While I am able to enjoy my Massdrop HD6XX on tubes, my Massdrop HD6XX"s main duty in life is to keep company the spare change in the dusty bottom drawer. My Sennheiser HD600 is SOOOO MUCH better HD6XX that I never find a need to listen to Massdrop HD6XX. Instead, my Sennheiser HD600 and Massdrop HD58X are my go to Sennheisers that get any real playtime.
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So no. They definitely are not the biggest bargain in audio period. Odd fellows like myself don’t like it. In fact, I would consider every headphone in my collection a better bargain than the HD6XX. Here are some headphones that I would consider true bargains and definitely bargains over Massdrop HD6XX; Koss PortaPro (or similar), Sennheiser HD600, HiFiMan HE6se V2, and ZMF Aeolus.
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Just a quick note here. I’d been listening a bit to the HD-6xx on my main setup, Bifrost 2/64 and Lyr 3 with LSSST FET not a Tube. This because I’d just gotten a new HART Audio cable for it, in Silver. At work, the Eufonika H7m arrived, so I did get to listen to this for a bit now on an OTL tube amp. I must say that it sounds as good as I’ve heard them - using the Luxury & Precision DAC (no proper line out, but even @Torq mentioned that it’s clean enough to do that…
I may have had more detail using the FIIO K9 Pro ESS in balanced mode with them, but the overall sound is better with the Eufonika, based on only a short listen and stock tubes. Still no sub-bass as Trentmoller’s Chameleon quickly revealed. But other than that, quite nice. The mids just sound right, Karma Chameleon from my Chameleon’s test playlist. Did not have much time today, and I have this at work so further evaluation will be sporadic.
Having an OTL tube amp now makes me want to upgrade headphones. 800S? Auteur? Aeoleus? Atrium? I’m getting ZMF curious. But then I’d have to bring the amp home. And it’s too big for a convenient location. Because I rarely use headphones at work. A PITA when I need to use the phone. And I get distracted by music. The speakers are my go-to.
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One domino falls, then another, then another, and another…
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Given that you like the RAD-0, I think you’ll also like the Atrium, which has a similar frequency response. Or if that’s above your budget, the Auteur Classic has many of the same qualities.
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You need vertical furniture like @Audiophool:
I suppose you might say they sound ‘euphonic’? Clever cognate, huh?
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Lots of fingers on that friend…
Curious how nobody is tempting me with 800s, y’all ZMF fanboys. But the temptation is only a very distant call, nothing that I can’t and won’t ignore for a long time.
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Was this exercise just to see if you could get the 6XX to sound better? Then it would make sense to stop there.
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I was actually going to give a vote for the 800S. It and Susvara are my top 2 and get pretty equal time. I love the 800s on tubes and don’t find any issues with the two common complaints that it lacks bass or it’s brightness. This is coming from a guy that also doesn’t have any ZMF headphones (yet). Though I don’t think they would replace my 800s but just be another “flavor”. We NEED ALL the flavors!
Pennstac and friends….
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Eufonika makes some really nice headphone amplifiers for the money, and they work quite well with higher impedance headphones like the Sennheiser HD6XO series.
I’ve owned my Eufonika H4 for the past few years and IME there’s nothing at the price in an OTL headphone amplifier that sounds as good.
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Well, no. It was more to round out my “solid example not-TOTL value audiophile” experience. I’ve felt just a touch nostalgic about tubes. Had Dynaco Mark III mono amps for my speakers back in the 70’s and that, except for Lyr 3 was the last I bothered with tubage. The Mark IIIs were a long term loan/exchange with a friend, and not mine.
I’ve experienced plenty of 6xx scaling, and am not particularly curious about any other 600 level Sennheiser. For occasional work headphone, it’s more than good enough, (it will NOT replace the Koss Porta-Pros for calls!!!). Sense is something I have a dating relationship with, but I don’t think that sense thinks I’m marriage material.
@Audiophool I’ve considered the 800S and even briefly the 820. Maybe I’ll go to CanJam, but had my admin at work decide to quit, so I’m going to be flying solo until I can replace, then more time before I feel comfy. Possibly on the Sunday… I just don’t get to hear stuff without going seriously out of my way. So I’ve not heard the 800s, or ZMF.
Probably when I see a price drop that gets reflected in a used market I may go for an upgrade. That’s less likely to happen with a botique brand like ZMF. I’d probably want to hear their biocellulose driver headphones. I don’t know why, but I like how the word sounds.
I have biocellulose woofers on my Rectilinear III speakers. Except we called them paper cones.
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In my experience the 600 family doesn’t usefully scale beyond the Crack tier, as the technicalities are simply not there. The plastic fuzz, weak highs, weak lows, and three blob stage will remain. You can create different harmonic emphases by amp (e.g., OTL may be the best), but that’s it.
At Capital AudioFest I struggled mightily to find an experiential difference between a TOTL Stax headphone + energizer setup costing around $10K and my 800 S on modest equipment. I’m not saying that differences don’t exist, but there wasn’t enough time and quiet to appreciate any nuances. They are both excellent, with one a mainstream standard produced in large numbers and the other a boutique item.
Maybe just focus on buying used stuff and eat the shipping and sales tax losses? Per my observations, the ZMF instant-buyer market of the lockdown era has cooled a bit.
My old NightHawk Carbon biocellulose drivers sounded like boomy flabby rubber at first, then they seemed cure into a mid-bright timbre after several years. I’d love to see actual early vs. late measurements with those drivers.
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I will second what @PaisleyUnderground said re Atrium (or Auteur Classic).
I have both the Rosson and Atrium open, and given how much you like your Rosson (as do I), you would definitely enjoy the Atrium quite a bit. It pairs beautifully with OTL tube amps, and does not suffer from the bass deficiencies of the 800S.
I would not advise the Aeolus, it’s not in the same league as Atrium or Autuer imo. Others will take exception perhaps, but the Aeolus was my first ZMF headphone, and it gets very little use now.
I admit I’m a ZMF fanboy, with Aeolus, Verite open, Atrium open, and the new Eikon (with Auteur classic drivers). I will basically listen to any of the others before the Aeolus. 
If you get a ZMF let us know, I bet you would enjoy it! 
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Just a word of warning about the 800S at shows, it’s one of those headphones that’s initially impressive, the space and resolution are really quite special, especially at the price point.
But there are compromises to get those, they sound a bit thin and can be harsh on badly recorded material, For me it’s not something I could use as an everyday listen to music headphone.
Current drive amps and tube amps can round it out a bit. But I don’t think the compromises ever really go away.
My opinion should be taken with a bucket of salt isn’t own a pair until after I owned all the TOTL cans I was interested in. I do use mine, though more often than not for gaming, or playing something from my computer, they are a good listen, a bargain if your enamored by the technicalities, and they are up there with some of the most comfortable headphones I own.
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