[haasaaroni]

For some reason, some audiophiles believe that musicians have poor headphone/earphones taste. Others also seem to think they know the instruments we play better than ourselves. Fact is that we all like what we like, and that is fine. I know which headphones sound life-like (indeed the HD600 has a natural tonality.)

Well said! Differences in HRTF are hard to overstate too, and take much of the blame here. Where a treble spike lies for one person could be perfectly in line with the ear gain of another, and vice versa. That’ll throw off (or “on”) the timbre of an instrument pretty easily. I’ve heard other audiophiles/musicians claim that so-and-so headphone has a lifelike timbre for such-and-such instrument. And when I’d heard it, I just couldn’t fathom how. But it does seem to one of those things the HD 600’s are known for.

A well-regarded, now retired audiophile once described a violin's sound as "smooth", but it is nothing of the sort for most violins. Good, powerful violins have certain edgy sound even with good gut strings. Smoothness can be preferred, but often is not clear/projecting enough. So I forgave his opinion as well-meaning, biased ignorance. But the point stands, some audiophiles appear to think they have "chosen ears" to distinguish between "right and wrong" (tonality.) There is much more to headphones than a frequency response graph, useful as those can be. The HD600 sounds both speaker and "instrument like," as you suggested, even if their measurements are not "in" as per the latest flavor of the month. Cymbals decay naturally despite supposedly "lacking extension," and even the bass sounds perfectly normal, as it would in real life! Incredibly well-balanced and natural, amazing product.

Oh yeah, calling a violin smooth is definitely true of certain players and certain orchestras (from a certain distance), but equally not of many! It’s a little like people saying classical music is “relaxing.” I’m happy they find a way to relax, but I kinda want to bring them to a Mahler symphony and slap their ears around a little.

 

[bagwell359]

But the point stands, some audiophiles appear to think they have "chosen ears" to distinguish between "right and wrong" (tonality.)

Hearing can be educated. Whether people that label themselves "audiophiles" have that ability isn't known by that claim alone.

There is much more to headphones than a frequency response graph

For sure.

useful as those can be. The HD600 sounds both speaker and "instrument like," as you suggested, even if their measurements are not "in" as per the latest flavor of the month. Cymbals decay naturally despite supposedly "lacking extension," and even the bass sounds perfectly normal, as it would in real life! Incredibly well-balanced and natural, amazing product.

Piano and violins decay very well too.

Bass? What sort. Cello and Violas are very good. Low notes on pipe organ or double bass? Missing heft and dynamics a bit but not bad.

(Note that as far as I know the aforementioned audiophile enjoyed the HD600-my annoyances come more from the "HD600 is outdated" camp because it doesn't have the graph measurements they want.)

Can't name any audiophiles that dismiss a transducer based on age and FR charts. There are people in "Sound Science" and ASR that might say that, but, judging by FR charts and the tainted Harman curve doesn't prove that they have educated hearing.

 

[Promee]

Hi HD 600 lovers,

I have Googled about this quite a bit prior to posting, and I can’t find a satisfactory answer, so I am sorry if I’m asking something that has already been addressed. I’m curious if anyone knows of a high quality adapter from a reputable source or a mod kit that can be used to swap the 2-pin connector on the HD 600 earcups to either 3.5mm or mini XLR? I would just like to use the nice cables I have for my Focals or ZMFs for these sets as well, but no way do I want to buy cables for the HD 600 / 6XX that cost as much or more than they do. Also, the connectors feel really fragile, so swapping balanced and single-ended cables feels like something that is going to destroy the 2-pin jacks after a fairly limited number of connections. This seems like a product that should exist, but all I am finding is no-name stuff on Ali Express and EBay, and I’d just assume use the stock cable before using those.

Thanks in advance for any help on this!

 

[rafaelo]

Hi HD 600 lovers,

I have Googled about this quite a bit prior to posting, and I can’t find a satisfactory answer, so I am sorry if I’m asking something that has already been addressed. I’m curious if anyone knows of a high quality adapter from a reputable source or a mod kit that can be used to swap the 2-pin connector on the HD 600 earcups to either 3.5mm or mini XLR? I would just like to use the nice cables I have for my Focals or ZMFs for these sets as well, but no way do I want to buy cables for the HD 600 / 6XX that cost as much or more than they do. Also, the connectors feel really fragile, so swapping balanced and single-ended cables feels like something that is going to destroy the 2-pin jacks after a fairly limited number of connections. This seems like a product that should exist, but all I am finding is no-name stuff on Ali Express and EBay, and I’d just assume use the stock cable before using those.

Thanks in advance for any help on this!

You do not need to spend so much money in order to hear balanced with a balanced cable for the headphones.

You can pay $40-60 for a very good looking cable that is sorter, because probably 3 meters is too long anyway and that is it.

I have many cheap aftermarket balanced cables the best so far for me is tripowin-altura and tripowin-granvia.

Some people suggest cardas copper not sure what cardas is, maybe is better. But you do not need to go to $300 you can do the job with much less.

 

[bagwell359]

You do not need to spend so much money in order to hear balanced with a balanced cable for the headphones.

You can pay $40-60 for a very good looking cable that is sorter, because probably 3 meters is too long anyway and that is it.

I have many cheap aftermarket balanced cables the best so far for me is tripowin-altura and tripowin-granvia.

Some people suggest cardas copper not sure what cardas is, maybe is better. But you do not need to go to $300 you can do the job with much less.

Cardas is a brand name - goes back to the late 80's or very early 90's. Boutique brand and expensive.

I got a pair of Custom Cans (UK) which uses the pins on one side and goes to an XLR on the other. The big get here is cable with very low resistance, well built paracord.

I looked at the internals with the idea of sticking in 3.5 mm in them. But the mechanism while it looks fragile is pretty rugged and it would be a pain to do it.

An adapter is a good idea - but nobody seems to sell the adapter that is to a generic 3.5MM. There is some outfit (MMCX) that sells them for their own proprietary cables. Cardas sells them only with cables (and there are comments that they get loose). AIiexpress has them but looks like you have to solder the cables in.

Doesn't look like a simple solution.

 

[rafaelo]

Cardas is a brand name - goes back to the late 80's or very early 90's. Boutique brand and expensive.

I got a pair of Custom Cans (UK) which uses the pins on one side and goes to an XLR on the other. The big get here is cable with very low resistance, well built paracord.

I looked at the internals with the idea of sticking in 3.5 mm in them. But the mechanism while it looks fragile is pretty rugged and it would be a pain to do it.

An adapter is a good idea - but nobody seems to sell the adapter that is to a generic 3.5MM. There is some outfit (MMCX) that sells them for their own proprietary cables. Cardas sells them only with cables (and there are comments that they get loose). AIiexpress has them but looks like you have to solder the cables in.

Doesn't look like a simple solution.

Thanks for the explanation. I saw your recommendation at 66£.

I think borderline expensive for me but not prohibitively costly, I will have it in mind for future consideration.

 

[Hypops]

Hi HD 600 lovers,

I have Googled about this quite a bit prior to posting, and I can’t find a satisfactory answer, so I am sorry if I’m asking something that has already been addressed. I’m curious if anyone knows of a high quality adapter from a reputable source or a mod kit that can be used to swap the 2-pin connector on the HD 600 earcups to either 3.5mm or mini XLR? I would just like to use the nice cables I have for my Focals or ZMFs for these sets as well, but no way do I want to buy cables for the HD 600 / 6XX that cost as much or more than they do. Also, the connectors feel really fragile, so swapping balanced and single-ended cables feels like something that is going to destroy the 2-pin jacks after a fairly limited number of connections. This seems like a product that should exist, but all I am finding is no-name stuff on Ali Express and EBay, and I’d just assume use the stock cable before using those.

Thanks in advance for any help on this!

If you don't want to spend much, it looks like your best bet is to build something yourself. Doesn't look like there's much in the way of adapters, but you can find all the parts you need for next to nothing.

 

[Livnmuskoka]

Audiophile Ninja has good quality pure copper cables that aren't expensive.

 

[Promee]

Thanks everyone for the feedback! To be clear, I have some sweet cables sitting around, and it just seems silly to not be able to connect them to the HD 600/6XX. I do like the idea of trying to put something together myself, but I’m not sure how I would go about it. Ideally it would be a solid piece as opposed to a short cable. I’ve seen Sennheiser 2-pin terminations for sale, and of course female 3.5 mm terminations are available, but I’m not sure how to meld the 2 together in a single housing. Seems like it could be done with a 3D printer, which I do not have. It just seems like someone else would’ve had this idea after getting an awesome cable for a higher end headphone and then wanting to show some love to the old 600/6XX

I might look at getting one of the cheap options I mentioned above and then try to swap out the guts from some better terminations and just use the housings. Not sure if that would be feasible. Other ideas welcome! Also, feel free to take this idea and start offering it as a product. I feel like 50% at least of people on Head-Fi would have a potential use case for such a device…

I might also email Cardas and just see if they would sell some of those adapters to try out. If they are good, even if they get loose, it might be worthwhile just to attach them permanently, as the cable below would be swappable anyway…

 

[username643827]

Hello, Iam looking for replacent pads for my HD600. I am mainly looking for more comfort and keeping the same sound sig or boosting the treble a little bit. I mainly listen to jazz/classical.

Here are a few that i picked out

ZMF - https://shop.zmfheadphones.com/collections/pads/products/zmf-hd6xx-sub-pads
YAXI - https://www.yaxi.jp/product-gallery/hd650/
Dekoni - https://dekoniaudio.com/product-cat...=&_wpnonce=&woocommerce-reset-password-nonce=

 

[Livnmuskoka]

Genuine replacement pads:

Genuine Replacement Ear Pads Cushions for SENNHEISER HD650, HD600, HD580, HD660 S, HD565, HD545 Headphones https://a.co/d/egE5tUD

 

[Promee]

Hello, Iam looking for replacent pads for my HD600. I am mainly looking for more comfort and keeping the same sound sig or boosting the treble a little bit. I mainly listen to jazz/classical.

Here are a few that i picked out

ZMF - https://shop.zmfheadphones.com/collections/pads/products/zmf-hd6xx-sub-pads
YAXI - https://www.yaxi.jp/product-gallery/hd650/
Dekoni - https://dekoniaudio.com/product-cat...=&_wpnonce=&woocommerce-reset-password-nonce=

ZMF suede is very close to the same sound sig, but I think his others make some subtle tweaks - he has measurement videos on YouTube. I can say the suede is quite comfortable and definitely feels more durable than the stock pads (which I also find quite comfortable).

 

[username643827]

ZMF suede is very close to the same sound sig, but I think his others make some subtle tweaks - he has measurement videos on YouTube. I can say the suede is quite comfortable and definitely feels more durable than the stock pads (which I also find quite comfortable).

Thanks for letting me know, i can order dekoni pads locally for pretty cheap and YAXi has free shipping on orders above 30$ but i'll think about ZMF.

 

[Rainblind]

ZMF suede clears the overall sound, adds energy to the highs, backs off the midrange a little, and makes the bass tighter. For me it's to bright, but looks like something you would be happy with!

 

[16tons]

Hi, is a shanling up4 22 enough powerful to drive these headphones? Otherwise which one do you recommend with a budget of about 100€? I d prefer a dac that works also in Bluetooth mode, I ll mostly use these headphones with an android phone