npdang
03-11-2006, 11:39 AM
I had a chance to evaluate all three headphones for one afternoon using a few well known reference discs. I've been personally using the hd580's for about 5 years or so, and I'm quite familiar with the sound of the hd600's. The hd650's were a completely new experience for me.
My impression of the hd580, the oldest and cheapest model of the bunch was quite good. Treble lacks the very fine edge and refinement of a good ribbon tweeter, sounding a bit too spitty/crunchy/aggressive sometimes. Metal instruments do have a pleasant ring and sparkle though. The upper midrange is quite recessed, as with all three of these models, giving you a kind of distant, hazy presentation. Lower midrange and bass are a bit bloated, but strong and satisfying. The best trait of this can Imho is the relative ease of listening, comfort of the band, and a natural, open sound that tends to the warm side tonally.
Between the hd600's and the hd580's, the treble is more laid back and less peaky at certain points. I also noticed the bass and lower midrange did not have quite as much bloat. But overall, in alot of ways these are still very similar in sound.
With the hd650's, I was expecting a large difference given all the reviews. Dissapointingly, I found there really wasn't much difference between the hd600's. On some songs, you could notice that the treble was a bit smoother , but doing a blind comparison I honestly couldn't tell which headphone I had on with alot of tracks.
My impression of the hd580, the oldest and cheapest model of the bunch was quite good. Treble lacks the very fine edge and refinement of a good ribbon tweeter, sounding a bit too spitty/crunchy/aggressive sometimes. Metal instruments do have a pleasant ring and sparkle though. The upper midrange is quite recessed, as with all three of these models, giving you a kind of distant, hazy presentation. Lower midrange and bass are a bit bloated, but strong and satisfying. The best trait of this can Imho is the relative ease of listening, comfort of the band, and a natural, open sound that tends to the warm side tonally.
Between the hd600's and the hd580's, the treble is more laid back and less peaky at certain points. I also noticed the bass and lower midrange did not have quite as much bloat. But overall, in alot of ways these are still very similar in sound.
With the hd650's, I was expecting a large difference given all the reviews. Dissapointingly, I found there really wasn't much difference between the hd600's. On some songs, you could notice that the treble was a bit smoother , but doing a blind comparison I honestly couldn't tell which headphone I had on with alot of tracks.