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A downsize that has not been a disappointment ...

I have been listened to some recordings such as Haydn's C Major Cello Concerto from a needle drop digital transfer done on a Philips CD recorder many years ago now and played via iTunes of course these days. I bought the record in 1974, and there was hardly a blemish on it in spite of it being well used by the time I transferred it! Sadlo and Prague Radio Orchestra [original Supraphon recording done in 1963, and issued by EMI on CFP - a premiere recording, which might seem hard to believe]. There is an immediacy and intimacy to the Senns driven by the Little Dot that takes me back to listening with headphone four decades ago! Amazing. Very satisfying.

Best wishes from George
 
I had a major ‘downsize’ 2 years ago and sold my valve amps for a devaliet 200. In two other (smaller) rooms I listen more in, I went to hlp3esrs and Spendor s3/5Rs. These work beautifully- the scale has gone but the timbre and precision are there in spades. If you’re keen on headphones, there are several models that will improve considerably on the HD600s, lovely though they are.
 
Am using my Shure SE535 at work and AKG 712pro at home, and all thought the sound is great and very detailed it can not compare with my Graham Audio LS 5/9.
But one thing I really enjoy using my headphones, is when listening to podcasts, like having the voices in my head!.
 
TheDecameron said:
I had a major ‘downsize’ 2 years ago and sold ...

If you’re keen on headphones, there are several models that will improve considerably on the HD600s, lovely though they are.
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It is an odd one really. I have been using various Sennheiser phones since the 1980s. I was put onto them by my favourite record shop. They used them to allow customers to have a listen to records in stock! They would not let the customer put the record on for themselves though!

Over the years I have tried out various types from recording studio types, Grado, Bayer, and and many others I cannot remember the name of.

I find the HD 600 phones to be "ideal" for me. They are the best Sennheiser phones I have tried. I have never tried anything that I could not afford though!

I am sure that everything in transducer design is a choice of compromises. For example I have been told that Stax make the least compromised headphones, but I would never pay the asking price, or even get second hand, as it is not so clear cut as to support when something goes wrong.

At least if the 600s go wrong, then I can afford to replace them if beyond repair. So having them gives no fear for anything going wrong that its beyond me being able to afford to put it right.

I think that is important. I had a work colleague, who ran a high spec Audi A4. Its Diesel Particulate Filter went wrong, or at least diagnosed as such by one garage who quoted four figures for the repair! He was terribly unhappy as he really could not afford that kind of repair. As it happens my friend is a second generation Czech, born in this country, and he asked me what to do. We got on well. I told him to take the car to a different garage, which then reported that there was nothing wrong with the DPF. But I also told him once he had a clean bill of health on the car, to get it sold whilst in good condition - the DPFs can be trouble on those Audis, apparently. I told him to buy a Skoda as being suitable for Czech! He bought a little Favourite, for £400. Bomb-proof and £3500 less than he sold the Audi for. Happiness around. Apparently the Audi did ten MPG better than the older Skoda, but £3500 buys an awful lot of petrol and simple maintenance on such a basic little car.

I think that way, and so even if there is something better, I am not curious to find it!

Best wishes from George
 
George J said:
At least if the 600s go wrong, then I can afford to replace them if beyond repair. So having them gives no fear for anything going wrong that its beyond me being able to afford to put it right.
Click to expand...

Sennheiser, being a pro-audio company at heart, are superb from a spares perspective. I don’t think there is a single part of the HD-600 that can’t be bought as a spare!
 
George J said:
It is an odd one really. I have been using various Sennheiser phones since the 1980s. I was put onto them by my favourite record shop. They used them to allow customers to have a listen to records in stock! They would not let the customer put the record on for themselves though!

Over the years I have tried out various types from recording studio types, Grado, Bayer, and and many others I cannot remember the name of.

I find the HD 600 phones to be "ideal" for me. They are the best Sennheiser phones I have tried. I have never tried anything that I could not afford though!

I am sure that everything in transducer design is a choice of compromises. For example I have been told that Stax make the least compromised headphones, but I would never pay the asking price, or even get second hand, as it is not so clear cut as to support when something goes wrong.

At least if the 600s go wrong, then I can afford to replace them if beyond repair. So having them gives no fear for anything going wrong that its beyond me being able to afford to put it right.

I think that is important. I had a work colleague, who ran a high spec Audi A4. Its Diesel Particulate Filter went wrong, or at least diagnosed as such by one garage who quoted four figures for the repair! He was terribly unhappy as he really could not afford that kind of repair. As it happens my friend is a second generation Czech, born in this country, and he asked me what to do. We got on well. I told him to take the car to a different garage, which then reported that there was nothing wrong with the DPF. But I also told him once he had a clean bill of health on the car, to get it sold whilst in good condition - the DPFs can be trouble on those Audis, apparently. I told him to buy a Skoda as being suitable for Czech! He bought a little Favourite, for £400. Bomb-proof and £3500 less than he sold the Audi for. Happiness around. Apparently the Audi did ten MPG better than the older Skoda, but £3500 buys an awful lot of petrol and simple maintenance on such a basic little car.

I think that way, and so even if there is something better, I am not curious to find it!

Best wishes from George
Click to expand...

Interesting and a philosophy I wholeheartedly subscribe to these days, especially as I get older...My 11-year-old Nissan just keeps going, so much as I keep thinking 'oh, go on, treat yourself, life's too short etc etc' the fact that it costs peanuts to run and does the job has its own curious satisfaction.
Same with the hifi, none of which cost a lot, but the ProAcs are now around 12 years old and I do get tempted to push the boat out, then think ' get a grip, once the thrill of getting the new stuff in has waned, you'll realise it's no better, maybe just a bit different...'
I definitely buy more music, so there's the upside of not swapping gear.
My son's just bought a pair of tiny Tannoys from Richer Sounds for...£30 !! Hooked them up to my ancient Rotel and playing from his Mac book the whole thing is ridiculously good.
 
Out of curiosity - and without wishing to take the thread to far off topic, i've been hankering with the idea of a pair of HD800's.

But, now there's the HD800S, and the HD800 closed back version just to make things a little complicated re a choice.

I've had a brief listen to the HD800 and HD800S at a Hifi show, with Sennheiser head amp in play, and listening to classical music I thought the HD800 was cleaner and more 'neutral' for lack of a better word than the HD800S.

Conversely the HD800S had a warmer tonal balance, and a fuller bass, but lacked the pristine sense of transparency and authenticity as regards natural acoustic instruments timbre as heard on the HD800 - yet some reviewers would have it that the HD800S is an 'improvement' over the original HD800.

I did ask the people at the show which of the two was the more 'accurate' from a frequency response POV, but was simply told it depends upon what you like, which wasn't especially helpful as well as not answering the question.

Anyone with any experience of both that could kindly comment?

Much appreciated

Cheers
 
Dear Jon,

I'd say that what you were told is probably right. It is what you like, and not how it measures.

As I wrote above, "I am sure that everything in transducer design is a choice of compromises."

Some items that are very expensive and measure extremely well sound pretty unappealing to me, and yet some items which demonstrably measure worse do seem to have an enjoyable presentation.

Those HD 800 type headphones are very expensive, and I would imagine that it is not difficult to obtain the measurements of both the closed and open versions on the internet today, but ultimately the choice should be made by any individual based on the presentation of music which that particular person likes.

Another point might be how you could ever objectively measure the performance of a headphone in the first place, as the creation of the audible frequency response depends on two things. The phones themselves and how they react directly with the ear and aural canal of the individual, so I would imagine that that the performance of any given headphone set would be as variable [to some extent] as the ears of the person using them.

And every human is at the least slightly different to any other.

Just my two pennies' worth. George

PS: I have just looked up the technical data for both, and the frequency band is far more than the human ear could ever actually hear [or is contained on most recordings], with vanishingly small distortion levels. But clearly you can hear a difference which is apparently much larger than the very similar claimed performance figures might indicate. So I guess that you are left with buying the version you like the best!
 
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+1 Go with what you enjoy George: you're not doing this to impress other people but for your own enjoyment.

Tony L said:
Sennheiser, being a pro-audio company at heart, are superb from a spares perspective. I don’t think there is a single part of the HD-600 that can’t be bought as a spare!
Click to expand...

The other important thing about this is simply that if you need a new capsule, the QA/ matching to the one you have will remain superb; unfortunately that's not something can be said for certain boutique emergent headphone brands for their offerings sold new.

ditto any other spare.

I've a pair of HD565 Ovations I bought new in early 1998, and they've benefited from such spares availability over the years - not my everyday use pair anymore, but still very enjoyable, ever-comfortable, darn close to the 600s (which, at the time, is why I bought them) and importantly, still more-than-good-enough while serviceable for some years yet. Possible decades (I could of course fit the HD600 capsules straight in, instead, next time...)
 
In the last few years I've gone from Impulse H2s tramped down to Shure KSE1200 electrostatic in ears, through a number of headphone sets. A variety of dacs, mostly diy, have been built along the way, with comparisons to well regarded commercial dacs to keep some perspective on dac output.

The Shure in ear electrostatics are superb and represent the ultimate in literal downsizing, better than any full size headphone but picky on earth's to get a good balanced sound. Probably not everyone's idea of Hifi nirvana, but in accepting I cannot accommodate a big speaker rig anymore, I am very happy.

A setup that draws you back to music at every opportunity is surely always the goal.
 
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