[ksorota]

Luckily they still sound fantastic...but yes for the money I wish they had better materials.

If not for getting the 660S at a great deal I would be a little bit disappointed, especially when you can pick up the Focal Elex used for about the same cost as the Senns new.

 

[Mike F]

Luckily they still sound fantastic...but yes for the money I wish they had better materials.

If not for getting the 660S at a great deal I would be a little bit disappointed, especially when you can pick up the Focal Elex used for about the same cost as the Senns new.

Is a matter of interest how much did you pay for yours, and were they made in Romania?

 

[ksorota]

They are from Romania (I assume since they do not say otherwise) and I picked them up as a package deal from Headamp for 250$ along with a second Gilmore Lite MK2.

I had previously owned these which i bought second hand from another member for 260$ so deals are around, just not plentiful yet.

 

[kman1211]

The Ireland made ones had those subtle imperfections/ridges on the headband too. I assume the paint on the HD 600/650 may hide that on those. Maybe the new design solved that as well.

 

[CaptainFantastic]

The Ireland made ones had those imperfections on the headband too.

And I don't see them on my Ireland made HD-600 or my Romania made HD-650. So is it like a "design feature" of the 660s, or just cheaper materials?

 

[tafens]

I’ve just received these - haven’t even plugged them in yet, but I looked at the headband and remembered somebody had said something about this. It could also be my imagination but I see moulding imperfections on the yolk as well (compared to the older 650 600 580 that I have)......

They are the old style but made in Romania. I’ll give them a listen later on.

My HD6XX looks similar, almost seems like the notches for the headband stops sort of “shine” through. Perhaps new molds, new process, or maybe it’s just that the headband isn’t painted like on the HD650/600 of old..?

Anyway, looking very much forward to reading your impressions @Mike F !

 

[Mike F]

The Ireland made ones had those subtle imperfections/ridges on the headband too. I assume the paint on the HD 600/650 may hide that on those. Maybe the new design solved that as well.

Good to know.Thanks to everyone else who’s also chipped in. I’ll listen to them for the first time this evening after the show! Hunchback of Notre Dame, Tampere Finland!

 

[showme99]

"design feature"

 

[Deftone]

My HD6XX looks similar, almost seems like the notches for the headband stops sort of “shine” through. Perhaps new molds, new process, or maybe it’s just that the headband isn’t painted like on the HD650/600 of old..?

Anyway, looking very much forward to reading your impressions @Mike F !

It's because the headband isn't painted.

 

[tafens]

It's because the headband isn't painted.

I thought that might be the case. They’re made in Ireland btw.

 

[Deftone]

I thought that might be the case. They’re made in Ireland btw.

The same is on all the HD6XX dark blue plastic, no matter where they are made.

 

[Mike F]

Well I’ve been listening to my HD660S’s! I’m not gong to write anything about them (sound wise) until I’ve had some more time with them and have had the chance to compare them to the HD650 and HD600 on a good amp or two, but for now I’m wondering about the new styling and move of manufacturer to the new factory in Romania. This is no issue as far as I’m concerned - I’m sure that Sennheiser will make sure that the quality is maintained. It may well be that initially they will be even more careful to make sure that the quality is every bit as good as it was before to avoid any criticism and possible loss of reputation and subsequently sales.

However, it seems somewhat curious, and perhaps even somewhat unlikely, that Sennheiser would move the manufacture of the entire six series line to a new factory and at the same time announce that there would be an updated design, to then commence manufacture with the old design and within a matter of months start manufacturing with the new design. The design change is of course very minor but nonetheless would require new moulds. Why would Sennheiser start production in Romania with the old moulds and then switch within a number of months to the new moulds? It seems more likely to me that all of the headphones that are still coming through the retailers with the old design were manufactured in Ireland, even if it says Romania on the box. It’s entirely possible of course that they were actually manufactured in Romania, but it just seems rather unlikely for the reasons given above.

Anybody have any insight into this? Sennheiser?

 

[ksorota]

Anybody have any insight into this? Sennheiser?

Mike,

Here is a message I received when ordering my new set...

We're getting a new shipment on Wednesday, we had been out of stock. They also made some changes.

Sennheiser would like to inform you that our renowned HD 660S will have some slight design changes to the headband, yoke and deco part to bring the product design to a more modern appearance.

At the same time we will be updating the product packaging to be in line with the design of our other Audiophile products.

To reflect the change to the product and packaging we are creating a new article number, EAN Code and UPC code.

Effective immediately orders will need to be placed using this updated product information.


Model: HD 660S
Article number: 508826
EAN Code: 4044155249569
UPC Code: 615104340503

There will be no changes with regards to the product features, contents of the package or pricing.

and then the follow up...

It looks like I made things more complicated than I needed to be. We received our latest HD660S shipment but they’re unchanged. I reached out to Sennheiser and they actually don’t expect to receive them any time soon and have plenty of the current ones to sell first. Seems like some miscommunication between them and their marketing company. Should I go ahead and send out one from the new shipment or would you rather wait?


So It seems like your assumptions are partially correct and that the new units are coming from Romania with new tooling, and that most current styles that are being sold are basically NOS.

The wrench in the argument is that my set is the old style, but with no markings on the headband that denotes its production locations and a box that states Made in Romania. If it were an old stock unit, wouldn't it still say Made in Ireland on the headband?

 

[Mike F]

Mike,

The wrench in the argument is that my set is the old style, but with no markings on the headband that denotes its production locations and a box that states Made in Romania. If it were an old stock unit, wouldn't it still say Made in Ireland on the headband?
[/COLOR]

Mine are exactly the same. If I remember correctly (and I’m sure some one will correct me if I’m wrong) the made in Ireland stamp is on a removable part of the headband and it would therefore be easy just not to include it - there’s no stamp on the identical piece on the other side (again IIRC) - and then print made in Romania on the box. However it does seem very unlikely that they would have done that in Ireland. I can only assume that it’s possible that Sennheiser shipped the old style parts to Romania where they’ve been assembled and sent out from there whilst the production of the new design was set up. There would bound to be something of an overlap in any case, but why the old design would be coming out of a new factory when the changes were already planned is hard to fathom.

 

[Ichos]

OK a somewhat weird question!
Has anyone the chance to compare this with the Focal Clear?
And i mostly mean at the overall tonality and not absolute technical ability.