Sennheiser HD 600

...and objective review of the Sennheiser HD-600 stereo headphones.

Although far from cheap, these headphones are certainly not particularly expensive and in my opinion, represent excellent value. My current hi-fi system would most accurately be described as upper mid-range, rather than true high-end. However, Cyrus components do have a great reputation and are generally very highly regarded amongst audiophiles, industry reviewers and ...
.../> In my opinion, the Sennheiser headphones are an absolute delight. They are superbly finished and well presented when purchased new. Supplied in a unusual black ‘corrugated’ outer box which contains a further ‘inner’ box containing the headphones. These are located snugly in expertly formed cut-outs in high density, dark grey foam to protect them from minor knocks and even the lead has it’s own cut-out. A further piece of thinner foam lines the ... more

I have owned many headsets from various manufacturers over the past 30 years. Some have been good, many have been poor and a few - just a few – have been exceptionally good. However, really good ones are really quite rare so, if you enjoy listening to music and in particular, if you like it both loud and late into the night, without compromising quality, read on. These stereo headphones might possibly be just the answer you’re looking for.

Let me make something clear from the outset. If you expect listening to music through headphones to be the same as it is when listening on high quality loudspeakers, driven by a decent amplifier fed from high quality input devices, forget it. Anyone who knows anything about audiophile quality hi-fi will tell you, headphones are NOT the ideal way to listen to music. Sadly, through my own experiences over the years, I can only confirm this.

Headphones, no matter how good, high end or expensive, are always a compromise. A ‘satisfactory’ solution to a common problem - how to listen to music at high volume levels without effecting others around you who might not be too thrilled to be literally ‘forced’ to listen to ‘your’ particular taste in music. Let’s face it, not many of us could truthfully claim to have a universal love of ‘all’ genres of music and all too soon it becomes obvious with loud music, that one man’s (woman’s?) penchant is certain to be another’s poison.

I have heard some say that listening to music through headphones is actually ‘better’ than through loudspeakers but, this can only ever be the case if those speakers are of poor quality or, in some cases, decent loudspeakers fed by inadequate hi-fi components. Bearing these things in mind, I will try to provide an independent, personal and objective review of the Sennheiser HD-600 stereo headphones.

Although far from cheap, these headphones are certainly not particularly expensive and in my opinion, represent excellent value. My current hi-fi system would most accurately be described as upper mid-range, rather than true high-end. However, Cyrus components do have a great reputation and are generally very highly regarded amongst audiophiles, industry reviewers and simple ‘music lovers’ alike.

My outfit comprises a Cyrus FM6 Stereo Tuner and Cyrus CD8x CD Player, each feeding a Cyrus 8vs2 Integrated Stereo amplifier with both CD player and amp benefiting by partnering with Cyrus PSX-R Regulated Power Supplies. These components feed and subsequently drive a pair of Quad 22L2 floor-standing loudspeakers which although brand new, have been fully burnt-in and sound brilliant.

The amplifier has a standard full-size 6.3mm headphone socket on the rear and to avoid having to fumble, while trying to insert the jack plug into the socket which cannot easily be seen or accessed and also, to avoid having to drape the headphone lead right across the floor where it would be at risk of my partner tripping over it and, God forbid, damaging either the wire, the headphones or the amp (I confess to being slightly less concerned about my partner!) or indeed, the fear of the wire being attacked by any one or indeed, all four of our cats, I have run a high quality 10 metre long extension lead from the amplifier jack, around the edges of the room, to provide convenient access into which I can plug my headphones - right by my favourite armchair. Us oldies do like our creature comforts!

Now, while technophobes would no doubt scream ‘shock’, ‘horror’ at this, stating that such a long lead must destroy quality, I have carried out direct comparison tests both with the headphones plugged directly into the jack on the back of the amp and, using the 10 metre extension lead. I can honestly report that I truly cannot detect any difference whatsoever, let alone any actual ‘loss’ of quality.

In my opinion, the Sennheiser headphones are an absolute delight. They are superbly finished and well presented when purchased new. Supplied in a unusual black ‘corrugated’ outer box which contains a further ‘inner’ box containing the headphones. These are located snugly in expertly formed cut-outs in high density, dark grey foam to protect them from minor knocks and even the lead has it’s own cut-out. A further piece of thinner foam lines the inside of the box lid, providing a very neat and highly protective package.

The headphones themselves are very well finished and look every bit the high-end pro quality component they purport to be. The padded head band is finished in a material which has a marble-like appearance although it is obviously ‘not’ marble. It is in fact, some sort of high quality hard plastic, yet feels cool to the touch. One could be forgiven for thinking it is perhaps some sort of light-weight ceramic. Very clever indeed Sennheiser!

There are four firm but beautifully soft foam cushioning pads on the under side of the head band, providing a comfortable fit upon the head. Further aiding comfort, are the very simple yet beautifully designed ‘elliptical’ ear pads which sit right over the ear, completely enclosing it and only touching the sides of the head, leaving the ear itself completely free of any pressure whatsoever. Effectively, the ears are enclosed within their own personal little ‘compartments’. Simple but quite brilliant! So comfortable are they that after only a short time, it is easy to forget you are wearing them at all. Care is needed as it is all too easy to forget and simply walk off, not realising you are in fact still wearing them, risking either choking yourself on the lead or damaging it by pulling. Although the lead is high quality and reinforced with Kevlar, a sharp tug could easily cause damage at the point where the individual wires fit into the headphones via little plugs.

These are ‘open-back’ style headphones with lightweight aluminium voice coils and powerful neodymium-ferrous rare earth element magnets, providing extremely high quality, spacious, dynamic, open and transparent reproduction of music. However, this type of design does not prevent others also hearing what ‘you’ are listening to, making them unsuitable for listening to music in the same room as someone else who is watching television or a movie etc. They will almost certainly be able to hear your music and, depending upon how loud ‘your’ music is, you may hear at least ‘some’ of what ‘they’ are listening to.

I have found that when I am listening to music in the early hours (which I frequently do), unless the lounge door is fully closed, my partner can hear my music faintly when she is upstairs in bed. Whilst it is certainly not loud enough to actually awake anybody, it is perhaps ‘just’ loud enough to be annoying to anyone trying to get to sleep. Or at least, it ‘is’ to my other half – God bless her!

During the 1980’s, I owned a superb pair of STAX electrostatic headphones which at the time, cost around £800. Anyone who knows anything about headphones will tell you that STAX are manufacturers of some of the best headphones that money can buy. At the time, I thought they were truly fantastic, having a wonderful dynamic range with a wide and detailed sound stage. Until recently, I had never heard any other headphones which even remotely approached similar levels of performance. However, in my opinion, these Sennheisers are more than a match for those STAX ones. In fact, they are considerably superior. Although quite similar in many respects, they are somewhat more detailed, revealing things on compact discs that I simply wouldn’t have been able to hear on the STAX headphones or indeed, most others. One of the most significant differences is the incredibly improved bass response. Unusually for headphones, the Sennheisers produce truly deep, rich and detailed bass in abundance. Bass with real attack and authority. Far, far better than was ever possible with my old STAX electrostatics. I am not for one moment suggesting that the Sennheisers are necessarily superior to current STAX headphones, for I doubt that very much. However, the premium STAX headphones now cost in the region of £2,500 making the Sennheisers appear extremely good value to me.

One of the reasons that headphones are not considered an ideal way to listen to music is that some recordings which might sound perfectly good on loudspeakers, become somewhat less so when heard through stereo headphones.

Part of this problem is that when listening to music via loudspeakers, they are quite obviously always positioned in front of the listener and somewhat to either side, so providing realistic stereo reproduction of the original instrumentation and/or vocals. This is not the case when listening to music through headphones however.

By necessity of design, with the sound emitting device located directly by each ear, what we effectively experience is stereo reproduction directed to us not ‘in front’ of us like conventional loudspeakers but, effectively from the sides - laid out ‘in line’ with our ears – as if listening to a pair of loudspeakers positioned one on either side of us and parallel to a line drawn through our heads, passing through each of our ears.

This sometimes creates the effect of music which ‘apparently’ seems to come NOT from in front of us, but directly to either side of our heads or even worse, sometimes from ‘behind’ or even ‘within’ the head. Whilst this may sometimes seem ‘striking’ and perhaps even oddly ‘effective’, particularly when sound sweeps from one channel to the other and then back again, it never actually sounds ‘right’ and least of all, ‘natural’. In reality, we would never expect to hear music coming to us in this way. It is of course, completely wrong. Sadly, when this does occur, there is actually nothing that can be done about it and it is a fact, that all headphones suffer from this phenomena from time to time and with certain recordings.

Within these constraints however, the Sennheiser HD-600 stereo headphones deliver a truly exceptional and often, quite wonderful musical experience. Whatever your taste or preferred genre of music, these headphones deliver. Whilst the ultimate quality of what we hear with hi-fi, whether listening to headphones or loudspeakers, is determined by the ultimate quality of the original recording, providing you have a good recording, the performance of these headphones is really quite extraordinary and both exciting and exhilarating to listen to.

During my ownership of these headphones, the very objective of purchasing them in the first place has been called into question. So exciting and realistic are they to listen to that occasionally, I have been compelled to remove them to confirm to myself that I am indeed listening to ‘them’ and not my loudspeakers. The thought creeps into my mind that I might just have actually forgotten to turn off my loudspeakers after connecting my headphones and ‘could’ just be listening to very loud music not through my headphones but via the loudspeakers – at 3am!

Only last night (although it happens often), my partner had gone to bed, feeling very tired, only to be kept awake by me, calling her continuously, expressing my amazement at something I was listening to on the headphones. Good recordings sound really quite superb and are often extremely exciting to listen to. So much attack and authority with plenty of well balanced bass and yet, at the same time, immense subtlety of finer detail. The soundstage is huge too and stereo imaging and instrument placement extremely precise. Quite superb!

Last night, it was my enthusiasm and exuberance for a superb Decca recording in their ‘Ovation’ series of Sibelius, with the Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy (Catalog No. 430 757-2), playing amongst other things, ‘Finlandia’ and the ‘Karelia Suite’ which kept my partner awake through me continuously and apparently, loudly, calling to her while upstairs in bed, exclaiming my excitement to her. So much for the convenience to others when listening to music on headphones then!

Recordings that have created similar responses have been Katie Melua’s extraordinary album ‘Call Off The Search’ on the Dramatico label, (Cat No. DRAMCD0002), where on the title track, the very moistness upon her lips can be heard and indeed virtually ‘experienced’. Totally amazing! To further illustrate my embarrassingly eclectic taste in music, I found it equally as exciting listening to Polygram’s superb recording of ‘Tales Of Mystery And Imagination, Edgar Allan Poe’ by The Alan Parsons Project (Cat No. 832 820-2). Although the entire album is superb, the track ‘The Raven’ is particularly incredible to listen to and works superbly on these headphones.

I really cannot recommend these headphones more highly, they are simply wonderful and ultra comfortable too which, is really quite a rare combination. If you love music loud and late, you will find it difficult to better these.

david chamberlain

Specification:

Frequency Response: 16 – 30,000 Hz (-3 dB)
12 – 38,000 Hz (-10 dB)
Acoustic principle: dynamic, ‘open-aire’
Frequency curve: diffuse-field loudness equalization
Nominal impedance: 300 ohms
Sensitivity at 1 kHz: 97 dB
Power handling capability: 0.2W as per DIN 45580
THD (as per DIN 45500): < 0.1%
Sound coupling to the ear: circumaural
Headphone caliper pressure: approx. 2.5N
Weight (without cable): 260 g
Plug: 3.5/6.3 mm stereo jack
Connecting cable: OFC signal cable, 3 metres
 

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