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Sennheiser HiRes Audiophile Headphone (HD 660 S)

£207.455£414.91Clearance
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To make myself fully understood, the headphone doesn’t have a severe sub-bass deficiency, some people categorizing it as bass-heavy, but you cannot understand what real sub-bass is until you give a listen to some well amplified high-end planar magnetic headphones. The mid-bass clearly stands out and always attracts attention on itself, continuously screaming “look a me!”. As stated before, the 660s has a very mild and somewhat rolled-off-at-either-end v-signature. The 6XX has a neutral-warm signature that is also somewhat rolled-off with mediocre extension both high and low. The DT880 is neutral-bright with excellent bass and treble extension but also somewhat lean bass. The amount of treble in the 660s is between the 6XX and DT880, but closer to the 6XX than the 880. The 660s and DT880 are quite similar in midrange quantity. The 6XX and 660s have similar amounts of midbass, being slightly more than the DT880, but the DT880 has the extension advantage and more subbass presence overall, despite it being somewhat lean in the lows (at least compared to its treble). I think the DT880 also has more bass punch/slam. It’s more dynamic. I wouldn’t say it has great punch/slam because of the lean-ness of its bass, but it is overall more energetic and aggressive throughout the frequency range than either Senn. As before, the HD 660S2 headphones are designed for the critical listener. Hand selected speakers are carefully paired, giving these headphones the most consistent sound between channels. Precision, stainless steel fabric diaphragms deliver life-like realism for a true-to-life sound.

KHz is the peak resonance gain of the ear, the shape of your ear boosts these frequencies strongly. Loud sounds mask other sounds that are close in spectrum, this is called frequency masking. By negating this ear gain, the sound falls much flatter on the eardrum. The result is that everything except this 1-5K area sounds louder and clearer becose the ear resonance is the limiting factor of how loud can you play before it starts being uncomfortable.Sennheiser has been around since like forever and they’re one of the most respected companies in audio. In the past, Sennheiser has impressed us with a lot of top-quality products like the HD800, the HD 800S and many 5XX and 6xx series headphones. Sennheiser has also upped their IEM game and they have successfully launched the IE 200, IE 300, IE 600 and IE 900 inear monitors.

So again I’ll state that the “handshake” given to me from Sennheiser was firm and filled with confidence, which is exactly what I’ve come to expect from Sennheiser. I’ve had a pair of HD 580 Precisions for around 25 years now, which are widely considered to be a very slightly inferior cousin to the HD 600 and HD 650. If, like me, you were expecting a subtle change in sound between these original models and the HD 660 S, then you’re in for a surprise – the difference is dramatic.On this note, they are more open than either Audeze LCD-MX4 or Beyerdynamic Amiron which we reviewed before, HD660S leak quite a bit more sound and they isolate less than either of those two models. There’s little-to-no sound isolation here, so don't take these headphones with you on your commute. (Image credit: Future/TechRadar/Henry St Leger) Sennheiser HD-660S2 review: Price & release date I want to mention that, from the 3 models, the HD 650 scaled the worst in this regard. I can feel myself distracted by the micro-echo and harmonic distortion in the bass and mid frequencies, and the slight veil over the notes also impairs the listening experience. By comparison, the HD 600 seems to bring a fresh breath of air and doesn’t have as many shortcomings. Sennheiser HD660S + iBasso DX200 / DX150 (AMP4s) - This combo has the same versatility as DX200 and DX150 combined with AMP5, but they have a 4.4mm balanced connector. The balanced connector isn't quite the reason why they'd sound different, but we consider that the difference in sonics lies within the different amplifier architecture, the improved capacitors and the different power configuration. Basically, we don't endorse the concept that Balanced is always better than Single ended, but in this situation we like the 4.4mm native balanced connector quite a bit, and the sound is more vivid, more dynamic and has a touch more detail than AMP5, which is still quite great. The AMP4S variation from iBasso is also slightly warmer, more effortless and slightly leaner, so this should be taken into account. Since HD660S may need more bass, this is a welcome improvement.

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