Sennheiser - HD 660S2

I find it hard to believe that the comfort between a Sennheiser and the D1 would be similar. The thing that bothers me the most about the D1 is the price and the comfort, when compared to the HD6 line. If you wanted more subbass in those, you could surely get a zen dac to boost the bass up, or a pair of tubes to upgrade them even more. But the additional weight and build of the D1 concerns me. The weight is likely to cause discomfort in long listening sessions, and in terms of build - if anything breaks, I doubt its as user servicable as the HD6 line of open-back headphones. That coupled with the addional price increase of these headphones, is why I'd probably never recommend anyone these over the HD6 line of open backs. Plus the company doesn't have good rapport either based on the DMS video.

Understand where you're coming from. My point was price, comfort, ease of user serviceability, and company goodwill. (In that order of importance) I really appreciate you addressing the latter two to a certain degree. But to clarify, regarding the brand bit, I wasn't alluding to where they were located or their products, I was referring to dms video about how they try to snub critical user reviews by pressuring mods into removing user posts. The longer warranty is certainly nice. But i don't think that's a concern sennheiser wise, when we've seen them last decades already. Also the d1 certainly does not seem as easy to service as the sennheisers (and by that I don't mean partially like earpads or headband, but the rest of the chassis as well). You can open up the whole chassis of senns without any tool, I haven't seen any breakdowns of the D1, but it doesn't look as easy. Not to mention THE most important factor, the comfort. Good sound means nothing if you're constantly uncomfortable wearing them, I prefer lighter weight, a lot. So ultimately all I'm trying to get at, is that while your points about the longer warranty or the stock sound are valid, considering the d1 an all around upgrade is a stretch when you're compromising on comfort, and price. You said that the d1 needs juice because the mac wasn't powering it to sufficient levels, so the cost of a dac or amp I wouldn't consider additional costs for senn but rather something that you'd need to invest for d1 as well. Both have their advantages and tradeoffs. And personally for me, the tradeoffs of d1 are not worth it.

hd660s. I love both its strength as well as its weaknesses, making it my favourite pair of gears

hd550 is a fairly affordable and safe pick imo. If you don't mind eq the 560s is another good set. If you love vocals get something from the hd6-line. HD660S2 can be found anywhere near $400 these days

I got and returned the 109 Pro after few weeks. They are super comfortable, nice sounding and that is it. They are nice they didn't do much for me no complaints it just OK. I found my self going back more and more to my older Arya Stealth and 6xx. Obviously everyone is different but I think under $1000 there is much better at least objectively better headphones and you can listen to them first. Focal Clear, Arya Stealth, LCD-2C (used) I would even throw in 660S2. All these to me sounded better than 109 Pro.

I've tried the HD660S2, it did not impress me compared to the HD800s, I auditioned them back to back. My reaction to the HD660s2 was something along the lines of "Better bass better imaging version of the HD6XX (which are a third the price)." My reaction to the HD800s was... well I had no words I was blown away and moved to tears.

Hi how about drop hd6xx, or sen had660s2, if yiu boughr 6xx fit the custom cans bass mod kit and not far off sounding like 660s2. Also can thicker ear pads too . Regards mark

Had similar issues with my warm & dark sounding Senn 660S2s with extended sub bass where the sound was underwhelming, muffled like there was a blanket over the instruments when tested with PC, phone, portable minidisc and mp3 players.I even preferred my leaner and brighter sounding cheap HD 400S over them. What is night & day sound quality wise for me was a HiFi amp connected to my PC and even better, stereo amp/CD player.You know it as soon as you hear it, its always the clarity of the cymbals that leaps out and the wider space between instruments that make them all blend well together.

Yeah totally agree with that, but the turtle beach was insanely bad. I have Sennheiser open backs and while the bass isn't anything to write home about, it's not a noticeable thing.

Any Sennheiser wired mainliners 5xx and up, like the 560S, 600 and 660S2. Between thick memory foam padding, big earcups and open backs you barely notice they're there once you're used to them, and you do get great balanced sound too.

I have a pair of Sennheiser HD660S2s—definitely a splurge, but worth it. I love the open-back design since it lets you hear the room around you, giving the sound a huge, natural “stage,” as they call it. There’s no noise canceling effect the way any closed headset would give you, but that’s kind of the point. My only gripe is the 6.3mm cable, which has to be adapted down to 3.5mm for the PlayStation Edge controller. It leaves this big, heavy connection sitting right on my lap. Still, the sound is absolutely phenomenal.

Same, HD660s2 on the little piece of schiit magni amplifier - sounds phenomenal. Can hear everything from the mechanical action of weapons on battlefield 6 and can hear when a song has subpar mastering for the first time ever - instruments/sounds I’ve never heard in songs I’ve listened to hundreds of times before. I think it’s fantastic for gaming, as a car audio basshead I also appreciate the improved sub-bass extension compared to the other hd600s - although obviously being open back and designed for sound quality it’s not head-rattling bass but fair compromise to me. Certainly improves explosions and such in action games.