This will be my last update on these headphones. Yesterday and today I tried using these with my tube amp (MAD Ear+ HD II). It did not go well. I could not find a single piece of music on which the 660’s sounded better with the tube amp vs the Violectric V220. I am not sure if it is the fault of the amp or the headphones. Very disappointing.
By mid afternoon today, I was pretty disgusted and I decided to accelerate to Phase 3. I pulled out my new cheapie balanced cable and put it on. And then I plugged my newborns into the Liquid Platinum. WOW!!! What a great partnership. On selected songs it is even outdoing the V220. I don’t recall any Senn’s having bass like this, except maybe the HD58X. It is not overbearing or anywhere it’s not invited. But if your song has bass this combo will bring it loudly and firmly. I quickly stopped going back and forth and just enjoyed the 660’s on the LP. This is a great combo! These, the Sundara’s and the Elex’s will cover every taste and mood I might have on the Liquid Platinum. I will definitely be doing a LONG jazz session with these and the LP.
These on the LP (balanced) and on the V220 (SE) are just about magical for me.
Keeping this wrap-up much shorter than my first two novellas. I really do like these headphones. But they do not tolerate BAD music at all. That will limit their use as I do have lots of old rock, lots of Motown and even bad sounding new rock. My other headphones gloss over the defects, but not these.
But, if you’re in the mood, and you have the right music going, these would be an all day joy. I love the super light weight and the clamp isn’t bad. I will definitely be keeping these as it is definitely another sound signature in the arsenal.
After four years and five sets of headphones, I am now a Senn fan. Although to be fair I really did like the HD58X’s too.
Thank you and yes the MAD is aimed at low impedance. Having said that the HD58X’s and HD660’s were not pleasant on it. However the HD600’s were Awesome on it.
Today I am going Steely Dan/Donald Fagan for two hours and then I will finish with two hours of Trombone Shorty. The LP/HD660’s is a Great combo!
When I do use my 660’s it’s with an iFi Micro to a little dot MKII with 2 x 6H6PI/6H6N Novosibirsk NEVZ-Soyuz and 2 x 5654W/EF95 Siemens valves but also know as tubes? lol…sounds pretty musical too me
I have a Sony WM1A, and since the 660S come with 4.4 balanced cables i am really interested in purchasing them. Highly appreciate for anyone’s input on how well the headphones run off of portable DAP’s.
Not sure how relevant this is, but I just happened to have read ShaneD’s three posts a bit above yours before reading yours. In the first one he writes:
There is a typo there in that it should say 660 vs 600.
I think my Grado’s are awesome from my DAP. But the “bigger” 'phones like the 660’s and especially the Focal Elex’s were not nice at all out of the DAP.
Also, the 660’s are pretty open to be used as an “on the go” headphone. But man, do they sing with a good amp. I will be keeping these for a long time. Great sound and very different from anything else I own.
There are certainly DAPs capable of full sized cans, but I have no experience with the WM1A, so I can’t speak to that particular pairing. My 58x sounds pretty decent from my Hiby R5 and Cayin N6ii, but it’s not particularly picky.
I’ve only had the 660s about a week, running through a 789. The biggest thing I’ve noticed so far, they seem to like live music a lot. I’m enjoying them coming from the 58x.
My current chain is SU-8 -> CTH -> JJ Gold Tube -> SE (for the time being) -> 660s. I think with this setup, I finally understand all the hubub about the Senn 6 series. I never quite got there before when I’ve owned the 6XX or the 58X, but this sounds fantastic; intimate and accurate, vocals forward but good bass punch, and well-extended highs (not forward or fatiguing). Really nice.
I’m not sure about this headphone at full retail, but for $300 used, I think it’s pretty phenomenal.
Just to add on a couple of impressions here as I’ve had a good chance to really give this headphone a good listen over the last few days. I really like them.
The highs are really nice. Very good resolution, but they aren’t forward or fatiguing, so I find myself focusing on them more in an enjoyable way.
I really think they do an excellent job imaging. I’m hearing a good amount of depth to the stage, and while not huge, I do think they express width really well too.
I did do some gaming in them (casual, single-player), and I thought they did a great job with that too.
Add to that good comfort, light weight, being relatively easy to drive, and I think these are a great all-arounder. Easy to put on and just enjoy whatever media you like.
It is worth noting that I very much prefer them on the CTH than on the Magnius. The CTH smooths everything out slightly and adds some width. Also worth noting that I’m only running SE, as I don’t have my balanced cable yet (why do they include a 4.4?).
I loved my 660s till I got the Elex. I haven’t put the 660’s back on since. I will at some point, and I’m keeping them because of the QC issues with the Elex.
Just got my second 660s in and I’ve come to the same conclusion as I did with my first unfortunately. Gotta say it’s really sad to see the direction sennheiser has been taking recently on some of their products. It’s nowhere near as smooth as my 650 or 600 and the midrange in particular is so much better done on the older 6-series headphones. You get a peak with the 660s at ~5.5 KHz and it essentially just drops off after and doesn’t have the same ‘sweet’ characteristic like the others. Overall resolution is slightly better though when using a lower tier amp and the new 2019 mould actually feels rather nice. On their own there’s no doubt it’s a good heaphone but when viewed in the light of its predecessors it doesn’t even come close. I’d still buy a 650/600 over the 660s even if they were all the same price.
It probably depends on what you’re driving them with. I never felt the 6xx was all that great, and I owned them a couple of times. I much prefer the 660s. Though I don’t doubt the 650 can shine with the right pairing.
You’re right that’s a big factor, any of senn’s 300 ohm series scale pretty well with gear. For me at least it’s with anything subjectively ‘nicer’ than an Asgard 3 that the 600/650 really start to pull ahead of the 660s.
In my experience, the only time the 600’s/650’s pull ahead of the 660’s is on a tube amp. Other than that I find them very boring, but to each their own.
I have had this headphone for awhile now. It is very revealing. You can’t screw around with this headphone. Very little music is even recorded well enough to sound good with this headphone. I’ve tried a number of DAC’s, it strips them all down to their naked uglies. Even my $1,000+ Stereophile Class A gear (which I sold). I had the HD 800 for awhile and I think it is less revealing than the 660S. I think people who don’t like this headphone don’t realize it is endgame levels of revealing. I suggest toslink for all computer setups utilizing this headphone. Optical is a necessary and simpler end game for a computer source.
I enjoy my 660S out of the FiiO M11 DAP…plenty of power for these. At my desk I much prefer the 600s (“sweeter” was a good term) unless I am stuck in an office with someone and need closed cans.
you MAD amp is for low impedance headphone?