[Tripokaridos]

Felt the same way. The 600 had this incredible ease to it, though I found myself enjoying more jazz with the 660s.
Timbre for days.

Iirc, you like metal as well (remember the lz-a4 days? ). Master of Puppets never sounded this good!

Master of Puppets .... And Fade to black sounds soooo soooo better on 660S its like i can hear the fingers touching the guitar.

 

[Tripokaridos]

I bought a professional cloth from Visaton it was easy from my country. Cut it and replace the foam.
Is it me or this original foam inside the headphone dampening the sound ? Same happen with 6XX . Strange....

 

[Asspirin]

Iirc, you like metal as well (remember the lz-a4 days? ). Master of Puppets never sounded this good!

You have a good memory! fun fact: I was writing my assessment while listening to "...And Justice for all", which is still one of my benchmarks (esp. the cymbals in the beginning). Another album that sounds really really good with the 660S is Alcest's "Spiritual Instinct"

 

[Tripokaridos]

You have a good memory! fun fact: I was writing my assessment while listening to "...And Justice for all", which is still one of my benchmarks (esp. the cymbals in the beginning). Another album that sounds really really good with the 660S is Alcest's "Spiritual Instinct"

Try Iced Earth - I died for you ..... Its not famous but its amazing song

 

[Deftone]

Check out Havok - Conformicide

 

[kman1211]

I bought a professional cloth from Visaton it was easy from my country. Cut it and replace the foam.
Is it me or this original foam inside the headphone dampening the sound ? Same happen with 6XX . Strange....

Not really strange, quite normal for driver cover foam to dampen the sound. I found the Sennheiser foam to dampen the sound more than say Beyer or AKG foam. The foam covering the driver is a notable part of the HD 6xx’s tuning. I’ve done a lot of modding with a lot of headphones and have modded the HD 6xx line a good amount. The Senns are well damped and tuned headphones with good drivers.

 

[pietcux]

I bought a professional cloth from Visaton it was easy from my country. Cut it and replace the foam.
Is it me or this original foam inside the headphone dampening the sound ? Same happen with 6XX . Strange....

Sure Sennheiser choose the foam pad to help to create their house sound. If you change it you alter the headphones sound. I absolutely like their house sound, so I see no rational to change this foam to something different.

 

[Asspirin]

I bought a professional cloth from Visaton it was easy from my country. Cut it and replace the foam.
Is it me or this original foam inside the headphone dampening the sound ? Same happen with 6XX . Strange....

Sennheiser use basically everything that happens in or around the earcups to tune the headphones. Earpads, foam padding, suspension, grilles... Everything influences the sound a little. That's why the 600 series is so popular with modders.

 

[Tripokaridos]

Not really strange, quite normal for driver cover foam to dampen the sound. I found the Sennheiser foam to dampen the sound more than say Beyer or AKG foam. The foam covering the driver is a notable part of the HD 6xx’s tuning. I’ve done a lot of modding with a lot of headphones and have modded the HD 6xx line a good amount. The Senns are well damped and tuned headphones with good drivers.

I can hear the without the foam more highs and I expected that , but why I can hear more mid and high end bass ??? I thought Foam change the upper treble only .

 

[kman1211]

I can hear the without the foam more highs and I expected that , but why I can hear more mid and high end bass ??? I thought Foam change the upper treble only .

It doesn't just affect the highs but rather the whole sound spectrum; bass, mids, treble, dynamics, tone, etc. will all be altered.

 

[Tripokaridos]

It doesn't just affect the highs but rather the whole sound spectrum; bass, mids, treble, dynamics, tone, etc. will all be altered.

I didnt know that... thanks for this info.

 

[kman1211]

I didnt know that... thanks for this info.

No problem, basically the more damping you put over the driver, the more it smooths out the FR response but it can come at the cost of dynamics, clarity, etc. It's finding the right balance that is the challenge. Also putting extra foam tends to bring the sound closer to your ears which can serve to fill out the midrange. I find that when you change one part of the headphone such as the pads you often have to alter something else to make it sound right. If you ever change the pads on the HD 600 line to aftermarket pads you may want to alter the foam/cloth covering the front of the driver some, etc.

 

[Asspirin]

Dampening material doesn't necessarily "swallow" the high frequencies. In fact, that stuff is used for a variety of things, for example elimination of standing waves or absorbing reflections. At least that's what I remember from my diy-speaker-days. So in theory, a layer of cloth in front of a headphone driver could even make it sound more detailed. At least as far as I understood. Correct me if I'm wrong, I suck at physics.

 

[kman1211]

Dampening material doesn't necessarily "swallow" the high frequencies. In fact, that stuff is used for a variety of things, for example elimination of standing waves or absorbing reflections. At least that's what I remember from my diy-speaker-days. So in theory, a layer of cloth in front of a headphone driver could even make it sound more detailed. At least as far as I understood. Correct me if I'm wrong, I suck at physics.

That is true it doesn't, it has a myriad of uses and it can be heavily influenced by other factors and the materials used. I found often really changes how the energy is dispersed sometimes and heavily depends on where the damping is located. It's really all about finding the right amount; too much, too little, the wrong type, etc. of damping can really alter the sound for the worse. Absorbing reflections, etc. is the main use of damping on some closed-back headphones I modded. Would be curious how the HD 660 S would respond to modding, how the driver is designed does make some of the mods more difficult than the rest of the HD 600 line, but I'm sure someone will do something interesting with the headphone in the future.

 

[Outaphase]

So is the grainy-treble that Tyll remarks upon in his review have anything to do with group-delay?

When you look at his charts, it seems he only shows one ear, but on rtings charts, where you see both ears, you see the initial impulse going in opposite directions. While this is below the level of hearing, it makes me wonder if this is *indicative* of something else going on that may be part of the grain.

Here is a graph of both. Note the 660s has the larger response. Play - look at most other models - the group delay tracks for the most part - but not in the 240's, or the 660s!

https://www.rtings.com/headphones/1-4/graph#816/4014/387

So, what's another headphone that has a "grain" to it? The venerable AKG K240. And possibly now the K812. If you look on the rtings charts showing group delay for *both* ears, you see a similar pattern on the leading edge of the impulse. Other headphones don't seem to have this initial opposition in group delay - at least as I see it on the rtings charts.

So - at least on the K240, I believe - but cannot prove - is that this is done on purpose to soften the leading edge of metallic strikes, like removing the "strike" of instruments like cymbals, triangles, cowbells, and such, yet still allowing the instrument to ring. Or at the worst, if editing movie scenes with gunshots in them, preserving your hearing.

If anyone is hearing that on the 660s (missing percussion stick strikes, yet the cymbals still ring), then that is precisely why I am asking - it would seem that the 660s would make a FINE set of STUDIO cans that protects the worker's hearing, albeit at the cost of some grain, and slight loss of absolute audiophile fidelity.

Am I on to something, or am I totally full of it?