[o0CosmoMemory0o]

I've owned both the HD600 and HD560II. For me, the HD560II is clearly the better and more faithful headphone, without any doubt. HD600 has some upper bass colouration although they're more neutral than the HD650.
 
HD560II displays a poorly mastered recording exactly how it is; crap. HD540 does the same; it's just more spatial IMO.

 

[moriez]

 
I got a little confused in there. Directly comparing the HD560II to the HD600 you say the HD560II is better? More neutral at least? Im really happy with the HD560II but sometimes with rock and music it's not very engaging. But it shines completely on classical and/or orchestral. Newer music in general sounds bad, but that maybe because of the recordins. For instance Radiohead's OK Computer is absolutely gorgeous on the HD560II. To be honest im just curious how these "old" cans can beat the newer HD600.I've tried the AKG Q701 and i prefer mine. Btw, i read that the HD600 is more neutral than the HD650 so it's the "natural sucessor" to the HD560 right (after the HD580)

 
When you say 'engaging' I think you should really try to audition the HD600. It's a pleasure to listen to eventhough it has that little bass colouration and a little rolled off at the top frequency. It depends a lot on the rest of your setup if it's going to work for you. I have a fairly neutral, maybe even slightly bright sounding Yulong D200 which pairs nicely. With your Vali which I think is a little warmer than my setup you will get different results. All that said, I would not want to be without the 540. When it's on my head I don't want to reach for the 600 but I do spend more time with the 600. Something addictive about it.

 

[o0CosmoMemory0o]

Even though I have been critical of the HD600, it is a very good headphone. The midrange is really beautiful.

 

[o0CosmoMemory0o]

I have decided that I will only be keeping the K1000 for my music listening; I shall be selling all of my HD540IIs in the near future, even those I restored to new condition. The time has come to condense all of my audio equipment down to just minimum summit-fi performance. More information regarding this soon.

 

[Bostonears]

  I have decided that I will only be keeping the K1000 for my music listening; I shall be selling all of my HD540IIs in the near future, even those I restored to new condition. The time has come to condense all of my audio equipment down to just minimum summit-fi performance. More information regarding this soon.

Wow! You won't keep even one HD540II?

 

[o0CosmoMemory0o]

As tempting as it is to keep just one HD540II, there is nothing that it does that the K1000 doesn't also do. I feel that the K1000 is more spatial and has more realistic bass weight. I have three K1000 also so I'm well prepared. The HD540II is excellent but if I have no purpose for it anymore, it is pointless to get attached to it materialistically and keep it just to look at. I may as well sell them to others. It will take a while to sell them all and whilst I might keep my last one for a while, they will eventually be passed on to other music lovers. The K1000 is the end of the headphone road for me; I have no interest in buying any other designs now, not unless another K1000-type design were to be manufactured, but even then, I'm enjoying music too much now to even care. When I buy my proposed DAC to pair with my Proprius amps and K1000, the musical performance is going to be stupendous beyond belief.

 

[Bostonears]

  As tempting as it is to keep just one HD540II, there is nothing that it does that the K1000 doesn't also do...

The HD540II does one thing that the K1000 doesn't do: it runs off of the headphone jack in portable amps or other devices that don't have powered speaker outputs. (Of course, if you'll never listen anywhere other than at home in one seat by a big rig, that won't matter to you.)

 

[TominJapan]

it's also a question of diminishing returns and function of dac/amp that you have at hand
I think it is very likely that $1000 phones are 'better' yet then other contenders come to my mind

 

[pkshan]

The 540 mids are somewhat mediocre in vintage cans,they are thin,recessed, not very musical ,
just a little better than hd800,, people will get bored fast
 
imo
hd224x > hd430(need good source) > hd560 I > 1993 hd580(sounds better than 560 on bad source) > 1968 hd414 > k1000 > hd540 gold > hd800
 
Don't just focus on imaging,sound stage,bass impact etc.
try using a headphone for weeks,months or years ,if you still enjoy it,then you know it's really great

 

[o0CosmoMemory0o]

A headphone performance also depends on how it is driven. In my analysis of the HD800,  I feel that if it's slightly withdrawn phasing were to be corrected with an ideal driving configuration, it would beat the HD540II et al in all areas and not by an insignificant margin; the improvement in performance would be quite substantial (and you know how much of a fan I am of the HD540II). I also feel that the HD800 'sound source size' is larger than even my AKG K1000 (because the HD800 driver is quite a bit larger) even though the K1000 is quite a bit more spatial. The K1000 should be more spatial anyway; at higher volumes with the right head position, the listener experiences interaural crosstalk between the two drivers/ears, giving depth perception. The lack of enclosure materials (just a pair of grills over each driver) and the lack of earpads also add to result in a purity that I don't feel is possible from conventional designs.
 
 
The reality though is that if you provide a headphone with an inadequate drive, it will not perform as well as expected. The problem also with some headphones such as the HD800 is that they rely on a particular kind of drive in order to excel, hence my harsh criticism of it.

 

[pkshan]

Try Telefunken TH series, they blow HD540/HD800 away,
only 1970's Sennheiser flagships(HD110,HD224) can compare with them
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[o0CosmoMemory0o]

Well, taking a look at those models, they appear to have smaller drivers than the HD800 so their ability to project a large sound source will be limited. The earpads look like pleather and this combined with the small sealed listening enclosures will limit the overall neutrality and spatial immersion possible compared to stock HD540II/HD800, which are very open and quite minimal. No natural interaural crosstalk possible with this design either.
 
After the time I spent listening to the exquisite purity of the K1000, even the HD800 and my beloved HD540II sounded somewhat coloured and limited. For me, headphone performance doesn't get better than a pair of open single-driver speakers in front of the ears, calibrated for linear transparent full-frequency that does not audibly interact with the listening room.. It overcomes so many design flaws that even the most highly regarded speakers still suffer from. In my eyes, it has set an ambitious standard.

 

[pkshan]

TH600=hd224x>hd430(on good source)>k1000

 

[GREQ]

I heard one of those Telefunkens once... unfortunately cant remember which model, but they had the loudest bass I've heard from any vintage headphone.
Must have been a lower-end model because the resolution was seriously bad.... like no-brand 8-ohm paper-cone-headphone bad. 

 

[o0CosmoMemory0o]

All I can say is that I have completely lost interest in conventional headphones altogether. I might re-buy an Etymotic ER-4S for portable listening and travelling abroad but that's it. The main reason I became obsessed with headphones to begin with was because I wanted speaker performance without room signature. Now that I have that, I have no need to pursue the hobby anymore. I'll still be around to help people get the most out of their HD540s but I doubt that I will buy any more for myself. It has just become needless materialism for me. I only care about rationally applied science; the science that actually makes an audible difference to the listening experience.