[phthora]

Reading between the lines on Aornic's review a bit... it seems like the 660S has quite a bit in common with the Elear. Can anyone who's heard both weigh in on that?

 

[Okonkwo]

I've noticed that with tubes using Deoxit helps with some that have a hum or slight channel imbalances and many times the older NOS tubes have some corrosion on the pins so I usually use the Deoxit cleaner (red color) and let it sit for a day, wipe it off and use the preserver (yellow/gold color). Most times I don't see any oxidization but the way I look at it the price of Deoxit is so cheap since a 7.4ml bottle that I got in 2014 doesn't even look like I used any and yes its easy to hear a difference if there was even a little issue with the quality of the electrical connection.

Deoxit does a decent job, but for me the best contact cleaner is a simple 50/50 mixture of Naval Jelly and water. I leave it on for one minute and then rinse with a Q-tip dipped in distilled water. If the goal is to remove oxidation, the phosphoric acid in Naval Jelly will do exactly that, with no additional residue.

 

[SHAMuuu]

To cut a long story short the HD600 wins again. Seems to be a increasingly common consensus for those that have heard all three.

The reason why Sennheiser will keep making it, hopefull,y whilst discontinuing the 650. I'll stick with mine THANKS....Over and out!

dt880/hd600/k701 never seem to die. Probably can round up all 3 for 600 bones

... which is good

 

[L0rdGwyn]

Well thanks for the tips everyone, maybe I'll give the Deoxit a shot, my tubes can use some cleaning as well. Considering another DIY cable, this time with some bulk cable from either Cardas or Moon Audio. Going to reach out to Senn as well, see if they will part with one of those HD6XX cables for a reasonable price.

All this talk of the 600 besting the 660S has got me curious. Never owned the 600, went right to the 650. I live in an audio store wasteland, but thinking I'm going to get my hands on a pair somehow for a side-by-side with the 660S, winner takes all (of my head-space )

 

[DavidA]

Well thanks for the tips everyone, maybe I'll give the Deoxit a shot, my tubes can use some cleaning as well. Considering another DIY cable, this time with some bulk cable from either Cardas or Moon Audio. Going to reach out to Senn as well, see if they will part with one of those HD6XX cables for a reasonable price.

All this talk of the 600 besting the 660S has got me curious. Never owned the 600, went right to the 650. I live in an audio store wasteland, but thinking I'm going to get my hands on a pair somehow for a side-by-side with the 660S, winner takes all (of my head-space )

After owning both the HD650 and HD600, HD600 got sold and was easily replaced by a custom Ypsilon driver build that ended up also replacing the HD650, but I still have my HD650 since it was one of the first "better" headphones I got. I'm a little disappointed with most of the reviews since I was hoping the HD660S would take on more of the characteristics of the HD700 which I like better than the HD600 and HD650 but I'll be modding my HD6XX when it gets here so. One thing I like about the HD660S is the new look over the HD600 which looks like cheap imitation marble to the slightly drab HD650 grey.

 

[zazex]

To cut a long story short the HD600 wins again. Seems to be a increasingly common consensus for those that have heard all three.

The reason why Sennheiser will keep making it, hopefull,y whilst discontinuing the 650. I'll stick with mine THANKS....Over and out!

I very much like the 600's - had the 650's about a year ago and I just didn't like them very much. It' seemed they had no "life" to them, no vibrancy...
Even tried them with a few different cables and a few different amps, but sold them after 3 months or so.

The 660S intrigues me mostly because there have been a good number of very positive reviews.

Still, I have no sense if I'll like them more than the 600's. If I do, I'll keep them of course.
And if I don't, I have no issues about returning them.

Should have them this week, and FWIW I'll post my thoughts about them here,
as I'll have heard the three.

 

[Sigmaaa]

Well, it's a matter of preference. The HD660s seem to be harsher because of the detailed sound, while the HD650 is more veiled and softer. The HD600 seems to be somewhere in the middle, closer to the HD650, but with more highs and less bass. Ideal it would be to have both the hd660s and the hd650. I myself like the smooth presentation of the hd650, but I'm aware that there is a loss of detail. It's a matter of how much do you appreciate every bit of detail being pushed into your face in this comparison.
They both have positives and negatives, one has the smoothness, softness, forgiveness of bad recodings/weakness of impact and loss of some detail, while the other has the impact, detail, sparkle/fatiguing sound, compression feeling. It's inevitable, everything comes with disadvantages. You cannot expect to buy a Ferrari, for example, then to be disappointed that it doesn't float through the potholes in the road like a Rolls Royce.

About the bass, if it's the same driver as the HD700, I remember the HD700 bass as being impactful but not to my liking, it sounded like an empty barrel to me, the hitting was too sharp, I wanted something a bit more wolly in the bass, like the HD650.

 

[amnesiac75]

I found some of comparisons aornic made between the 660s and the 600/650 similar to my experience when comparing the hd700 to the 600/650 I always thought the hd700 sounded better than both when listening to some music but in the end I sold the 650/700 as I found myself only ever wanting to use the hd600's. All that being said I'm sure I will end up buying the 660s at some point since owning and using them for awhile is the only way I'll know for sure.

 

[psikey]

http://aornic.com/reviews/2017/11/5/sennheiser-hd660s

Aornic review is up.

Ref: "it has issues with being shouty, it is still veiled" ................. Not my experience with them.

 

[Jon Sonne]

Reading between the lines on Aornic's review a bit... it seems like the 660S has quite a bit in common with the Elear. Can anyone who's heard both weigh in on that?

Hey Phthora, please see my previous comment in this thread about the 660S and the Elear. I also found them quite similar, with few but noticeable differences.

 

[pietcux]

Is the amp that the reviewer uses a tube amp?

 

[Pedro Oliveira]

http://aornic.com/reviews/2017/11/5/sennheiser-hd660s

Aornic review is up.

Finally someone that cuts off the BS terms and simply says "this headphone has more/less bass or impact than the other...".

My bass doubts among the there are answered with this review.... Now the treble scares me... To me the hd600 is already pretty dynamic and there is a peak that bothers me ay times só i AM affraid it may be a bit too much....

I just found one thing confusing.... He days the hd660 as more bass body and impacto than the other but at the same time sounds leaner.... That seems weird....

 

[Jon Sonne]

Made an interesting discovery today...

I had previously made a custom cable for my HD650s (5 ft long, 26 AWG OCC coper, Oyaide rhodium-plated connectors) and I was using it with my HD660S given that the 9 ft cable is so unwieldy. I noticed there was a significant difference in sound quality between my cable and the stock Sennheiser cable. Now, I am not one to argue that cables make a huge difference in sound quality, I've thought quite the opposite in the past, but this was a HUGE difference in soundstage, detail, and clarity. I thought, well since my cable is 26 AWG, maybe the HD660S is very sensitive to changes in cable resistance. So, I made a makeshift cable with some 24 AWG OCC wire I had lying around. While the 24 AWG cable was an improvement, the stock Sennheiser cable was still clearly better. I can't imagine that Sennheiser uses larger than 24 AWG wire for the cable, that is plenty for any headphone, so there is some other Deutsche trickery at work here...

TBH I am shocked, like I said, never was one to argue that cables significantly alter sound quality, but the difference here is undeniable. Unfortunately, this means I am stuck with a 9 ft cable until I can find something that sounds as good lol

Your findings are quite interesting! What amp did you use? If the HA-2SE has enough power to drive the HD660S, could you please try and repeat the cable comparison with this amp?

 

[Jon Sonne]

I just found one thing confusing.... He days the hd660 as more bass body and impacto than the other but at the same time sounds leaner.... That seems weird....

My guess is that he meant that due to the faster decay of the 660S, it sounds leaner in comparison to 600 and 650, but impact wise, the 660S is stronger. Bass bloat on the 650 can make them seem less "lean", while still having poorer impact.

 

[Jon Sonne]

Is the amp that the reviewer uses a tube amp?

Yep, its the Dragon Inspire IHA-1. All of these comments about cables affecting the sound of the HD 660S and often less positive reviews coming from people who use tube amps with high output impedance has got me wondering if the HD 660S relies more on electrical dampening than its older siblings. Poor dampening could explain why some find its mids shouty. In my experience, using amps that provide high electrical dampening, the HD 660S is quite a smooth and detailed headphone, definitely not a shouty phone!