[donlin]

Has anyone ever made a comparison between the 660s and Mr. Speaker Aeon open. I just picked up my first Sennheiser headphone today (598 CS) to get by until I narrow down my quest.

Yes, I had the Aeon Flow Open for a while but did not care for the sound so returned it. Extremely warm bass but with sizzly treble.

 

[OrganMonster]

Yes, I had the Aeon Flow Open for a while but did not care for the sound so returned it. Extremely warm bass but with sizzly treble.

Sorry to hear that, which is not exactly what I was hoping for. I like calmed down treble and tight but accurate bass. I guess I will start looking elsewhere.

 

[treebug]

One of my favourite albums of all time sounding exceptional with 660S.

Tool album 'Fear Inoculum' sounds amazing too, especially the track 'Chocolate Chip Trip'!

 

[Mike F]

The HD 660S was originally made in Ireland. It was released about a year and a half before this update. I think they shipped the mold to Romania for a few runs before retiring it.

Did you get to hear yours yet?

That’s what I wondering about. I don’t know what the moulds and other manufacturing machinery for the six series would look like or how big or and heavy they might be, but it just seems very unlikely to me that Sennheiser would actually move manufacturing machinery from one overseas country to another to a new factory when they were already intending to set up a new manufacturing process for a new design in the new location. I suppose it’s entirely possible though..... It’s not really a big issue, I’m just interested in the issue of how manufacturers define ‘made in’.

I’ve listened to the HD 660 S from my iPhone and it sounds reasonably good. I’m not going to make any judgements about the sound though until I’ve heard it on a good amp and compared it to the HD 650.

 

[CaptainFantastic]

That’s what I wondering about. I don’t know what the moulds and other manufacturing machinery for the six series would look like or how big or and heavy they might be, but it just seems very unlikely to me that Sennheiser would actually move manufacturing machinery from one overseas country to another to a new factory when they were already intending to set up a new manufacturing process for a new design in the new location. I suppose it’s entirely possible though..... It’s not really a big issue, I’m just interested in the issue of how manufacturers define ‘made in’.

I’ve listened to the HD 660 S from my iPhone and it sounds reasonably good. I’m not going to make any judgements about the sound though until I’ve heard it on a good amp and compared it to the HD 650.

I would imagine that the mould part, even if multiple ones, is only a very small component of the overall manufacturing equipment.

 

[flyer1]

That’s what I wondering about. I don’t know what the moulds and other manufacturing machinery for the six series would look like or how big or and heavy they might be, but it just seems very unlikely to me that Sennheiser would actually move manufacturing machinery from one overseas country to another to a new factory when they were already intending to set up a new manufacturing process for a new design in the new location. I suppose it’s entirely possible though..... It’s not really a big issue, I’m just interested in the issue of how manufacturers define ‘made in’.

I’ve listened to the HD 660 S from my iPhone and it sounds reasonably good. I’m not going to make any judgements about the sound though until I’ve heard it on a good amp and compared it to the HD 650.

Good way to compare and assure the new factory's output quality to the old one.

Romania's old style hd660s output performance probably therefore probably got even extra attention in the quality dept before starting up of the new production cycle.

 

[Mike F]

Good way to compare and assure the new factory's output quality to the old one.

Romania's old style hd660s output performance probably therefore probably got even extra attention in the quality dept before starting up of the new production cycle.

That thought had occurred to me!

 

[Evshrug]

Good way to compare and assure the new factory's output quality to the old one.

Romania's old style hd660s output performance probably therefore probably got even extra attention in the quality dept before starting up of the new production cycle.

I’m not a manufacturing manager, but I don’t see why the age of the mold would affect the attention given. You squirt the right resins and plastics into a machine, and you see what parts come out from that. If the molds were getting older, there would probably be an increasing number of failed castings where the resultant parts would be not up to standard and need to be thrown out. New or old molds, the process for checking QC tolerances should be the same. Sometimes manufacturing is just a process... I would think the complexity of the design would have more of a bearing on final quality than what coordinates it was assembled at.

Just some breakfast thinking on my part.

 

[Evshrug]

One of my favourite albums of all time sounding exceptional with 660S.

Banana Slug!
I checked Tidal, they only have the live version of this album
Edit: It’s on Spotify though! Let’s give it a jam session! Ooh the drum work on this opening track is getting me excited!

 

[donlin]

I’m not a manufacturing manager, but I don’t see why the age of the mold would affect the attention given. You squirt the right resins and plastics into a machine, and you see what parts come out from that. If the molds were getting older, there would probably be an increasing number of failed castings where the resultant parts would be not up to standard and need to be thrown out. New or old molds, the process for checking QC tolerances should be the same. Sometimes manufacturing is just a process... I would think the complexity of the design would have more of a bearing on final quality than what coordinates it was assembled at.

Just some breakfast thinking on my part.

Steve Guttenberg recently did a tour of Grado Labs on his vlog and they use the same injection molding machine for phono cartridge parts that they used in the ‘50’s.

 

[Evshrug]

Steve Guttenberg recently did a tour of Grado Labs on his vlog and they use the same injection molding machine for phono cartridge parts that they used in the ‘50’s.

Very cool! I love those types of videos. No offense to Grado, but I doubt they’ve made as many phono cartridges as Sennheiser has made HD 6-- series headphones. I heard it from Ronja Harste herself (Axel Grell’s successor) that it was time for a new mold anyway, and they decided to go for the new look.

 

[OrganMonster]

Help, Help
oh Sennheiser experts.

I just purchased the Sennheiser HD598 CS for electronic church organ concert setup and practice. It turns out that the 23 ohm impedance (23 ohms) is too low and the headphones are too loud.

I also found out that having open headphones will not be a problem so the sky is the limit. What would you all suggest between the Sennheiser 600 or the 660s. I need something greater than 85 ohms or greater. The budget is no problem. Comfort is higher priority over sound at this point.

 

[pietcux]

Help, Help
oh Sennheiser experts.

I just purchased the Sennheiser HD598 CS for electronic church organ concert setup and practice. It turns out that the 23 ohm impedance (23 ohms) is too low and the headphones are too loud.

I also found out that having open headphones will not be a problem so the sky is the limit. What would you all suggest between the Sennheiser 600 or the 660s. I need something greater than 85 ohms or greater. The budget is no problem. Comfort is higher priority over sound at this point.

Comfort wise all HD600/650/660S are identical. And sound wise the are pretty close. If the openness is not a problem, you can take any of them. I myself prefer the HD660S.

 

[Mike F]

I’m not a manufacturing manager, but I don’t see why the age of the mold would affect the attention given. You squirt the right resins and plastics into a machine, and you see what parts come out from that. If the molds were getting older, there would probably be an increasing number of failed castings where the resultant parts would be not up to standard and need to be thrown out. New or old molds, the process for checking QC tolerances should be the same. Sometimes manufacturing is just a process... I would think the complexity of the design would have more of a bearing on final quality than what coordinates it was assembled at.

Just some breakfast thinking on my part.

I think that flyer1 just meant that the relatively few old style HD 660 S that were produced at the Romania factory would be at least up to the quality of the ones that were made in Ireland and possibly better, simply because Sennheiser would want to make sure that production from the new factory was really up to spec, so if anything Sennheiser would have been extra vigilant about quality control.

But I agree that moulds are moulds, and if they were indeed made from the moulds which were brought from Ireland (as opposed to new moulds that were made for Romania which seems unlikely for such a relatively small production run) then they should/would be identical. Alternatively if Sennheiser did indeed make new old style moulds for the first run of HD 660 S that were produced in Romania, then they should also in that case potentially be better. I personally think that that scenario is very unlikely though. More likely than that in my opinion would be that Sennheiser shipped the last HD 660 S’s produced in Ireland as parts which were then assembled in Romania, but, although I would be interested in how the transition occurred it’s actually a moot point because I’m sure there is no discernible difference in quality between any of them.

I’m travelling home today and will be able to compare the HD 660 S with the HD 650 over the next few days on familiar equipment with well known music. It may take me a few days to formulate my thoughts but I will give some feedback on the sound quality at some point. I will also be deciding whether to keep them or not!

 

[Mike F]

Steve Guttenberg recently did a tour of Grado Labs on his vlog and they use the same injection molding machine for phono cartridge parts that they used in the ‘50’s.

Yes exactly, I see no reason to think that the moulds for the plastic parts for the 6 series wore out in any way. I just think that Sennheiser understandably thought that it was time for a facelift.