[trellus]

Was the 6XX $300? Does anyone know the margins on these things? Or actually, the manufacturing costs for Sennheiser on each of these units?

Oops, I meant $300 apart, and that only makes my point even better.

Since what I was saying is that it’s entirely possible that there isn’t a “substantial” difference between between the 58X and 660S, given the very wide gap between the 6XX and 660S.

 

[Anarion]

I would hope between a $150 and $500 pair of Sennheiser headphones there would be substantial differences. If not, then the 58X is a substantial value and the 660s is criminally overpriced...

Judgin by the "you saved..." email after joining the drop, HD 58X Jubilee is supposedly a $399 unit. Also the drop price may increase.

 

[Marco99]

Judgin by the "you saved..." email after joining the drop, HD 58X Jubilee is supposedly a $399 unit. Also the drop price may increase.

Do you mean a $399 value? Because it clearly says "With our high volumes and less expensive packaging, we’re able to make this headphone available with a special price on the first drop: $149.99."

 

[Mike F]

Do you mean a $399 value? Because it clearly says "With our high volumes and less expensive packaging, we’re able to make this headphone available with a special price on the first drop: $149.99."

Surely he means value........

I haven't heard heard either the 58X or 660S, but I'm sure in terms if sound quality vs value the law of diminishing returns is, in this case, savage!

 

[Anarion]

Aye, value.

 

[Rob80b]

And the winner is.... : )

 

[trellus]

Spoiler

And the winner is.... : )

I like this guy and his reviews... solid. I'm guessing he picked the 660S since you are posting here?

 

[Rob80b]

I would hope between a $150 and $500 pair of Sennheiser headphones there would be substantial differences. If not, then the 58X is a substantial value and the 660s is criminally overpriced...

Here's a screen capture from 1999...the $349.95 price on the HD600s was general thought to be almost outlandish for most at that time...add 20 years of inflation and for us oldies the HD660S are almost a bargain...but in this day and age if its not almost for free it's too expensive. lol


.....All is relative....diminishing returns are a fact of life in this hobby....just a 2% improvement may see a doubling in price or even a lot more.....unlike when this hobby took off 2 decades ago ( I'm been doing more this twice as long )...today even entry level equipment sounds pretty good. IMHO..but to the untrained ear my $20 APIE K4s iems sound almost as good as my $1000 Sennheiser IE800s and may even be preferred.

 

[Rob80b]

and again....2004
The $650 ($499.95) were on "sale" at $449...so the HD660s in 2018 for the same introductory price sounds reasonable to me. : )

 

[vaibhavp]

Massdrop price vs retail price.

I don't understand the comparison.

When 660s will come to massdrop, it will likely be 299-349 or so. Then it would be possible to compare.

 

[trellus]

Massdrop price vs retail price.

I don't understand the comparison.

When 660s will come to massdrop, it will likely be 299-349 or so. Then it would be possible to compare.

Not to mention I suspect the street price even off of Massdrop will come down at some point after it is no longer such a fresh, new model, just as it did for the HD 650 and HD 600.

 

[Mike F]

and again....2004
The $650 ($499.95) were on "sale" at $449...so the HD660s in 2018 for the same introductory price sounds reasonable to me. : )

Except that when the HD 650 was introduced, and even more so when the HD 600 was introduced, they were arguably the best dynamic headphone in the world, and were are least the best dynamic headphone that Sennheiser had ever made, so they quite rightly had flagship status and pricing. The HD 660 S is neither anything particularly new nor is it a flagship headphone, indeed it comes as one of a number of additions to the 6 hundred range which all sound within a stones throw of each other - not to mention all of the very capable other new headphones on the market at around the same price. Not surprising then that people look at the price of the HD 660 S and 58X and wonder if the HD 660 S is worth the price..........

 

[vaibhavp]

Except that when the HD 650 was introduced, and even more so when the HD 600 was introduced, they were arguably the best dynamic headphone in the world, and were are least the best dynamic headphone that Sennheiser had ever made, so they quite rightly had flagship status and pricing. The HD 660 S is neither anything particularly new nor is it a flagship headphone, indeed it comes as one of a number of additions to the 6 hundred range which all sound within a stones throw of each other - not to mention all of the very capable other new headphones on the market at around the same price. Not surprising then that people look at the price of the HD 660 S and 58X and wonder if the HD 660 S is worth the price..........

Unless you push all the members of hd6xx family to their absolute limits with electronics, it would be hard to tell if they are close or apart as far as resolving ability is concerned.

At this point I would rather do it myself on my system instead of reading impressions elsewhere, even by known reputed sources.

 

[Rob80b]

Except that when the HD 650 was introduced, and even more so when the HD 600 was introduced, they were arguably the best dynamic headphone in the world, and were are least the best dynamic headphone that Sennheiser had ever made, so they quite rightly had flagship status and pricing...........
Not surprising then that people look at the price of the HD 660 S and 58X and wonder if the HD 660 S is worth the price..........

Life is complicated ....lol...and yes the price discrepancy between the 58x and 660S may be questionable.... I do not believe Sennheiser would shoot themselves in the foot and cannot help but feel that until and if ever I get to actually hear the HD58X the buzz created is to sell more headphones...I'm sure the 58X performs fairly well but does it recreate the nuances and subtleties that make a good sounding headphone great when paired with appropriate upstream equipment....is it capable of believable dynamic swings and envelope me in the music and not recreated frequencies, do I get the occasional "I am there moments"..that IMHO is what separates entry level and "audiophile" level equipment... as the goal of the "audiophile" is to try and recreate the actual recorded event at home....yes difficult with headphones but even with my HD700s on my Bryston set-up I got the occasional sense of being in the recording booth that would raise the hairs on the back of my neck but the lower end HD598s on the same equipment could never achieve those levels and I'm sure the HD58xs are probably similar.
This hobby is extremely subjective...so defining the "audiophile objective" almost becomes a redundant issue unless one has a reference hi-fi system, and even still???..today's computer based music systems IMHO with unlimited equalization and tweaking opens up a can of worms where one can tweak to their hearts content and falling down the rabbit hole is inevitable....possible exciting but daunting at the same time.
So relatively speaking are the HD660s priced accordingly and are the very affordable HD58X the cats meow?

Again pricing is all relative and not an indicator of performance nor the cost of manufacturing...without throwing Sennheiser Orpheus into the mix Sennheiser actually IMHO has the most affordable... for TOTL (and we're not talking $500 anymore) by at least a few thousand less...here's another Audioadvisor screen shot ...but from today.

 

[Rob80b]

Unless you push all the members of hd6xx family to their absolute limits with electronics, it would be hard to tell if they are close or apart as far as resolving ability is concerned.

At this point I would rather do it myself on my system instead of reading impressions elsewhere, even by known reputed sources.

Ditto. : )