Sennheiser - HD 600

I've spent way too much money chasing the perfect sound, and after burning through a pile of headphones and IEMs, I think I'm finally there. The headphone path went: Sundara → HD600 → HD650 → Edition XS (good but too sharp and sibilant) → Focal Azurys (Did not get the hype here) → Audeze MM-500 (good but painful clamp). On the IEM side I tried the Kiwi Ears Astral, Moondrop x Crinacle Dusk (didn't understand the here either), Moondrop Hype 4, and DUNU Brain Dance. Brain dance was my favorite until I randomly tried The Campfire Moon Rover, though, which has become my IEM of choice for a reason I'll explain later. For over ears, eventually I gave Dan Clark Audio a shot. First the Noire X, then the Noire X Open... and wow. The Noire X Open is the first headphone I've heard that delivers incredible detail without stabbing me with harsh "s" and "t" sounds. It can be just a touch energetic above 10k, but a simple high-shelf EQ at -3 dB takes care of it instantly. I also like adding a +2 dB bass shelf, which rounds out the sound beautifully. What really surprised me is how perfectly this same EQ profile works on the Campfire Moon Rover as well. It feels like they were made to share it, and having one tuning that works seamlessly between both is a huge win. I've saved the preset on my HiBy R4, so switching back and forth between the XO and the Moon Rover is effortless. So at this point, my perfect setup has become the Moon Rover for IEMs and the Noire X Open. Ironically, the gear I've ended up loving the most has all been from American brands which I didn't expect. I know endgame is a dangerous word in this hobby, but right now this feels like it. Has anyone else had that moment where you put something on and thought... yeah, this is it?

I do think it's a more complete presentation over the 600, but the HD600 has better mids than anything I've ever heard.

The 600 is often described as a 'quiet killer' - the kind of headphones that don't immediately wow you, but are just so balanced and natural that even the slightest flaws and imbalances in other pairs become glaringly obvious afterwards. And speaking from experience, they're also uniquely immune to causing listening fatigue for it - you just can't get tired of their sound. They won't blow you off your feet, but they're the baseline every other headphone in their range is measured against for good reason.

The HD 600 aren't great on the bass side of things and you need an amp to run them.

Just was curious mostly, both of them just sound a little dull to me though if I'm honest - although eq helps, but the distortion in the bass from the eq is noticeable on those for me

get some senheiser HD60s or any cheap "audiophile" headphones and use a mic. I did and never looked back

Yeah totally agree with that, but the turtle beach was insanely bad. I have Sennheiser open backs and while the bass isn't anything to write home about, it's not a noticeable thing.

Sennheiser themselves say their slightly warmer 650 is far more popular in Western nations while the more neutral 600 is strongly preferred across much of Asia. That's a bit of apparent cultural bias that might help tilt the balance, though I'm plenty happy with my 600s here in Europe. Either way you get their trademark comfort and durability, so it's pretty much a choice between benchmark balanced sound and getting a bit more pleasant warmth at the expense of some mids and especially female vocals.

Sennheiser HD 600 or 650 for mixing

You can buy the custom cans mod kit and/or use different pads to make the hd600 a little or a lot bassier.

E-mu Teak, or Fio FT1 for bassy closed backs. Meze 105, Audio Technica 70xa, or Aune AR5000 for open headphones. The HD600 and 6XX that have been mentioned are amazing, just not for sub bass.

I've heard HD6XX and HD600, the differences are small. HD600 is a bit more detailed, HD6XX is SLIGHTLY warmer and bigger staging. The HD6XX is just so cheap for the quality, and if I'm looking for an upgrade I want an UPGRADE not a little boost which is what I perceived between the HD6XX and the HD66S2. Diminishing returns hit fast, but HD800S is my favorite headphone I've tried, and I've tried the $5,000 utopias.

honestly, its still extremely bad. somehow all reddit people know to name only the worst headphones on the planet. momentum 4 ... ts... all the marketing stuff pushed onto people. while the real studio geeks only talk HD599/Dt770/Hd600. basically the xm6 only wins from childs headphones. factually the sennheiser HD599 (can be had new for 100 dollars some places), is far overboard better than the xm6. and the HD600 is worlds ahead. and believe it or not. when you upgrade frequently, you eventually pass over the price of some of the bestheadphones around. such as the focal bathys (if you truly have to be wireless), but you wont ever overcome a HD600, or a focal elear. and if you are really rich, the yamaha yh5000se is the best. the xm6 is highly overrated and not even better than the sennheiser HD280. if a headphone hsa a generation number, your quaranteed to be fucked by the company. those are the worst options to choose from. Get a focal bathys now, and youll earn it back, skipping generations, or if you really love your music: i dont even recognise my music for music if it aint on a HD600 or better. on the xm6, music is just noise to me.

I love the HD600, but the HD800S is basically my perfect headphone since I'm the most sensitive in the midrange and bass. On top of that the fit of the HD800S is perfect for my head and ears. I'll never sell my HD600 regardless of what headphones I get in the future but they might be swapped out as my dailies for open backs.

My recommendations for different types of headphones for you A306. 1: BT wireless - Sennheiser Momentum 4 (perfect now you can turn off the touch controlls permanently) 2: Wired closed back - Sony MDR-M1 (Closed Monitor Headphones) 3: Wired open back - Sennheiser HD 600

Can't say I'm familiar with them. I've just tried the HD600 and really liked them. I personally have been using a set of HD598s for about ten years and really loved them with no intent to upgrade. The HD600 is generally considered sort of the headphone for accurate sound reproduction. At that point the choice is going to be preference. I'd be seeking out everything I was considering and trying them out to see how I personally like them. Both sets are going to be similar quality in most ways.

They're not cheap, cheap, but relatively affordable, yes. The value proposition here is in buying something that you will probably be able to hand down to your grandchildren. You could spend half as much and get a headphone that will fall apart after a few years of heavy use. I owned a pair of hd600 I bought second hand, used them for over a decade, before I sold them to a friend who's still using them 5 years later - still going strong. If anything cracks, breaks or needs replacing you can buy the parts directly from sennheiser or 3rd party and fix it yourself very easily without any tools, they just don't make headphones with this level of repairability any more. I wouldn't say the clarity/detail is bad and mids overemphasised, they just have a slightly more laid back treble presentation which initially makes it seem like it has less clarity compared to something more neutral/bright leaning, but the detail and clarity you get is excellent, especially for a 200 dollar headphone. Imho, if you're spending hours and hours at a time gaming you don't want a very bright headphone, you want something a bit darker and less fatiguing. Soundstage and imaging are fine, more than good enough for positional gaming - what makes you think this isn't the case? I've compared them to something like the k702 and they hold up. Bass is also very good, just needs a bit of juice to get the most out of the low end. Has the reactionary 6xx pushback/hater-train already started? It's an absolute classic.

The 6xx they mention are a different model. Basically HD600 for half the usual price and with a different build so they're pretty much unbeatable for the price.

I'd say the HD560s is better than the HD600 for gaming but not for music. It can't be overstated how amazing the HD600's are for music because of how natural vocals and timbre can come across. But it suffers from a lack of sub-bass and a "3-blob" soundstage that makes it sound a bit claustrophobic and not immersive for gaming. On the other hand, HD560s is great for gaming because its drivers are slightly angled which presents a spaciousness effect to the sounds and gives you better positional imaging to where they're coming from. It also has more extended sub-bass, so explosions in FPS games like Battlefield 6 feel powerful. The downside is that the lower mids are slightly thin compared to the HD600, and the lower treble around 4-6khz comes off a little bit sharp, resulting in a slightly fatiguing sound after a few hours. More specifically, guns in CS2 and BF6 can have a metallic etch to reloading sounds which then translates into musical instruments like cymbals or "S's" in vocals being somewhat splashy. Despite my sonic nitpicks, the HD560s is one of the few great value headphones for gaming, especially if you can get them in used/refurbished condition for under $100.

Hd6xx + modmic That's pretty much entry level for this sub, sounds great for music too. Light, comfortable, non-fatiguing sound, excellent build quality/easily replaceable parts, pin-point sound staging for gaming. Wouldn't really bother with anything cheaper than this, it's either going to sound like ass and have terrible build quality or it's going to be some chi-fi headphone that sounds good but has terrible build quality.

I'm an HD600 user but the Beyerdynamic dt 990 pro seem popular

An HD 600 is not veiled IMO. Sure it's not a Beyer with elevated treble but it has detailed, neutral treble. If anything you'd have to EA the 630 treble up slightly in some places to sound the same as the 600 (I have a profile for that) 630 is still that with more bass, finally what I was expecting.

**HD 600** \- excellent, natural tonality with its early sub-bass roll off being its only weakness. I wouldn't say the bass is just decent because I actually find the quality to be quite nice and tactile due to its slight mid-bass bump, but it doesn't have that much low end oomph and fullness for my electronic music. Extremely durable and built to last. Lightweight and CAN be comfortable after you give the out-of-the-box clamp force some wear time. Other downside would be the earpads wearing down too quickly which can change the sound to be warmer and down tilt the treble (and the earpads are expensive to constantly replace if you like the stock sound profile). **AR5000** \- a great all-rounder headphone for both music and gaming. The low end is full and warm with a lush, natural sounding midrange, and a smooth upper treble. Very comfortable to wear for long hours because its suspension strap helps a lot with weight distribution and has a nicely built metal-plastic construction that's handles smoothly with no creaky-ness. I've used my AR5000 quite a lot for my electronic and hip-hop music because the bass feels so full and enveloping on tracks like *James Blake - Loading*. It's also awesome for gaming because the drivers are angled slightly aggressive which presents a soundstage that has great forward depth to it and precise positional imaging. That's its party trick because things can sound intimate and close to your face or be far out in front of you. A nice bonus that it has lower distortion than the HD 600, so you can EQ a bass shelf to it and it can punch way harder. There are other headphones like the HD 550, Sony MDR-MV1, FIIO FT1 Pro, Sundara, and Edition XS, but since I don't own any of them, I can't offer a fair assessment of their sonic performance. From what I read, general consensus is that the HD 550 is a great alternative to the HD 600 if you want better bass extension but less than sweet sounding midrange. Sony MDR-MV1 is a V-shaped, fun sounding headphone that can be too bright. FiiO FT1 Pro is a slightly darker sounding planar alternative to the Sundara and Edition XS. Sundara and Edition XS are bright-neutral planar headphones that needs an amp and their comfort and build quality are hit and miss.

honestly, its still extremely bad. somehow all reddit people know to name only the worst headphones on the planet. momentum 4 ... ts... all the marketing stuff pushed onto people. while the real studio geeks only talk HD599/Dt770/Hd600. basically the xm6 only wins from childs headphones. factually the sennheiser HD599 (can be had new for 100 dollars some places), is far overboard better than the xm6. and the HD600 is worlds ahead. and believe it or not. when you upgrade frequently, you eventually pass over the price of some of the bestheadphones around. such as the focal bathys (if you truly have to be wireless), but you wont ever overcome a HD600, or a focal elear. and if you are really rich, the yamaha yh5000se is the best. the xm6 is highly overrated and not even better than the sennheiser HD280. if a headphone hsa a generation number, your quaranteed to be fucked by the company. those are the worst options to choose from. Get a focal bathys now, and youll earn it back, skipping generations, or if you really love your music: i dont even recognise my music for music if it aint on a HD600 or better. on the xm6, music is just noise to me.

+1 for the HD600!

Learn how to eq and experiment with your xm5. This will help you in determining what sound profiles you like. I can give you 2 options to choose from that have amazing sound quality. Hd600 and edition xs. Both of these are polar opposite in sound. HD600 is mid range focused with good details in music. While edition xs is less mid range focused, better bass, and a more airy treble region. I'd say buy the edition xs first from a reputable site like headphones.com or Hifimans official store on ali express so you can return them if you don't like the sound. If you can go to an audio store and test headphones, that would be the best option. It's all about what your ears prefer.