Massdrop x Sennheiser HD 6XX Headphones Discussions | Drop

Massdrop x Sennheiser HD 6XX Headphones

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Aug 3, 2017

Does the macOS Sierra MacBook Pro have enough "power" or "output" to use these headphone successfully?
Also, if you watch some mainstream music would you recommend these headphones?
I bought these because they seemed like a good deal and looked comfy. Im just an average college student.
Thank you!

Cokeman

1971

Aug 3, 2017

Scottyy1. "macOS Sierra Macbook Pro" isn't a model of Macbook Pro 2. Not really, you should get an AMP and DAC 3. How do you watch music?

Aug 3, 2017

Cokeman3. - I think he means music videos. If so, then probably not worth it. Audio embedded in music videos are usually compressed and not of high-fidelity.

Aug 3, 2017

JackulaI'm new to this whole high quality music. what makes some music or songs high-fidelity and others not?

Aug 3, 2017

Cokemanas you can see I'm new to this haha. i listen to music videos on youtube. i listen to a variety of music but i want to experience listening to music a high quality. I thought $200 for top quality was good. I currently have the SHP9500 headphones and they are nice.
how do you listen to your music?

Vote

Aug 3, 2017

ScottyyWell, music videos are designed to be played through a normal TV, music video producers baselines their audio tracks on the standard of TV speakers - which isn't very great, and far below hifi headphones. They do this to keep the file size down, easier to download, easier to stream, but sacrifices sound quality.
Ever downloaded a movie that uses lossy (i.e. compressed) audio, i.e. DTS, Dolby Digital AC3, notice the files are generally up to 5 gigs for a 2-hour movie at full HD, and then the same movie with a lossless (i.e. uncompressed) audio, i.e. DTS-HD or Dolby TrueHD and suddenly it's like 15 gigs or more? The reason is, lossless audio can take up huge amounts of room, far more than the video.
Compressed is probably not the right term here. You can get two types of compressions, lossy compression where the audio track loses some of its sound quality for storage considerations, or lossless compression where the audio, once uncompressed, will sound identical to the original media. Lossless is what you want with a capable setup.
In music, common form of lossy are mp3's - though, in some situations 320k mp3's are almost indistinguisable with lossless - and lossless are flac's.

Starcraft

Aug 3, 2017

ScottyyTo get the best out of these headphones you need to spend at least another $200 on an amp or a dac/amp combo. The reason is that these take more power to drive (to push sound) than what your Macbook can provide. Do some research.

Starcrafthttp://www.schiit.com/products/jotunheim

Aug 3, 2017

StarcraftIn my past experience, it's more optimal to invest DAC:Amp:Headphones at 1:1:1 ratio. So considering these are $500 headphones, it would be optimal to have a DAC and Amp with a combined worth of $1,000 (or at least some kind of giant killer). I'm expecting a flood of negative reviews once these are shipped out, as people are expecting to get the most out of them with a Modi/Magni stack.

Starcraft

Aug 3, 2017

JackulaI agree, this is what I am planning on getting for the 6xx I ordered. Its an amazing amp plus you can add a balanced dac for another $100 (which im going to do :).

Starcraft

Aug 3, 2017

Vote

Aug 3, 2017

StarcraftA great match for the 6xx if you're planning to use the balanced output, which I can't recommend highly enough! I generally don't recommend Schiit for anything, but I would recommend the Jot on balanced. And the DAC addon at $100, it's probably the best value balanced DAC I know of.

EniGmA1987

607

Aug 3, 2017

ScottyyScotty, these are top grade headphones. That means the better electronics to go with them that you buy, the better they will sound. They are capable of resolving detail with even the highest end setups without really "topping out". However, just because they can be used for really high end music setups, doesnt mean they HAVE to. You can still use them just fine on anything including a Macbook, and these will likely sound better than other things you have used before. The headphones will be held back and have more to give, but they are still perfectly useable.

Panzer17

Aug 3, 2017

JackulaThe DAC on the Jot is atrocious, don't get that. The amp is good though on balanced. However balanced doesn't really have any improvements sonically, it would only have an effect for very long cable runs which you obviously won't have.
You will also need to re-terminate your cable to XLR, or buy a cable which is pretty expensive.
If you just want more power, get a more powerful single ended amp.
But you actually won't notice that much of a difference between the Schitt Stack (Modi Multibit and Magni 2 Uber) and something a lot more expensive. The Gungnir is probably a better DAC if you want to spend the money.
Or you could just go the audio-gd right, grab an NFB28 or NFB29 for SE, and that will match anything $1200+ for a lot cheaper.

BoiIfYouDont

Aug 3, 2017

JackulaThat's a super dumb rule lmao. How about just buying an amp with enough power for your liking?

Aug 3, 2017

Panzer17XLR have an additional advantage of separate ground channels, making it much harder to leak sound between channels compared to single ended. It's like having two mono amps powering each of your channels. Of course that doesn't mean properly designed single ended won't be just as good, but it is harder to achieve.
Of course, I agree with you about the Jot DAC, if you've read my past posts, I've never been a big fan of any Schiit DACs, but I haven't heard a Gungnir. I'm just saying, $100 for a balanced DAC is great value for money and hard to beat.

Vote

Aug 3, 2017

BoiIfYouDontIt's not a rule, it's a guide. You're not going to get the best sound on a pair of $500 headphones with $100 worth of gear.

ProfessorPat

380

Aug 3, 2017

BoiIfYouDontI agree. Making any decision based on price alone is pointless, especially in the world of horrible markups and marketing nonsense that we have here.
I totally disagree with the "objective" mindset as well, but making a decision based on cost rather than sound and your own personal enjoyment of that sound is just silly.

Aug 4, 2017

ProfessorPatCompletely agree. Too many audiofools think the more you spend the better it will sound, perhaps an attempt to justify the money they have invested (wasted). My advice is go to a store front and do your own listening. Also pick up a book and do your own research, it's a mountain of reading but at least I found most of it enjoyable to read. Consensus and hype are not good indicators of audio performance.

EniGmA1987

607

Aug 4, 2017

JackulaBalanced audio doesnt have ground channels... Going to your headphones or speakers you have a positive audio signal and a negative audio signal, no ground. And the audio does not get sent through the positive and return through the negative. It is sent and returns through both the positive and negative, depending on where the AC waveform is in its rise or fall.

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Aug 5, 2017

EniGmA1987I was talking the amplification stage, not the output stage.

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EniGmA1987

607

Aug 5, 2017

JackulaJust remember that any balanced amp that also supports single ended output does not have separate grounds in the amp section either :( And in the end, even when really expensive amps have two separate virtual grounds for each side of the balanced circuit, it all will tie back to the single ground point of the incoming AC power cable to the chassis, which ties them together and makes both grounds the same potential in each channel's circuitry.
The biggest advantage balanced amps have is the cleaner signal in the headphones because of the positive and negative audio signal, and double the voltage swing for better volume and transients.

Aug 5, 2017

EniGmA1987Good point on the single-ended, I hadn't considered it and makes sense. So this means if balanced and single ended output have the same voltage and power output, there really won't be any advantages of one over the other, that is unless there were long cable runs or some massive amounts interference nearby. In balanced amps, they don't have to share the same AC. Even so, crosstalk is minimised but not guaranteed eliminated, as there will always be opportunities for leakage, i.e. pre-amp stage, DAC.

Aug 5, 2017

EniGmA1987thank you for your response.
i am new the this audiophile business. is there a place i can go that produces top sounding music? i want to be able to tell the difference between $5, $50, an the new 6xx headphones. And right now i can't really do that. I currently have the old beats studios, shp9500S, and apple earbuds. I usually casually listen to music through youtube or iTunes. I generally listen to hip hop but also other genres.

Vote

Aug 5, 2017

ScottyyHdtracks.com is what I use. Though the HD6XX is very forgiving, unlikely there will be much difference between lossless and good quality lossy.

alfredxing

Aug 5, 2017

ScottyyHDTracks is pretty standard in the audiophile community (it's about the highest quality digital download you can get), but the selection is limited and it's a bit pricey (you have to pay per album, the old fashioned way).
Tidal (tidal.com) is a streaming service like Spotify that offers lossless audio, though you have to pay $20/month for that tier. If you want something more affordable, just Spotify is probably okay (it's 320kbps on Premium); it's definitely a lot better than anything on YouTube, but you won't get the full potential of lossless. Spotify also has a 50% discount for students: https://www.spotify.com/student/

adrian.moreno

Aug 5, 2017

ScottyyThese are basically the best headphones you can buy if you're interested in open cans. Would recommend getting a DAC/Amp to get the most out of them tho.

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Cokeman

1971

Aug 5, 2017

adrian.morenoThese aren't even close to the best open headphones you can buy. Don't say stuff like that when you have no clue what you are talking about.

Aug 5, 2017

adrian.morenoHave a look at the Stax SR-009 and Focal Utopia headphones. Then tell me if you still think the HD6XX are the best.

Panzer17

Aug 5, 2017

JackulaHeck, they're not even the best Sennheiser dynamics, the HD800 and HD800S are better.

Cokeman

1971

Aug 6, 2017

alfredxingI don't mind spending a few grand on audio equipment, but I draw the line with spending hundreds of dollars on music. I'm waiting for Spotify HiFi which will give you lossless music for $15 a month.

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