[JohnR]

Nice article, Sunil, and I can understand too well how long it must have taken to do all those comparisons!! However I don't want to read about how the 600 might be better in some ways then the 650. Never mind anything else. Not allowed, I can't sneak any more phones into the house!

[JohnR]

I hope you realize I'm joking I did a "purge" a couple of years ago and now I'm back up to 4 sets of phones again. Ay yi.

I guess these really excel on classical. i hate to say that because it sounds so cliched. But I mention it because I've been reviewing a pair of desktop speakers, and a couple of times now while working I've caught myself thinking that this particular configuration I have with the speakers was much much better that I thought... and then I remember. It's late, but still.

[dB Cooper]

Sennheiser HD600 is in my audio near future. Although I listen mostly to jazz, blues, and various acoustic (unplugged) genres, I do listen to some rock n roll, but I may keep my HD555s for that.

[saisunil]

John, Senn 600 / 650's are middle of the road phones in the sense that it makes a nice set of compromises and they have been around for a while and used by more music lovers than perhaps any other phone ...

I have bought and sold senns a couple of times with several different cables and at the end of the day - it is all about your audio priorities ... I just look for that"magic" and for each person - different things bring that to them - for some it is soundstage and for some it is out of this world sound-stage like GS/PS1000 or Senn 800 brings ... what is right for one and wrong for someone else ... example Grados and Senns are perhaps as opposite in their presentation as it gets in their playing field and yet there are folks who swear by them on both camps ...

Yet, no other phone IMO/IME has given so much phone for the money as HE-500 ...

As someone said -enjoy the music ...

Cheers
Sunil

[rpf]

Regardless of the phones (Grados can be an exception here as they are tuned with their own cable) they all benefit from a good after market cable ...

I highly recommend that you buy a used one at good price (40% off ???) instead of rolling your own ... as these cables are neither interconnects nor speaker cables or should are they they are a little bit of both ...

Cheers
Sunil.

I agree with Sunil that upgrading the cables is a benefit. IMO a major one. I have Jena Labs cabling on my Senn 650s and it improved the resolution substantially, without changing the tonal/frequency balance. I was lucky enough to find them used and they make for a great combination with the 650s.

[dB Cooper]

saisunil has good advice here- and not just for headphones. My Senn 555s have the newer design where the drivers are slightly in front of- and angled towards- the ears, where the 580/600/650 has a more traditional straight-into-the-ear arrangement. Is there a night and day difference? I dunno now but will find out. The angled drivers are becoming the norm in the Senn line so they apparently think so.  But my 580s sounded damned good... So do the 555s except for being too bright, overcompensating for the so-called "Sennheiser veil". Wonder if there is an easy way to mod them...

[saisunil]

"Sennheiser veil". Wonder if there is an easy way to mod them...

On 600/650 - easy way to remove the "veil" is by removing the foam around the cushions - it take a few minutes only and the easiest mod - if you do not like it - put it right back in ... the result is like listening to speakers without the grill cloth 

For 555 - if it is too bright - I do not know - see if you are able to boost your bass from amp / source ...

Cheers

[JohnR]

Let's not forget the source - I'm of the impression that a cleaner more extended DAC makes a lot of difference.

Sunil, interesting that you mentioned HE-500s as they were what I thought I was going to get a while ago. However I wasn't able to listen before purchase and the amp requirements fell in advantage of the 650s. For now, anyway

[dB Cooper]

On 600/650 - easy way to remove the "veil" is by removing the foam around the cushions - it take a few minutes only and the easiest mod - if you do not like it - put it right back in ... the result is like listening to speakers without the grill cloth 

For 555 - if it is too bright - I do not know - see if you are able to boost your bass from amp / source ...

Cheers

On the 555 I need to to kind of the opposite, add some cloth or something. The problem isn't too little bass, it's too much treble, so I usually run some high end rolloff. I'm just looking to build in some high end cut to the headphones themselves so I don't have to run a separate EQ setting for that set of cans.

[eclein]

Not to hijack the thread but Sunil what cable did you use with your HE5's?? I'm still using the stock cable for my HE-5LE's and wanna try something else that won't require too much loot.

[JohnR]

Listening now through a Graham Slee solo.