Sennheiser HD 600 - Audiophile Hi-Res Open Back Dynamic Headphone

I still have a working set of HD-580s I have enjoyed for 15+ years. I decided to get another set of Sennheiser headphones, this time the HD-600s. The sound is very close but the fit is significantly tighter. Comparing the two, the HD-600 are smaller and would never loosen up like the HD-580s over time. I am optimistic that they will grow in comfort to a degree. But there are benefits to a snug fit. For one, the weight is distributed on the skull around your ears and these phones have very plush padding. This relieves the weight you would feel along the band over the top of your head. My looser fitting HD-580s get uncomfortable because the weight is felt along the band. It should be at the base of the ears like the HD-600s because that also contributes to the headphones ability to translate a dynamic range of audio. The looser the fit the less low end. Have you ever noticed that everything eventually sounds shrill as you pull away from the ear pieces of headphones, whether cans or buds? Headphones need your skull to use like part of the speaker cabinet and architecture of a room. As for the audio, enough has been said in other reviews. The audio is superb. BTW, these can be powered by an iPod or a standard computer sound card. People are misinformed believing a headphone amp provides anything more than volume. To really hear these shine, they need a high fidelity amplifier not a headphone amp. Many headphone amps also add distortion and color to the audio. Without either, you will still be able to enjoy the spacious audio landscape with a mere iPod. Of course the source material (no MP3s!) is a major factor. Weed out the compressed garbage in your audio collection so you do not mistake the garbage you hear as a fault in these headphones. You really have no business investing in such good headphones if you are using them to listen to MP3s.

Heard them a few times along the way, and always liked them. Now that I bought a pair, I can tell you that you can hear every picked string, but the highs dont glare and bite. Very relaxed but accurate treble. Some say they dont have bass, on SS amps they start going down at 75 Hz, by 35 Hz down about 8 db. They have excellent taut bass., low impact missing. However on OTL tube amps they are flat to 35 Hz. Very cohesive sound. You have to fork out for the Senn 800 or high buck planars to get better sound. Also a snap to migrate to balanced connections which with my Ragnarok gives more attack in the bass, better instrument separation, and more air/soundstage. In the hobby for 45 years and these are one of the 5 best price/performance deals Ive seen. Additional comments: Fostex-FH500, bought these here refurb, nice for female vocals, and mids, but low bass and treble beyond 12k? HD-600 smokes them, and in overall cohesion and ease of driving. Massdrop TH-X00: Supposedly a match for headphones in the 750-1k bracket. Too much low bass, too much treble, bright at higher than 90 db levels, very efficient and easy to drive. Oh yeah, both are more comfortable then the HD-600 (big head). After break-in, and new pads, both are sitting unused and will be sold, HD-600 wins again.

Got these for home audio engineering, and couldnt be happier. Would recommend for that purpose and for simply listening to music at home. Sound is clear, defined, and to my best ability is as close to a flat response as you will find. Very comfortable which is important because I will wear these for hours at a time.

Unfortunately, it is not just the sound that one must use to judge a headphone. The construction is very important. Why? Because you inevitably throw them around in various ways. You cannot be careful all the time. And you may not be the only one who uses the headphone. They inevitably fall down, or the cleaning lady does something. This headphone has one of the most fragile holder pieces for the earpieces that I have seen. Look closely at the construction, and notice the plastic U shaped holder that actually holds the ear piece. It is very fragile. If you break the holder, you can try super glue to repair, but that tends to be temporary. Other fine headphones use metal, or Grado has an alternative design. When my holder piece broke, the company charged me $150 to repair this vital item, which is so fragile and which does not lend itself to easy repair. That is why I rate the headphone down. The basic design has not changed in many years, and it surely needs to be upgraded. Perhaps with a poor review the company will get the message.

I initially bought AKG 501s for Classical Music listening. Having tried them out for the past year I was convinced that they lacked the low end range needed to represent the music stage. They are good for vocals and single instruments i.e. harpsichord, violin, guitar but again to restate, the sound stage is lacking.

Im a huge audio enthusiast so Im always chasing the next thing in quality. I went from Audio technica m-50 to sennheiser hd 25-1 ii. Each purchase gave me a sense of enjoyment but also a sense of need to move a step up. For some reason every time I purchase headphones Im blown away by the sound but also not completely satisfied. It wasnt until I purchased some really nice speakers that I understood that I like the fullness of speakers and the actual way our ears perceive sound.

Had these for a while now, and was uninmpressed mostly because i didnt had a decent amp to use with them. I recently picked up a xDuoo TA-01 and what a difference does it make!

Sennheiser has recently changed the design & build quality of this iconic headphone. As of October 28, Amazon still has stock of the original design. Attached photos show the difference. The pair on the right was purchased from a reputable commercial vendor in the midwest, and is indeed genuine Sennheiser. The new production run is a more trendy satin gray color, but also has a chince factor of about 8.5 and does not feel nearly as sturdy. Even the packaging is drastically cheaper on the new ones, and does not come with the nice storage box. If you have a head that is anything wider than super narrow these phones will feel like they are squeezing your skull. Any attempt to stretch the band will result in the satin plastic overlay delaminating from the headband. It is not a baked-on enamel, like the original design was.

I bought It for my husband to use to play games on the computer he says the sound is the best ever.

I use Sennheiser closed back for all my live sound gigs, I have about 6 pairs of HD280s for FOH and keyboard rigs. Never have had a problem, and they are old and abused. While theyre good for that, I wanted something I could get a halfway decent mix on that translates well to my home recording monitor setup.