[ADUHF]

EQ-ing can't alter the basic physics inside the headphone, no matter how some folks here may wish it to be so.

If you want to hear bass drops go all they way down, you'll be able to hear that on closed dynamic headphones like the Shure SRH840A, AKG K371 (if the cups seal properly), 250-ohm Beyer DT-770, AudioTechnica M50X, Sony MDR-7506, the discontinued Sennheiser HD 380 Pro, and other more expensive closed dynamic headphones by Denon, Focal, DCA, etc. You won't be able to hear it on an open dynamic headphone like the HD600. Not without excessive distortion.

 

[Cheesebuggah]

Sure, I guess I'm a little confused. I'm under the impression that the OP has a Bluetooth closed dynamic headphone (Sennheiser Momentum 4s) which is too bass-y at times and they want more bass on the HD600 so the bass disparity between those are lesser while keeping the midrange of the HD600. Ideally, they don't want to buy a new headphone mainly because it could reintroduce the habit that they don't want, yet they are open to buying sub $350 headphones. The tags include "sub-350-open-back" but perhaps the OP is willing to explore more towards closed-backs.

The EQ suggestions are in favor to prevent them from buying another headphone and keep the good things they enjoy about the HD600 or open-backs. But, the OP doesn't mind buying new headphones. If the issue is how rap music now sounds off after hearing their friend's HIFIMAN, perhaps they could tweak the current one as an initial option because (1) they still enjoy the majority of the properties of the HD600 and (2) they might be content after the simple EQ change.

Edit - NVM, I think I get it. ADUHF is saying that no amount of sub bass change on EQ will change the sub bass you hear from the driver and most of the bass you will hear from those changes are mid bass tones or at least other bass tones simply because of the open-back design. But eventually you can get enough pressure to feel/hear sub bass, but it requires such a large decibel change that the driver can't handle it without distortion?

 

[codythelucario]

Are you limited to the Fosi Audio physical EQ knobs? Maybe you could download an EQ app like Peace APO so you could apply specifics to PEQ. I mainly listen to a 2.0 near-field system where the stock speakers can be "neutral bright" and I have a +25 dB spike at 50Hz which goes flat or normalizes at around 150Hz. Those are speakers, though, so you probably don't need a drastic bump like +25 dB to hear a major difference. Sony has this thing for Bluetooth headphones called "Clear Bass," which supposedly increases the fun bass without muddying up everything else. I could reach +7 dB out of +10 dB before I noticed some parts of the music were quieter. According to some guy on the internet, it increases frequencies below 180 Hz—mainly around 60 Hz—while lowering the frequencies above it slightly.

I feel like I enjoy brighter headphones too, or at least headphones with less mid and upper bass. You could look at a graph of the HD600 and another graph of that specific HIFIMAN and compare the two. Maybe try to mimic the bass (<~500 dB) from the HIFIMANs? Of course, software like Peace APO is ideal since you can adjust the filters, quality, and all that jazz. I'm not a big EQ person, so I don't know much about it. I would try bagwell359's adjustments.

I also have Peace APO installed and I did tweak the sub 100hz area. For 25 hz, 8 is my gain value and 0.7 is my quality value. For 100hz, -1.5 is my gain and 0.7 is my quality value. Pre amp value is -8

AKG K371 (if the cups seal properly), 250-ohm Beyer DT-770, AudioTechnica M50X

I did sell my K371 and M50X last year. I don't miss my M50X because the mids are just awful on those headphones, but I really regret selling my K371's though. Those were my favorite headphones out of all the ones I owned.

Sure, I guess I'm a little confused. I'm under the impression that the OP has a Bluetooth closed dynamic headphone (Sennheiser Momentum 4s) which is too bass-y at times and they want more bass on the HD600 so the bass disparity between those are lesser while keeping the midrange of the HD600. Ideally, they don't want to buy a new headphone mainly because it could reintroduce the habit that they don't want, yet they are open to buying sub $350 headphones. The tags include "sub-350-open-back" but perhaps the OP is willing to explore more towards closed-backs.

The EQ suggestions are in favor to prevent them from buying another headphone and keep the good things they enjoy about the HD600 or open-backs. But, the OP doesn't mind buying new headphones. If the issue is how rap music now sounds off after hearing their friend's HIFIMAN, perhaps they could tweak the current one as an initial option because (1) they still enjoy the majority of the properties of the HD600 and (2) they might be content after the simple EQ change.

Yep, thats basically the premise of what I want to solve. I really don't want to spend another $350 on another headphone, so I wanted to see if I can EQ it to my taste using my physical dac and peace APO settings.

Fortunately, I have tweaked both parts and they do bring out the bass which I really appreciate. Adjusting 25hz in Peace APO brought out those frequencies and dialing the bass frequencies up on my Q4 DAC brought really positive results. However, combining both methods woujld make my headphones way too bassey and drown out the rest of the frequencies. I find that adjusting my DAC when I'm around my Q4, or adjusting via Peace APO does do the trick.

When I tried the HD600 at my store though, I was pretty happy with the bass response too, looking back it was really muffled but at the time I did enjoy it as it wasn't too warm and the bass was still alright without being too muddy

 

[drummerman1]

EQ-ing can't alter the basic physics inside the headphone, no matter how some folks here may wish it to be so.

If you want to hear bass drops go all they way down, you'll be able to hear that on closed dynamic headphones like the Shure SRH840A, AKG K371 (if the cups seal properly), 250-ohm Beyer DT-770, AudioTechnica M50X, Sony MDR-7506, the discontinued Sennheiser HD 380 Pro, and other more expensive closed dynamic headphones by Denon, Focal, DCA, etc. You won't be able to hear it on an open dynamic headphone like the HD600. Not without excessive distortion.

Agree but that distortion may not be unpleasant to some ...

 

[drummerman1]

I guess there's Hifi bass and fun bass. The latter is too often dismissed imho.

Sure, you can argue that controlled, in-proportion, firm, delineated and distortion free bass is the aim for ultimate fidelity but sometimes it's good to just let rip

I add bass to my (post revision) 99 Classics!

 

[wantan]

It is usually slam that is desireable and not clean sub bass. I assume that most people actually hear bass overtones in the midrange/treble when they talk about sub bass in headphones.
Most popular music is mixed to sound good on systems with V shaped audio reproduction, that is some more bass and some more treble. A dt770 is eventually pretty close to what the audio engineer assumes people to listen to.

Distortion in sub bass will mask some details, which are mostly irrelevant anyways because the human ear doesn't hear much in that region. Unless you are an audio engineer and want to know what you are doing down there. I don't get why

that distortion may not be unpleasant to some ...

???

Music should sound great, adding bass and adjusting treble via EQ can help a lot. I wouldn't worry much with other stuff because it often makes things too complicated without much gain.

 

[Alchemistt]

Based on the graphs, the Shure SRH840A has good extension in both the sub-bass and treble. So it might be a little closer to type the sound you're after. And you could always use some EQ to tweak the bass, mids and treble a bit more to your particular preference.

The 840A is closed though, so it won't give you as open a sound as an open dynamic would. And there are some newer open dynamic headphones with better bass extension that the HD600 that might also be worth a look.

closed/open/sometimes, it's all very relative.

The 840a isn't perfectly sealed and doesn't sound as closed as other closed-back headphones.

There is an output of excess sound outside (like the dt770).

 

[whyamiinthiswarudo]

I mean, if you like bass, why not get Sony XM3. You get used to any sound, so if bass matters, that’s your go

 

[Cheesebuggah]

Fortunately, I have tweaked both parts and they do bring out the bass which I really appreciate. Adjusting 25hz in Peace APO brought out those frequencies and dialing the bass frequencies up on my Q4 DAC brought really positive results. However, combining both methods woujld make my headphones way too bassey and drown out the rest of the frequencies. I find that adjusting my DAC when I'm around my Q4, or adjusting via Peace APO does do the trick.

When I tried the HD600 at my store though, I was pretty happy with the bass response too, looking back it was really muffled but at the time I did enjoy it as it wasn't too warm and the bass was still alright without being too muddy

Great! If you are still unsatisfied, then you could keep adjusting or get another headphone. Also, the other repliers in the thread are quite knowledgeable so I'd take their word over mine. It is true that closed-backs have the potential to deliver on deeper bass and you won't be able to hear the whole "promised" bass range on open-backs, but changes to sub bass even on open-backs still increases the rumble felt, making it more "party-like" though not a bass cannon. There is a whole other phenomena called "slam" which people theorize as impact that is not represented on the standard frequency chart.

With the HD6XX (I don't own a HD600), I tested it one a mobile device (Albeit band EQ, so I have no idea what the quality or filter might be). On a graph, the 6XX is ~2dB louder than the 600 at 55Hz. At 55Hz adding a various range of dB values (+1-20dB). +1-11dB: I noticed a louder, wider amount of "rumble" which didn't take too much from the listening experience. +12-20dB: audible "distortion(?)" could be heard (a mix of clipping and induced air sounds/too much "boom"). I'm sure how loud you listen will impact the distortion as well. To me, +10dB is still a fun experience.

 

[whyamiinthiswarudo]

6 series isn’t bassy, but if you want 600, 660S2 and maybe those new headphones they just released are your go

Or 6xx to save money

 

[Alchemistt]

Anyone who thinks that Sennheiser has sub-bass, try listening to the sounds generated by the tone generator.
Even if you add sub-bass with an equalizer, it can sound muddy and even distorted; sennheiser speakers do not tolerate adding bass with an equalizer and high volume. The lower the bass frequency, the more effort the speakers require.

For this reason I returned hd560s and hd660s(.
I liked the tonal balance of the 660s.
Sennheiser is comfortable.

 

[bagwell359]

You're not gonna get much in the way of sub-bass punch from a headphone like the HD600 though, regardless of where your tone controls are set, because it's an open back dynamic driver headphone, and there just isn't enough pressure inside the cups on that particular model to really dig that deep into the low end, without producing noticable distortion. What you will hear are mostly overtones that are higher up in the mid-bass...

Bingo! It's also the driver. It's fundamental resonance is around 75 Hz, so below that its going flop about almost as much after the initial wave front as it does for the initial wave. People who think volume in the bass is the key thing don't mind that, but if you want clean bass that's got correct timbre at say 30 Hz, not the can to look too.

 

[drummerman1]

Well, the 58X seems (!) to EQ rather well in the bass but I can't reliably tell when actual distortion sets in. No real sub bass though. Different driver from 600.

 

[bagwell359]

EQ-ing can't alter the basic physics inside the headphone, no matter how some folks here may wish it to be so.

Bingo again. There is the JAR which is an ultra modded HD-600 which has bass, stage etc - for over $2k. Never heard them but @Fegefeuer has very positive comments about them, and he's got a fine ear.