Sennheiser HD600 vs HD800S 

After watching countless headphones reviews. I learned one thing, I don't know what I want. I was happier when I had one headphone and I did not know any better. Now it's "but this is good in this and that is good in that, there is no perfect one, I need them all!". I feel like people who are Beats fans are the happiest headphones owners, they don't know any better, they don't care, they just enjoy the music.

Sound 6:06

I love my HD 600, they are very durably and my daily work horse for mixing music since 20 years.

I respectively disagree, the shortest route up the mountain is also the cheapest, so going straight to these high end headphones if you can afford it might be the smart move.

I love your video. This is a realy such a good comparison.

I just got the HD600, best cans that I've ever had. These will be just fine for me. Thanks for the vid.

nice 20 seconds and I got the summary, thanks

So about the distorted bass thing on the HD800S, some say that's amp dependent and not from its drivers. On high-end amps, there's supposedly no bass distortion. Also as you've noted they should be heard via balanced.

I had the 600HD, and while my go-to cans, the HD800s surpass them in every way. I paid $500 less for refurbs.

The balanced cable is fine but most amps have the single end 1/4" jack.

The "more powerful, more controlled bass" you're hearing from HD600 might be because of its mid-to-upper bass hump and less extension into low bass compared to HD800S. Even clean low bass tends to make bass less "tight", by nature of how sound propagates. In all other regards, I have the same subjective impressions of both. Great review, btw.

I can't agree enough about your mountain climbing metaphor. When i first got the HD600, 8 years ago I was coming from a HD558 of 3 years and HD448 of 2 years before that. However though... When I first plugged in the HD600 expecting to be in bliss I was severely underwhelmed and even regretted my purchase, don't get me wrong they were not bad and certainly not inferior to the HD558 which I come from but I simply could not tell the difference. So I eventually accepted my bad purchase and just continued to use them. In retrospect I know what was wrong - I wasn't ready. Now I don't have any science to back this up but my theory is that my brain was simply not able to process the fidelity that you get in this class of audio. Please understand I did comparisons with my old HD558 occasionally over the days/weeks after my upgrade to the HD600 to see if burn-in helped, I recall to some degree it did. Though I had to really really listen for the differences. Now skip ahead to the point I had my HD600 for about 2-3 years, for fun I decided to "test" my equipment by trying old headphones, rolling a cheaper tube in my amp, using onboard audio vs my Xonar HDAV. And the results blew me away, this is the first time I was able to hear the differences night and day. The sound of my old HD558 was laughable, my reaction was "I can't listen to this shit" all I wanted was to go back to the HD600, it just sounded so bad no matter what little thing I changed in my setup. The HD600 over the years has forced me to ascend the metaphorical mountain. It's funny because you don't realise how far you've come until you look back. If your just getting into high end headphones or your looking at stuff above $300 for the first time, get the HD600, coupled with a good $100 amp and good DAC. It will treat you very very well.

Hi thanks for video im a new subscriber :) I'm thinking about buying HD660s. Im a newbie in hifi world. Please can you recoomend FiiO Q5s with HD660s ? I wish to listen music mainly from a PC (Flac). Or do you can recomend another setup ? PS: If I want to climb higher in the future (with HD800s) probably required a different DAC / AMP right? PPS: Why are amps from Sennheiser so expensive is it really an adequate price for quality? Thank you!

Good review. Thanks. Where can I buy the balanced XLR cable for HD600?

which beyerdynamic are you refering to?

for my staple headphones, I use the HD600s, with an extension (the quality cables that came with it would force me to not move), and I run them through and extension into a small 5-contact balanced cable adapter with the 5 contacts, which I use for my "balanced out" on my headphone amp. I have other headphones I use for practice and sealed, critical listening, but I'm quite happy with the 600s. I'd love to try the 800s and 820, but I can't defend the cost right now. My other headphones only have the regular 3 contact small plugs with 1/4" adapter.

I like my DT 990 600 ohm a lot better than my HD6XX. How is the sound signature compared to the HD6XX for the HD 800S?Btw, I love a big soundstage and that's one of the reasons why I really love the DT 990 Premium.

Definitely the journey allows you to appreciate this hobby vastly more than just buying the most expensive. I've been in this hobby since the mid early to mid 2000s and enjoyed every minute of experience and study. First started with the koss ksc75 level headphones and various other budget headphones. I slowly moved up the ranks and eventually made it to the respectable Sennheiser hd 595 in 2007 approx. After trying a bunch of orher products and iem's, I made it to the legendary hd 600 in 2015. It was my reward for making it past 100k in the bank. Paired with the schitt modi magni, the game was never the same. I have my sights set on the hd 800 s now.

I like the way you present

I hear/read a lot about the HD600's roll off in the lows, but actually, they don't do that. If you take the human's ear most sensitive part, 1000-5000hz, the HD600 frequency response in the low regions (under 100hz) is right on the level of 1000-5000hz. There is a small hump from 100-400hz, and looking at the graphs this might people think there is roll of under 100. But that roll of is also from 500 and up which levels it out.

Hi Chuck, great comparison Review. Do you think the Bifrost and Valhalla 2 combo of DAC & Preamp be a good combo with the HD800s?

i love your channel im trying to decide on my next pair of heaphones and im watching all of your videos i currently have the hd 650 the 660 the audeze lcd-2c the sony wh1000xm4 hd 700 and the beats studio 3 im thinking about the 600 because the 660 doesnt have as good of the bass as the 600 and i like bass thats why i bought beats so the 600 so far look like they would work great for me

Above the price range of the HD600, diminishing returns start to kick in. Any other options in the higher echelons would not be proportionately better vis-a-vis the price difference. Fact of high-end audio, I guess.

Balanced is simply for common mode noise rejection. In other words, the noisefloor should be lower, improving the dynamic range. But sound color shouldn't change or there's funny business going on with the amp.

HD800S cable connections break when switching to XLR.

Wow, you own both!

Probably someone already asked this on your channel - but what AMP/DAC are you using to drive your HD600s? I just got mine weeks ago (started with a pair of Grado's 225i then Audeze LCD2f) and they are now my go to cans for listening. I actually find the LCD2s muddy and boring now compared to the HD600s (running them via a DragonFly Red + Burson Soloist will try them via Rega DAC soon too) which is weird comparing the price points ... and yes that slam you're talking about, oh wow.

So you'd buy the LCD-X over these? I have the LCD-X but I've always been curious about the 800S. I have the hd660s as well and I feel I can get the sennheiser/dynamic driver feel from those when I don't feel like listening to my LCD-Xs. But man do I wanna hear the hd800s lol. Buy them, listen and then return them haha. But then I'd probably want to keep them and sell my hd660s.😬

Any opinion about DT 1990 Pro vs these?

very good review!!!! I have m50x + k1 and want to upgrade it , I just only listen to electronic music . I want to buy hd650 + apogee groove . Does it a good combo ? How much difference I can experience from my m50x ? thx

My theory, buy the best, and save your money. That's more fun for me instead of just keep buying inferior products, doesn't make sense.

I want the best quality I can afford don’t matter if it’s a small percentage it all counts to me but that me, I need it I live for it

Love my 11 year old pair of HD600's PS huge difference when driven with a dedicated tube amplifier!

I admire your voice 😳

I totally disagree with your mountain climbing strategy,get to the top as fast as possible if you have the money and enjoy the view.Apart from that a very well presented review.

With the money of HD800S, you can get a comobo dac+amp, a second hand HD600, and a pair of monitor speakers works almost to any type of music and have much fuller soundstage than HD800s.

which headphones are an upgrade to hd600 that are worth the extra money?

I just bought a pair of hd 800s new in box for 700 was it worth it now in 2019?

Hey! I tried the 660 without an amp anf then the 800 with the 820 sennheiser amp. The difference felt absolutely massive. Is it because the 660 didn’t had an amp or is the 800 really that much better? Cheers!

I like your kitchen

Did you compare the hd800s with the Stax L300 ?

0:45 "Ai, ai,ai!" This sounds familiar to me 😊

what is the best amp for the hd650

You can try K812 pro :)

Get the Drop Sennheisr HD6xx for $199. You get 80/100, a HD800 is 90/100 but for $1500. No thanks. Either one, get a silver cable and listen through a tube amp.

Really.... in the kitchen man????

Get Momentum 3 instead then you got an bass boost and punch to the sound thats non of these open back joke headphones has.