[soulblast]

Those EQ settings look very strange to me. A -5dB cut above 13kHz is a sure way to make the HD600 sound rolled and lifeless of any air IMO!

I strongly question Oratory1990 measurements. They differ strongly from ones on rtings.com. For what I hear on HD600 I believe rtings.com measurements are more correct.

I made a mild EQ based on rtings.com measurements and listening which I feel neutralizes HD600 a lot without adding Harman response bass boost:

1: high shelf 40Hz -5dB Q=0.65
2: high shelf 250Hz 1.8dB Q=1
3: high shelf 870Hz -1.8dB Q=0.71
4: PEQ 3150Hz -1.4dB Q=2.3
5: PEQ 5700Hz 3.5dB Q=2.3

My ears say Oratory1990 filter isn't neutral in comparison.

 

[bagwell359]

Those EQ settings look very strange to me. A -5dB cut above 13kHz is a sure way to make the HD600 sound rolled and lifeless of any air IMO!

For sure. There is about a 4.5 db dip centered at 12400 Hz. I countered it: 12400, +4.6, 3.9; . It certainly doesn't need a high shelf setting - it's going the wrong way. I think they mis-typed it, since if you reverse it, its close to my setting. The HD-600's biggest issues are at 3850 Hz and 8 kHz. That's where they tend to irritate people, turn up at 3850 and down at 8k.

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

I am curious at heart..so much so that I simply had to audition the Focal Clear because of it’s rumour of being the proverbial “650 upgrade”.
Now while I think the 650 is a wonderful can, I genuinely do, I would still take the 600 over it for just about any kind of music....so I figured that I might as well bring the ol 600 to have some form of reference when auditioning the Focal.
When I say audition what I really mean is that I effectively kidnapped my friend’s favourite headphone for the night and ran it through the paces with all kinds of genres, tubes and high/low listening volume.
My verdict? Hah! The bass and general feeling of openness goes to the Focal...the rest of sound spectrum plus fit and comfort, willingness to play around with tubes, etc etc actually goes to the classic Sennheiser..and it’s not even close per my ears.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the 600 is STILL a flagship in sheer sound quality. I’d take it over the 650, 800 and the 800s too. Just something about it’s natural ways that always suck me in like a moth to a flame.
Look past the plastic and lightweight and behold the awesomeness that is the 600!
Still the Elvis of headphones...and deservedly so I might add

 

[pbarach]

I've had HD-600's for a long time (I hated the muddy 650's), and I bought Focal Clears as an upgrade choice. In many ways they are similar to the 600's on my solid-state amps (Burson HD-160, Marantz HD-DAC1). But the Focals have somewhat deeper bass and more midrange detail. I listen to classical music almost exclusively, and both headphones are a good match for my listening choices.

Comfort is a personal matter, but the Focals are heavier. I had to stretch open my 600's with several books for a few days before they didn't feel like pliers on my head. The Focals can be powered adequately enough by a smartphone, but the 600's definitely cannot.

 

[kman1211]

I am curious at heart..so much so that I simply had to audition the Focal Clear because of it’s rumour of being the proverbial “650 upgrade”.
Now while I think the 650 is a wonderful can, I genuinely do, I would still take the 600 over it for just about any kind of music....so I figured that I might as well bring the ol 600 to have some form of reference when auditioning the Focal.
When I say audition what I really mean is that I effectively kidnapped my friend’s favourite headphone for the night and ran it through the paces with all kinds of genres, tubes and high/low listening volume.
My verdict? Hah! The bass and general feeling of openness goes to the Focal...the rest of sound spectrum plus fit and comfort, willingness to play around with tubes, etc etc actually goes to the classic Sennheiser..and it’s not even close per my ears.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the 600 is STILL a flagship in sheer sound quality. I’d take it over the 650, 800 and the 800s too. Just something about it’s natural ways that always suck me in like a moth to a flame.
Look past the plastic and lightweight and behold the awesomeness that is the 600!
Still the Elvis of headphones...and deservedly so I might add

I hear about so many headphones being said to be HD 600/650 upgrades when none of them really sound all that sound similar. The Focal headphones to my ears are quite different than the Senns, never thought they sounded all that similar to the HD 6xx series. They all sound quite different with different strengths and weaknesses and don’t really capture the essence of the HD 6xx family. While I may not be as big of a fan of the HD 600/650 as many are I do recognize their distinct sound, their strengths, and that it’s not something easily replicated. I usually either have a HD 600 or HD 650 in my collection at any time. Though think I prefer the HD 600 slightly of the two despite finding it a bit more boring than the HD 650 as the HD 600 always sounded a bit more correct to my ears with long term ownership.

The closest I’ve personally heard to HD 600 sound outside of other Sennheisers is the R70x but even then it’s still different and not an upgrade but rather is a different take on a similar sound signature. It does capture a similar essence though and both do share the characteristic of completely changing on tube amps and usually for the better. Haven’t heard many headphones all that similar to the HD 600 family outside of a couple headphones and also a couple modded headphones I heard in the past.

 

[CaptainFantastic]

I agree with the comments above. I have stopped believing that upgrades on the Sennheiser 6-series exist, or that they will exist other than from Sennheiser itself possibly. For the first time, my source gear is more expensive than my headphones, and I don't see anything wrong with that. Having heard so many flagship headphones in the above €3k range, I feel like my fleet of "affordable" Sennheisers constitutes the hidden flagship range in this hobby.

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

It’s just so incredibly rare to find a good linear headphone these days. Many of these socalled upgrades have started out wanting to better the old Sennie guard aka making a headphone with a neutral frequency response...yet it seems that neither Focal or ZMF can do uppermids or treble without valleys and peaks. That is the trouble I have with these. Focal has this wonky treble response that can become rather tedious with some recordings whilst the ZMFs generally are warmer because of added bass and a dive in the uppermids.
The only headphone I recall having a similar sound to the 600/650 though with a far better bass response...well that is an LLF Code-X aka modded HE-5...but these days it has become somewhat of a unicorn. The peeps that own it will probably never part with it..aaand it’s out of production.
Personally I would like to have Sennheiser look at a supposed 600/650 upgrade. Something that sounds EXACTLY like the 600 from the mids and up..but with better bass extension. I’d buy that in a heartbeat

 

[SilverEars]

I am curious at heart..so much so that I simply had to audition the Focal Clear because of it’s rumour of being the proverbial “650 upgrade”.
Now while I think the 650 is a wonderful can, I genuinely do, I would still take the 600 over it for just about any kind of music....so I figured that I might as well bring the ol 600 to have some form of reference when auditioning the Focal.
When I say audition what I really mean is that I effectively kidnapped my friend’s favourite headphone for the night and ran it through the paces with all kinds of genres, tubes and high/low listening volume.
My verdict? Hah! The bass and general feeling of openness goes to the Focal...the rest of sound spectrum plus fit and comfort, willingness to play around with tubes, etc etc actually goes to the classic Sennheiser..and it’s not even close per my ears.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the 600 is STILL a flagship in sheer sound quality. I’d take it over the 650, 800 and the 800s too. Just something about it’s natural ways that always suck me in like a moth to a flame.
Look past the plastic and lightweight and behold the awesomeness that is the 600!
Still the Elvis of headphones...and deservedly so I might add

It's not really a 650 upgrade, but 600 I say because it's brighter of the two, and Clear is on the bright side lile the HD800, but not excessive like it. Some people seem to to find it a bit excessive at 10k however.

I personally would take it over the HD600 or 650 obviously, but felt the MSRP was over-priced.

I personally like the Clear for it's tonality and it sounding engaging with any recording. How engagkng headphones sound comes from it sounding exciting without over-doing it with no annoying parts in the response (although, like I said, some people found 10k annoying). A headphone cannot be annoying to be engaging.

Most important thing I realized in this hobby is importance of the setup to be engaging to the music. That's what we ultimately want. It can have all the technicalities and not all that engaging that you may not be motivated to listen to the setup.

 

[Kammerat Rebekka]

I agree with you which is why I favour an even frequency response. Music just flows and I tend to forget that I’m wearing headphones.
Don’t get me wrong. I really dig the Clear. There’s a speed to the drivers that just leaves the Sennie in the dust (though not so much with the 660), but that very same speed coupled together with the more uneven response of the treble does have a tendency to make me more ‘aware’ of wearing a headphone. Especially with brighter recordings.
My absolute favourite thing about the Clear though is the open nature of it. Just like the Elex. Only headphone I’ve owned that even comes close was the MDR-F1.

But back to Elvis! He’s doing right by Pescado Rabioso’s wonderful Artaud right this minute

 

[SilverEars]

I agree with you which is why I favour an even frequency response. Music just flows and I tend to forget that I’m wearing headphones.
Don’t get me wrong. I really dig the Clear. There’s a speed to the drivers that just leaves the Sennie in the dust (though not so much with the 660), but that very same speed coupled together with the more uneven response of the treble does have a tendency to make me more ‘aware’ of wearing a headphone. Especially with brighter recordings.
My absolute favourite thing about the Clear though is the open nature of it. Just like the Elex. Only headphone I’ve owned that even comes close was the MDR-F1.

But back to Elvis! He’s doing right by Pescado Rabioso’s wonderful Artaud right this minute

I didn't like Elex as much as Clear. Elex wasn't engaging due to the way the upper-mids comes off too dynamic, and too sharp when the dynamics hits. It came to the point of becoming uncomfortable to continually listen to and possible cause fitigue in the long run. Fitigue is related to engagement of the headphones. I found Elex uneven in the mids with too sharp upper-mids.

And I'm one of those people fine with HD650 and 600 upper-mids, and normally not complain about upper-mids dynamics.

 

[Paalv1]

Hey everyone I'm kinda new to this whole audiophile world. So I've been doing heavy research and I'm stuck with questions I'm hoping someone can answer. First, I'm buying the Hd600s so with that in mind I'm stuck with a question should I buy the bottlehead crack with speedball first or the chord mojo. Secondly, how would everything hook up with my interface, I currently have the scarlett pro 2i2 but I'm upgrading to the apollo duo soon as well.

 

[SilverEars]

Hey everyone I'm kinda new to this whole audiophile world. So I've been doing heavy research and I'm stuck with questions I'm hoping someone can answer. First, I'm buying the Hd600s so with that in mind I'm stuck with a question should I buy the bottlehead crack with speedball first or the chord mojo. Secondly, how would everything hook up with my interface, I currently have the scarlett pro 2i2 but I'm upgrading to the apollo duo soon as well.

Get the Crack. Crack drive it way better than Mojo. Mojo can be used as a DAC if you are ok with that price-point.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

Hey everyone I'm kinda new to this whole audiophile world. So I've been doing heavy research and I'm stuck with questions I'm hoping someone can answer. First, I'm buying the Hd600s so with that in mind I'm stuck with a question should I buy the bottlehead crack with speedball first or the chord mojo. Secondly, how would everything hook up with my interface, I currently have the scarlett pro 2i2 but I'm upgrading to the apollo duo soon as well.

600s are made for tube OTL amplifiers. I didn't hear it but people with Crack Speedball say it's a great combo. I have the Chord Mojo, it's a very nice DAC but I would absolutely not buy it as an amp and would not recommend it for Sennheiser 600 and up models.

Are you using the Scarlett as a DAC? If so you run the line level outputs into your amp.

 

[Paalv1]

Get the Crack. Crack drive it way better than Mojo. Mojo can be used as a DAC if you are ok with that price-point.

Thank you so much and yes I was going to use the mojo just for the purposes of it being a dac, I'm just trying the headphones as much as I can. Do you think its necessary for the mojo or it honestly wouldn't make a difference and I'm better off just saving my money? Lol

 

[gimmeheadroom]

Get the Crack. Crack drive it way better than Mojo. Mojo can be used as a DAC if you are ok with that price-point.

LOL lately I'm starting to believe we must be cousins or something