Sennheiser HD 600 Open Dynamic Hi-Fi Professional Stereo Headphones (Black)
by Sennheiser
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Category: CE
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Digital Photo Product Details
Manufacturer: SennheiserFormat: CD
Model: HD600
Color: black
Product features:
- Lightweight aluminum voice coils ensure excellent transient response
- Neodymium ferrous magnets maintain optimum sensitivity and excellent dynamics
- Sophisticated design, elegantly finished in black and gray
- High-quality open metal-mesh earpiece covers
- Detachable, Kevlar-reinforced oxygen-free-copper cable with very low handling noise
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Sennheiser HD 600 Open Dynamic Hi-Fi Professional Stereo Headphones (Black)
Customer Review: Is well worth it with proper equipment and at least HD650 replacement cable
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought the HD600 refurbished from amazon.com and paired with a xenos headphone amp and an audigy 2ZS (unfortunately). Long story short. You need to replace the stock headphone wire on this headphone and buy a headphone amplifier. Im not even kidding. I don't believe in paying big bucks for an amazing cable but there is something wrong with the wire they send you. And yes, I have ordered replacement wire for the HD600 and same problem. I can tell you there is a HUGE difference when I switched wires. All that's required is to replace it with the HD650 wire from sennheiser website and buy the gold adapter. This will actually cost LESS than 30 bucks and less than the replacement wire for the HD600. Best decision I have ever done.
First, yes, it's a 300 ohm headphone. You will get adequate amplification out of a normal output but you will completely miss the powerful dynamic capabilities of a dedicated headphone amp and miss some low and high end extension. What The advantage is a complete lack of hiss!
When I first got it for about an year I was thoroughly unimpressed with the sound. Everything sounded veiled, and the high frequencies sounded like they were very veiled. The detail of different instruments, especially quiet details seemed to be gobbled up and not properly produced. Loud sounds were harsh and strained. The detail was not much better than other headphone that cost around 60-100 dollars. However, I noted that even then the sennheissers had a high tolerance to PUSH extreme amounts of volume without clipping.
This all changed when I bought the HD650 cable based on recommendations. The low end improved and every quiet detail was bought. The headphones became airy and even with great high end extension. The strain and ear fatigue just vanished! In my opinion the quality of the sound improved by about 30-50% depending who you are and how unblocked your ears are!
And the others are quite right. I can already tell that by its effortlessness these headphones will do much better with a more expensive headphone amplifier and a way better source than the audigy 2 (which admittedly is quite a good low cost card). I reccomend the Asus Xonar and a pretty expensive headphone amplifier.
With my comparison speaker current setup it has the amount of detail pumped out by a Cambridge soundworks megaworks 510D subwoofer powering two (underused) full range Mitsubishi vintage towers which contain a 2 inch tweeter, four 4 inch mid-range woofer and a 10 inch low end woofer. I would say you would get similar detail that my speaker setup provides from a speaker combination costing anywhere between $600-1300 depending on how you shop.
Bass: My sub goes down accurately to 33 hz +/-3db. HD600 bests the 8 inch 180W RMS sub in terms of detail. ABSOLUTELY NO BOOMINESS in the bass. Clear defined bass but doesn't quite hit the same low end extension and power by a significant amount. Once again, I think this is a problem with the bass control on my headphone amplifier which has a cross over of about 50-60hz which is not very low at all. I believe the sennheiser can reach a full octave lower and louder than it is hitting now upto at least 25hz with accuracy and precision.
Mid-range: It gets very close and in cases slightly better than even than my tower speakers. However the full range towers do provide a more pleasing and more detailed mid-range. The presence of mid-range on drum tracks are more pleasing and come through with a good punch while the sennheissers don't quite capture the power of a good mid hit on a drum. Vocal performance though does go to the HD600 with clear and high female vocals. This is saying a lot as when my speaker system is properly positioned vocals float in the middle of the air very naturally.
Highs: HD600 is a clear win. The highs are clear airy and defined while my two inch tweeters come a far far distant second. On the HD600 You can hear significant differences in the cymbals on drumsets according to the song you are listening. This applies to even the egg shakers or pretty much anything in the high end. You can differentiate the timbre of the same type of musical instrument. For instance one flute can be distinguished from a different quality flute of the same kind. Same goes for guitar. Listening to jcwfree on youtube is just an absolute pleasure.
However, I have to say that the HD600's attention to detail doesn't make it an ideal listening environment for Rock music precisely because the sound is so clean and clear and only produces the distortion present in the recording and nothing more. In my opinion cheaper systems that distort under strain is better suited to rock guitars.
All my mp3 listening had to be replaced to 192kbps-320 kbps because of this amazing preciseness of the HD600.
The HD600's stregnths are instrumental music. Soft rock, Jazz, and are VERY good on bluray movies. It is VERY hard to these headphones to distort. I have to push my amplifier to the limit and only then it's the low range than distorts. I listen to very loud music and have several noise complaints against me :p and this volume where it clips is too loud even for me. The sennheissers can deafen me quite easily as it stays clear and unstrained WITHOUT boominess until the loudest levels thereby you sometimes don't realize how loud they are until you take them off and go DAMN!
Build quality is very good. I've had it for three years. Stepped on it, sat on it, thrown it, dropped it from four feet, twisted the headphones (all accidentally) and this thing is no worse for the wear. Also great is that the heaphone cables split and go individually into each heaphone. The entire headphone is replaceable in parts because it is designed to be dissassembled and reassembled. The pads are replaceable all the wires are replaceable. great. Also the headphones themselves are HUGE so keep that in mind and are definitely not suitable for running as they will fly off your very easily if you shake it.
The pads are also VERY comfortable. Most comfortable headphones I've tried on and they do not feel warm.
A warning though, if you buy these headphones and don't use it with a dedicated GOOD soundcard without buying the HD650 replacement cables (rather than the HD600) and without an amplifier this is what you will experience:
Decent, unimpressive sound that can be bought by a pair of headphones well below a 100 dollars.
The bass is defined though not loud and has a low end extension of about 40-50hz though. Completely lacking any wow factor. The dynamics are on par with a headphone costing about 60 dollars. The high's are recessed and veiled. Everything sounds like it has a veil on it. Soft sounds don't quite get expressed very well. Dissapointing. Also the original cable is very susceptible to damage compared to almost any replacement.
If you do take the time and money this kind of headphone is meant to be paired with source equipment + amplification worth all the way upto at least a thousand dollars easily.
Update: I just upgraded my soundcard and did a bit more research. To get the optimal sound quality for these phones, I use a mp3 software player capable of ASIO or WASAPI playback. For example: foobar with a few tweaks. WASAPI is most easily setup and works if you have vista or windows 7 (you have to use ASIO if using XP). Basically what any of these things are is a way to bypass the windows mixer which actually resamples all your audio from 44 khz upto 48khz and then resamples it back to whatever output it's supposed to be going at. This reduces the sound quality IMO by about 5 to 10%. So it bypasses this and sends the audio signal directly to your soundcard for bitperfect playback.
So I upgraded my soundcard to the Asus Xonar Essence ST and these are my impressions. There is a quality difference of about ANOTHER 30% at least. More importantly, right now the HD600 SPANKS my current sound system. Yes, this means it's bass output, mid-range output and high's. It's so ridiculous that I'm getting it out of this (relatively) cheap setup. Also, I am noticing a thing I've never heard before called SOUNDSTAGE! The mp3's sound completely different and I can actually sense the kind of room these instruments are being played in. I can hear tiny details like the soft inhalation out of the nostrils. Soft instruments play very clearly far away in the background while a deafening bass track and drums pound out the climax to a song.
For instance I listened to TLC-waterfalls and noticed this soft piano track playing which I'd never heard before. On Outkast's ms jackson I noticed all these voices in the background that pop in from time to time softly whispered far away. And for any kind of classical music this thing is just flat out amazing. So much detail. I always thought classical music recordings sounded dull, but oh boy, not now. These things showed me that classical music had POWER and low end! (and high end too!). I don't know how I missed that all these years. Cymbals took on a new meaning. I always assumed that if an instrument was soft it sounded like it was far away and if it was loud it would move closer on headphones. Nope. Far away instruments could get really loud but still stay far away! (I don't know how this is managed but somehow it is). I can notice other things like the singer is standing slightly left to the mike and BEHIND him is a soft violin, while close to my left ear a guitar plays a very soft tune. Audience laughter is something that also took me by surprise because it immediately gave me a sense of the size of the room and the kind of auditorium they were in. I'm shaking my head as I say this because I didn't think headphones could do this.
Also transient response really improved. I listened to Los lobos hotel california and some flamenco guitar tracks on this setup and on the audigy 2 it sounded very pleasing and mellow and when the guitar played fast it felt somewhat blurred together. On the xonar the guitar picks became sharp and stood out beautifully. Also when the guitar played fast every note was played out as sharp and clear as day EXTREMELY quickly. So, this just goes to show that the HD600 can really do with pairing up to some REALLY good sound sources.
Oh, and also, what bass is there on the track is there on the phones and it can get REALLY low. Wyclef Jean's gone till november or Matisyahu's live at the stubbs King without a crown put out low clear bass. On the HD600 instead of hearing the low note of the bass part of the song, you actually hear and identify clearly the INSTEUMENT causing the bass. You can even define between the different electric bass guitars effects or low kick drums used.
So if you are willing to spend LOTS more money after buying this headphones because you know they are not at their true potential YET, run and buy these. Sorry for your wallet :) Otherwise there are other good headphones out there that don't NEED expensive sets to sound close to their full potential and costs less like the grado SR60.
Oh, I listened to an ipod nano 3g using these headphones without an amplifier and they sounded decent, not very loud though and not as much detail came through as I was used to. I listened to some bose quiet comfort headphones (which I think is totally not worth the money,) and without an amplifier the Bose actually sounded comparable though at VERY loud volumes the bose distorted on the deep bass while these did not. However, in a real contest with good sources and amplification, the bose headphones were a distant loser far away on the horizon.
Second Update:
(Granted, there is a good possibility that the limiting factor of my current headphone setup is my limiting $130 headphone amp than the headphones)
I just got some axiom audio m80ti's with a very nice amplifier. It is with a smile that I say, I found a system that sounds better to my ears than these loyal headphones. (BTW, the comparision is unfair. 12 drivers: 4 subwoofers, 4 woofers, and 4 titanium tweeters, six tuned ports, power handling of 800 watts vs two 4 inch dynamic matched drivers, power handling of a few watts.)
The sound difference is significant with the axioms and more pleasing. But it doesn't diminish how much of a deal you are getting.
A xonar essence ST (with inbuilt headphone amp) + HD600 = $400-500.
A xonar essence + (decent amp) + M80ti's = $1700 (and all the components used were outstanding performers in their price class giving great value for money competing with systems typically worth about $3000.)
That's a price difference of over a 1000 dollars. It depends on how much you are willing to go. In terms of just headphone to headphone comparision, there are a few that compare at the price range, but just a few, and none that will soundly outperform it to a significant value...and all will most likely satisfy. I think the length and amount of time I put in this review suggest that these phones are something special. Do yourself a favor. You know you want to...
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Description of Sennheiser HD 600 Open Dynamic Hi-Fi Professional Stereo Headphones (Black)
Sennheiser seals its reputation as the classiest name in headphones with the stunning HD600, a stylish and high-tech headphone that's exquisitely pleasing to listen to and nearly as pleasing to wear. A near-perfect mating of art and science, the HD600 uses an open, over-ear design to eliminate unwanted resonances and optimally position its large, dynamic drivers just outside your ears-so they work more like miniature speakers than traditional in-ear or against-ear drivers.Sennheiser seals its reputation as the classiest name in headphones with the stunning HD600, a stylish and high-tech headphone that's exquisitely pleasing to listen to and nearly as pleasing to wear. A near-perfect mating of art and science, the HD600 uses an open, over-ear design to eliminate unwanted resonances and optimally position its large, dynamic drivers just outside your ears--so they work more like miniature speakers than traditional in-ear or against-ear drivers.
Granted, all this comes at a pretty hefty price for a headphone. But the lightweight HD600 represents one hefty value. It so far outshines other headphones in sound quality, build quality, and comfort that despite its price it's still a strong value.
Of course, with a headphone like this and a name like Sennheiser, it's the sound you're really after. With stand-alone loudspeakers, the goal is generally to provide balanced sound across as much of the audible sound spectrum as possible (roughly 20 to 20,000 Hz). High-frequency reproduction is easier than low, simply because low-frequency reproduction requires a speaker to move so much air. Speakers capable of rendering deep bass usually use large speaker cones--8 inches or more in diameter--to help move the necessary volume of air.
Headphones, of course, are restricted in the sizes of the drivers they can use. Being so much closer to your ears, the amount of air they need to move to convey bass frequencies is much smaller, but still a challenge for what are basically tiny speaker cones. And anyone who's listened to a lot of headphones can tell you, there's almost always a tradeoff in what a headphone driver is capable of. Some produce balanced overall sound with little in the way of bass; others aim for bass at the expense of natural-sounding midrange and coloration-free treble.
The Sennheiser HD600, we're here to tell you, manages--through its extremely high-grade parts and exquisite engineering--to bring home truly full-range sound with remarkable timbral balance. Rich, deep, effortless bass grounds the listening experience while the headphone's airy midrange and treble help render everything from acoustic bass to soprano saxophone and electric guitars with a haunting degree of realism.
The HD600 doesn't offer the lush midrange favored by tube-amplifier enthusiasts--tube fans may find the headphone somewhat bright and maybe even strident in tone. But the rest of us will revel in the expanse of crystalline detail and snare-snappy dynamics.
The exceptionally natural quality of the HD600's overall sound bears reiteration, since so many headphones with "fat" or even "slamming" bass response deliver the low-end goods with a degree of emphasis that, while pleasing to bass aficionados, grossly distorts the frequency balance, limiting the range of music and recordings that will sound good on those headphones.
How does Sennheiser do it? Through computer-optimized magnets--critical to driver operation--that minimize harmonic and intermodulation distortion, granting the HD600 its uncanny clarity and spaciousness. Furthermore, the headphone's advanced diaphragm design eliminates standing waves in the diaphragm material, preventing unwanted emphasis at otherwise resonant frequencies.
As good as this headphone is, however, we don't recommend it to those seeking a stellar headphone for portable use. While this unit is capable of amazing sound, its best performance requires more amplifier power than most portable devices can muster. The HD600 owes its strength in part to its large drivers, which just can't be moved as easily as those in smaller headphones.
Furthermore, the HD600's open-ear design means that sounds pass easily into and out of these headphones, which would in all likelihood prove irritating to you and to those around you in libraries, on buses, and even at the office. These are only our suggestions, however; the fact is your MP3s will probably never sound better than when you're playing them over this headset.
We'll just leave you with one last suggestion, then: if you're after the best-sounding, most comfortable audiophile headphones you can buy at anything resembling a real-world price, look no further than Sennheiser's HD600. --Michael Mikesell
Pros:
- Natural timbral balance
- Extremely detailed presentation
- Excellent bass extension
- Produces a spacious, wider-than-your-head soundstage
- Terrifically comfortable
Cons:
- Slightly bright treble for some tastes
The HD600 is an audiophile-quality, open-dynamic, hi-fi/professional stereo headphone with an advanced diaphragm design to eliminate standing waves in the diaphragm material. The HD600 can be connected directly to hi-fi systems of the highest quality, particularly DAT, DCC, and CD players. This headphone is an ideal choice for the professional recording engineer.
Features of the HD600 include a sophisticated design, elegantly finished in black and gray with high-quality open metal-mesh earpiece covers for an extremely transparent sound. Computer-optimized magnet systems minimize harmonic and intermodulation distortion, while extremely lightweight aluminum voice coils ensure excellent transient response. Neodymium ferrous magnet systems ensure optimum sensitivity and an excellent dynamic response. The result is an exceptionally natural, spatial, and accurate sound.
The HD600 comes with a 3-meter detachable, dual-sided oxygen-free copper cable with very low handling noise, and a 0.125-inch stereo minijack plug with a 0.25-inch stereo jack plug adapter.
Sennheiser headphones come with a two-year warranty on parts and labor.
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