[GearMe]

It's a great headphone don't get me wrong but I have learned on the long run to appreciate more tonality and timbre over excess technical superiority , abysmal detail and huge soundstage.

Same here...

 

[donlin]

May I chime in as an x-owner of both 800 and 800S.

Despite the technical superiority of the 800S and it's life like dynamics and great soundstage I ended preferring the 660S because of it's better more natural tonality.
Simply put it instruments timbre and tone are better defined more close to the real thing or if you prefer to a good speaker in a well dampened room.
So the HD660S is more enjoyable on the long run just sounding spot on.

Got tired of exploring gear and paying a lot to fix the HD800S obvious flaw's to learn at the end that well guess , can't be fixed.

The same fate is awaiting the Clear if they don't sound tonally correct right of the bat.

I had the Clear when I got the 660S. Clear is gone, 660S is still here.

 

[rafaelo]

I have been light hearted....and unfaithful...
Been tempted by the devil itself....

I found a very good deal on Focal Clear's pro and I ordered a pair to compare.

Great call. I thought that 660s would be my endgame but after some recent demos on YouTube I changed my mind and I would have go for the Elex instead.

Looking forward to your impressions my friend ...

 

[CaptainFantastic]

Great call. I thought that 660s would be my endgame but after some recent demos on YouTube I changed my mind and I would have go for the Elex instead.

Looking forward to your impressions my friend ...

Watch out, despite the great reviews from some, they are supposed to have a metallic sound at times. I know that that is a deal breaker for me.

 

[donlin]

Watch out, despite the great reviews from some, they are supposed to have a metallic sound at times. I know that that is a deal breaker for me.

Exactly right. If great tone is the priority, Clear may very well be a disappointment.

 

[rafaelo]

Watch out, despite the great reviews from some, they are supposed to have a metallic sound at times. I know that that is a deal breaker for me

Exactly right. If great tone is the priority, Clear may very well be a disappointment

True and I hope you are right since I do not want to spend so much money and I am sennheiser fan boy but I am always refering as a complement to 6XX and 58X which already own. So I need something substantially different.

Also I am super busy with my family listening at most one-two hours per week!!! I can handle an impressive headphone even a fatiguing at that stage in my life. But Elex is super expensive to me and not offered officially in Europe so probably is my excuse not to buying anything...

But I was really impressed with these comparison demos although I also think that HD 6XX was misrepresented a bit with the original cable and not a powerful amp. I am waiting for a direct sound comparison demo between 660s and Elex. Zeos demo for Elex is crap.

 

[Ichos]

I need two tonally correct headphones for reviewing gear and of course for listening to my classical music.

The one is definitely the HD660S.

One contender was the Ananda but although it is more or less tonally correct , and with very good technicalities timbre is off as it is very lean sounding with very fast decay which affects how instruments sound especially higher pitched ones.

Now let's see about the Clear...

 

[Mike F]

True and I hope you are right since I do not want to spend so much money and I am sennheiser fan boy but I am always refering as a complement to 6XX and 58X which already own. So I need something substantially different.

Also I am super busy with my family listening at most one-two hours per week!!! I can handle an impressive headphone even a fatiguing at that stage in my life. But Elex is super expensive to me and not offered officially in Europe so probably is my excuse not to buying anything...

But I was really impressed with these comparison demos although I also think that HD 6XX was misrepresented a bit with the original cable and not a powerful amp. I am waiting for a direct sound comparison demo between 660s and Elex. Zeos demo for Elex is crap.

Do be careful though of a headphone which sounds initially more impressive. Even if you’re not listening for extended periods at the moment, over time you can still become tired of an impressive sounding, but tonally inaccurate headphone. Always fun to try different headphones though!

 

[donlin]

........ Always fun to try different headphones though!

Truer words were never spoken!

 

[CaptainFantastic]

But I was really impressed with these comparison demos although I also think that HD 6XX was misrepresented a bit with the original cable and not a powerful amp. I am waiting for a direct sound comparison demo between 660s and Elex. Zeos demo for Elex is crap.

And don't forget to keep an eye out for biased reviews. The recent reviews that I think you are referring to were done by someone who is sponsored. Their previous review on an item from the same source was also a must-buy review.

 

[Mhog55]

Great call. I thought that 660s would be my endgame but after some recent demos on YouTube I changed my mind and I would have go for the Elex instead.

Looking forward to your impressions my friend ...

Which demos are you referring to - Oluv's Elex demo? If so, I was falling for this headphone right until he played that metal song with the heavy guitar work. Absolutely killed it for me. That metallic sound showed its face. It didn't like that heavy distortion or poorer quality recording whatsoever.

 

[rafaelo]

And don't forget to keep an eye out for biased reviews. The recent reviews that I think you are referring to were done by someone who is sponsored. Their previous review on an item from the same source was also a must-buy review.

Yes I am referring to oluv's reviews. I do not agree always with his opinions I have also 4xx and es100 and there is no way I can make it impressive like Elex. Also I see differences between 58x and 6xx.

A good balanced 30£ cable make my sens to sound so more spicy and I see a huge step up when I use my xCan which I reviewed it in this site. Actually, I discovered that the ifi devices xCan and xdsd are made for the sens they scale them enormously, I am sure more expensive stuff scale them probably even better.

Even the humble 58x is sound bit muddy with my es100 even from balanced but it smokes the 4XX with the xCan in balanced mode.

But I am impressed with his sound demo Elex sounds marvelous, although as I said this reviewer does not scale properly the sens.

Petros you are the man, I am looking for your clear review at the ichos magazine...

As I said I hope the 660s to be the winner I can squeeze the last 300£ out of my pocket but not the 800£..

 

[rafaelo]

Which demos are you referring to - Oluv's Elex demo? If so, I was falling for this headphone right until he played that metal song with the heavy guitar work. Absolutely killed it for me. That metallic sound showed its face. It didn't like that heavy distortion or poorer quality recording whatsoever.

Yes but I am not listening metal at all. For the metal song in this specific comparison the HD6XX performed much better.....

 

[Mhog55]

Yes but I am not listening metal at all. For the metal song the HD6XX much better.....

Yeah, if you're not listening to hard rock and metal, it seems like a really good can. Safe to say though, it's not a complete all rounder. 650 wouldn't be my 1st choice either, but that's a story for another day.

 

[DNS1]

So, i had to order all the latest versions of the Sennheiser HD6 family to know why people are saying different/conflicting opinions about these headphones.
The HD 600 (2019) / HD 650 (2019) / HD 660S (2019) are all arrived already and will be compared against my Neumann KH 310 A studio monitors (maximum FR linearity) in my treated studio after a 25 hours burn in time.
I'll keep the one which I think represents "the sound" best from most perspectives. Pretty interesting experience already, I have to say.