Sennheiser HD 600 Headphone Review

[admin]

It’s not often that I review headphones as most of the models I’ve heard aren’t much to write home about. However, upon speaking with Ivy Scull of HeadRoom, she sold me with a pretty convincing argument about the sonic joys of a quality set of cans (headphones that is). I asked him to send me a reference performance headphone system that is also comfortable to wear. One of my pet peeves with headphones is ear fatigue (not to be confused with listening fatigue) often experienced after an extended wearing session such as a typical 4-5 hour plane flight or listening to the entire Seconds Out Live Genesis double CD. On lesser designed headphones, I often find them unbearable to wear after about 30 minutes. Ivy suggested I try out a pair of Sennheiser HD 600s which he claimed would meet my performance and comfort requirements. For years I’ve heard the raves among audiophiles and reviewers about Sennheiser headphones. I was excited to finally try them out for myself to determine firsthand if their reputation was well warranted and if they passed my ear fatigue test so many others have failed.

Discuss "Sennheiser HD 600 Headphone Review " here. Read the article.

 

[westcott]

If you have read any of my comments over the years, you know I can be overcritical at times. But, by the same token, I hope that I also provide positive comments when I feel someone has done a good job. In this case, it is the latter. I have been waiting for a review of Sennheiser headphones by Audioholics, and I am glad it was you that got the opportunity to do so. Great job!

I do have a question thought. I am interested in your impressions on night time use. My wife would be upstairs, so she won't be real close but your comments about their open design has me a little concerned. Should I be? Will I have to still keep the sound level on my 3805 at a low to moderate level?

Thanks again and I think you have convinced me to make the investment.

 

[gene]

I do have a question thought. I am interested in your impressions on night time use. My wife would be upstairs, so she won't be real close but your comments about their open design has me a little concerned. Should I be? Will I have to still keep the sound level on my 3805 at a low to moderate level?

Well they aren't as loud as speakers but you can clearly hear audio from a few feet away. Your wife won't hear them if she is not in close proximity in the same room.

 

[WmAx]

Well they aren't as loud as speakers but you can clearly hear audio from a few feet away. Your wife won't hear them if she is not in close proximity in the same room.

Your measurement appears to be considerably off. A headphone that measures flat through the mid range and treble will sound extremely raised in the treble. A substantial HF attenuation most be present in any proper headphone, to compensate for the air absorption that would occur with real speakers vs. the listening position, and the off axis ear pickup of treble frequencies, in which the head and ear system partially deflect, causing further attenuation.

-Chris

 

[gene]

Your measurement appears to be considerably off. A headphone that measures flat through the mid range and treble will sound extremely raised in the treble. A substantial HF attenuation most be present in any proper headphone, to compensate for the air absorption that would occur with real speakers vs. the listening position, and the off axis ear pickup of treble frequencies, in which the head and ear system partially deflect, causing further attenuation.

Don’t be so presumptuous. Sennheiser specs these from 12Hz to 39kHz though they don’t give a tolerance.

Also check out headphone.com measurements:
http://www.headphone.com/technical/product-measurements/build-a-graph.php?graphID[0]=249&graphID[1]=&graphID[2]=&graphID[3]=&graphType=0&buttonSelection=Compare+Headphones

I measured above 200Hz by sticking the mic directly on the driver and below 200Hz using a Styrofoam cup to simulate the coupling response an ear makes with the headphone. Thus my measurement above 200Hz is an actual response the driver (as I noted in the review) is producing but not necessarily what your ear is hearing.

Next time I measure a headphone, I will try placing the mic towards the inner portion of the cup to see how it measures full range. I plan on contacting Sennheiser so they can help me construct a more accurate “ear” to make measurements on open air cans like these.

 

[WmAx]

Don’t be so presumptuous. Sennheiser specs these from 12Hz to 39kHz though they don’t give a tolerance.

Also check out headphone.com measurements:
http://www.headphone.com/technical/product-measurements/build-a-graph.php?graphID[0]=249&graphID[1]=&graphID[2]=&graphID[3]=&graphType=0&buttonSelection=Compare+Headphones

The headphone.com measurement shows as an average, a substantially lowered treble as frequency rises, as I would expect in any diffuse field equalized headphone.

I don't know of any way to exactly measure a headphone so that you can directly correlate to a loudspeaker measurement, if that is the point here. Loudspeaker frequency response measurements themselves can not be correlated with other measurements of loudspeakers, unless several factors are addressed, and multiple polar measurements are aquired, along with other considerations. Comparing to headphones for purposes of correlation makes things even more difficult. Several factors are at issue when cross-referencing the two. However, if you want an accurate measurement of the transducer itself, you need to achieve a seal very similar to that on a real head to acquire the LF and mid response, and an acoustically damped baffle for HF response. Of course, this can not directly be used to correlate with what you hear, either, but does let one acquire data about the driver and rear enclosure system itself. The easiest method to get a measurement considering the ear structure and ear canal is to use an in-ear canal probe microphone, which will closely resemble the results gathered with the very expensive dummy head measurement systems such as used by headphone.com. Such an ear probe is outlined in the JAES paper, "On the Standardization of the Frequency Response of High-Quality Studio Headphones", Gunther Theile, JAES Vol. 34, No. 12, 1986, December, pages 956-969.

-Chris

 

[westcott]

The headphone.com measurement shows as an average, a substantially lowered treble as frequency rises, as I would expect in any diffuse field equalized headphone.

-Chris

I think all one has to do is to look at the graph and see how flat it is. Even if your testing method is "questionable", the conditions do not change over the frequency range being tested. Flat is flat and no procedure, good or bad, is going to prevent peaks or dips.

 

[gene]

The headphone.com measurement shows as an average, a substantially lowered treble as frequency rises, as I would expect in any diffuse field equalized headphone.

I don't know of any way to exactly measure a headphone so that you can directly correlate to a loudspeaker measurement, if that is the point here. Several factors are at issue when cross-referencing the two. However, if you want an accurate measurement of the transducer itself, you need to achieve a seal very similar to that on a real head to acquire the LF and mid response, and an acoustically damped baffle for HF response. Of course, this can not directly be used to correlate with what you hear, either, but does let one acquire data about the driver and rear enclosure system itself. The easiest method to get a measurement considering the ear structure and ear canal is to use an in-ear canal probe microphone, which will closely resemble the results gathered with the very expensive dummy head measurement systems such as used by headphone.com. Such an ear probe is outlined in the JAES paper, "On the Standardization of the Frequency Response of High-Quality Studio Headphones", Gunther Theile, JAES Vol. 34, No. 12, 1986, December, pages 956-969.

-Chris

Chris, obviously if I had the resources available, an ideal measurement could be made. That isn't the point. My measurement demonstrates the driver is linear and at least meets the spec of the manufacturer. I plan on using a standardized measurement going forward (such as the styrofoam cup, at a fixed distance) when I start doing more of these reviews.

 

[WmAx]

I think all one has to do is to look at the graph and see how flat it is. Even if your testing method is "questionable", the conditions do not change over the frequency range being tested. Flat is flat and no procedure, good or bad, is going to prevent peaks or dips.

In fact, the conditions do change over the frequency range. The coupling, as well as the distance of the microphone, and the properties of the baffle surface, along with reflections at treble frequencies, all result in factors that vary with frequency, thus affect the measurement by a substantial degree.

-Chris

 

[westcott]

In fact, the conditions do change over the frequency range. The coupling, as well as the distance of the microphone, and the properties of the baffle surface, along with reflections at treble frequencies, all result in factors that vary with frequency, thus affect the measurement by a substantial degree.

-Chris

Are you trying to tell us that the testing conditions change over the frequency range. I think not. The testing conditions are constant, good or bad.

 

[WmAx]

Chris, obviously if I had the resources available, an ideal measurement could be made. That isn't the point. My measurement demonstrates the driver is linear and at least meets the spec of the manufacturer. I plan on using a standardized measurement going forward (such as the styrofoam cup, at a fixed distance) when I start doing more of these reviews.

Refer to the paper I cited. You will find a diagram and description of the probe. You can fabricate one for your self and use it to acquire your measurements. If you want to fabricate a system to measure headphone driver/enclosure system linearity alone, in order to determine trandsucer linearity, I can help you with this, as I have put some effort into such systems. You can contact me via PM or e-mail if you are interested.

-Chris

 

[westcott]

One last thing Gene. Do you mind giving us your hat size or head diameter? As you probably have guessed, I have a FAT head and so, I need a frame of reference for possible comfort issues.

 

[Tom Andry]

One last thing Gene. Do you mind giving us your hat size or head diameter? As you probably have guessed, I have a FAT head and so, I need a frame of reference for possible comfort issues.

BEST QUESTION EVER!!!!! lol!!!

 

[majorloser]

Gene is the one on the right. Please note the size of his mellon compared to the other two gentleman.

(Sorry Gene but your head is almost twice the size of Derek Jeter's.)

 

[westcott]

Gene is the one on the right. Please note the size of his mellon compared to the other two gentleman.

(Sorry Gene but your head is almost twice the size of Derek Jeter's.)

WOW. I could be his double, minus a few years and a permanent!!!

 

[pbarach1]

Why didn't they send you the HD-650's?

I had a pair of 600's in the past, liked them, and sold them for reasons having nothing to do with the phones. A few months ago, I bought a pair of 650's and I like them, too (although I haven't compared them with the 650's). Gene, do you have any idea why headroom didn't send you the 650's?

BTW, the sound quality from the headphone jack in my Denon 3805 was horrible, so I bought a Headroom Micro amp and it is an excellent, tiny piece of equipment. By connecting the amp directly to my CD player's (Denon 3910) output, I'm getting much better sound quality. The customer service experience with Headroom was top-flight, too.

I only wish that I could figure out a way to connect my amp to the 3805 and mute the speakers. Someone posted this description of the problem:
"I've read the manual and tried connecting the h-amp to the tape out connectors on the Denon (choosing Zone 2 as signal output), and this works fine with analog sound, but not with digital sources (as stated in the manual). I've also tried pre-out, but then I can't prevent the sound from going to the speakers as well."

This was posted at http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=191914
When I posted my "me, too" response, someone suggested that I mute the speakers by plugging another set of headphones into the 3805's jack. That mutes the speakers, but it also mutes the pre-out outputs as well.

Does anyone have a solution to this problem?

 

[mazersteven]

Admin,

Thanks for the review of the Senn HD600's. I've been enjoying my 600's for over a year now. Looking forward to the arrival of the Senn HD700's.

My recommendation if you want to review a outstanding set of headphones would be to review the AKG 701's.

 

[sholling]

I’ve enjoyed my HD600s for several years and agree with most of the review. Subjectively the HD600s (I haven’t performed scientific tests) sound incredible when fed good material from a good source. Where I respectfully differ is on one point. Portable devices: While it’s been a couple of years since I’ve tried to drive these off of an MP3 player I can tell you that my HD600s need serious (for headphones) power. When connected to a portable not even my pocket Headphone.com amp will drive them past conversational volumes. This is one headphone that deserves to be reserved for well recorded music, and to be driven by a good headphone amp.

 

[markw]

Measurement quibbles or not, the 600's are excellent cans.

But, cheap SOB that I am, I use the 580's which are almost (say, at least 98%?) as good but are available nowadays for around $130.

 

[westcott]

BTW, the sound quality from the headphone jack in my Denon 3805 was horrible, so I bought a Headroom Micro amp and it is an excellent, tiny piece of equipment. By connecting the amp directly to my CD player's (Denon 3910) output, I'm getting much better sound quality. The customer service experience with Headroom was top-flight, too.

QUOTE]

Sounds like I need to budget for a separate amp. Thanks for the advice.