Sennheiser IE 600 In-Ear Headphones

Product Information

The headphones I love are hd600 and akg k701, esp hd600 with tubes (I use a Cavalli Tube Hybrid). I have owned an LCD 2C, though I loved it a lot I found myself using 600 more. Also had grado sr80 and 225 at some point which followed the same pattern of me moving to 600. You do get the sense of the IE 600 sounding even fuller, yet less extended in sound stage and notes in SE mode. The second main impact is on the bass, which in single ended mode isn’t as present but it is tighter. It however also is technically less strong. There is a little bit more texture to the vocals with the IE600, and slightly more push in the lowest regions. The unsurprising part of the IE 600 is the basic configuration. Sennheiser has never been an advocate of armature based earphones. For every advantage that they muster, there are elements of their design that the company is less keen on which has led to them favouring a single dynamic driver. Of course, asking one driver to cover an entire frequency response has issues all of its own too. Even in the compact world of the human ear canal, having one driver to handle everything is an engineering challenge in itself. Sennheiser’s approach is the TrueResponse driver. If you’re in the market for a mid-fi market IEM that keeps it engaging but shows you what a higher end IEM can do, then the Sennheiser IE 600 for sure should be on your short list to audition.

With ie600, the 's', 't' etc. in her voice are so damn prominent. With this song, I found the iems quite sibilant. With N3 and 846, this issue was not there. A fast transient response goes a long way, and the IE 600 features that well with its midrange extension. The IE 900 also has a clean and detailed timbre, but in terms of drive it is not as impactful as the lows and takes on a more natural response. Instrumental and vocal clarity are incredible on both IEMs, but in terms of tonal richness, the IE 600 has a bit of an advantage over the 900. Some might actually prefer the 900’s more subdued performance in its midrange, as I think less aggression here balances the frequency response in a way that makes a more specific sound profile emerge. One that might be more dynamic that the constant force of the mids on the IE 600. Highs taekwondo, horror movies, trivia, word games, TED Talks, and spinning vinyl with her old-school audiophileThis driver is a little smaller than what you might expect to find in an earphone. Where most of those hover around the 10mm mark, here the IE 600 makes do with a 7mm one (and 3mm might not sound significant but it’s a meaningful drop in radiating area). This helps to boost the upper frequency performance but the reduction in cross section would notionally lead to a drop in bass output. To compensate, Sennheiser uses a series of chambers to augment the low frequency response. Where the IE 900 is a triple chamber device, the IE 600 simplifies this process somewhat and makes use of a dual chamber arrangement. Disclaimer: The Sennheiser IE 600 was sent to us by Sennheiser directly (thank you!), in exchange for our honest review. Sennheiser is not related to Headfonia in any way. Official replacement ear buds / ear tips / ear adaptors for Sennheiser IE300, IE600 and IE900 In-Ear Headphones. With regards to comfort, the IE600s are a joy to wear and are one of the few IEMs you can comfortably have in your ears while lying on the side resting your head on a pillow. The included tips are quite okay but I find them to require some effort to get a good seal and there is quite a size difference between the medium and large size. As always with IEMs, be prepared to buy your own tips if necessary. Every ear is different, and a good seal and comfortable tips are essential.One thing to note here is that the supplied tips has some mesh in front of the driver, which as far as I could tell makes the treble a bit softer. Also, you need to rotate them just so on the MMCX connection. The cable has a stiff memory hook around the ear, and it can fight with you, trying to pull them out. That cable!

I'm guessing the third party dealers don't make a lot of money on these ear pads, but it seems to me it is critical that these IE replacement pads are critical. Finally, I will only evaluate the IE600 based on their performance, even though I will explain how it feels and seems physically and aesthetically. The Sennheiser IE 600 is small, very well built, super comfortable and affordable IEM with a tuning that is easy to like. You might not necessarily like the looks of the IE 600 but it will please many ears for years to come. If you’ve made it till here in this article, you’ll know a lot of references have already been made to the IE 300 and IE 900, but let’s recap it here: String music sounds very good on the IE600. Lots of texture and detail. No harshness or fatigue-inducing brightness. The instruments never sound thin or clinical.Let's start with the build. The middle-sitting IE 600 have been constructed using a patented 3D printing process, with their housings made from ZR01 amorphous zirconium – this metal has an atomic structure similar to glass, which gives it triple the hardness and bend resistance of high-performance steel. It's the same material used in the drilling head of the NASA Mars Rover, which gives you an idea of just how tough it is.

The bass is very powerful, maybe a little too much, depending on your preferences. However, it’s not flabby, there’s texture and a sense of tightness. Great separation. Bowie’s voice sounds natural and present. Wired’ beats ‘wireless’ every time, all things being equal – but when you’re asking this much for wired in-ear monitors, ‘beat’ isn’t quite enough. Happily, the Sennheiser IE600 don’t so much ‘beat’ the best true wireless in-ears around ‘wipe the floor’ with them. As expected, based on the description of the bass and mids, the treble section is very smooth on the ears. The upper section is soft, musical and very easy to listen to. The treble detail is there even if it isn’t the most extended. The bass punches exactly like it should. The presentation is tight and dynamic. The soundstage isn’t huge, but instrument separation is great. With Portishead’s It Could Be Sweet the differences between the Kato and the IE600 are very apparent. The bass is much more present with the IE600, and the general presentation is fuller and darker. The vocals have more presence in the lower mids with the IE600 and in the upper mids with the Kato. The Kato sounds lighter and more airy, the IE600 fuller and with more body.

Every vocal or instrument is placed specifically in the right place in the carefully staged, wide and tall, in all directions 3D holographic representation. With everything being distinct and the imaging and layering being sharp, I can identify each fundamental component of the sound and determine which instrument is closer or farther away thanks to the separation. Very nicely done. But despite what Sennheiser would no doubt describe as a ‘affordable’ price, there’s next-to-no evidence of corners being cut or pennies being pinched. The IE600 may be necessarily small, but they’re very big indeed on specification. TrueResponse