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Comparison Review: Sennheiser HD600, HD700, HD800, HD800S


Even at the very beginning of my audio journey, Sennheiser headphones have been the reference of the headphone world. My taste in music & headphones have changed through the years, so dramatically that some headphones I used to love became boring and some others became irritating to the ears.
Yet I always liked the HD600's sweet smooth comfortable sound, and I can never get over with the enormous soundstage representation and detail retrieval of HD800s.

Here's my take of a comparison between HD600, HD700, HD800, HD800S

 Soundstage & Imaging:
    • HD600 has the smallest soundstage of the 3. 
    • HD700 has a 20% soundstage boost (over HD600) with a more exciting imaging ability. 
    • HD800 has an astonishing soundstage boost (over HD700) and an alarmingly accurate imaging ability. Wow is the only word for them on first listen.
    • HD800S takes a little bit of it's imaging ability and trades for some soundstage and overall balance. HD800 is a tad more precise. HD800S is a tad more coherent.

    Micro-detail:
    • Detail retrieval is adequate on HD600.
    • HD700 throws a lot of detail at you, yet sometimes they seem raw and not well developed.
    • HD800/HD800S gives out even more detail than HD700, yet doing so in a leisurely manner.

    Dynamics:
    • HD700 has more Macro-dynamics than HD600, yet for Mirco-dynamics HD600 has a finer touch. Just like stated above, HD700 sometimes feel like it's being too eager to rush out details. On first listen the sound is exciting but for longer listening period it feels artificial and fatiguing.
    • HD800 slams harder and deeper and faster yet everything's easy. Not even breaking a sweat.
    • Having a slight bass heft over HD800, HD800S has the best dynamic momentum of them all. Because of this, listening to well-recorded Rock or EDMs are actually quite recommendable.

    Tonal Balance:
    • Comparing to a lot of other headphones, HD600 always feel neutral.Treble's smooth but not too soft, Mids are sweet and Bass is not bloated. Just right.
    • HD700 is more V-shaped than HD600: Added details comes with excessive treble energy. A tighter bass and better texture works good for the low end. Drums hit harder and are more articulate. Vocal has a deeper presence and sounds more realistic.
    • HD800 is more lean than HD700, yet has a cleaner/smoother treble presentation. Although HD800 losses a bit in bass quantity, its bass extends lower.
    • HD800S has the closest tonal to HD600, in my opinion the added warmth & bass heft "fixed" the HD800 and make it dissappear. Just music around the ears. 

    Performance Ratio & Conclusion:
      For Performance Ratio in Technicality, I'd rate the following:
      HD600 : HD700 : HD800 : HD800S = 1 : 1.2 : 3 : 2.9
      For Performance Ratio in Musicality, I'd rate the following:
      HD600 : HD700 : HD800 : HD800S = 1 : 0.8 : 0.9 : 1.2

      For technicality, HD700 exibits greater performance over HD600. HD800 obviously performs better than both. Funny thing is, judging purely by technicality, HD800 actually also outperforms HD800S because of the uncompromising precision and detail it brings to the table. HD800S tames down the treble and raises the bass quantity of the HD800 but at the same time loosens a little on it's firm grip on transparency.

      Judging by musicality however, the HD700 is a bit of a mess. At times it feels like there's too much on its plate, stumbling around and dropping details all over the place. Listening fatigue kicks in the earliest of them all, followed by the unforgiving HD800.
      Even the HD800S tends to be fatiguing before I acquired Gungnir Multibit.




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