Sennheiser HD660S Speculation

I can't see why. The Senn rep at RMAF said something along the lines of a more portable friendly HD650 with a tuning more towards HD600. They really didn't have any information about it though and hadn't heard it themselves.

 

Probably too early to know. It all depends on sales vs "demand forecast" for the BOM for a given time frame; if they can still sell HD650s profitably and keep the COGS for the BOM such that the 'phone still delivers profits, its likely they will. Sometimes the reason a component is discontinued are for reasons not obvious to the public; for example, a material, component, etc. may become not available from suppliers, or too expensive to produce, etc. that requires a design change.

 

As a dissatisfied HD600 lover, this is exciting. That being said, the description of the treble in the HD660S makes me skeptical it will sound anything like the HD600...

 

A "dissatisfied HD600 lover" sounds a bit like a contradiction in terms; does this mean there are qualities you love and don't love about the HD600?

 

What will likely happen is that the HD660S will be the HD6X0 that's best for a wider audience. The HD650 has had its long line of "great sound, but may not be for you" ilk of reviews due to its high impedance and source gear demands. Sennheiser has had much more reason to be bothered by that track record than the relatively stellar if not legendary reputation of the HD650's sonic performance. This wasn't a problem when a $500 MSRP pair of cans was considered TOTL in the headphone game a decade or two ago and hence could afford to be a niche product reserved to those with the dedication and enthusiasm to invest in and figure out source gear pairings. Today, smartphones abound, listeners are much more mobile, and the TOTL headphone prices have inflated by an order of magnitude. This means that $500 is about the "upper middle class" market segment, and the number of units one must move at a $500 price point to make sense from a product portfolio standpoint means the $500 product simply must have wider appeal.

This is evident in Sennheiser's frankly strange offerings like the HD650 Apogee Groove that couples the HD650 with a USB DAC/AMP on-wire dongle. This is a transparent if not flawed attempt at fitting the HD650 to more modern use cases.

The HD660S is the better attempt in that direction.

In addition, these two different impedance levels will significantly alter the amp/can pairings of the two headphones. While the HD660S and the HD650 might share a very similar sound with a solid state, neutral, transparent amp, one will simply not be able to pair the HD660S with something like the Bottlehead Crack with its 120 ohm output impedance unless one likes extremely flabby, over-dampened, and distorted sounds. The HD650 will sound much better with high output impedance amps.

 

I believe he is referring to the HD650 with regard to the 'dissatisfied' part.

 

https://en-us.sennheiser.com/headphones-audiophile-high-end-hd-660-s *

If they continue with the HD650, either they are using the word "successor" incorrectly or I've been misunderstanding the meaning of that word.

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/successor
https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/successor
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/successor
http://www.macmillandictionary.com/us/dictionary/american/successor

 

HD600: reference headphone with slight midrange emphasis and rolled off treble
HD650: reference headphone with considerably rolled off treble
HD660S: ???
HD700: headphone with recessed midrange and treble hell daggers

Sennheiser's model designations are confusing as hell.

 

Let me have my docent show you our new line.

 

I can't remember what docent means. I think it is either a tour guide or something to do with poop.

And, I've been thinking about it. Just because Sennheiser said something, that doesn't mean it will be so. They could say bluntly "No more HD650." and still end up making them.

 

Very close! It's a tour guide who shows you where the toilet is.

 

They are the same price point.



I always felt like the HD 650 was marketed as the audiophile headphone whereas the HD 600 was for studio use. I’m pretty sure the HD 600 will stick around and the HD 650 is going away.

 

I think I will buy one as soon as it comes out lol. The 6xx fan I am

 

While I was hoping for much more, I'm scaling back my expectations and would agree with @Marvey. I'm thinking that most of us, do not need a more efficient 650. Meaning we are not the target audience. In fact most of us are using an amp much more expensive than the 650 would typically need in order to take advantage of it's ability to scale. Some of those amps likely might not play as well with the 660 S.

Regarding the improved bass: so far I haven't seen anything that suggest that the 660 S offers "better bass." The 650 bass needed more tightness and extension.. And the 650 bass always sounded a little wooly. Early predictions seem to indicate that the 660 S bass is just punched up but it's likely not the improvement that audionuts are looking for. Meaning it will likely be just more of the same.

The 650 has made living on mid bass not sub bass and I'm fine with that. The majority of music does not feature sub bass anyway (unless you listen to EMD or pipe organ music), and that's where the 650 mid bass magic comes in.

By lowering the impedance Senn is looking to expand the 650 audience and make this headphone more accessible. I just don't think that they are looking to improve the sound.

So it might be wise to hang on to those 650 before the second coming is for sure. Hell, the 650 could become a hot commodity is Senn should retire them.

 

^^^ and a better pairing with the Apogee Groove....lol

 

Agree. 60 is too close to 50. If it was a new, different, better headphone, I'd see it designated as HD680.

 

The Momentums are all closed cans, so, idk, maybe they’d try to figure out a way to bridge between the markets.
Then again I cannot imagine a single scenario in which you’d use open headphones on a mobile setup and not end up a nuisance to everyone around you. Maybe if you’re one of those people who buy a Fiio E17 as your compy’s sole sound source?

 

+1 Anthracite, looks brilliant (ironic wording not lost on me).

As for the use case, I think it's more accessible for people newer to audio, such as myself. I got my first not-horrible cans (Senn HD428) back in 2009 or so, and all these years later I'm still just stuck in mid-fi thanks to financial constraints. On the one hand, it necessitates careful planning for each upgrade, but on the other, boo TOTL sources are (currently) way outta reach.

I do feel the lower impedance on the 660 may result in improved pairing with less superlative sources, such as the transportable amp/DAC combos that lots of people seem to have. If Sennheiser really is retiring the 650 though, then one hopes these scale up as well as the 650 on endgame gear, otherwise the price of the 650 may only increase on the used market and I'll be even less likely to eventually own one! )

I do carry full sized cans to school and back along with a portable amp and all, but A.) That's weird and inconvenient, and B.) they're (mostly) closed back anyway, unlike the new Senns. I'm thinking the 660 is more for people like one other person on here (someone with a cat avatar, which barely narrows it down any) who listens around their home straight out of an iDSD (which I also do, haha). The lower impedance would make sense in that case.