Yeah only reason I'd go for the 505 is if you are prioritising gaming over music though they are close but the 505 has a less refined treble for music uses while being a little more balanced sound for gaming purposes.
General Headphone Audio
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Yeah only reason I'd go for the 505 is if you are prioritising gaming over music though they are close but the 505 has a less refined treble for music uses while being a little more balanced sound for gaming purposes.
This does actually make sense, I have the planar side of things covered by the HE1000se, so may as well have the dynamic side of things covered with the HD600. HD650 was great for gaming for the 12 years I had that, and HD600 is supposed to be a pinch better still in the neutral side of things, and I did say before that I have not yet sampled the HD600 so....
Edit*
Is the marble version or the matte version the better of the HD600, I can't remember which is which!
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Caporegime
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Marble was the OG one, made in Ireland before they moved it to Romania which is the new grey one. There is no better, I mean the box is not as nice now but I don't hear people say they are sonically any different.
Yeah just looked into it, I like the aesthetic of the marble more but the headband foam is the modern type on the revision although I can just buy the foam at any point anyway and replace it with the newer one. The matte finish of the revised one does look really slick though and there is a £17 difference with the matte being cheaper.
The current HD 6x0 are made in Ireland; certainly the new HD 600's I bought in August have made in Ireland imprinted on the left-hand side of the headband and on the box with a UKCA logo. The HD 650 and 660S2 have this too. Only the Massdrop HD58X and 6XX are different and don't have made in Ireland on them (although they are just in the older moulds). As noted in the link Sennheiser Professional (HD 490 Pro) have production facilities in Romania.
The new HD 600 (650 & 660S & 660S2) use the newer 'chamfered edges' moulds that were introduced in 2019 with other minor cosmetic changes. The new and old measure the same, however the old black mesh HD 600/650s may well have some audio differences, but obviously are quite rare as these are earlier 600/650's.
You can't buy the Marbletop 600 new anymore. There is a healthy turnover of them secondhand. I know Amazon UK have a picture of the marbletop HD 600 as new, but as noted the reviews this is just an old/incorrect page with the normal grey HD 600 actually being sold. You can pick the marbletop up for £120-190 secondhand depending on luck, condition and packaging.
The only thing that makes me a little nervy about the old classic HD 6x0s that no-one really talks about is the foam in the spider cage degrading. Custom Cans noted this in one of their mod videos that they have seen this foam perish. But this foam has a significant impact on the sound tuning of the classic HD 600/650 and is a bugger to replace. Certainly doable, but not easy. The upside of the HD 6x0 is that buying new headband foam and earpads is very cheap and therefore it is very easy to 'refresh' an old HD 600, 650 or 580. You'd just need to take it apart and wash the plastic in warm soapy water. There aren't many headphones that is true of.
So I found the HD600 for £237 brand new so went for them, should be here Monday
Now you can finally answer whether you're team 600, or 650. I know the majority tend to prefer the former, but I'm still struggling with that one.
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My Ultrasone collection has expanded a bit, just received the Signature X and new Signature Pure Black:
Not sure about any internal foam, mine still looks OK on both mine from a quick look - it is hard to see it properly but it looks like it some sort of laminated stuff on mine, but the grill cover foam is just an insert - I found that tends to start crumbling about the same time as the memory foam deflates and is an easy fix, though to get the original sound AFAIK the only way to replace it is via buying the complete pad set from Sennheiser Hearing (Sonova). I'm not sure the exact details but the matte finish they went through like 3 revision of the ear pads - I believe they were originally launched with the original HD600 pads then they swapped to a new pad shared by both the 600 and 650 which but a lot of people complained they were hard and uncomfortable and I believe Sonova updated them with a redesign which are closer to the original 650 pads - on the 600s they slightly affect the tuning but people say they mostly go back to the original sound once they've been compressed a bit from use.
So what I'm flagging is that very small piece of foam that Sennheiser insert in the spider cage immediately behind the driver. You can see it when removing the grille from the HD 6x0. When taken out it would unfurl to the size of an old 50p piece or so (this is a massive no-no btw). The HD 600 has one piece, two pieces stacked on top of each other in the 650 and one thicker piece about the same as the 650 in the 6XX. And I believe it's always been this way. Given virtually everything is so well documented on the 6x0, I can't find much about this (probably because most people don't think about it). I also can't find any part number from Sennheiser/Sonova. You can buy the replacement driver unit for the 600 and 650 for around £60 each but obviously that's not ideal. I've never seen replacement parts for the HD 6XX so assume Sennheiser/Sonova aren't contracted to supply these as part of the deal with Massdrop, although a lot of these are the same parts.
Generally any foam is going to degrade and I guess that changes depending on climate etc. And it's fairly common to see people get out old HD 600/650's and notice the foam in the headband pad, or the earpads have gone flat. As part of the Custom Cans Copper Mass Loading mod you can remove this foam if wanted and replace it with their small circular pieces. It's this that alerted me to that fact the foam can perish. I guess if we could get in the Delorean and go forward 100 years all of these HD 6x0 will have just a powder behind the driver.
Regarding the ear pads I know Sennheiser released a fairly major change in 2021, which results in a firmer and more durable earpad. These can be differentiated by the use of a clear, translucent plastic ring around the rear (when you pull the earpad out) rather then the black plastic the older earpads used. Most places where you are ordering Spare Part No. 050635. are realistically going to be this new version. These have been measured and documented in detail on ASR etc.
All of this demostrates I've spent way too many hours reading about this series of headphones. Despite not actually buying my first just over 18-months ago.
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Caporegime
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It's kinda weird and pot luck. You guys know I don't wear my HD600, it sits in the packaging for literally 2 decades. Even the top layer foam on the ear pad on 1 side perished, but it was perfectly fine on the other side. There is no reason for them not to perish at the same rate....
The foam in the headband and ear pad has not changed at all.
The foam in the headband and ear pad has not changed at all.
Yeah my HD650 driver foam insert was perfectly fine, I only removed it to test out additional modding towards year 12 of ownership and it pulled out with tweezers in new condition still.
The foam disc on the ear pads though did weaken over time and needed replacement every couple of years as you could feel it was weaker Vs newer foam.
The foam disc on the ear pads though did weaken over time and needed replacement every couple of years as you could feel it was weaker Vs newer foam.
Just to be clear, I'm not saying it's a massive thing and not really relevant if buying new. However if you're buying a set of HD 580s, or 10-15 year old 600 is more likely albeit still probably rare. I'm not sure what causes the foam to perish but maybe it's certain conditions that make it more likely.
It just seems to be something that isn't very documented.
It just seems to be something that isn't very documented.
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As a matter of fact, my HD580 is still on the original foam. I have only changed the headband and ear cups.
I got them about 2 months before the HD600, back in like 2000.
I got them about 2 months before the HD600, back in like 2000.
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But you're probably not going to know the foam in the spider cage is perishing, or deteriorating unless you have a reason to check it (I.e. install the copper can mod). I mean the sound changing is going to be so slow you'd probably not notice it. Again another reason not to worry.
That said I hadn't realised there's a dynamat coin mod that does remove not just the foam, but the whole spider cage. And in essence seems to be a cheaper version of the Custom Cans mod.
That said I hadn't realised there's a dynamat coin mod that does remove not just the foam, but the whole spider cage. And in essence seems to be a cheaper version of the Custom Cans mod.
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Not that one but the one on the outside.
But I could do with replacing the ear pads on this HS580 actually, perhaps another year of life left.
But I could do with replacing the ear pads on this HS580 actually, perhaps another year of life left.
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Its probably worth having a spare set on hand with the 600 and 580.
I sold my DT 770 Pro's yesterday for what I thought was a fair price considering how long I'd had them and needed room for the XS I'm expecting this week.
They were my first introduction to audio headphones and they served me well. Where my PC is I don't need to worry about sound leaking and I prefer open back sound.
They were my first introduction to audio headphones and they served me well. Where my PC is I don't need to worry about sound leaking and I prefer open back sound.