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Sennheiser HD650 & Massdrop HD6XX Impressions Thread
Feb 15, 2021 at 1:25 PM Post #44,041 of 46,565
megabigeye said:
I don't doubt that shadow revisions might happen, but I don't understand why a headphone company would choose to do that. Maybe if they're secretly making them worse? Otherwise, why hide that they're making the headphones better/different? It makes little sense from a marketing perspective, at least so far as I can see it.

One of my (conspiracy!) theories is that the HD 6XX is made of HD 650 parts that don't quite fit into spec or that just have looser tolerances. This would explain why they're willing to sell them for less than half of retail, and also why some people claim they sound different from each other.
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If you compare Rtings 650 and 6XX measurements, there are differences. 6XX has slightly more 3k (like the 600), and lowered 5k (like the 660S). This maybe why 6XX sounds inbetween 600 and 650 in tonality. It sounds less warm than 650 from what I recall (6-700hz is lower on the 6XX), and I attribute that to the greater 3k presence.

Even the sound rating between 650 and 6XX are different with Rtings. This means that they think there are differences in sound.

Rtings measurements are not fully conclusive however. There needs to be more samples measured to get an idea of consistancy. You can have variance between same model headphones as well. They are not identical responses, look at the differences even between the drivers.
 
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Feb 15, 2021 at 1:41 PM Post #44,042 of 46,565
megabigeye said:
Let's look at thOne of my (conspiracy!) theories is that the HD 6XX is made of HD 650 parts that don't quite fit into spec or that just have looser tolerances. This would explain why they're willing to sell them for less than half of retail, and also why some people claim they sound different from each other.
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Let's look at this from the commercial point of view.

Drop is a Sennheiser retailer that has moved already 100k items. This means much, much lower unit costs than going through other sales channels. I would wager that the Sennheiser's net margin is not worse than with the HD650 sold via other channels. Also very short chain, manufacturer to retailer, no other middlemen (distributors, importers, etc) No rick and mortar stores. No cut to Amazon. Very large production runs with practically zero stock - all gets shipped at once - no capital tied up in stock. The list could go on.
 
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Feb 15, 2021 at 1:54 PM Post #44,043 of 46,565
megabigeye said:
I don't doubt that shadow revisions might happen, but I don't understand why a headphone company would choose to do that. Maybe if they're secretly making them worse? Otherwise, why hide that they're making the headphones better/different? It makes little sense from a marketing perspective, at least so far as I can see it.

One of my (conspiracy!) theories is that the HD 6XX is made of HD 650 parts that don't quite fit into spec or that just have looser tolerances. This would explain why they're willing to sell them for less than half of retail, and also why some people claim they sound different from each other.
Click to expand...
as someone who sells items whose price I can freely adjust there are 2 parts, one is that you don't want to punish early adopters and rub it in their face or have people who bought it during the last 30 days all get upset and return it, If I make a product better I consider it part of the normal life cycle as if let's say I had to change manufacturing to a slightly different material that works the same. If broadcasting the new changes to everyone won't significantly improve sales and maybe even drop them from people whoa re unsure about old vs new (most reviewers don't re review stuff just for small changes so for a consumer it's unknown if it's better or worse) I just keep my mouth shut

second is that a product like 6XX is always selling and production is always behind, to just update something like that as simple as it sounds is a huge risk and while testing can be done in tandem with production you essentially would have to go from small scale tests of maybe a few hundred units to making thousands a month. Every risk is magnified, imagine the damage to the products reputation, and financial damage that could happen if a long term or other defect that didn't come up in testing but started rearing it's ugly head came up. Also as someone who has switched stocks to new items before more than likely Sennheiser has a huge parts stockpile for 6XX as buying in bulk can help save production and shipping costs... but more likely than not it comes down to the ain't broke don't fix it. Sennheiser's main priority is their customer who buys direct, so that is where their attention is, the 6XX is an easy side hustle, no reason to complicate things.

^and yes I know but if they are selling the new revision already as the 650 in bulk then it's safe right? for the amount they are charging for the 650 #1 good to give it a slight edge to make sales #2 any defects or loss of income from unforeseen issues is factored into the price with the 650

to end this rant for me if I was senn. I would keep updating it and when it reaches a high peak stop updating it and keep it behind closed doors, then tune and optimize it even more a few revision and rerelease it with a $50-$100 premium as a new model, new models get a lot more attention, reviews, sales vs updating an old product and having revision buying confusion, discounting older versions, and having customers who bought in the last 3-6 months pissed off they have the "older version"/devalued etc
 
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Feb 15, 2021 at 8:51 PM Post #44,044 of 46,565
donkek said:
as someone who sells items whose price I can freely adjust there are 2 parts, one is that you don't want to punish early adopters and rub it in their face or have people who bought it during the last 30 days all get upset and return it, If I make a product better I consider it part of the normal life cycle as if let's say I had to change manufacturing to a slightly different material that works the same. If broadcasting the new changes to everyone won't significantly improve sales and maybe even drop them from people whoa re unsure about old vs new (most reviewers don't re review stuff just for small changes so for a consumer it's unknown if it's better or worse) I just keep my mouth shut

second is that a product like 6XX is always selling and production is always behind, to just update something like that as simple as it sounds is a huge risk and while testing can be done in tandem with production you essentially would have to go from small scale tests of maybe a few hundred units to making thousands a month. Every risk is magnified, imagine the damage to the products reputation, and financial damage that could happen if a long term or other defect that didn't come up in testing but started rearing it's ugly head came up. Also as someone who has switched stocks to new items before more than likely Sennheiser has a huge parts stockpile for 6XX as buying in bulk can help save production and shipping costs... but more likely than not it comes down to the ain't broke don't fix it. Sennheiser's main priority is their customer who buys direct, so that is where their attention is, the 6XX is an easy side hustle, no reason to complicate things.

^and yes I know but if they are selling the new revision already as the 650 in bulk then it's safe right? for the amount they are charging for the 650 #1 good to give it a slight edge to make sales #2 any defects or loss of income from unforeseen issues is factored into the price with the 650

to end this rant for me if I was senn. I would keep updating it and when it reaches a high peak stop updating it and keep it behind closed doors, then tune and optimize it even more a few revision and rerelease it with a $50-$100 premium as a new model, new models get a lot more attention, reviews, sales vs updating an old product and having revision buying confusion, discounting older versions, and having customers who bought in the last 3-6 months pissed off they have the "older version"/devalued etc
Click to expand...

I think you’re making a lot of sense here.
 
Feb 27, 2021 at 5:25 AM Post #44,045 of 46,565
Always felt the 650 paired awfully well with green.
5669BBA7-3038-4033-A53F-1ED1FE1C4203.jpeg
 
Feb 28, 2021 at 1:39 PM Post #44,050 of 46,565
Just stopping by to pay periodic respect to my beloved HD650........

Once again, thank you for getting me into this hobby.

The only headphone every audiophile should own at least once throughout their journey.
 
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