[Rob80b]

I try not to compare the headphones that I have. When I get them, I listen and see whether there is excitement while listening to the music I love.

Amen to that.

 

[rafaelo]

I try not to compare the headphones that I have. When I get them, I listen and see whether there is excitement while listening to the music I love.

Actually that is a great statement.

 

[tyk103]

I am listening to a lot of different genres but I am fan of house music too. Especially Defected radio that is based in London and throws a lot of parties in Croatia every year so lucky you...

But I have two kids now I am a family man and I am listening that music mostly in the gym and with my 58x which are amazing with this type of music not so technical but always musical and engaging...

I got into Defected because I’m a huge SG Lewis fan.

For that type of music, my Focal Clear MGs really hit the spot.

 

[Yarblockos]

Well iem's might be the thing for you then

Looking that way. These were for gaming more than anything - I wanted something a bit more bassy than my HD800 for certain games (obviously those don't get hot), but I've been using my Mest MKII & they are excellent for it. Never thought I'd use IEMs for gaming.

 

[Yarblockos]

The amount of detail these headphones reveal in a recording is just bonkers. Frequency response preferences will of course vary between listeners, but I swear when I try to just focus in on the amount of detail the 660S2 is revealing I am consistently blown away. Just now I was comparing it to the Hifiman Edition XS, and its almost like the XS loses out on a good 30% chunk of the information coming across the signal chain. When I switch to it, the first thing I notice is the very different tuning- with hifiman typically being much leaner and brighter- but there is just a distinct loss of detail thats hard for me to ignore. Its like a once you see it, you can't ignore it type of thing.

This goes for pretty much every headphone I compare it to besides the HD800s. And honestly they are very close in detail, which is crazy as the 660S2 goes for 1/2 to 1/3 the price.

This headphone is really special man. It sounds very snobby, but when I hear someone say the 660s2 is just "another 6 series flavor", I sort of write them off. Like if you say that, I can't really take your opinions on headphones seriously lol. Obviously I'm joking a bit, but there's some truth to it...

You talk about one headphone to rule them all, the 660s2 has to be in the conversation.

The comparison to 800 goes out the window when you bring imaging into it. There really is something magical about the 800 that nothing can touch (certainly not within my budget & they seem to hold their own with far more expensive sets).

I have the 660S2 also. I like them as a low end alternative to the 800 but the stock pads are too hot for my liking. I live in Thailand, but I blast my aircon & still, really ****ing toasty:they cost me a fortune with import taxes so I'd really rather find alt pads than sell. Well aware it will change the tuning somewhat. Any ideas?

 

[fidgeraldo]

Especially Defected radio that is based in London and throws a lot of parties in Croatia every year so lucky you...

That's cute. Summer is ok. I like Defected and the people who are behind it. I follow them on Twitter. I have been a fan of Little Luis Vega for a long time...but I don't consider myself lucky. I don't live on the coast, and where I live...almost nothing happens. We had a clubbing scene in the '90s, but now... hahaha, nothing. Compared to London, it is like comparing some ultra-cheap headphones with some of the best on the market.
My wife and I went to a party a month ago. I missed Astral Projection in 1999. Back then, they were massive stars amongst the fans, but unfortunately, they cancelled the gig.
It was fantastic to go and enjoy that with my wife 25 years later. Astral was good but short; they played only for an hour and a half.
Resident DJs before them were pure disaster.
And the whole vibe is nothing like when we were the first generation who grew electronic music and clubbing. It's so strange now; they don't look, act or dance like they are proper fans of electronic music
Also, there is a lot of drinking now, beer mostly (it wasn't the case before). People dance (if you can call that dancing), holding a plastic cup with beer in one hand and the smartphone in another. And you can imagine what the floor looks like; it's like you spilt a bucket of glue all over the place. Not a pleasant thing if you like to dance, as I do.

I am listening to a lot of different genres but I am fan of house music too

Genre doesn't matter to me, only quality.
I started as a kid loving Michal Jackson. I always disliked his duet with Paul McCartney.
But I did love The Beatles, through the '80s with pop (my favourite band was Eurythmics), but also, at the same time, from '85-'86 with breakdancing. In the late '80s, I was crazy about Pink Floyd and Deep Purple...and when the '90s came, I was hooked on electronic music and clubbing, techno (grunge as well)...Detroit...

Starting with 2000. I was all in discovering '70s Jazz...Chick Corea, Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin...but if I have to pick one musician... it would be impossible to say who is on top because there are so many...But if I must...I would say, Paco de Lucia!

And this is just a peak of what I was listening to and what I still listen to.
Hmm, am I picky about genres?

 

[Rob80b]

Maybe too early for a congrats....

The S2 as I continually point out just sound correct....

Well I tried, but after a few days with the Neumann NDH30 they failed to capture my attention, much like the HD650s before them. They're ok, just not my cup of tea.

 

[Rob80b]

but I can surely enjoy S2 without the need to compare

You and me both. lol

 

[pietcux]

Well I tried, but after a few days with the Neumann NDH30 they failed to capture my attention, much like the HD650s before them. They're ok, just not my cup of tea.

I have been following your adventure over @ the Neumann thread. I always get rather sceptical once they claim that the holy grail was found. Thanks for going that route, saved me a lot of time and money.

 

[kman1211]

Well I tried, but after a few days with the Neumann NDH30 they failed to capture my attention, much like the HD650s before them. They're ok, just not my cup of tea.

I have the feeling I will feel unengaged with the NDH-30 as well, I’m auditioning them later this week so will see. The HD 650 and HD 600 were never big engagers for me, I find them good if you don’t want to get overly engaged and I found it good for relaxed listening. And it sounds like the NDH-30 is in the same vein as HD 650 and will likely appeal to those who are big fans of the HD 600/650 the most. The HD 660S2 was notably more engaging and musical than the rest of the HD 6xx line to me. More akin to the amount of engagement and musicality I get out of Beyer’s Tesla line.

 

[rafaelo]

Yes but the rumor has it that the ndh30 is not only smooth and organic like the 650/600 but also exciting and dynamic like the focal mg and utopia.

So you can have your cake but you can also eat it...

These claims might be true or not (I do not know) but they are very strong indeed because even as much I like and being impressed by the focal the old Sennheiser generation is the only one that I can describe as fully organic and I do not know how you combine perfectly these different worlds yet...

 

[Rob80b]

I have been following your adventure over @ the Neumann thread. I always get rather sceptical once they claim that the holy grail was found. Thanks for going that route, saved me a lot of time and money.

They might work in a studio environment and the few that do support them also appear to hold onto their HD650s so that does say something to whom they cater to. I'm at the other end of the spectrum with the AKG K872s et al so really not a personal fit but they were ported as to compete against the HD800S and Focal Utopias so I thought why not give them a try. So overall a bit perplexed or there are visions of grandeur in effect and wishful thinking as overall IMHO, and sorry to ruffle a few feathers, they are rather mediocre and non engaging and nothing at all like the HD800S and Focal.
This is not to say they a bad sounding, they are an easy listen, just not really inspiring with my tastes and music.

 

[Rob80b]

I believe it is important to call a spade a spade and I did voice my opinions on the NDH30 thread, keep in mind these are just my conclusions and cannot not be substantiated.

I am begining to think that the special design of the NDH 30 is working extremely well for the great majority of listeners

...I feel a bit for headstef but....

Sorry headstef...the Neumann are not a special design. They salvaged the physical attributes from a previous Sennheiser endeavour for a closed backed mobile HD600 series phone, which IMHO works very well. And then in conjunction with the modified cups they implemented a reworked Sennheiser 500 series to driver to fit their intended purpose by placing foam strips within the interior, rotate the baffle 45 degrees and voila you have the NDH30.

But you have to acknowledge it is a very small one.

The only reason I bring this up on the HD660S2 thread as there was constant egging on to try the Neumann which IMHO served a different audience. I've now scratched that itch and it is time to move on.

The NDH series by Neumann IMHO and it is only MHO is that it was probably brought up or suggested to the powers to be that Neumann should have a headphone monitoring device. To test the waters they adopted a buried Sennheiser that in all intents and purposes contrary to popular opinion was a re-badged HD630VB with the elimination of all the bells and whistles with a slightly modified driver.(I've auditioned them back to back). And of course an open back was soon to follow but again to keep costs low just a few modifications here and there on all readily available parts was put to market. Also keep in mind that Neumann demand a premium price, this initial foray into headphones most likely has a rather steep markup and is made in China which also keeps profits more alluring.
Bottom line if the headphones were to fail no big loss to Neumann/Sennheiser.

Just to substantiate.....the HD630VB which was designed from the ground up from housing to driver is IMHO a phone for musical enjoyment and would be a terrible device for mixing.

 

[Ichos]

I have been following your adventure over @ the Neumann thread. I always get rather sceptical once they claim that the holy grail was found. Thanks for going that route, saved me a lot of time and money.

I don't think that there are any real holly grails or giant Killers in existence in this hobby. Some are great value for money yes but that's it.

 

[Yarblockos]

Anyone know of any decent 660S2 pads which aren't so toasty?