Best Sennheiser?

[morphsci]

The problem is that the HEV-70 is as bad an amp as the HE-60 is a good headphone. It is a severe, limitation of the HE-60 so if you are listening to the HE-60 through the HEV-70 all you are hearing are the HEV-70s faults not the HE-60s virtues or faults. Anyone who judges the HE-60 only upon hearing it out of the HEV-70 is doing themselves a great disservice. This is not dependent upon what you listened to previously, the HEV-70 sucks 24/7/365.25.

[spritzer]

Yup, HEV70 utter crap and it also breaks down far too often (at least the early units). Give them ample power and the headphones are transformed.

[Wmcmanus]

...the HEV-70 sucks 24/7/365.25.

I like that, especially the .25 part.

[Duggeh]

HE60 from the SRM-717 is good music.

[randerson3024]

And with my 727.

[blessingx]

Maybe the best will be what Sennheiser tweeted a few hours ago...

SennheiserUSA: Prepping for some huge product announcements at CES! Stay tuned!

[The Monkey]

Hmm...Interesting. Has anyone heard anything (semi)reliable?

[Smeggy]

The best senn *I've heard* is the 800, though I imagine I'd like the HE90 more.

Not too hard for me really as I think the others suck ass.

[Nomad]

HE60 > HD600 > HE90 > HD800.

The HE60 has to be properly refurbished and driven by a Blue Hawaii then it's easily the best model Senn has ever made. The HD600 may not be as refined as the He90 but they annoy me less and I could live with them day to day, something which can't be said about the He90. The HD800 is a fine headphone but nothing special. The HD650 I can't stand so it doesn't belong on the list.

Makes perfect sense. The HE60 is more of a baby SR-Omega than a baby Orpheus.

[spritzer]

Indeed.

[Nomad]

I did find them differant,but they sat mostly unused hence the sale to Hirsch.

The He60s actually sounded best out of the HEV90,I used the,Blackgated KGSS & HEV70,ES1 ,Stax 007t amps as well.

Agree. Best out of the HEV90. Used maxed-out blackgated KGSS, T1S, 717, 007t, and HEV70.

I don't care what other people say or to look like I have tin ears. HEV70 is not that bad after quite some time time running music. It might not look the part checking the schematics but it is decent enough. Of course you can do better, but it is not a piece of garbage either.

[Nomad]

Indeed.

Actually... I should clarify. It make perfect sense... considering your preference for Stax sound as the HE60 is closer to one of its varieties (SR-Omega) than the HE90 by a fair margin.

For me the HE90 would be the winner, no matter how much I like the SR-Omega sound because I like the HE90 sound too. And probably most people would do as well. But I can perfectly see people looking for a very particular sound going for the HE60 instead. I don't think you would be the only one on a blind test.

Trying to leave the amp out of consideration (tough cookie) I would say:

HE90 > HE60 > HD800 > HD650 > HD600

And now justifying this a bit:

Yes, you can throw very nice balanced amps to the HDs but I'd pick the HE60 with the HEV90 almost any day. Disclaimer: This statement only applies to HD650 and HD600 as I didn't hear the HD800 balanced from uberamps just yet. I really need to do that.

Out of the same amp I did prefer the HD800 to the HD650 but I had better sonic experiences (so far) with the HD650 due to better balanced amps.

The 650 vs 600 isn't that obvious. 600 might have the edge in neutrality compared with the 650 but it is not as smooth. So with an average/good amp tubey enough to smooth things out the HD600 can be on top even with the lesser cable. For example I can see people going for the HD600 on a Earmax Pro if the value neutrality. However with a very good amp in balanced mode the HD650 improves more than the 600: the occasional boominess/veil disappears while the 600 still can have a bit of grain, hence the edge goes to the 650.

[HiWire]

I wonder if Sennheiser has considered producing a bass-lighter version of the HD 650.

[jinp6301]

I don't care what other people say or to look like I have tin ears. HEV70 is not that bad after quite some time time running music. It might not look the part checking the schematics but it is decent enough. Of course you can do better, but it is not a piece of garbage either.

sweet, I'm not crazy

[deepak]

Actually... I should clarify. It make perfect sense... considering your preference for Stax sound as the HE60 is closer to one of its varieties (SR-Omega) than the HE90 by a fair margin.

For me the HE90 would be the winner, no matter how much I like the SR-Omega sound because I like the HE90 sound too. And probably most people would do as well. But I can perfectly see people looking for a very particular sound going for the HE60 instead. I don't think you would be the only one on a blind test.

Trying to leave the amp out of consideration (tough cookie) I would say:

HE90 > HE60 > HD800 > HD650 > HD600

And now justifying this a bit:

Yes, you can throw very nice balanced amps to the HDs but I'd pick the HE60 with the HEV90 almost any day. Disclaimer: This statement only applies to HD650 and HD600 as I didn't hear the HD800 balanced from uberamps just yet. I really need to do that.

Out of the same amp I did prefer the HD800 to the HD650 but I had better sonic experiences (so far) with the HD650 due to better balanced amps.

The 650 vs 600 isn't that obvious. 600 might have the edge in neutrality compared with the 650 but it is not as smooth. So with an average/good amp tubey enough to smooth things out the HD600 can be on top even with the lesser cable. For example I can see people going for the HD600 on a Earmax Pro if the value neutrality. However with a very good amp in balanced mode the HD650 improves more than the 600: the occasional boominess/veil disappears while the 600 still can have a bit of grain, hence the edge goes to the 650.

From an objective point of view the HEV70 begins to clip at not unreasonable listening levels. It also gets overloaded with higher than 2-2.5 v output sources.

[Deadneddz]

The HD800 is a fine headphone but nothing special.

I didn't know you auditioned the HD800. What was it that annoyed you about it so much as to put it at the bottom of the Senn. family?

[guzziguy]

I didn't know you auditioned the HD800. What was it that annoyed you about it so much as to put it at the bottom of the Senn. family?

Besides the fact that you can't plug it into a Blue Hawaii.

[spritzer]

Yeah the plug didn't fit in my BH, no matter what I tried. Not happy about that... Aside from major hurdle it was the soundstage that annoyed me the most. I guess I'm rather sensitive to this whole diffused thing but there are ways to get a great soundstage and not have it sound like that, the SR-Sigma for instance.

[John Willett]

From an objective point of view the HEV70 begins to clip at not unreasonable listening levels. It also gets overloaded with higher than 2-2.5 v output sources.

Yes, that's why I never liked the HE 60 - I have now heard many people say it sound's much better on other amps.

I didn't know you auditioned the HD800. What was it that annoyed you about it so much as to put it at the bottom of the Senn. family?

Actually someone saying "nothing special" normally says to me that the headphone is actually excellent - because if it's doing everything accurately and not adding or subtracting anything from the sound. A superb unit will actually sound "nothing special" and will probably be the best.

When people start using words like "amazing" etc. I tend to feel that the headphones are coloured and are changing the sound. Nothing against coloured headphones, of course, for pleasurable listening if you like such things - but my own personal choice is always to tell me what is there without adding and without taking away.

[Nomad]

From an objective point of view the HEV70 begins to clip at not unreasonable listening levels. It also gets overloaded with higher than 2-2.5 v output sources.

That might explain why I always found it so decent. I usually was listening by night at pretty low volumes. And I use to play with the output of my sources so so I can turn my amps loud enough to make them fully enter on linear operation and yet still get low volumes. Obviously they never clipped on me in those conditions.

jinp6301, perhaps both of us are

[spritzer]

Actually someone saying "nothing special" normally says to me that the headphone is actually excellent - because if it's doing everything accurately and not adding or subtracting anything from the sound. A superb unit will actually sound "nothing special" and will probably be the best.

When people start using words like "amazing" etc. I tend to feel that the headphones are coloured and are changing the sound. Nothing against coloured headphones, of course, for pleasurable listening if you like such things - but my own personal choice is always to tell me what is there without adding and without taking away.

I this case it just means that these are fine headphones but poor value since you can get this level of performance elsewhere for less. Nothing new though since to me all Sennheiser's are poor value, save for the HD580.

The Stax Omegas are a faithful representation of what you feed them so in effect nothing special. Both the SR-Omega and SR-007Mk2/A add a little bit of color, each in their own way, but the phones are essentially devoid of colorations. This is what I listen to every day and the HD800 doesn't come close, far too colored. It isn't a bad effect though if you are into that kind of sound.

The wow factor can be very misleading and is often why people choose MP3's over lossless encoders as the MP3 isn't as linear and can be "impressive". Aside from the soundstage the HD800 isn't impressive so that might be why they fell out of favor so quickly.

[Dreadhead]

They fell out of favor? Not with me. Preferred them to the O2 MK1's I had and thought them less colored.

[spritzer]

I meant with the HF mob. They were the second coming and now... nothing

[Hopstretch]

HF is all about the new new thing. And the 800s have stayed too expensive for the mass market.

[spritzer]

Yup, you are right. Brand new (preferably not even available yet) or OOP stuff.