Sennheiser HD6XX Open Back Professional Headphones - Black

Product Information

Additionally, those who wear glasses will appreciate the velour pad covering, as it doesn’t bind or catch on the arms of your specs. This second coming of the HD 650 was actualized in the Massdrop x Sennheiser HD 6XX, the result of a collaboration between the storied audio brand and the “audiophile” subset of Massdrop’s commerce community that have proven extremely popular — so popular, in fact, that the company is still selling them years later. For now, I need to keep this one in pristine condition for comparisons in my future headphone reviews.

The announcement of the HD8XX in February was met with massive fanfare, with the community ready for their new kilobuck king. Therefore, it is more emphasized in the mid-bass without being exaggerated, but still close to the neutral ideal. Not tube of course but it’s no slouch and has the best DAC and headphone amp out of all the interfaces I’ve owned and tried so far.

HD6XX was born out of a collaboration between DROP (previously Massdrop) and Sennheiser as a revision to Sennheiser’s highly acclaimed flagship of six years – HD650 (2003 to 2009). With its neutral lower midrange and relatively light note weight, its 5k-ishHz boost gets a little intense and harsh at times. Simply, Sundara is slightly north of neutral in its treble presentation making it a neutral-bright headphone whereas I consider HD6XX as neutral-warm. They surely can tune (massdrop plus is in hindshight a good etymotic evo, also 3 times cheaper), but at the same time they worsened hd800 (probably they were bot directed to tune like this).

Per what I’ve written at the start of the demo, sound demos are to be used for comparative purposes only.

Only a little bit the effervescence is missing, but life is not a rainbow-colored unicorn and therefore you can't really blame the HD6XX when it tries to stay authentic. Plucked strings like guitars sound like they’re severely lacking snap, and bowed strings sound like a heavy cloth has been draped over them.

This boost sometimes adds a tiny bit of bloom in some songs which already have a bass boost in this region but I’d still classify the overall bass presentation as fairly neutral and well done in general. However, I already did the whole spiel on the KSC75’s legendary status so there’s really only one value rating I can give to such a… thing. Other headphones work around this by using a braided nylon cord, but the HD 6XX only has the traditional PVC wrapping. That said, because there’s only a plastic mesh covering the drivers, they let a lot of sound both in and out. HD6XX’s body is mostly made of plastic with the headband adjuster being the only metal part in there but is put together very well owing to Sennheiser's manufacturing prowess.I would never consider it as unnatural and the head gain is mostly correct, with the exception of the overzealous 4-5kHz response. That does not mean that his review of the HD8XX is wrong or off by any means, maybe it sounds like crap all the way, i don’t know.

The main problem is I feel like the back of the left headphone touches my ear too much or just fits in a way I need to fuss with. Like many audiophile headphones, they target what we refer to as a “studio” response, where the headphones don’t add many “ colorations” or swings in emphasis for the notes in your music. I would like to see a bit more punch and firmness, but when it comes to fun in the low end, the HD6XX likes to give the sceptre away and prefers to limit itself to a natural response and realism.In most cases, the aim is to revise or reissue an existing product, make it more cost efficient and thus make it accessible to a wider audience. Looking at the HD6XX versus the HD650, you'll note the HD6XX has a dark blue headband versus silver and the screen printed "Sennheiser" on the top of the band is more subtle. Instead of coming with a normal carrying case or pouch, it comes with this this big box which I hate. I'm going to sell my pair and the box already looks a bit like hell, and I've barely done anything to it. Top-class resolution with some of the widest (some say the widest) soundstage in a headphone are the prime reasons why the HD800 series still remain relevant more than 10 years since their release in 2009.