i donāt have tube amp. but I like my HD600 with Asgard 2. I donāt like HD600 with Liquid Spark or Zen Can. Asgard 2 is really good with HD600 it removes that paper tone of HD600 . Maybe Tubes are even better
Well, with the Focal you have more than enough reserves.
And they are certainly better headphones than the Hd 600, even if you are only starting in the entry-level class in terms of amplification.
Personally, I didnāt like the Hd 600 at all.
On the solid state Dac it was too watty for me and on the OTL amp it was quite close to the Lcd 2c.
And from the point of view, it was simply that the Hd 600 had better bass than the Lcd2C.
And the Lcd 2C had the better mids and highs, at least on my tube amp (Feliks Euforia).
Maybe this year or next year Iāll add a great OTL amp and compare again.
Whether thatās really the case or whether itās really down to the Feliks.
Thatās why I donāt necessarily want to talk bad about the Hd600. It just showed me that sometimes there are headphones that donāt necessarily harmonise well with the amping. That happens from time to time.
Of course the Hd600 has developed a huge fan base over the years.
The same will probably be the case with the Focal Clear with a less good amping as a starting point.
In the end, one can only say that many roads lead to Rome.
I canāt believe how well these scale. Very enjoyable. Mids and treble are just so sweet, and the bass can have some nice punch when called for. Non offensive all around, while keeping great details and timbre, with surprisingly decent depth.
Schiit Yggdrasil > XI Audio Formula S + Powerman
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I totally agree. I donāt think there is enough conversation about what happens when you give the HD600 enough power and headroom it just opens up and becomes a completely different experience. Full disclosure I also swapped out the stock pads ( I know itās heresy) for Yaxi pads. Like most others I love what a tube amp does for the 600ās. Iām also a fan of the āvintageā sound from the Emotiva A-100 headphone circuit, I think is great with 70ās Soul, R&B, and Rock. I donāt know what made me try it but I re-wired my signal chain to go from my ADI-2 out to the DarkVoice then to the A-100. For the right music itās just amazing. The other combo that Iāve found that elevates the 600ās is the Honey H1 in to the RNHA. The Neve gives a boost and cleans it ever so slightly, itās just joyful to listen to music and the uppers are crisper and the bass is fuller and rounder. In both cases itās still the Sennheiser house sound just more of it. I own the 6XX and the 660S and I think Iāll be selling them I just donāt ever reach for them.
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Iām thinking of getting a 600/650/660. Any thoughts on the differences?
If you care mostly about vocals and ācleanlinessā - go for 600, if you wouldnāt mind some warm but at a cost of vocals forwardness - go for 650.
If you donāt care about your wallet, go for 660, but Iād say at its price point thereāre better choices anyway
Sounds like a 600 to me haha. if I want warm Iāll be putting on the Meze 
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I own all three and I can share my opinions on these headphones. First they all represent the Sennheiser house sound well. It you donāt have equipment that will give the headphones plenty of power and headroom the 660s are a good choice they are 150 and easy to drive, also hardware pairing just isnāt a thing.
The 600 and the 6XX (650) are both 300ohm units. The 600ās are my favorites but Iāve made some changes. I changed out the pads to YAXI Pads for the HD650. But when they really shined is when I used my ADI-2 as my DAC into my DarkVoice as pre into the Emotiva A-100. The headphones just open up with the headroom they are so clear the mids are just crisp the top end is clear and smooth. The bass is detailed and fast and responsive. The 6XX just donāt respond in the same manner. There are a number of products on the market that can give you the headroom.
Now with all that said if you can go listen to them and trust your own ears. The only opinion that matters is yours. Get what sounds good to you. If you canāt try and find the used so you can flip them if you donāt like them.
I donāt feel like power is a big problem here 
440mW at 300ohm of solid state and a potent little tuby. I think I really want a headphone that will sound very different on different amps and dacs and be able to really show me the way in the audio world 
what is the cause of the veil, Sennheiser is known for?
are there ways to mitigate it?
My guess is the fact that theyāre commonly run off high output impedance OTL amps. Super low damping.
If you read reviews of them being run off quality solid state amplification, itās not unusual for the veil to be āliftedā.
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only quality ss, not otl?
OTL by default (nature of the design) is high output impedance. So low damping factor.
What would qualify as āquality ssā?
Thatās a loaded question lol. The higher end stuff is what Iāve seen reviews with.
Of course my theory about damping factor being the cause may be total crap.
Senn and Beyer went with hi Z drivers in order to keep a high damping factor when there was high output impedance. I think the reason many hi Z headphones like tube amps is because their impedance curve is U shaped and tube amps are very good voltage amplifiers that respond with more voltage to high impedance loads. In other words, high impedance dynamic drivers require more voltage in the bass and treble and tube amps can deliver more voltage more quickly to those increased loads. I think this is why the Senn 6?? series āwakes upā on a tube with the bass and treble coming forward. There are solid state designs that can do this but you pay for the privilege.
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Headroom, not just more power. However sometimes you get both in the process.
So Iām comparing them with the 6xx right now, I had the hd600, sold them and later bought the 6xx, and it kept bugging me that the 6xx werenāt as smooth as I remembered the 600ā¦
Anyway I ordered 600s to compare, and yeah, itās weird cause theyāre brighter but theyāre somehow less fatiguing than the 6xx itās like everything is too loud on the 6xx, weird, the 6xx sound like the have some kind of resonance, might just be my pair idk.
So I need a new set of ear pads for my HD600. Any reason not to try a Dakoni pad?
Dekoni pads will sound different from stock. And most people prefer stock. But of course it doesnāt hurt to try it out