Click to view our Accessibility Statement or contact us with accessibility-related questions

My hd 6xx sound like crap. Dull and congested sounding. Did i recieve a defective product ?

more_vert
Got my hd 6xx today. Straight out of the box it sound veiled, conjested and dull. I have the hd 598 to compare to and 598 sound like from another world compared to 6xx. I am thinking i have got some defective product. I can't return it because i live in India(oversea shipping and all) Mine is made in Romania. I found online that some romanian made unit has some difference, and later they fixed it. Anyway i wasnt expecting anything dramatic difference like this. There isnt much channel imbalance to speak of but the overall sound is dull and congested. I don't know how it could be. I power it via fiio btr3 . It outputs like 60mw to 50ohm or something. I don't have any other dac or amp. is it the problem. Would buying a amp solve the problem.
Vote
29
remove_red_eye
611
Lance768
3

search
close
Hey @Lance768, I have a contact at Sennheiser, Ronja Harste, who is the product manager for the Massdrop edition headphones and several other of the high-end models. She confirmed that the drivers for the HD 600 series (and HD 58X Jubilee) are still constructed in Ireland today, and always have been. So even if the injection molded plastic tooling was shipped to Romania, the sound-producing components are still made in the same place.
LuckyLuke575
561
Dec 14, 2019
Agreed with the other guys here; as nice as the FiiO is as a pocket device, it's not going to cut it with the HD 6XX. You need to invest in something like the FiiO Q1 Mk II and get a balanced cable for the 6XXs to make these cans sound decent. If you can be fixed in place, the a Topping DX3 Pro and above are what you need to be looking for (1000 mW+ is a good rough guide).
Hey Lance, As others have said, the FiiO BTR3 just isn’t a strong enough amp for the HD 6XX. While the HD 598/599/PC37X are 50 Ω resistance and high sensitivity, headphones designed for portable use (and small portable amps like those found in phones and the BTR3), the HD 6XX is a “big boy” studio and home headphone at 300 Ωs and 102 dB Sensitivity. Actually, it’s slightly less sensitive, but that’s where you get your “loud enough,” and the resistance actually varies (and increases beyond 300 Ω) with different frequencies, and that is probably where you get your congested, veiled sound. Price isn’t the best indicator of suitability (and I’m only comfortable with US$ and EU€), but consider that the HD 650 was originally launched in 2003 for $500 as Sennheiser’s production flagship... and you’re trying to power it off of a tiny $50 device. Consider inflation on the HD 650’s original price (the HD 6XX version really is an incredible deal) and the fact that the FiiO’s cost budget is split between the cost of the Amp, DAC, and Bluetooth, then its fairly easy to see you’ve invested way more in your headphone than your amp. You could easily spend $500 or more on just an Amp for the HD 6XX and continue to hear improvements in clarity and firm impact, however I’m not particularly trying to make you spend lots of extra money. You would hear a substantial improvement from a $100 Monoprice Liquid Spark, a Drop Cavalli Tube Hybrid, or other dedicated desktop amp. If you have a home theater receiver with a 6.5mm headphone jack, that might show off more of what the HD 6XX is capable of. If you like portable Bluetooth, and FiiO, I can tell you from experience that the Q5 and Q5S with AM2 amp module (or better) had a really addictive sound quality with the HD 650/6XX. If you see an amp you can get shipped from Drop or buy locally, send us a link in a reply, and we might be able to drop some thoughts for you. Now, I’m not there, and I can’t test your headphone, so I don’t actually know if it’s defective, but the symptoms you describe sound exactly like my experience with not driving the headphone with an adequate amp. Some of it is sheer power (I’d guess the BTR3 only gives 10-16 mW of power to the HD 6XX, varying depending on frequency), some of it is the clarity and low distortion of the amp. With a good amp, the HD 6XX should actually sound cleaner and clearer than the HD 598, while at the same time giving you a harder bass, and sound like an obvious upgrade.
(Edited)
The FiiO isn't very powerful... if you want to stick with bluetooth look at the ES100, Bluewave Get or FiiO's bigger offerings from the Q series
For reference, Drop also sells the O2 + SDAC bundled with the HD 6XX, and Sennheiser sold an HD 650 bundle which included an Apogee Groove amp (which is what I bought, the bottom is stamped with 5V, 500 mA).
PRODUCTS YOU MAY LIKE
Trending Posts in Audiophile