Which headphones of Drop's currently available?
I have some rewards points to burn but there's no obviously good options on Drop right now for headphones Contenders Ultrasone - maybe? I don't own any Ultrasones, so curious. Looks like garbage travel headphone which could be useful also. Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro. - Maybe? I have the DT 880 Good price point, really uncomfortable headphones but could be interesting to try the upgraded version. E-MU - strong contender but $400 is a bad price point for what it is. Which of the above would you choose and why? Nothing else on Drop is relevant to my interests, because Already own 6xx 820 800 s Ether cx Garbage / Consumer grade Meze 99 - garbage bass canons, hard pass No gaming headphones obviously Sennheiser wireless - no to wireless/bluetooth Hifiman - I have 2 of drop hifimans and they make really bad cheap shit on Drop, hard pass on HE-R7DX Aeon - I own the closed, Drop refuses to address #padgate so no reason to buy open Beyerdynamic 177x - wireless, nope Too similar 8x / 560s...
Mar 28, 2024
There's a reason the HD6XX are more expensive, don't ya think?
For me, the 6XX does rock well. Especially classic rock. The 58X sounds great with the blues, rock, pop, soul, RnB, etc. It can just handle more genres well over the 6XX (to me). Expense has nothing to do with it. It's all about individuals personal preferences. Technically, the 6XX is more expensive due to driver materials and a different dampening scheme. The 300 ohm HD 650 driver capsules are about $70 a piece these days.
If you have a super popular item you can sell for a discount, why would you not make as much profit on it as you could? That's just how businesses operate. The HD58X was a totally new model that was even different from the prototype in major ways. It didn't have years of hype around it and that's the biggest reason the price is lower - the market wouldn't be there at $200 for a product people are unsure about and don't already love.
58X has a slightly different sound signature - bass slightly more elevated etc., but if you want better bass you are better off with Beyerdynamic. idk, maybe 58X will grow on me later on...
Saving up for that dac/amp and it has to be portable, would it drive the HD6XX enough? Probably not to the fullest, but from 1-100% do you think it might drive it 70% of the way or not even?
Q5 balanced output power is ~440mW at 32 ohms if I'm not mistaken, but I'm quite new and don't know the other factors that go into "driving" a pair of headphones besides mW output. I think there are other variables such as wattage or something...
If you or anyone more knowledgeable than I can elaborate it would be great.
The strength of the 6XX is that it's supposed to scale better with higher end gear... and by higher end, people seem to be talking about $1000+ non-portable chains. It certainly scales when moving from my a Fulla 2 to a Massdrop CTH to an Eddie Current.
When it comes to raw power figures, I think these are not necessarily all that useful. From a simple loudness perspective, even an Fulla running of USB is plenty loud enough.
I don't have a 58X to compare to my 6XX, nor do I intend to get the 58X, as they would probably be too similar. But were I starting from scratch, and were I not intending to go past DACs or amps that cost a grand apiece, I'd be quite willing to buy either headphone. When I read of people with more experience in headphones, with better tuned chains than mine preferring the 58X for frequency response reasons, I believe them. After all, frequency response really is down to personal preference.
I've listened to the 58X and 6XX balanced and single ended out of an iFi Pro iCAN (14W @ 16ohms balanced) and would still pick the 58X over the 6XX due to it's speed. The 6XX has more resolution, but is still just too slow with transients and everything just sounds smoothed over by comparison. The 58X is overall more lively and has the better extension on the low end. Even more amazing is that it also has the 6XX beat out in distortion across a fair amount of the spectrum. With all that said, it will all boil down to genre of music and personal preference. For me, the 6XX is still too genre specific and the 58X is much more genre agnostic. If all I listened to was classic and rock, the 6XX would be a clear winner. But if your taste is eclectic and more varied, the 58X is the better contender, overall.
I still can't believe lots of people such as you prefer the 58XJ. Never in my wildest dreams would I imagine people praising and preferring a cheaper Sennheiser over the legendary status of the 6XXs.
Why would you think that? My (cheap!) DAC costs more than the phones. Same with a lot of other Senn owners. Not everyone is trying to drive their headphones out of their PC audio port.
I also wouldn't say the 58X "colors" the sound any more than the 6XX. Their FR is damn near identical. However, the 58X has a better command of transients and is a bit more forward in vocals with a few dB increase in the low-end. Most would state the HD 600 is more reference and neutral over the smoothed over 6XX and I'd have to agree with them. And despite that, I still prefer the 600 over the 6XX and the 58X over both. I haven't heard the 660s so I can't lump that one in but even with the HD 800 being technically superior to the entire HD6 family, it would rank pretty low for my preferred listening. It's way too genre specific and analytical for my taste.
The group at SBAF says many things that raises my eye brows, the only thing I've come to believe is the HD650 is the best thing since sliced bread - if you own the right gear to drive them. I know we've disagreed on the HD6XX in the past and we'll continue to disagree.
Thanks to their scalability, even a Focal Utopia is only perhaps 10-20% ahead (which is why I place the Elex at 5-10% better though I don't own one). Not everyone will be running 10k rigs with the HD6XX and for those that do, there's not much out there that's better.
Let's all calm down...breathe....
On a fairly quick setup feeding it, the 6XX isn't bad at all on faster, heavier, or more bottom heavy genres. Unless you're looking for a lot of bass, extreme extension, or super sparkly highs, which they won't do, the 6XX is great. The only complaint, and it's hardly a complaint for me, is that the low end has a bit of bloom to it. On slow gear, it smears and makes a syrupy mess. On faster gear, it lends everything a sweet tilt, which makes a darker sound into a fun one.
Is it a jack of all trades? No. It's too slow for that. And if someone is looking for a singular headphone that is fantastic at everything, I'd find it hard to recommend myself, but if someone wants to add a smooth and laid back sound to the stable, one that I felt was fully capable in any genre when called upon, the 6XX is a great choice. I find it hard to call the praise undeserved, especially given their pricing.
Anyhow, I have a few items on my short list: iFi Pro iDSD, Naim DAC-V1, Burson Virtuoso and Benchmark DAC3. The Naim came recommended by Focal for Focal sets so I'm leaning toward that one. Otherwise, I'm really looking at the Benchmark gear as I've heard some of their older stuff and thought it was very clean and clear.
I'm also not terribly fond of how the 6XX does with female vocals: Nina Simone, Etta James, Howlin Wolf, Big Mama Thornton, Dinah Washington, Son House, etc. the 6XX manages to suck the life out of these artists and remove the unique qualities of their voices. Same with certain instruments like Keb Mo playing the steel guitar or Booker T. on his Hammond B3 organ or Howlin Wolf on the harmonica.
With all that said, I still think the 6XX is very capable but that really boils down to what you listen to and your audio chain. As Jackula stated, these really don't take on their true character until you have them powered through some pretty expensive gear. Most of which the avaerage listener will not have. For the cost and means of use, there are better alternatives which is all I'm saying. I took a gamble on the Elex and they are my favorite pair. They're easy to drive, aren't amp picky and sound quite amazing being driven by even the most humble of setups. Throw in build quality, comfort, and their fun, dynamic and technical sound signature and you have a true sub $1k knockout.
But, that’s the beauty of music. Everyone has different ears and different tastes, and I’ve yet to find something to convince me to only own one option.
The Burson is a standout, it has that typical Australian sound. Clean, controlled, laidback and neutral-warm. It's a great DAC with equally good integrated amp, but you would only be using half of it since the amp side is a step below the ifi Pro iCan. The iDSD will be a great match I think, again I feel the amp side is such a waste.
Don't get me started, I've never liked the Benchmark. But I've since been convinced we seem to have almost opposite tastes ;) so don't go with what I would've considered at similar price points - Holo Spring, Metrum Amethyst, Audio-GD R2R1, or a Chord Qutest if you're not into R2R.
The only reason I don't own a Qutest is I prefer R2R DACs. AMR (ifi's parent company) makes one of my all time favorite DACs, the DP-777. What I like about the Qutest is it only costs a fraction of the DP-777 and performs more or less on par, and it's one of Chord's only "no frills" DAC - I wish the same no frills DAC existed for Chord DAVE, I'm hoping in a few more years... It could change my mind about R2R.