Test songs
Description
Quickstats
Playlist Length
0 days, 9 hours, 39 minutes
Playlist Followers
35
Source
Playlist Last Updated
July 19, 2017
Mood
Mixed Mood
Track Popularity Rating
Deep
Style
Varied
Average Release Decade
2010s
Main Genre:
Mixed
Reddit Info
Reddit Post
**What am I seeing?** Well, me. Me wearing two of the most discussed headphone series in history. HD 600 on my head, 650 around my neck. **Overall thread and impressions** After all the controversy I've seen on these for weeks, and after a slight motivation from /u/keanex, I went ahead and bought the HD 600. The reason why I'm posting it now is because I want a solid record of my initial impressions, so I can come back in a couple of weeks and compare them to my more experienced ones. - *Reasons why you should take this with a spoonful of salt, caveats, and other chracteristics:* 1) I'm running these out of a E07K. I couldn't get a hold of a better amp (Cincinnati people, if any of you would like to lend me one I'll let you pet my dog). 2) I've only owned the HD 600 for 7 hours. 3) I come from a tradition of warm headphones, and we all know how susceptible the brain can be to points of reference and bias. Additionally, I'm very sensitive to treble. 4) I play bass. I had a--mediocre--band for a while, and we played at bars in exchange for beer. This gives me two qualities: a) I am now fairly familiar with the different tonalities of the typical small band instruments, and being the bass player I always focus on texture and depth of this instrument in particular. b) My hearing is quite below average. I blame the beer. 5) I rarely talk about the mids during initial impressions. It's an odd thing to measure and criticize, IMO. 6) I'm an amateur. - **So, thoughts:** [First of all, these are the songs I'm using.](https://open.spotify.com/user/123649683/playlist/6XtmjKcx8htUBwf24CgNWU) Not all are well recorded, but they are there because I know them well. So, are these different? Yes, yes they are. But not as much as I would have thought. As you know the 600 is flatter and the 650 warmer. That said, in these past hours I have actually forgotten at times which one I'm wearing (depending on the music), so it's nothing drastic. In terms of the famous "hearing new things in songs", both do an equally good job, so I won't touch on that. Just to give you an idea, I'll go through a couple of song impressions and take it from there. a) *Jamiroquai - Canned Heat:* I love this song, it's great for bass testing, and it makes the difference in between the 2 cans evident. The 650 surrounds you with the tone, and it's very absorbing and pleasant, albeit slightly heavy. The 600, on the other hand, takes a lean hand at it and extends really well, probably a tad better than the 650 into the sub bass. The texture on both is fairly similar, and really amazing and enjoyable, but in the end it's difficult to chose in between the 2. The 650 has the energy and fun, but lacks a bit of speed for Jamiroquai. The 600 is also fun, and it resolves each note quickly and really well, but lacks the deepness of what the bass would actually have sounded like. Unfortunately, some cymbal notes hurt my ears on the 600, so I ended up preferring the 650 on this one. b) *Daft Punk - Voyager:* What I like about this songs is that it's easy for any headphone to make the insane bassline to sound congested and distant. The HD 650 do exactly this, and in turn affects the rest of the song. The HD 600 are the champs here, cleaning up everything around it and separating instruments really well. c) *Don Ross - Spirit of the West:* This was weird. I thought I would prefer acoustic music on the 600, but it sounds muffled. Yeah, muffled. This song is pretty energetic, and slight slaps on the guitar make it obvious. However, the HD 600 take away said energy and make the song feel subdued and unnatural. The HD 650 seem to control everything better, and provide the energy I would expect from this type of guitar playing. d) *Radiohead - There, There:* This to me is a test of musicality. You can get lost in this song by the end of it, and a good headphone usually makes my brain melt and relax once it ends. Here both headphones perform exceptionally well, I take them over anything else I've ever listened to and tested. The 600 is a tad brighter, but the 650 extends well into the upper notes as well. Nothing is lost, and the difference is barely noticeable. e) *Steely Dan - Peg:* This is a test of technicality for me. The HD 650 is more engaging perhaps, but the HD 600 do this song justice, and by that I mean that the drums are so solid and crispy on them while doing everything right. Unfortunately these tight drums also fatigue my ears a bit, but man I love them. f) *Charles-Marie Widor - Organ Symphony Number 6 in G Minor, OP. 42, No. 2: Allegro Vivace:* The organ is, by far, my favorite instrument, and I have literally teared up in live performances. You can imagine that I am thus very critical of it. Here the HD 600 will do their job, give you the textures, resolve everything cleanly, and then let you go about your day in a good mood. But that's not enough, the organ needs more character, and the HD 650 do a better job at that. When you are in front of an organ, the instrument owns you, and sometimes you need to mentally dig into the notes because there's so much going on. In this regard, the 600 are clean sounding, but not natural. The HD 650 on the other hand gives you a lot of that feeling, and it's great. g) *Liquid Tension Experiment - Osmosis:* Both headphones sound great, but the HD 600 give you a better sense of space, which is necessary once you reach the middle of the song. The drums again sound better on the 600, but everything else is pretty much the same. I was also going to talk about "When the Water Breaks", but I need more time to get a good idea on that one. h) *Einem.Art - Interruptica:* Again, both headphones sound awfully similar here, and in jazz in general. The 600 does give a bigger sense of space, which is nice. The midbass bump on the HD 650 intervenes a little, which dulls the song down a tad. Regardless, I enjoyed this song with both. - **Conclusion** In short, I love these! I'm enjoying my music a lot with them, and that's my goal. I find these more similar than different, and it's highly dependent on the type of music I played. However, when the differences happen to be evident in a song, *they are really evident.* This will be a tough call, because I love both headphones for their own famous characteristics, and I bought them at the same price. In the end I think I'll stick with the HD 650, mainly because of the seldom sibilance-induced pain and looks on the HD 600's side. Regardless, I love the HD 600 as well. Props to Sennheiser, and sorry about the wall of text. More details and prettier pics next time.
Upvotes
24
Subreddit
headphones
Reddit Username
Kakuz
Reddit Timestamp
5/17/15 17:13
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