🔶 Sennheiser HD660s

Headphones [Official] Open Back
42

Since I can see that you have owned the huge majority of what people here want to know about I have a “simple” question.

Whats my next logical step up from this particular set up for pure music listening. The music I usually listen to - Any female vocals that just WOW, classical/instrumental, chill step, 70’s-90’s, Hip Hop, pop, Jazz… basically everything under the sun that sounds good that is not screaming, country or super headbanging metal…

As for budget I suppose something higher than my initial investment into this world. ~1500$

Currently - HD660s 350$ + Q5s 400$ + Hart Audio Cables/Kit 100$ = 850$

Travel PC - 2019 17’ Razer Pro RTX 2080

I am moving to Europe in four months and need to be able to travel with the setup. Preferably a stationary desk stack. “I have a condo I will be moving into that I remodeled”

Unfortunately I am a NOVICE to the world of high quality audio in experience but I have read almost every single post on this website and others comparing everything under the sun.

I’ll be over with roughly 50TB of storage.

43

Well, what type of sound are you looking for? I’m thinking something neutral that is enjoyable yet works with lots of genre

44

ZMF Aeolus perhaps?

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45

ZMF Aeolus with suede pads is a neutral, balanced sound that works for pretty much anything. I haven’t heard the Focal Elex, but that’d probably be good too.

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Oh yea the Elex, forgot about them. Also very very good according to the community

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uh, amp IS needed
go plug these into your motherboard and tell me listening levels are nice across youtube, spotify, your local music player and other audio. The 58x for example NEEDS an amp, or its dogshit. Unless these are magically wayyyy more efficient than the 58x, then not accurate.
Does no amp mean that you can hear things? cause thats true, its just not a nice experience, at all.

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Eh? no. it really doesn’t. I can power them just fine from my phone and onboard audios and they still sound alright. They sound better with dedicated setups but this doesn’t mean you absolutely need an amp to drive them.

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50

agreed… not really necessary nor does it scale really at all imo

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51

I have really wondered about the 660 S I was able to briefly try them and I really enjoy the sound, definitely more aggressive than I am used to. I own the HD 598 and 58x. Not sure how this one actually compares. Was told the later versions, 6xx, 600s, 660s still maintain a small soundstage though my preference is a wider stage. I have considered sitting down with this headphone again as I am a big fan of sennheiser and their wonderfully balanced tone

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the soundstage is pretty similar from the 58x to the 600 and 650 and @ShaneD has a 660s coming so ill be looking forward to his thoughts on that one… ill have a detailed 600 650 comparison up in a week or so too

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53

Feel free to tag me on it if you guys post the review. Would be interested to hear your thoughts on it.

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54

As it will be my fifth Sennheiser, I am dying to see where this goes. :grin:

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55

then im deaf, or you like really boring music
everything is “right under” where it needs to be

56

More along the lines of you probably have a weaker audio codec. In the cases of pc’s theres some motherboards that can even drive 600 ohms and some phones that are better for audio

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only time they were okay on a phone for me was when i had the v20

58

Not something I’d normally do but I’ve just tried my 660s direct off my McBook Pro and it drove them pretty well tbh as loud as I’d want to listen anyways.

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First day with my new toys.First couple of hours was some new music I just bought (Thelonious Monk) via my Violectric V220. Nice sound, everything seemed fine.

Then I start bouncing around into some rock and pop and it wasn’t sounding as good. Was it just me? I pulled out my current favourites (Focal Elex) and plugged them into the same amp, which has two outputs.
Wow, talk about a night and day difference! As soon as the Elex’s went on, I thought “There’s the party!”. But it seems a bit bright or noisy. They are definitely W shaped. They give you lots of mids, lots of treble and lot of bass. I find their sound intense and very enjoyable. But I usually change over to something more relaxing after the thrill wears off.
I flipped back to the Senns and all the noise was gone. It was just the vocals and some backing music. Very minimalist compared to the Elex’s, but very nice too. Two VERY different ways to recreate music. I have been using “fun” headphones for so long it was kind of a nice departure.
I had the HD600’s over the winter but found them boring on anything except a tube amp.

And then my source died. And the charging port is the same port used to tranfer data to the DAC, so the game is over. And then I remember that the 600’s come with a 4.4mmm cable. I plug my charging cable into the bottom of my DAP (Sony ZX-300) and then 4.4mm cable into my balanced port. And then I spent 4 to 5 hours listening to music. First off, it was a BIG step down from my SMSL SU-8/Violectric V220 chain. Within a half hour I was used to it, but I am not sure if it was the system or the headphones, but the music sounded “smaller” or “compressed”. I played some rocky stuff like Audioslave some other alt rockers and the sound was not great, to me. I decided to try my testing favourite, Florence and the Machine. Wow, did it sound Great! I played her for like and hour and a half and then moved on to Ruby Waters which was more goodness. I then ignored the playlists and just went alphabetically and let it all play. I don’t want to form an opinion off DAP usage, but most things sounded really good. I can tell right now though that I would not enjoy Two Feet, Deap Valley, Family Force 5, Sleigh Bells or a lot of Nine Inch Nails with these.
But with vocals centred music, I think these are going to be great and that is most of my music.

Tomorrow I will get back on the system and see how the sound differs from my little DAP run today. My plan is a few days on my SS amp and then move to the tube amp on the weekend. When my balanced cable shows up next week, I will throw them on the Liquid Platinum.

So far I am pretty impressed and keeping an open mind. I think tomorrow I will do some more head to heads with the Elex’s and maybe the Sundara’s also.

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62

Another update on the HD660’s.

First off, I tested the balanced cable yesterday on the LP for one minute and it works fine. :smiley:

Today I started using the Sundara’s as competitor. The Elex’s and HD600’s are POLAR opposites! Going from one to the other just sounds weird. The ELEX is that hot/sexy girl that you know will be high maintenance and it will end badly, but you can’t stop. The 660’s are the nice looking girl that has a good job and will cook you a great meal, if you’re nice. It really is a night and day difference and your choice will depend on how you are feeling.

The Sundara’s slot nicely in the middle. Not as intense and over the top as the Elex’s, but certainly more “fun” than the 660’s.

First couple of hours was Rod Stewart (1970-1985) and the the Stones (1965-1980). The music did not sound good to me at all. It sounded unclear, there are was no separation, muddy bass, etc. Plowed through some pop and rock stuff and I was starting to feel like this purchase was a HUGE mistake. I plugged in the Sundara’s several times and they sounded noticeably better. Yikes!

Then I ran into my collection of Seether. Wow, my mood changed instantly. The drums were banging hard, the screams were penetrating and everything sounded full and clear. I stayed in there for a long time. I listened to half of my 60 Seether tunes and it was wonderful! I inserted the Sundara’s several times and they didn’t sound as tight or focused as the 660’s, which surprised me. I should note here that most of the Stones and Stewart stuff was lossy. In fairness half of my seether collection is also lossy. The first couple of songs in my playlist were all lossy and sounded awesome! I kept checking the file type to see if I was being influenced by better quality files. After several Seether songs, the HD660’s never came off again.

I then moved on to other pop and rock like Sheryl Crow, Serena Ryder, etc and everything was sounding very nice. The closing album was by a jazz outfit called Shalosh. The album is Studio Konzert for Headphones. Unsurprisingly these things are dynamite on Jazz! It was like starting with my three new Thelonious Monk albums on Wednesday. Silky smooth and you could clearly hear every instrument and every note.

That is three full days on my Violectric HPA V220 amp (which impresses me more every day that I use it). With the right music, these headphones are a standout. Having said that, if I spent a whole day rocking with my Elex’s and put these on, I am sure I would be VERY underwhelmed. Of course that happens to me a lot with changing headphones. The sound signatures in my collection are SO different that it takes me anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes to acclimate to new 'phones, depending on how different they are. IME, going from open back to closed back always feels like a huge step down.

Starting tomorrow, I will be A-B’ing the 660’s between the V220 and my tube amp (MAD Ear+ HD II). I am really curious how they scale. When I put my HD58X’s on my tube amp, they were so far behind my HD600’s and Grado’s as not to exist. I sold them weeks later.
For this test, I will A-B the two amps and then stick with the tube amp and compare the 660’s to the Grado’s, which is what this tube amp was bought for.

I wanted to start with a good solid SS amp and get a good feel for what these headphones do and I am mostly impressed. Now it is off to the tubes for the weekend and then next week it is off to the balanced amp for the big finish. :grin:

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