[rafaelo]

These might be picked up by drop eventually.

Also as long as Sennheiser provides the replacement parts (the capsules Which are almost double price than the 600/650) one can always maintain this headphone for ever.

I am also sad to see a 6 series headphone to be discontinued. This should never allowed to happen.

 

[D00M]

I'm sad Sennheiser is replacing these with the S2!

Is there confirmation S1 will be discontinued? That is the natural product cycle, to discontinue previous model when new model came out, but I haven't heard confirmation.

When HD660S came out, there was discussion that this will replace HD650. But HD650 (in additional to HD6XX) are still being sold. I believe 660S came out in 2017; so 5-6 years ago. I assume it is not just selling out old stock. Unless they have tons of surplus, old stock won't last 5 years. I suspect they are still producing HD650.

 

[CaptainFantastic]

@JimmyK Yes, I believe @ericpalonen said much earlier above that the 660S will be discontinued and the 600 and 650 live on.

EDIT: sorry, not above but in the 660S2 thread.

 

[NotJeffBuckley]

Sennheiser reps in the S2 thread said the 650/600 are not being discontinued, but they offered no such assurances about the 660S. The S2 is intended to be its replacement. Which I think is a shame, as from what I can tell from the S2 thread where Senn reps gave us a lot of info, the 660S is the "ultimate" form of the SYS40 driver that was originally used in the HD-700 but they went with the big change to the enclosure at the same time that had a lot to do with its unusual tuning. The SYS40 had been originally conceived as a driver for the same kind of frame as the HD-600/650, so with the 660S there it is in its proper context "finally" but now they're moving right along. Of course they say that the driver in the S2, in addition to being considerably more expensive to make, is just superior - and maybe it is, but it's different too, and the same talk did not discourage lovers of the HD-600/650 to this day

 

[D00M]

I'm sure Sennheiser will make the decision based on business, not what audiophiles or enthusiasts desire.

If there is high demand for S1 vs S2, and the margin on S1 is good, then S1 might continue.

On the other hand, if S1 is discontinued, what will happen to the future potential buyers of S1.

• If future S1 buyers will go for S2, then that is a plus for Sennheiser, getting consumers to upscale to more expensive S2. Then for sure they will discontinue S1.
• If future S1 buyers will get HD600, then it depends on product margin and operation efficiency.
  • I would think HD600 has higher margin than HD660S, just because it has been around for 20+ years and the supply chain or manufacturing is optimized over these years. If true, then keep HD600 and kill S1.
  • Even if margin is same, there is still reason to kill S1, to reduce # of SKUs and simplify inventory management.
• If future S1 buyers will move to other brands (e.g. Hifiman), then that is a reason to keep S1.

 

[pk4425]

Maybe the original 660s will be like the "discontinued" Focal Elegia, of which Adorama seems to have a ceaseless inventory even when selling at one-third of the original MSRP.

 

[Dust by Monday]

I don't know what's going on here.

I just plugged my 660s into my Mac and my 6XX into my iPhone and matched the volume as closely as I could hear.

Switching back and forth between the 2 headphones as quickly as I can and I can't detect any differences in clarity, or bass, or instrument separation, imaging or anything. What the heck is going on? I tried as hard as I could to detect a difference and it seemed like I was just putting the same headphone on over and over again.

I'm so confused.

 

[Dust by Monday]

I'm sure Sennheiser will make the decision based on business, not what audiophiles or enthusiasts desire.

If there is high demand for S1 vs S2, and the margin on S1 is good, then S1 might continue.

On the other hand, if S1 is discontinued, what will happen to the future potential buyers of S1.

• If future S1 buyers will go for S2, then that is a plus for Sennheiser, getting consumers to upscale to more expensive S2. Then for sure they will discontinue S1.
• If future S1 buyers will get HD600, then it depends on product margin and operation efficiency.
  • I would think HD600 has higher margin than HD660S, just because it has been around for 20+ years and the supply chain or manufacturing is optimized over these years. If true, then keep HD600 and kill S1.
  • Even if margin is same, there is still reason to kill S1, to reduce # of SKUs and simplify inventory management.
• If future S1 buyers will move to other brands (e.g. Hifiman), then that is a reason to keep S1.

Do you think the 660s1 will be sought after when they're officially sold out everywhere?

 

[IXOYE]

I don't know what's going on here.

I just plugged my 660s into my Mac and my 6XX into my iPhone and matched the volume as closely as I could hear.

Switching back and forth between the 2 headphones as quickly as I can and I can't detect any differences in clarity, or bass, or instrument separation, imaging or anything. What the heck is going on? I tried as hard as I could to detect a difference and it seemed like I was just putting the same headphone on over and over again.

I'm so confused.

An Iphone is not sufficient to drive 6XX.

 

[rafaelo]

I don't know what's going on here.

I just plugged my 660s into my Mac and my 6XX into my iPhone and matched the volume as closely as I could hear.

Switching back and forth between the 2 headphones as quickly as I can and I can't detect any differences in clarity, or bass, or instrument separation, imaging or anything. What the heck is going on? I tried as hard as I could to detect a difference and it seemed like I was just putting the same headphone on over and over again.

I'm so confused.

Yes iphone cannot drive adequately 6xx (quality not loudness) The high impedance mac maybe a bit better. Notorious how the 6xx scale with better equipment.

Also A/B quick change comparisons tend to confuse someone more sometimes. It happens to me sometimes. Also the smoothness of 6xx you will understand it after long listening sessions.

I have an analogy to describe tbe difference between 6XX and 660s : plasma vs Oled but this is difficult to make sense for someone unfamiliar with this topic.

But for me makes sense to keep both as my avatar clearly shows...

 

[Dust by Monday]

An Iphone is not sufficient to drive 6XX.

Is 3V RMS not sufficient either? My Mac has high impedance support. I have to have the volume at 25% to have the same loudness as my iPhone at 70%, but they sound the same when I switch back and forth quickly. No difference whatsoever.

Tubes would sound different as they color the sound, but solid state shouldn’t.

Question for all of you. Isn’t the headphone drawing the same amount of power at a given loudness regardless of source? Like how much actual POWER is my Mac giving the headphones at 25% volume vs how much power the iPhone is giving them at 70%.

 

[D00M]

Is 3V RMS not sufficient either? My Mac has high impedance support. I have to have the volume at 25% to have the same loudness as my iPhone at 70%, but they sound the same when I switch back and forth quickly. No difference whatsoever.

Tubes would sound different as they color the sound, but solid state shouldn’t.

Question for all of you. Isn’t the headphone drawing the same amount of power at a given loudness regardless of source? Like how much actual POWER is my Mac giving the headphones at 25% volume vs how much power the iPhone is giving them at 70%.

You have couple issues (or maybe you can view it as blessing).

1. You cannot hear the difference between HD660S vs HD6XX.
2. You cannot hear the difference between Mac vs iPhone. Assuming you have recent iPhone, it's actually the lightning dongle that matters, not the phone.

Implications:

• Issue: You don't have sensitive ears. Or you don't know what sound quality to focus on.
• Or Blessing: You don't need to buy anymore gear. Just keep 6XX, since you cannot hear the difference. And your wallet will be happy

Back to your question Amplification: If same loudness, then power is same. However, there are couple parameters to amplification:

1. One is the power sufficient to reach average volume. So in this case, both MBP and iPhone are sufficient.
2. Second is power to meet the peak and transient. If you are close to the max volume, your amp will not have enough power to support peak levels without clipping. You can read more about this here: https://www.audeze.com/blogs/technology-and-innovation/sensitivity-impedance-and-amplifier-power

 

[kman1211]

You have couple issues (or maybe you can view it as blessing).

1. You cannot hear the difference between HD660S vs HD6XX.
2. You cannot hear the difference between Mac vs iPhone. Assuming you have recent iPhone, it's actually the lightning dongle that matters, not the phone.

Implications:

• Issue: You don't have sensitive ears. Or you don't know what sound quality to focus on.
• Or Blessing: You don't need to buy anymore gear. Just keep 6XX, since you cannot hear the difference. And your wallet will be happy

Back to your question Amplification: If same loudness, then power is same. However, there are couple parameters to amplification:

1. One is the power sufficient to reach average volume. So in this case, both MBP and iPhone are sufficient.
2. Second is power to meet the peak and transient. If you are close to the max volume, your amp will not have enough power to support peak levels without clipping. You can read more about this here: https://www.audeze.com/blogs/technology-and-innovation/sensitivity-impedance-and-amplifier-power

Oh the phone, it does matter, used the dongle on both the 11 Pro Max (old phone with iOS 16) and the 14 Pro Max (current phone). With direct comparisons found they didn't sound the same. Biggest difference was more control of the bass and treble and less distortion on the 14 Pro Max, also the 11 Pro Max was more prone to noise, etc. It's interesting to hear the differences on the iphones over the years, they've actually become quite solid music players over the years.

 

[Harold999]

These might be picked up by drop eventually.

Yeah, we morons here in Europe will keep paying full retail so Sennheiser can offer you Americans crazy good deals by Drop. We are basically sponsoring the American market.
To be honest a bit sick and tired of this.

The most expensive place on earth to buy a Sennheiser is ironically in Germany itself.

 

[D00M]

Oh the phone, it does matter, used the dongle on both the 11 Pro Max (old phone with iOS 16) and the 14 Pro Max (current phone). With direct comparisons found they didn't sound the same. Biggest difference was more control of the bass and treble and less distortion on the 14 Pro Max, also the 11 Pro Max was more prone to noise, etc. It's interesting to hear the differences on the iphones over the years, they've actually become quite solid music players over the years.

The DAC and the Amp are both in the dongle. So the dongle is doing the decoding and amplification.

What happens on the phone?

• Source file. Assming source is the same.
• EQ applied by the phone. This is possible. If so, this is not true difference. EQ can be applied on any device.
• Sending the digital source data to DAC. The phone does nothing here, so model should not matter.
• [Edit: additional possible difference] The dongle's amplifier power is provided by the phone. If different models provide different power thru the lightning port, then that can make a difference.