[amartignano]

But the headphone with the reused driver from the failed HD700 is still the better choice for me. M

Poor Hd700 I'm very happy I've purchased them, before they go out of the market by popular demand
Oh, by the way, I think Hd700 drivers are very good ones. Used in the hd600 series frame like in the Hd660S...: I think I've never heard an headphone so accurate in harmonics and timbre in the rendition of triangles, cymbals and company. Present, harmonically complete, but never harsh, just natural. And this in an overall very natural and "warm" sound signature. Overall for me timbrically it's an excellent headphone. Quite an achievement in my humble opinion.

 

[donlin]

Poor Hd700 I'm very happy I've purchased them, before they go out of the market by popular demand
Oh, by the way, I think Hd700 drivers are very good ones. Used in the hd600 series frame like in the Hd660S...: I think I've never heard an headphone so accurate in harmonics and timbre in the rendition of triangles, cymbals and company. Present, harmonically complete, but never harsh, just natural. And this in an overall very natural and "warm" sound signature. Overall for me timbrically it's an excellent headphone. Quite an achievement in my humble opinion.

Very well said. The harmonics and timbre of the 660s are amazingly natural.

 

[kman1211]

Poor Hd700 I'm very happy I've purchased them, before they go out of the market by popular demand
Oh, by the way, I think Hd700 drivers are very good ones. Used in the hd600 series frame like in the Hd660S...: I think I've never heard an headphone so accurate in harmonics and timbre in the rendition of triangles, cymbals and company. Present, harmonically complete, but never harsh, just natural. And this in an overall very natural and "warm" sound signature. Overall for me timbrically it's an excellent headphone. Quite an achievement in my humble opinion.

The HD 700 drivers are good. Honestly I have to agree, the HD 660 S has the best timbre of the HD 6xx family to my ears. It’s what prevents me from growing bored of them with long term use like I did with the HD 600/650.

 

[kman1211]

the HD600 series can get pretty close to the HD800 on a good rig. Yes it’s obviously expensive but the point is these headphones just keep scaling which the HD700 drivers in the HD660S don’t do. Even on a Vali 2 and Modi M rig the HD650 performed better than the 660S. I find the HD660S to really not improve in any area minus maybe a tiny bit cleaner sounding on budget gear. They still obviously have issues with poor bass texture and lack of overall clarity compared to say the HD800 and others that prevents them being seen in that category but when it comes to finer details, overall resolution the 600 series is a top headphone on a good rig. A HD650 on something like a DNA Sonnet 2 would be an eye opener for many on what those 600 series drivers are capable of. Why Sennheiser reused drivers from a failed headphone is beyond me they could’ve made a new driver to continue an already great line.

I never personally found that the case, I've heard the HD 650 numerous times on some rather insane gear, it does scale very nicely just never really found it to get that high. I thought the HD 660 S sounded better on the Vali 2/Modi Multibit rig than the HD 650 personally. But I guess we can agree to disagree with that. What I do agree with is that it isn't quite enough as an successor to the HD 6xx family, while I like the HD 660 S more than the HD 600 and HD 650, it wasn't as much as it could be. I thought Beyer did a better job improving the Teslas with the Amiron and DT 1990 where most seem to agree they are better than their predecessors. It's not like the HD 660 S compared to the HD 600 and HD 650 where opinions are strongly divided.

I'll spend more time with the HD 660S and HD 600/650 on top of the line gear in the future and see if my opinion changes any. First listen of the HD 660S, I liked the HD 650 more. Further listens I grew to like the HD 660 S more. Sorry if I came off as a bit too bullheaded to anyone in this thread.

 

[pietcux]

I never personally found that the case, I've heard the HD 650 numerous times on some rather insane gear, it does scale very nicely just never really found it to get that high. I thought the HD 660 S sounded better on the Vali 2/Modi Multibit rig than the HD 650 personally. But I guess we can agree to disagree with that. What I do agree with is that it isn't quite enough as an successor to the HD 6xx family, while I like the HD 660 S more than the HD 600 and HD 650, it wasn't as much as it could be. I thought Beyer did a better job improving the Teslas with the Amiron and DT 1990 where most seem to agree they are better than their predecessors. It's not like the HD 660 S compared to the HD 600 and HD 650 where opinions are strongly divided.

I'll spend more time with the HD 660S and HD 600/650 on top of the line gear in the future and see if my opinion changes any. First listen of the HD 660S, I liked the HD 650 more. Further listens I grew to like the HD 660 S more. Sorry if I came off as a bit too bullheaded to anyone in this thread.

I mean given the problematic (to a lot of peaple, not all)treble on the old Beyers, they had simply to do more on changing the frequency response than Sennheiser with the HDsixhundred line. They took a modern driver and tried to remain within the widely accepted soundrepresentation of the old ones. On IFA 2015 I could talk to the developer of the new T1/2 and to the guy behind the DT1770 and the Custom ONE series. They said that they could work on a smoother sound only because had a generation change in engineering at Beyerdynamic.

 

[kman1211]

I mean given the problematic (to a lot of peaple, not all)treble on the old Beyers, they had simply to do more on changing the frequency response than Sennheiser with the HDsixhundred line. They took a modern driver and tried to remain within the widely accepted soundrepresentation of the old ones. On IFA 2015 I could talk to the developer of the new T1/2 and to the guy behind the DT1770 and the Custom ONE series. They said that they could work on a smoother sound only because had a generation change in engineering at Beyerdynamic.

That is true they had more wiggle room with the FR response, though the biggest difference imho between the older Tesla’s and newer Tesla’s is more related to their modal behavior and the new ones change notably on this and is why they sound more natural and you get a better connection to the music so to speak with them. Well the HD 660 S and HD 600/650 show a similar difference in modal behavior, while they kept FR response mostly the same unlike Beyer, the modal differences make them distinctly different sounding headphones.

 

[psikey]

Well still loving my HD660S with Dragonfly Red via laptop with Tidal Masters or connected to my DFR/phone. Plenty of power.

 

[gefski]

I thought Beyer did a better job improving the Teslas with the Amiron and DT 1990 where most seem to agree they are better than their predecessors. It's not like the HD 660 S compared to the HD 600 and HD 650 where opinions are strongly divided.

I'll spend more time with the HD 660S and HD 600/650 on top of the line gear in the future and see if my opinion changes any. First listen of the HD 660S, I liked the HD 650 more. Further listens I grew to like the HD 660 S more. Sorry if I came off as a bit too bullheaded to anyone in this thread.

Useful comments to me since I'm looking to add a can to my "mid-fi trio" and have no predisposed loyalty to Senn, Beyer, or AKG.

 

[Bengkia369]

Sennhesiser HD660S sounds great on Phatlab Phantasy class A portable tube amp!

 

[WNBC]

Have been enjoying the 660 on an old, newly acquired Mapletree Audio Ear+ Purist tube amp. Waiting on my Spring DAC to really see what these headphones can resolve though the iFi iDSD BL is no slouch. Have a HD6XX and Amiron Home coming by the end of the week. Probably won't keep all of them, maybe 1 or 2. I am excited to hear the HD6XX again, it's been several years since I've listened to the "newer silver driver" HD650. Like many others, my first real headphone was the original HD650. Will be fun to compare the three.

 

[Caruryn]

Hi fi Choice February has a review and HD 660 S gets a recommended award and like most of us here found there is no harshness/edginess to instruments/vocals although the tone is certainly brighter than HD650.Myself and few others here tried to set things straight here the moment we got the can and run it a couple hundred hours but just goes to show what one negative opinion from a reputable reviewer can do who claims to hear above 19khz at 70.

Hopefully by summer we will reach 200 pages and have more opinions and especially synergy comparisons with desktop gear which is severely lacking.

 

[pietcux]

Hi fi Choice February has a review and HD 660 S gets a recommended award and like most of us here found there is no harshness/edginess to instruments/vocals although the tone is certainly brighter than HD650.Myself and few others here tried to set things straight here the moment we got the can and run it a couple hundred hours but just goes to show what one negative opinion from a reputable reviewer can do who claims to hear above 19khz at 70.

Hopefully by summer we will reach 200 pages and have more opinions and especially synergy comparisons with desktop gear which is severely lacking.

I am 57, but on 15khz I don't hear more than a faint small memory of a beep. Above that I hear nothing. At 20, I could hear up to 18Khz. I had a vinyl test record that time.

 

[donlin]

Hi fi Choice February has a review and HD 660 S gets a recommended award and like most of us here found there is no harshness/edginess to instruments/vocals although the tone is certainly brighter than HD650.Myself and few others here tried to set things straight here the moment we got the can and run it a couple hundred hours but just goes to show what one negative opinion from a reputable reviewer can do who claims to hear above 19khz at 70.

Hopefully by summer we will reach 200 pages and have more opinions and especially synergy comparisons with desktop gear which is severely lacking.

Glad to hear that another positive review came out. Although the 660s isn't the most technically advanced headphone around, there is something so right about the tonal balance and perspective, not too close not too distant. It's really enjoyable and involving.

 

[psikey]

I know many scoff at Sennheiser's claim that the HD660S works great with mobile devices (so phones/DAPS), and I normally listen via my DFR but I've recently been doing a lot of back to back listening tests straight out of my 128GB iPhone SE and for most music it drives the HD660S really good but obviously near max volume setting.

With DFR via PC 50% volume is plenty high enough to drive the HD660S really loud and with DFR connected to Android or iPhone 70% is more than enough. Out of S7 volume can't go high enough but does with iPhone SE except with certain classical tracks.

I'm finding them as good as my Shure SE846's too be honest which for me are still one of the best IEM's ever. The HD660S do obviously live at home where the SE846's go everywhere with me.

 

[pietcux]

I know many scoff at Sennheiser's claim that the HD660S works great with mobile devices (so phones/DAPS), and I normally listen via my DFR but I've recently been doing a lot of back to back listening tests straight out of my 128GB iPhone SE and for most music it drives the HD660S really good but obviously near max volume setting.

With DFR via PC 50% volume is plenty high enough to drive the HD660S really loud and with DFR connected to Android or iPhone 70% is more than enough. Out of S7 volume can't go high enough but does with iPhone SE except with certain classical tracks.

From the Sony WM1A on 65% unbalanced and 40% balanced. Both on high gain.