Sennheiser HD600 – A Premium Sound Experience

Audio Testing

After releasing it from the box enclosure, we immediately plugged the headphone’s audio jack to our sound rig and begin playing our favorite music track. In spite of our frequent encounter with premium audio devices, we were still surprised by HD600’s exceptional sound quality. MID (vocal) and HIGH (treble) sounds are reproduced with phenomenal clarity, while the LOW (bass) sounds are round and deep.

Aside from the nice overall sound quality, the HD600 neatly separates and mixes all the different sound ranges, thus allowing us to listen to the incredible details from each instrument in our music track simultaneously. The bass, although quite explosive, presents no disturbance to the other sound details.

Not just the detail and separation, we also noticed that the headphone has a good degree of transparency (a term used to describe a situation in which the audio appears to be originating from its original source, instead of some loud speakers or headphones). The HD600 immersed us deeply into the live concert atmosphere of our music.

Being captivated by the musical ability of the HD600, we tried to listen to what it could do to enhance our movie watching experience. Some full-HD films were used in our test, and, to be honest, this headphone sounds just as good. It was almost as if we were watching the movie amidst a full-fledged home theatre sound system. Even though it lacks the 5.1 multi-channel surround feature, for a stereo headphone, HD600’s sound quality simply goes beyond that of most other headphones. The bass is deep and powerful, adding up to the exciting sound effects in our movie. We were brought right into the middle of the action.

Then, we tried another common scenario: gaming! We threw in two FPS titles, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Multiplayer and Point Blank, to find out how the HD600 sounds in action games.

In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, we could feel the intense battle atmosphere as we shoot our way through dozens of enemy infantry men. Gun shots, explosions, weapon reloads, and the small detail sounds such as the soft noise of sand grains being blown away by the wind are reproduced with stunning clarity. Even in intense gun fights, we could still hear the enemy’s footsteps. However, due to its stereo nature (instead of 5.1 surround), we had a hard time figuring out where the enemy is coming from.

Moving out to Point Blank, we feel like the overall sound is missing something. Perhaps its because of the game’s poor samples. Still, we found an interesting enhancement to the audio quality. As we were waiting to ambush hostile forces, we could hear the gentle footsteps of an approaching enemy. This is rather hard to notice using average headphones, yet the HD600 reproduces the sound effects with stunning clarity.

So, enough praise for the sound quality, how about the comfort then? This matter is of vital importance for those who use headphones over prolonged time.

The HD600 is circum-aural (a type of headphone where the ear cups cover both ears entirely) in nature. As such, it is equipped with soft ear cushions to enhance the wearer’s comfort. The headrest is also covered with this cushion to reduce pressure applied to the wearer’s head. According to our experience, the HD600 gets uncomfortably warm during extended period of usage (3-6hours), but it’s nothing intolerable.

You need to be careful when trying to fit the headphone on your head. Your hairs might get stuck on the headphone if you adjust it while in use and this could lead to unpleasant surprises when you take the HD600 off your head.