Me too. The HD700 is an underrated headphone but that’s my opinion. I know lots of people hate it but I like it.
1 Like
Has anyone tried the new Sennheiser True Wireless Momentums? Really curious how they sound!
1 Like
We hopefully have some of them arriving this week but they are incredibly back-ordered from Sennheiser right now.
I didn’t get the chance to try them out myself yet but I have read some mixed impressions of them. I know some reddit users do not like them as they find the bass is super bloated while others say they sound great.
I think Amazon should be shipping out their pre-orders soon so there will be a lot more impressions out there for the Momentum True Wireless soon.
2 Likes
Hmm I wonder if it has the sound signature of the other Momentum lineup. I used to own both the On-Ear and Over-ear Momentum v1 and I found them a great looking headphone but kind of overpriced in sound quality. I found the mid-bass hump a bit too much and muddying the sound. I don’t know if this has gotten better over the revisions to it.
1 Like
I’m new to this and was wondering, my Sennheiser 660S headphones came with a balanced cable that has a 4mm jack (some new standard I read someplace?). I got a FiiO M9 DAP that has a balanced output, but it’s 2.5 mm. Is there a reputable place to purchase a Sennheiser compatible cable with the correct jack?
2 Likes
Sennheiser, and before them Sony, are driving a new, better (more physically robust, greater contact area) standard for balanced headphone connections with the 4.4mm TRRRS “Pentaconn” connector.
You can get an adapter that’ll let you use the existing cable, or you can look at places like Norne Audio, Moon Audio, DHC and so on for something that’s a direct connection from the HD660S to the 2.5mm TRRS jack on the Fiio.
Bear in mind that most of those boutique vendors are selling premium cables that will cost close to as much as the headphones themselves.
3 Likes
Thank you for the advice and recommendation!
2 Likes
“Reputable?” I got my 2.5mm TRRS Sennheiser compatible balanced cable from China through Ebay…and it cut the background noise dramatically. My strategy was to buy a basic product first to see if it had any value, and whether it would reveal other limits in the system.
See this item, but 2.5mm is not currently available:
In my case, I started hearing plasticy distortion from the HD-600 drivers (akin to the sound from TV speakers or a plastic speaker housing). As I could compare with other headphones, I concluded that there was little hope of improving on the cheap cable.
1 Like
Yes, there is little logic in spending a fortune for HD series headphone cables. The headphones aren’t that expensive to begin with, and max out with modest cables.
2 Likes
Indeed!
It’s a relatively trivial exercise (I’ll have to write it up) to re-terminate a stock HD5XX/6XX cable for balanced use. And the OEM cables only cost $11 to start with and have the requisite four conductors to allow for balanced-re-wiring anyway.
That said, I personally hate working with 2.5mm TRRS connectors (they’re small, fiddly and most of them are not very good), so I charge a significant “nuisance” fee for such things in order to discourage people wanting me to do that for them when I make them cables.
4 Likes
I have a soldering iron. I have a multimeter. I’ve built two and half cigar box guitars from scratch (I gave up on a 2 string bass guitar due to neck geometry issues…it’s a decorator now). And I actually play one of the guitars regularly.
Modifying an $11 cable versus buying a $20 cable? I have a brain draining job, many other things going on, many other things I’d like to do if time permitted, and I want to enjoy my time off. So it’s not worth the effort here either.
5 Likes
Nuisance cables and Co. TM…calling it! 
4 Likes
H, and welcome @sortiz1965.
Personally, I wouldn’t do it, either.
My experience with ~$20 cables from random suppliers has not been that good, though* - to the point that it is hard to chalk it just down to bad luck. I’m sure there are perfectly good suppliers of such things out there, but one way or another those weren’t the ones I ran in to.
*Between headphone connectors that don’t fit firmly enough (HD6XX connectors being by far the worst offenders here), TRRS plugs that work in one socket but not another, cables with one channel wired out of phase, cables with outright shorts in them and cables that failed in the first couple of days, I’ve stopped both using and recommending them.
2 Likes
FWIW I’ve gotten various NewFantasia brand cables from Amazon for Sennheiser and Beyerdynamic headphones and never had any problems.
I’ve no doubt that there are low-cost brands out there that fare better than what I ran into, so calling those out is a good thing.
The various “brands” I tried are no longer to be found or I would call them out as “bad choices” specifically. I suspect, because “brand” in those cases was “whatever random collection of characters that makes up something vaguely resembling a pronounceable word we can come up with this week before we shutdown our store and start a new one”.
I use my own cables almost exclusively (captive cables excepted) now so you guys are going to be much better placed to recommend alternatives.
4 Likes
I agree that the quality varies, and it can be a crap-shoot. But, there’s no way I’m going to drop big money on a cable for the HD series. Honestly, that $20 cable had a greater positive impact relative to the factory cable than any of the other balanced cables I’ve acquired (~7 in the last year). I attribute it to the characteristics of Sennheiser headphones (perhaps the high impedance) rather than the cable quality. I’d guess that any balanced cable is likely better than any non-balanced cable.
We are in the rapid development phase of Chinese products. Some no-name brands are proving to be extremely decent, and akin to Japanese cars in the 1960s (reliable, awkward, but on course to become standards). I’ve also purchased cables where the seller refunded my money after determining that the batch was not safe to use, cables with odd pin spacing, cables with unclear or nonexistent markings, etc.
My actual satisfaction hasn’t proven to correlate much with brand or price. I love my $100 Loxjie P20, but ate $40 on shipping and restocking the $100 Schiit Magni 3 (in hindsight, I should have sold it on eBay). I also prefer my $250 HE-560s over my $550 LCD-2Cs. Random exploration is part of the fun for me.
4 Likes
I’m not advocating spending big money on any tweak.
I don’t recall mentioning China, either.
The stock HD660S cables are better than any of the inexpensive alternatives I’ve had through my hands. They’re better than some of the expensive ones too. And the box includes one that is terminated for balanced use already. It just needs an adapter, or re-terminating for 2.5mm.
2 Likes
Just tired and rambling here…the time change has ruined this entire week…
2 Likes
HD650 vs HD660S
When the HD660S was released I borrowed a pair from the local shop and my listening impressions mirrored the Inner Fidelity review, grainy treble, lacking dynamics, sligthly plasticy timbre. Soon after that I got a Massdrop HD58x which I liked better and which sounded quite different from the HD660S.
Last week I got a new HD660S because I had made some changes to my headphone setup and wanted to revisit the headphone. I replaced the earpads with some worn in HD650 earpads and used a custom balanced cable to level the playing field for a comparrision with my HD650. This new HD660S sounds quite different from what I heard previously from this headphone, sound signature is closer the HD58X. Compared to the HD650 it’s a bit more laid back. HD650 is more midrage forward. I’d say HD650 is a bit brighter but you could argue what “bright” means because it’s not the brightness you’d expect from a Beyerdynamic or Ultrasone headphone. HD660S has less energy in the 2-4kHz region which is a bit more forward with the HD650 and HD600 headphones. The tonatily of the HD660 suits me quite well. I’d describe it as neutral, flat and slightly dark. Close to the HD58X.
The treble of the HD660S is as smooth as my HD650 now. It’s a hair more sibilant in direct comparision but it doesn’t stick out as plasticy, artificial or annoying in the least.
What suprised me, and why I post these comments here, is that the HD660S technicalitys are quite a bit behind compared to the HD650 (from a Phonitor headphone amp). HD650 driver is faster, bass is better across the board (deeper and tighter), low level information is better, soundstage is better. HD660S soundstage is more flat then HD650. HD650 has more depth and more air in the soundstage.
Rating the technicalities of some Sennheiser headphones from a Phonitor headamp on a level of 1-10, with fixed “1” for the HD579 and fixed “10” for the HD650 I’d say:
1 for the HD579
5 for the HD58X
7 for the HD660
10 for the HD650
I’d like to get some confirmation if my impressions are correct or if the HD660S I got might not perform up to specs?
3 Likes