HD 600: Overhyped or impatience?

Submitted by West-Steak-3959 t3_zzqhn4 in headphones

I've been getting more and more into audio, and recently decided to pick up a pair of HD 600s after seeing this sub and a few others raving about it's quality and performance for it's price point. I previously owned the HD 599s, and I thought they were superb in nearly everyway; after listening to the HD 600s (for only a few hours), I feel very disappointed. This could definitely be a case of skewed expectations, but I feel like the way it's been talked about, these headphones should have blown my old ones out the water.

While this definitely does matter, I have the HD 600s running through a Schiit Magni 3+B and a GSX 300 (I had the GSX for a while before getting into this hobby). Could this assortment of gear be an issue?

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rhalf t1_j2e5a0h wrote

HD600 is precisely 1 over HD599. What did you expect?

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Doc-85 t1_j2ej3ta wrote

squints that's.... not how it works....

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sverek t1_j2d4t2p wrote

Please share what was your expectations and what you got HD600 for? There no such headphones that will satisfy all needs and all ears.

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QTIIPP t1_j2drtpq wrote

Most significant comment here. Preference, use case, expectations, what you’re used to - even just 1 or 2 of these can make or break a headphone experience.

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ChipsAhoiMcCoy t1_j2d2wcx wrote

The 600 are a very laid back pair of headphones. They won’t really do too much in the way of blowing you away immedistely, but instead what they will do is after you’ve had a long 9 hour day and you realize you were still wearing headphones, and you realize that nothing was harsh sounding, and you’ve simply been in audio bliss the whole day, that’s what they do beautifully.

That being said, while they’re super easy to listen to stock, they benefit a lot from eq. With eq you can lift the veil and bring in some bass and subjectively improve the soundstage quite a lot. They are great headphones that last a long time and are tuned very nicely but they certainly wouldn’t be considered fun headphones. But if you eq them they’re damn near perfect to my ears with a great balance of fun and natural sound. Which is something I can’t say about a lot of headphones. In fact they’re one of the only pairs that I can listen to that sound both natural and very detailed when eqing.

I can’t really recommend them if you don’t eq though even though stock tuning is great. They do truly have a veil and lack of bass out of the box. improve

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West-Steak-3959 OP t1_j2d3cdm wrote

Thanks for the reply! How should I go about EQing and what should I look out for, in regards to these headphones at least?

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ChipsAhoiMcCoy t1_j2d3hpy wrote

Download equalizer apo and use the preset created by oratory. It’s wonderful.

I wish I was home because I would simply send you the text directly but I don’t have access to my computer at the moment

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Doc-85 t1_j2ehlfu wrote

I have a pair and when I want to have some fun times with it I just pump the bass a bit. Works wonders for me. (I'm not a basshead though)

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lightning696969 t1_j2ejzxs wrote

Hd600 is laid back sounding but people said hd650 is laid back sounding one ?? This hobby is very confusing.

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ChipsAhoiMcCoy t1_j2fby4i wrote

They are both laid back but the 650 is more laid back. Even less high end and more low end.

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Then-Effective5434 t1_j2d65xm wrote

What is your EQ preset? Tried oratory1990 harman and it's so so, stock was better, while harman tuning is really great on my Variations, it didn't suite HD600

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ChipsAhoiMcCoy t1_j2d6rig wrote

I use oratory’s harman preset but I half the bass at 105 hz down from 5.5 to 2.75 and it’s the perfect sounding headphone in my experience. Lifts the veil, adds some punch to the low end, etc. generally the perfect sound for me.

I should note that in this configuration the ananda is actually superior but comfort and durability wise I’m not so sure. And my 600 also had worn pads too, so with fresh pads the 600 would probably still compete

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RB181 t1_j2dcnyc wrote

In my opinion, they're overhyped. I have a pair, I used them exclusively for about a week after purchase but I find that they don't do anything better for me than my other (and cheaper) headphones, so now they're just sitting in my drawer as a spare.

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Comfortable-Risk-520 t1_j2daz4m wrote

I've bought an HD600 and my previous daily driver was the Moondrop Aria. To my ears they are pretty close sonically, with the HD600 being only slightly better in almost every way (not including the fact they will sound different as it is a full-sized headphone vs an iem). Noticeably better though with vocals, jazz, and classical type of music.

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covertash t1_j2er9k8 wrote

A few things to add:

  • What music do you listen to? The 600-series tend to excel well with anything that emphasizes the mids strongly - especially with regards to vocals and acoustic instruments. Despite how revered they may be, I don't find them to be great for bass heavy music or for eye ball popping dynamics.
  • How long have you used the HD599? If they've been your daily drivers for years on end, it's going to take time to adjust to a new pair of headphones, regardless if it's the HD600 or anything else, for that matter.
  • Jumping off the above question about length of usage, I would actually suggest listening to them without applying any EQ for a week or two straight, at least. Especially the Harman EQ profiles that tend to emphasize bass shelves that serve to emphasize the blurry bass region these headphones tend to have.
  • Often, people feel naturally compelled to have this "love at first sight" sensation, but in my experiences the headphones that immediately wow'ed me are the ones I rarely listen to, whereas the ones that I grew to love over time are mainstay staples of my collection.
  • Lastly, keep in mind that these headphones have a legacy that has endured the better part of three decades. Naturally, the rose-colored fondness comes from a period where we didn't have nearly the amount of variety and options that exist today.

At the end of the day, even though the HD600 is popular, there are going to be people out there who don't like it, and that's ok. There's plenty of options out there available for the choosing, so it's just a matter of making sure you've given yourself a fair amount of time, before moving on, because if expectations are not in check, then you're going to have the same problem with all other headphones as well.

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AyeYoYoYO t1_j2e7hqw wrote

It is overhyped. But it’s FR from 90hz -3.5k is literally perfect. And it’s very comfortable. It just isn’t particularly fast, detailed, and has dim boring subdued VEILED treble. It also has poor soundstage for an open back.

I have long wished that sennheiser would have released an HD8__ edition which had the HD600’s FR from 90hz-3.5khz, instead of the scooped upper mids we got in the HD800/800s, that is used to simulate an even larger soundstage, close to the AKG K812.

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Randolph_Carter_666 t1_j2fi0mu wrote

This sub puts way too much stock in the recommended list, IMO. It's also a bit of an echo chamber.

You like what you like. Trust your ears over what you see posted here!

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paigezpp t1_j2d7npq wrote

The HD 600 is 25 years old!

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PhoenixRisingtw t1_j2d6bdr wrote

Tried them yesterday and it was nothing special (unEQd + youtube tho…). But from my short test definitely not worth the price for me.

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ptword t1_j2edpqv wrote

Most full size headphones at these prices don't really sound that good. If you were expecting anything close to truly crystal clear and distortion free sound, no full size headphone, besides maybe a couple of ultra-expensive top-tier models, achieves that goal. Most headphones genuinely sound like crap. The HD600 is one of the least offending affordably priced products, but it's still not gonna be a massive jump from an HD599. The difference in sound quality isn't THAT big.

You'll get far better sound quality with IEMs at those prices.

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CH23 t1_j2d2qoz wrote

i agree, this sub seems to glorify the hd600/hd650/hd800 as if it were the second coming of christ

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M0BCRUSHER t1_j2d4l06 wrote

600s are dope, it's something I can't live without

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ChipsAhoiMcCoy t1_j2d4ed9 wrote

It’s not just this sub there are acoustics engineers who have praised those headphones they are legitimately great.

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Doc-85 t1_j2eixvz wrote

Just to show how subjective this hobby is. For many people (me included) the HD600 is like hearing music enveloped in high quality velure and silk while viking ladies feed me grapes, while for some people is like Jack the hobo dressed in trash bags, in a Walmart cart, yelling for crack down the street.

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No_Analysis6187 t1_j2d4z9o wrote

I mean, is there anyone that doesn't know this at this point?

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