Sennheiser HD 600 Audiophile Quality, Open Hi-Fi stereo Headphones

These headphones made me cry. More on that later.They come in a sturdy wood-ish type box - not posh polished wood, but sturdy enough and covered with dark brown lining. The phones are nestled in protective grey foam, cut to the shape of the phones to keep them safe during transit. A manual accompanies them, although I just dived in and started listening.I love the sound of a piano so I had plenty of classical themed music to run through these 600s.First up was an old Naxos 1980s Beethoven Piano Concerto No.1 CD. Hmm. The sound was dull across the entire range. The playing is fantastic though and led me to buy the sheet music, which I never could play. To be fair it never sounded great through any headphones, but I was expecting some kind of magic.Let's try something recorded more recently. Second up was Yundi Li's "The Art of Yundi" (a fantastic collection of piano pieces - many new to me a few months ago). Flipping heck! What a difference a good recording/sound engineer makes! I heard nuances in individual notes I'd not heard before. I even heard accidentals/accent notes I'd not noticed before. The clarity from top to bottom was simply outstanding. Sparkling brilliance in the upper registers and warm dark sonorous tones lower down.My love of piano music led me to buy an electric piano, 15+ years ago now. It went "pop" a year or so ago and died on me. I was sad but kept it as it's handy for my home theater speakers. When I've saved up I'll buy another.Back to Yundi. Liszt's Rigoletto was one of the pieces that was new to me. I must have played it 100 times on the train to work, using my mobile + headphones. It's an addictive piece and I know it quite well now. Again there were notes/timbres/nuances that sprang into life, as though rescued from the cracks that lesser headphones would leave behind. It was like listening to a completely new recording. Rigoletto draws you in slowly, then makes you addicted with its clever ever complicating recapitulation, then exits the stadium with magnificent massive virtuoso chords crashing down the keyboard. And then silence. But there isn't. For a few seconds through these headphones you can hear the soundboard and frame of the piano ring and undulate as the brilliance of Liszt, through Yundis fingers, evapourates into the ether. That little piece of magic made me cry. It made me look at my beloved piano, now senza voce, and want to play it. But I could not, ever again. It made me remember all the good times, the bad times, the frustrations, the rare accomplishments but most of all my love of sound itself. Welcome back, my friend.Let's not get too emotive - it's just a pair of headphones after all. However, music makes us emotional.Third up was Bachs Toccata & Fugue in D Minor. These phones pick up everything, including quirks of an old air powered Church organ. You could almost hear the beast breathing through its nostrils. At full pelt in the "fff" passages with every single bank of notes from foot to teeth being tormented these phones did struggle. The music got lost as if overwhelmed. To be fair it's a cruel test as none of my headphones ever succeeded either. You have a huge Church organ pumping gallons of air to make those fat boy pipes play and expect a little piece of tech to replicate that? We need to be realistic in our expectations. However, the different registers/instruments the organ sounded were simply sublime through these. Really sweet.Fourth up was a new addiction of mine. Liszt Hungarian Rhapsodies. Played by the brilliant George Cziffra. Recorded in the early 1970s I didn't expect much from this CD. In fact I was worried these 'phones might highlight the fact microphones were not as sensitive then, tape noise, that kind of thing. Oh my - what a blast! Yet again I'm hearing those accidental notes (not really accidental - they are very brief deliberate embellishments and fiendishly difficult to play without whacking). Yet again I feel like my ears have been cleansed or I'm listening to a new digitally remastered release. Brilliant.These 'phones give your ears exactly what's on the plate. If it's a poor recording then they won't make it better. If it's a good one then your ears, brain, body and soul will be overjoyed. Yep that's the word. The music I have gave me joy. Now it's joy++. Overjoyed.These initially feel tight to wear, but soon you realise you've gotten used to slack ill fitting headgear. They encompass the ear (unless you are Vulcan) and fit nicely against the head, instead of pressing into parts of the ear. I find them very comfortable. After a few minutes you forget you are wearing them.My first pair of "opens". Highly recommended. Closed gives me that "sea shell" experience of hearing my own bloodstream or something. Plus my ears now remain cool, they weigh less and I feel part of the environment rather than in some sensory deprivation chamber. A huge plus when it comes to listening to a concerto where you want to be in the audience, not isolated.Having listened to much piano tonight I noticed sound engineers don't follow any particular rule regarding left/right; some make you the listener - you are facing the piano being played so high notes come through the left ear and low notes through the right. Very disconcerting if you are a player. As the player you hear low through left and high through right. I'm not a player, but have tried and like to be "in the seat" when I'm doing air piano.Others seem to give a cross-fade which is even more disconcerting.For the wrong-way-round listener experience I found a fantastic tweak you can do to these HD 600s. If you absolutely want the player experience where low=down and high=up then make the following adjustments to these cans. Yes I know these are very expensive, but the modification is reversible:1. Take them off2. Put them on the wrong way roundImmediately you are transported from audience to player. As these phones are symmetrically flexible they feel just as comfortable either way around.Worth the money? If you're going to do something, do it once and do it properly.With a frequency response of 12Hz-40500Hz it should cover most needs. Oh nearly forgot! So many questions out there about impedance. 32/80/300/600 Ohms. Will my X phones work in a Y thing? There's lots of "info" about needing to buy a specialist headphone amp if > 32 ohms.These HD 600s are 300 ohms. I have them plugged into my Denon 4300 AVR. My CD is a Panasonic Blue Ray player. They are more than loud enough at 5/10. 3/10 would be my listening preference.These just tell it like it is to be fair. No magic. No pseudo science. Simple transparent acoustic honesty.No regrets at all.

After using my Sennheiser HD595 headphones for 10 years, I thought it was time for an upgrade and decided to purchase these. Music sounded "boring" for lack of a better word. After more than 16 years since these were released, these are still considered to be amongst the best headphones you can get (bar the Orpheus and HD800 supposedly). Sennheiser looks after its customers so well by offering a full range of replacement parts for the HD600, and I think this is a testament to a company that released these headphones so long ago. A good pair of headphones is an investment and should last you 10+ years if you look after them. I'm sure that in 10 years time, you'll still be able to buy replacement parts for these.The clamp force is definitely a bit tighter than the HD595s, but it's by no means uncomfortable. After a week or two, they'll feel even better. Immediately, I noticed the improved bass response over the HD595s and greater detail and clarity. I can hear lots of subtleties in songs which I hadn't been able to hear before, and it's almost like I am "listening for the first time". Background vocals are distinctly heard, cymbals clash and reverb with precision, the sound of triangles is subtle but noticeable. Even if you're not a fan of R.E.M., listening to "Man on the Moon" is such a pleasure as not only the quality of the recording is fantastic, but also the song shows off the many vocals and instruments used. And on these headphones this song really does shine.My setup:I've paired these with an SMSL SD793-II DAC & Headphone Amplifier, and I only need to use them at the 11-12 (Roughly about one third volume)o'clock position before it gets a bit too loud (or complaints from the wife!). These do require an amplifier to drive them. I have used them on my iPhone without an amplifier and at full volume, the sound is a little quiet and a little restrained. I also use them with my Onkyo TX-RZ810 receiver and listen to FLACs - mainly Rock - from Bowie, Fleetwood Mac, Foo Fighters, Zeppelin, as well as some pop such as Adele, Michael Jackson and Elton John. They all sound magical.