[the limp man]

Hello,
 
I am searching for new cans and therefore i listend at the shop yesterday. The equipment was: Project Headbox II SE, Monster standard interlink and the HD600, HD650,BT880. Source was a denon BD 1610. With the DT880 and the HD600 there was sibilance present in the vocals. How can that be? On the forums there is nothing i can find about the hd600 and sibilance. Is it the source?

 

[Graphicism]

Could it be the album/artist?

 

[the limp man]

Could be, but the sibilance was present on every recording that i had with me. the HD650 didn't have this issue.

 

[Graphicism]

The HD650 drops off at 10kHz and is generally warmer overall, commonly referred to as veil. I wouldn't say the HD600s are bright and put any sibilance heard down to the recording. In other words you aren't hearing it on your 650s because they are warmer or you're not sufficiently amping them at home?

 

[the limp man]

I used my home rig to listen at the shop (excerpt for the source, i use my pc as a source)

 

[rhythmdevils]

it's probably the source there.  The HD600 strikes a very nice balance between being able to show an edge to notes, but never exhibiting harshness or sibilance.  I am very sensitive to sibilance and harshness and there are few headphones that manage this balance like the HD600.  Most either dull the sound down to avoid sibilance, or give up, go for sounding clear, and let the sibilance rip
 
but of course there are a the few recordings that are harsh and sibilant, and there's sources that could bring sibilance out of a triport
 
or maybe you just prefer the HD650

 

[the limp man]

I do not prefer the HD650. There is to much bass and  it sound dull. Ofcourse there are recordings with Sibilance (Eva Cassidy anyone). Maybe i am going slightly mad..
 
Quote:

it's probably the source there.  The HD600 strikes a very nice balance between being able to show an edge to notes, but never exhibiting harshness or sibilance.  I am very sensitive to sibilance and harshness and there are few headphones that manage this balance like the HD600.  Most either dull the sound down to avoid sibilance, or give up, go for sounding clear, and let the sibilance rip
 
but of course there are a the few recordings that are harsh and sibilant, and there's sources that could bring sibilance out of a triport
 
or maybe you just prefer the HD650

 

[chinesekiwi]

Quote:

The HD650 drops off at 10kHz and is generally warmer overall, commonly referred to as veil. I wouldn't say the HD600s are bright and put any sibilance heard down to the recording. In other words you aren't hearing it on your 650s because they are warmer or you're not sufficiently amping them at home?

No,no, the Sennheiser veil is very source synergy based tbh. I tried the HD600, HD650 and HD555 all on the same setup and the HD600 was the only one that didn't have the 'Sennheiser veil'.

 

[the limp man]

Tomorrow I am gonna listen to the HD660 @home. With my own setup. But i doubt it will make any difference.

 

[aimlink]

Quote:

it's probably the source there.  The HD600 strikes a very nice balance between being able to show an edge to notes, but never exhibiting harshness or sibilance.  I am very sensitive to sibilance and harshness and there are few headphones that manage this balance like the HD600.  Most either dull the sound down to avoid sibilance, or give up, go for sounding clear, and let the sibilance rip
 
but of course there are a the few recordings that are harsh and sibilant, and there's sources that could bring sibilance out of a triport
 
or maybe you just prefer the HD650

The HD600's are so indeed delicately balanced in that though they have good upper mid and treble response, it's not harsh.  The same goes for the HD800's which shares a very similar sort of balance.  I can easily see the source and setup tipping things over into a sound that suffers from sibilance.  I hear no sibilance out of the HD600 and 800.  If there's sibilance, I hear it from the HD650's as well and it's in the recording.

 

[Stephen Murphy]

Quote:

I do not prefer the HD650. There is to much bass and  it sound dull. Ofcourse there are recordings with Sibilance (Eva Cassidy anyone). Maybe i am going slightly mad..
 

 

Sibilance issues with Eva Cassidy are pretty well documented. For example, this from a Hagerman DAC review: For the next few tests, I used the most sibilant CD (now FLAC) that I own, Eva Cassidy's Songbird.

 

[Patu]

I haven't experienced any sibilance with my HD600. Not even very sibilant records like some Katie Melua stuff. I often use Katie Melua - Shy Boy to test my gear for sibilance.

 

[the limp man]

Maybe it is the amp then. But i need to be happy with my purchase, so maybe another HP

 

[XLR1]

All my favorite headphones have sibilance.  In my opinion, I found the most sibilance with Beyer DT880 > then Beyer T1 > and least with Senn HD800.  I only hear sibilance with a few recordings/artists.  The DT880 and the T1 are sibilant with the same recordings.  The HD800 has sibilance with different recordings.  I have exchanged my sources, amps, power cord, and connecting cables and for me it makes little difference.  I only used solid state amps, so tubes might be different.  Aslo, I did not replace any headphone cables so I cannot be sure, but I doubt it would matter.  Lowing the volume somewhat helps. 
 
I can always remove the sibilance with my 1/3 octave equalizer, but I am concerned that when I include the equalizer in my setup it reduces SQ.  I find the HeadRoom frequency response graphs are good, not perfect, at predicting where to equalize to eliminate the sibilance. 

 

[the limp man]

To me the HD600 is sibilant and the 595 is not, the hd600 is more laid back and the 595 is not. But that treble on the hd595 is a bit to forward.
Can there be improvement with another amp/cables/source?
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