[Rob80b]

Hope this isn't a silly question, but, do you feel the cable upgrade makes an audible difference compared to the default one? I've been eyeballing some clothed cables because I have cats as well and they love chewing them, something like you have would be ideal, but I'm not sure if I'm willing to spend 100€ or such just for the cable if it simply makes no difference in reality. Thanks in advance!

Cable discussions are indeed a slippery slope, IMHO as long as the connectors fit securely with good contact and electricity can run freely one is good to go.
With the S2 I started off with a $20 6' balanced XLR from Amazon

.....but needed something longer so modded one of Sennheiser's own multi cloth bound CH800 ($389Can) with HD600 connectors,

can't really say if either cable is good or bad but results are the same.
As for cats..mine have been trained for fear of.........

 

[rafaelo]

45 £

 

[Rob80b]

We’ll see what happens with the pricing of the S2 and 30. I would say that it’s safe to assume that at least one of them will drop significantly!

Life is complicated but I'm sure the S2 as a consumer item it will definitely become much more affordable. With Neumann being Pro Audio it's more complicated, manufacturing may move to Europe in which case prices could go up or they could decide after a shareholder (not sure if they are now private or public) meeting it's just not profitable and drop headphones altogether.
You guess is as good as mine.

 

[rafaelo]

Life is complicated but I'm sure the S2 as a consumer item it will definitely become much more affordable. With Neumann being Pro Audio it's more complicated, manufacturing may move to Europe in which case prices could go up or they could decide after a shareholder (not sure if they are now private or public) meeting it's just not profitable and drop headphones altogether.
You guess is good as mine.

Sonova public sennheiser private.

 

[Rob80b]

You guess is as good as mine.

Or, Sennheiser takes over and they become.

HD660S2 Good
NDH30 Better
HD800S Best

: )

 

[rafaelo]

I have this coming next week. 55£

 

[Rob80b]

Listen to this ideally on Tidal or at least something like Spotify:

I've only recently discovered his stuff..definitely a fun listen and while fine on the S2 I have to concede that the HD800S take it, their spacial configuration and imaging is hard to beat and never realized they could produce that much bass. lol
https://listen.tidal.com/artist/4582804

 

[Mike F]

I've only recently discovered his stuff..definitely a fun listen and while fine on the S2 I have to concede that the HD800S take it, their spacial configuration and imaging is hard to beat and never realized they could produce that much bass. lol
https://listen.tidal.com/artist/4582804

With the right recording there’s plenty of bass on the 800s. They are generally quite lean though and tend to range from too little to just enough.

 

[Rob80b]

With the right recording there’s plenty of bass on the 800s. They are generally quite lean though and tend to range from too little to just enough.

And that sir is where the Newmann may eventually satisfy an itch.. fill a niche. : )

 

[Rob80b]

And that sir is where the Newmann may eventually satisfy an itch.. fill a niche. : )

But for now …Friday nights on a 128” screen with surround sound and subs… who needs headphones…at least not until after hours. : )

 

[plyr]

I've only recently discovered his stuff..definitely a fun listen and while fine on the S2 I have to concede that the HD800S take it, their spacial configuration and imaging is hard to beat and never realized they could produce that much bass. lol
https://listen.tidal.com/artist/4582804

Test tracks here: https://tidal.com/browse/album/88947829

 

[DivineCurrent]

Ok, so I just unplugged the 660S and fetched the 'ole 6XX. The 6XX is such a romantic, lush, laid-back presentation. I still love it for certain situations (late at night with a whiskey in-hand, for example). It's like auditory umami. Indescribably delicious. But people who are stating that the new 660S2 doesn't have anything to offer that the 650/600 twins don't already convey are out of their freakin' minds. They're incredibly different, and the resolution of the S2 is leagues better IMO. Imaging and separation aren't even close.

Vocal quality is better on the 6XX, but we probably already knew that, yeah? It's creamier, hazier, more velvety-smooth.

I like them both. 660S vs 660S2 is a much closer comparison. 6XX and 660S2 have way more differences, while retaining that familial resemblance.

I completely agree with all you said. I've been listening to the 660S2 for a week and compared to the 600, 650, and 660S, the S2 for me is basically a more resolving and better bass version of the OG 660S. As good as the 600 + 650 are, to me they sound very smoothed and lacking in fine details in comparison to the S2. And I do hear the amazing imaging improvement on both the 660S and 660S2. I already thought the 660S was a good performer, but the S2 takes it up a notch in resolution and dynamic capability.

I'll be posting a mini review here at some point, just got to make sure I'm not hyping the S2 up too much

 

[OkPsychology]

Some more thoughts…

I think they’ve tuned the bass wrong on the S2, actually. Not completely, but it’s too thick for my tastes, and I wish for just a tad less on most tracks I’m listening to.

There’s a density to the sound that I’m sure a lot of listeners will find satisfying. It’s similar to that quality that makes the 650 so lush and smooth sounding. But I think the 660S2 crosses a fine line here. I’m thinking it’s the frequency band from about 500 Hz down to about 100 Hz. On the graph comparing the S to the S2, you see that this is where we start to see a pretty big deviation between the two iterations. The S is more or less “flat” in this region, while the S2 actually starts to rise before its inevitable roll off in the sub-bass region.

Without a good amount of energy in these frequencies, you get a very anaemic, and extremely unsatisfying sounding headphone. You might call it “cold” or perhaps thin-sounding? Nobody wants that crap. But I think there can be too much of a good thing here. I feel like, besides providing a good solid foundation for a lot of the midrange, there is a lot of heft here on the S2 without also providing a lot of “information.” So my personal take is that there’s a bunch of weight to the sound that’s detracting from the more delicate intricacies of the upper-mids, and creating a bit of an unnaturally thick sound signature. I’m finding that it’s a little tricky to find a good level from my amp, as I waffle between getting the amount of detail from the upper-mids that I crave (vocal presence and nuance, primarily), and not feeling like there’s just too much volume hitting my eardrum, due to the fact that there’s a whole bunch of unnecessary bloat to the lower-mids and upper-bass.

I don’t know, I’m starting to think that my time with the 660S2 is coming to an end. I really do think the 660S is better, at least for me. And the increased price is 100% not warranted in my opinion.

I’ll try to keep an open mind and continue to listen over the weekend. I had high hopes for this headphone, and so far I just can’t say that it’s totally gelling for me. I’m stoked for all the other folks who’ve been enjoying their S2s. I’m just not sure that it’s for me.

 

[xeizo]

Well, it has basically the same bass curve as HD650 so your impression is not surprising. That's why I always liked the HD600 better than the HD650, I think HD650 sounds too thick for my taste. However, I do not think it is a problem with S2 in the same way as it's more resolving making the thickness much less annoying. And some genres, like modern metal, benefits greatly from it.

 

[pietcux]

For so far all genres I listen to do benefit from how the HD660S2 presents the sound. And I do not even listen to Metall at all. Even PC Gaming sounds superb.