to HD-600 IMO, while I've sold my HD-600 and gave away the 9500, the HD-600 was quite a bit better than the 9500.  The 9500 was is one of the few headphones that I felt was a waste of funds to me.
 
Between the HD-600 and HD-650 the HD-650 is more to my preferred sound signature and the HD-600 has a peak at 4-5khz that bothers me on some tracks.  Another thing to consider when asking about headphones is what genre of music you prefer along with DACs or amps that you intend to use to drive them.

 

[Argyris]

 
I hope I like them. I have a gnawing suspicion I'll be underwhelmed. I've read a few claims that Phillips 9500's are supposed to be very close to Senn600's but I found the 9500's to have exaggerated treble and nowhere near neutral. Fun to listen to, at least for a while. 
 
There's so much hype on head fi the reviews are often very unreliable. 

 
There's nothing exaggerated about the HD 600's treble. If the SHP9500 has tipped up treble, then it's not a good indication of what to expect from the HD 600. A practice that's quite common on Head-Fi is to hype up so-called giant killers as inexpensive alternatives to a supposedly similar-sounding, better-known and more expensive headphone. People who do this often overlook glaring flaws in their zeal. In the case of the SHP9500, it looks like some people took a look at measurements for both, noticed a superficial similarity in the overall balance, and declared the SHP9500 "very close" to the HD 600. I'd be interested to see how many people who say this have had extensive experience with both.
 
As for HD 600 hype, this headphone predates Head-Fi. In fact, it predates headphones as a serious listening device for many people and was itself instrumental in changing a lot of people's opinions about that matter. In a way, it's the anti-hype headphone. It was always the reference, always the thing that newer headphones were hyped against when online forums started talking about headphones. Every member of the so-called old guard, consisting of the DT880 / K701 / HD 650, was compared against the HD 600, and every one was declared clearly superior by its proponents. Many years later, these opinions are rarely if ever heard anymore. The HD 600 and HD 650 are now seen as pretty much equal, rather than the latter being some kind of quantum leap over the former, and the DT880 and K701 are usually regarded as being a step below the HD 6x0 family.
 
Of course all of this is meaningless if you don't like the sound yourself. I'm just making the argument that the HD 600 isn't quite like all the other headphones that get hyped to the gills on Head-Fi. It has flaws (bass extension, mainly), and some people might like the HD 650 better, but it's one of the very few headphones whose claim to fame is how long it's remained a reference, rather than how much newer and shinier (and, depressingly these days, how much more expensive) it is than the headphones that came before it.

 

[BobG55]

Well stated Argyris 

  There is a recent, thorough and complementary review about the HD600 dated January of this year.  Here's the link:
 

http://homestudiobasics.com/the-sennheiser-hd-600-review-gold-standard/

 

[danmlr]

Brilliant review and summary argyris.  
 
I'm really easy to please as I am thrilled with my budget koss headphones so I think the 600 might be a wonderful addition.
 
However, with the mass drop 650's at just $200 it appears there will be a different point of departure. 

 

[nutric08]

I have a couple of pairs of Planar Magnetic/Ortho cans that cost three or more times the price of the HD600. They sound better, but not by a huge amount, it is not a religious experience. If I could only have the HD600, I would not be upset, I would be enjoying listening to music and be done with it.

I couldn't agree more. I sold my hd600 two years ago and had short albeit sweet experiences with Audeeze LCD 2 and the Senns hd800 since then. Now i miss the hd600 so much i'm in the market to buy them again. The hd800 and Audeeze are sonically superior (IMHO not by a lot) but the listening experience is i believe on par with either.

A true music lovers headphone. It is so easy to just relax, forget tech talk and enjoy your favorite music.

 

[Quinto]

That cord is totally what they should've shipped it with when they refreshed the packaging on the HD600. It's still kinda long for my personal use, but it's a more well-built cable.

The HD650 cable is better , don't get why they don't send it with the 600's as well..Just got my HD600, listening now on my V200 amp and I'm very happy.. Very much like my HD650 but bit tighter bass en clearer sound overall..
 
Above all I love the natural tonality these have (also compared to the HD650)
 
I think I'm done for headphones, time for music listening

 

[StanD]

Naw there is no arguing with those who believe they can hear wires.

Marvin told me, "I heard it through the grapevine."

 

[castleofargh]

 

Naw there is no arguing with those who believe they can hear wires.

Marvin told me, "I heard it through the grapevine."

people say, believe haaahhhaaaalf of what you see, son, and none of what you hear.

 

[StanD]

 
people say, believe haaahhhaaaalf of what you see, son, and none of what you hear.

  I forget the measurements, once I measured the resistance and capacitance of the stock HD600 cable and found that the corner frequency was several MHz. I feel certain that is well above any human's hearing potential, even those that claim to be able to hear ultrasonics.

 

[U-3C]

  I forget the measurements, once I measured the resistance and capacitance of the stock HD600 cable and found that the corner frequency was several MHz. I feel certain that is well above any human's hearing potential, even those that claim to be able to hear ultrasonics.

Though from a more down to earth perspective, the HD650 does have a better cord than the HD600. It feels nicer~

o(^_^)b

I still think my Q701 has the best cable ever though. It's so flexible~

 

[Midgetguy]

 
I hope I like them. I have a gnawing suspicion I'll be underwhelmed. I've read a few claims that Phillips 9500's are supposed to be very close to Senn600's but I found the 9500's to have exaggerated treble and nowhere near neutral. Fun to listen to, at least for a while. 
 
There's so much hype on head fi the reviews are often very unreliable. 

The SHP9500 isn't close to the HD600, it simply is much closer than your mainstream consumer headphones such as Beats. Even if you only listen to treble characteristics alone, you'll note that the SHP9500's treble emphasis is in a difference frequency range than the HD600's. I find the HD600 has more of a mid-treble emphasis while the SHP9500 has more high-treble energy. Likewise, what makes the SHP9500 sound brighter overall to my ears is the fact that there's also less bass in the it compared to the HD600. The HD600 isn't bass-heavy by any stretch of the imagination, but it has a more full presentation compared to the SHP9500 which is also part of what gives the HD600 better balance than the SHP9500. I do still maintain that the SHP9500 is a great headphone for its (sale) price, but one has to keep in mind the caveats of its sound signature and that the bottom line is still that the sale price is $60; a headphone in that bracket, however good it may be (and the SHP9500 certainly falls into the almost spectacular category for me), has its limits. Having had time with both these headphones, my long-term reaction to the SHP9500 is "this is a great headphone for the price and would still be a good headphone even if I paid the $150 MSRP" whereas my long-term reaction to the HD600 is "this headphone still sounds really damn good" and that's regardless of if I just listened to a $60 headphone or a $3000 headphone. The HD600 doesn't wow, it's a slow burn. I find that's a quality of a good headphone.
 

 
  I forget the measurements, once I measured the resistance and capacitance of the stock HD600 cable and found that the corner frequency was several MHz. I feel certain that is well above any human's hearing potential, even those that claim to be able to hear ultrasonics.

My cable switching is limited to whichever cable feels better and is more durable. And how good it looks depending on how superficial I'm feeling when I buy it

 

[Argyris]

My cable switching is limited to if the cable that came with my headphones breaks. And since that has yet to happen on any decent pair of headphones I've used, I haven't had to do it yet. The HD 600 cable is great for me, as it's nice and supple and easy to bunch up when I don't need three meters worth of travel. It doesn't have much memory character so it doesn't fight me to get it to lay however I want, and while it's not the thickest thing in the world, I wouldn't say it feels unreasonably thin and insubstantial, either.
 

  The HD600 doesn't wow, it's a slow burn. I find that's a quality of a good headphone.

 
That just about sums it up perfectly. When I started with headphones, I was looking for something that knocked my socks off. Increasingly, I've found it's more important to me to find something that doesn't eventually annoy me. There's actually a comparison somewhere on Head-Fi (can't find it at the moment) in which the poster came to the same conclusion in a matter of hours. They had an HD 600, a DT880, and one of the K7xx variants (IIRC), and they initially felt the HD 600 was the obvious loser in the comparison, as it was initially less engaging than the others. But after a long listening session, they found the DT880 and K7xx became fatiguing, whereas the HD 600 remained comfortable to listen to hours later.

 

[apaar123]

Has anyone an idea that how do they sound in comparsion to t50rp mk3 and akg k712 pro