Preface: Hi there! I am a young audio enthusiast who has retained all my hearing (up to about 19khz) thus far. Unfortunately I do suffer from mild tinnitus, meaning I have slight high frequencies ringing in my ears. I don't listen to music loud generally, because I don't want to damage my ears, and I can get fatigued fairly easily. I am pretty sensitive to sibilance. I am a musician, I have played French Horn for about 7 years now, and have dealt with classical/ish instruments and music since. I am also, somewhat new to the high-end audio world (been about a two and a half years) and do not have first-hand experience with end game equipment (yet). So, you can take all my words with a grain of salt. Now, for the review!
Sources: Extreme quality Spotify -> Dragonfly Black V1.2 -> HD600
Foobar2000 with FLAC and AAC files -> Dragonfly Black V1.2 -> HD600
Extreme quality Spotify -> Dragonfly Black V1.2 -> Little Dot 1+ -> HD600
Foobar2000 with FLAC and AAC files -> Dragonfly Black V1.2 -> Little Dot 1+ -> HD600
Panasonic DVD-RV32 with CDs -> Little Dot 1+ -> HD600
Packaging and accessories: The packaging is pretty barebones for the headphones, especially for the price. The box it comes in is a made of a textured cardboard with a shiny black Sennheiser label on the front. it has metal hinges to open the lid (which I find kind of cool) and upon opening shows the glorious headphones sitting in a form fitted foam to hold the headphones snugly in place. just beneath the headphones is a foam block that is covering a hole where the cable, and its 3.5mm to 6.3mm adapter (which fits very flush to the cable end) resides. there is only one other object in the box, a manual. That's it. I guess I understand the lack of accessories, there's really not much you could include. They get straight to the point, the headphones.
Build Quality: The build of the HD600 is very good. It has a hard plastic surrounding around the ear cups, and the same hard plastic for the headband, with memory foam bumps on the part that touches your head, and metal hinges to adjust the height. The grills are metal, and the earpads are memory foam with velour covering them. When bought new, I hear that the clamp force is very strong, and the pads are stiff. Fortunate for me, I bought mine used, and the previous owner had already stretched the metal hinges so that they are very comfortable and practically float on my head. Overall very good.
Sound: The HD600 is an exceptional headphone. It is a classic in the community, and that was one of the reasons I bought it. I've had it for several months now, and it is still amazing.
Bass: Lets start with the bad: the bass. I wouldn't say its necessarily bad, but if there were one thing I would improve upon for the HD600's, it would be the bass. It is very lean, due to the nature of dynamic headphones. The headphones experience a pretty severe sub-bass roll-off around 70hz going down all the way to 10hz. The bass is slightly textured, but lacks quantity. The detail of the bass is pretty good, though it can suffer from one-note-itis sometimes. Overall its alright, at least to me, but I have yet to hear how it compares to other high-end headphone's bass. If you like rap music, or electronic, you may want a different pair of headphones.
Midrange: This is where the HD600 shines. The midrange of the HD600 is very natural and organic. Vocals and acoustic instruments come across with crystal clear clarity, and they appear so lifelike. Candido's Arcason is perfectly replicated, the brassy sound of the trombone and trumpet, the laid-back vocals of the song, the striking of guitar strings, the precise hits of the bongo played in the left channel, to the point where I can pinpoint the areas on the drum head the player is hitting. In Arnesen: MAGNIFICAT 4. Et misericordia, the lead female vocal is just dreamy, so liquidy smooth, and clear, with the strings accompanying her, it feels like I'm sitting in a concert hall listening to a live performance. Overall my favorite part of the headphone, and has made me a complete sucker for a good midrange.
Treble: A lot of people talk about the "Sennheiser veil" and honestly, I'm not quite sure what that means or entails. I find the detail of the of the treble to be very good, if not even a little harsh (for my ears) with some recordings. In Ying Quartet's performance of Adante Espressivo - Allegro, the strings, particularly the violins are brilliant in presentation, revealing the forwardness that is part of the instruments nature. Overall very detailed, and enjoyable with well mastered recordings.
Microdetail: You can hear microdetails well. very slight echoes in music can be heard if you concentrate, or maybe even a page flip on an orchestral piece, or the breathing of a flute player. Overall pretty good.
Overall detail: These headphones are very detailed, especially in the midrange and treble regions. Bass detail is polite, but there. Just very good in general, there's a reason you can find these in recording studios all around the world.
Soundstage and imaging: The soundstage is decent on these headphones. It has a pretty good left, middle, right representation of music. Any sort of panning effects are accurately represented. It isn't very wide, or tall in presentation, mainly keeping intimate feel to them, which works well for them in my opinion. Imaging goes hand in hand with soundstage, but does so very well in the small space its offered. I can pretty easily pick out where an instrument or sound effect is coming from, whether that be to my front right, or directly behind me.
Source pairing: I thought this was important enough to warrant its own section. Using the headphones straight out of an iPhone 7 (only did this once), I got it to listenable levels, but it sounded a little harsh and lacking detail. With the Dragonfly Black out of my PC, it has more detail and more than enough power, but I still found it a bit harsh. I found my optimal usage out of my Little Dot 1+, a hybrid tube amp that can power these cans on low gain with extreme ease. I never turn the volume nob past 26 (out of 100), for fear of damaging my ears. I must say though, the Little Dot takes the little bit of edge I experience with Solid-State sources, and adds a hint of warmth to the lower midrange and bass, that I think the 600's really benefit from.
Conclusion: I LOVE these headphones. Despite the problems with the bass, the midrange and treble make up for it, and more. I bought them at $210 USD, and would do so again in a heartbeat. These are/will be my reference against any other open-backed headphones I review or audition. Overall I would give them 8.5/10.
Thanks for reading!
Album
Sources: Extreme quality Spotify -> Dragonfly Black V1.2 -> HD600
Foobar2000 with FLAC and AAC files -> Dragonfly Black V1.2 -> HD600
Extreme quality Spotify -> Dragonfly Black V1.2 -> Little Dot 1+ -> HD600
Foobar2000 with FLAC and AAC files -> Dragonfly Black V1.2 -> Little Dot 1+ -> HD600
Panasonic DVD-RV32 with CDs -> Little Dot 1+ -> HD600
Packaging and accessories: The packaging is pretty barebones for the headphones, especially for the price. The box it comes in is a made of a textured cardboard with a shiny black Sennheiser label on the front. it has metal hinges to open the lid (which I find kind of cool) and upon opening shows the glorious headphones sitting in a form fitted foam to hold the headphones snugly in place. just beneath the headphones is a foam block that is covering a hole where the cable, and its 3.5mm to 6.3mm adapter (which fits very flush to the cable end) resides. there is only one other object in the box, a manual. That's it. I guess I understand the lack of accessories, there's really not much you could include. They get straight to the point, the headphones.
Build Quality: The build of the HD600 is very good. It has a hard plastic surrounding around the ear cups, and the same hard plastic for the headband, with memory foam bumps on the part that touches your head, and metal hinges to adjust the height. The grills are metal, and the earpads are memory foam with velour covering them. When bought new, I hear that the clamp force is very strong, and the pads are stiff. Fortunate for me, I bought mine used, and the previous owner had already stretched the metal hinges so that they are very comfortable and practically float on my head. Overall very good.
Sound: The HD600 is an exceptional headphone. It is a classic in the community, and that was one of the reasons I bought it. I've had it for several months now, and it is still amazing.
Bass: Lets start with the bad: the bass. I wouldn't say its necessarily bad, but if there were one thing I would improve upon for the HD600's, it would be the bass. It is very lean, due to the nature of dynamic headphones. The headphones experience a pretty severe sub-bass roll-off around 70hz going down all the way to 10hz. The bass is slightly textured, but lacks quantity. The detail of the bass is pretty good, though it can suffer from one-note-itis sometimes. Overall its alright, at least to me, but I have yet to hear how it compares to other high-end headphone's bass. If you like rap music, or electronic, you may want a different pair of headphones.
Midrange: This is where the HD600 shines. The midrange of the HD600 is very natural and organic. Vocals and acoustic instruments come across with crystal clear clarity, and they appear so lifelike. Candido's Arcason is perfectly replicated, the brassy sound of the trombone and trumpet, the laid-back vocals of the song, the striking of guitar strings, the precise hits of the bongo played in the left channel, to the point where I can pinpoint the areas on the drum head the player is hitting. In Arnesen: MAGNIFICAT 4. Et misericordia, the lead female vocal is just dreamy, so liquidy smooth, and clear, with the strings accompanying her, it feels like I'm sitting in a concert hall listening to a live performance. Overall my favorite part of the headphone, and has made me a complete sucker for a good midrange.
Treble: A lot of people talk about the "Sennheiser veil" and honestly, I'm not quite sure what that means or entails. I find the detail of the of the treble to be very good, if not even a little harsh (for my ears) with some recordings. In Ying Quartet's performance of Adante Espressivo - Allegro, the strings, particularly the violins are brilliant in presentation, revealing the forwardness that is part of the instruments nature. Overall very detailed, and enjoyable with well mastered recordings.
Microdetail: You can hear microdetails well. very slight echoes in music can be heard if you concentrate, or maybe even a page flip on an orchestral piece, or the breathing of a flute player. Overall pretty good.
Overall detail: These headphones are very detailed, especially in the midrange and treble regions. Bass detail is polite, but there. Just very good in general, there's a reason you can find these in recording studios all around the world.
Soundstage and imaging: The soundstage is decent on these headphones. It has a pretty good left, middle, right representation of music. Any sort of panning effects are accurately represented. It isn't very wide, or tall in presentation, mainly keeping intimate feel to them, which works well for them in my opinion. Imaging goes hand in hand with soundstage, but does so very well in the small space its offered. I can pretty easily pick out where an instrument or sound effect is coming from, whether that be to my front right, or directly behind me.
Source pairing: I thought this was important enough to warrant its own section. Using the headphones straight out of an iPhone 7 (only did this once), I got it to listenable levels, but it sounded a little harsh and lacking detail. With the Dragonfly Black out of my PC, it has more detail and more than enough power, but I still found it a bit harsh. I found my optimal usage out of my Little Dot 1+, a hybrid tube amp that can power these cans on low gain with extreme ease. I never turn the volume nob past 26 (out of 100), for fear of damaging my ears. I must say though, the Little Dot takes the little bit of edge I experience with Solid-State sources, and adds a hint of warmth to the lower midrange and bass, that I think the 600's really benefit from.
Conclusion: I LOVE these headphones. Despite the problems with the bass, the midrange and treble make up for it, and more. I bought them at $210 USD, and would do so again in a heartbeat. These are/will be my reference against any other open-backed headphones I review or audition. Overall I would give them 8.5/10.
Thanks for reading!
Album
