Sennheiser - HDB 630

Momentum 4's are currently way cheaper than that and provide a great *balanced* sound. I've been researching a shitton of headphones in this range lately, so I'd say get that. If you can squeeze out another Benjamin - get the HDB 630. The Sennheisers may feel plasticky but they're pretty well built - you don't see many reports of them breaking compared to Sony forums. Oh, I completely forgot - Bowers&Wilkins Px7 S3 - those are great. Whathifi named them the best for sound quality (although the HDB630 was just released and is getting ton of praise from audiophiles), and they're very well built - metal stuff and all. If it's too expensive - wait for the Black Friday or get the S2e. I'd recommend to stay away from PX8 (1st gen), unless you want muddy bass all over the place.

Thanks. Your post makes me wonder if I got defective 630s. I have to pretty much crank them to max volume to get them to an acceptable level. All my other headphones are around 40%.

You should have got the sennheiser hdb 630. I just got this and also the Bose ultra gen 2. And I will keep what I like more

It's a great headphone and pretty most things the community here has been asking for. It's just when you make content and have a great product to review, you don't want to be accused of being a schill or overhyping it. So people take the little nits and make things of them because there's not much else to talk about. - anc isn't the best - PEQ only has 5 bands - it's $500 - plastic yokes - no water or dust resistance The rest you can... Resolve.

Agreed on all this. I bought mine the first week and love them more than my M4s. I've tended to just leave them default neutral so far - HD6xx for home and HDB630 for work and everywhere else seems to be fairly consistent apart from sub-bass and the openness from the HD6xx. I don't need super strong ANC, so it's the right product for me.

***TL;DR:*** *Yes, they're that good. For me they hit all the sweet spots with ideal compromises for the price/package. The best ANC/Wireless/BT headphone I have heard. I think they deserve the hype in their neutral / out-of-the-box EQ. They cherry pick lots of great qualities and bundle them into a class defining package. I am happy they hit the price point they do. They feel made with love and care for anyone that loves high quality sound. They're what I have been looking for and they deliver.* Stuff I use as references / comparisons / competition: * Sennheiser ie900 + Qudelix 5K PEQ * Focal Clear OG + Topping A90+D90 * Focal Elegia * sennheiser HD650 + Topping A90+D90 * Focal Bathys + Android/Linux * Sony WH-1000XM5 + Android/Linux Music I usually listen to: * Mostly metal/rock/prog (Bleed from Within, Knocked Loose, Mars Volta, Mastodon, QOTSA, Deftones...) * Classic rock (think Fleetwood Mac, Beetles, and friends) * Pop/Alt (Taylor Swift, Wolf Alice, Last Dinner Party, Manchester Orchestra, Portugal. The Man, ...) * Hip hop, mostly 90s but also some newer stuff * Jazz, but only on a Friday **Sound** The important bit. All thoughts are based on the neutral, default EQ settings. I have different headphones for different things. I have my Focal Clears and ie900 for detail. I have my HD650 for cosy and relaxed listening. I have my Focal Bathys for times when I need to block the world out and enjoy music without disruption. I have my WH-1000XM5 for ... everything else. Seriously, I wear these 8 hours a day while working, doing the dishes, hoovering, gardening. They're just great at being portable and disappearing on my head. They get out of the way and the sound is very unremarkable and never distracting. Oh and the Elegia. They're terrible. We don't talk about those. Now imagine if somehow all those headphones were put in a blender and out poured the perfect mix of them all. All the compromises in the right places. The bad bits barely noticeable. The good bits there in enough measure to make the whole mix perfect. That's the HDB630. * Just enough detail that I can listen to the detail without being waterboarded and fatigued by it. * Just enough warm buttery smooth mid-range without being muddy or overly warm. * Just enough treble sparkle without feeling ringy, metallic, or sharp. * Just enough bass without feeling swollen, thick, or intrusive. * Just enough width and imaging without feeling sparse or overwhelming. * Just enough physical lightness and clamping to be comfortable. * Just enough flattery of the recording without being cute. * Just enough ANC without ... well, the ANC could be better but nobody is beating Sony. * Just enough for serious listening without hogging your attention Point is, it's enough of everything. In the right mix. It is just ... right. My Bathys will be going on ebay or something, and I can't see my XM5 getting much use anymore. They're not "impressive for a closed back" or "impressive for a wireless headphone" or anything like that. They're "impressive. Full stop. In all categories.". **BT700 dongle + App** This all seems OK. Not really played with it too much and don't feel the need. The dongle works fine and works on Linux so that's good. BT on Android was the usual. Seems stable. **Build quality** It's enough. If not having metal hinges means they hit the price point, then good on them. I'd rather this level of sound was accessible to as many people as possible. The chassis is good. Comfort is good. Not the best, but perfectly enough.

They have better bass FR in the bottom end of the response, so they have good enough bass for techno and demanding hip hop for example. They do lack a bit of slam, but that's in character and fine. They're tight and controlled whereas the 650 has a hole at the bottom.  To my ears they share HD650 qualities all the way from upper bass up to the treble, where they're totally different. Brighter and more detailed, much more forward. At times the extra bass and treble presence can get the better of the mids, unlike the 650 whose mids are the center peice. Overall I'd say you can hear some kind of relationship between them. I adore my HD650 tone and musicality. They certainly sound like cousins, but still do different jobs. What surprised me most is the sound stage and general depth of the imaging on the HDB630. As the HD650 aren't super wide and vast, the HDB felt compatible in openness especially in the vocal range. Would I die on the hill saying theyre a modern closed back HD650? No, but in many ways they're better without being without that mellow 650 charm. 

I tried them at e-earphones today in Japan. They’re decent commuter headphones but I think how good they are is significantly overblown by folks like DMS and Jake. They’re a leg up over XM6s but they’re still pretty closed-in sounding and misses the mark on airiness and imaging. Are they the best closed ANC over the ears today? Yeah, probably. Are they significantly better in audio quality over the APP2/3 to justify the bulk? No, IMO and their ANC is still leagues behind the APP3 and has the feeling of “pressurized” ANC that the XM3/XM4 has. The default tuning is also very bass heavy, not even close to neutral — I find it surprising that the same reviewers that complained about the bassiness of the APP3 applaud the default tuning of the HDB630s considering it has the same bass bloat without EQ enabled. Would I replace the HD650s with them? Not a chance. They sound way more realistic in its imaging and sound staging, and while you can EQ it similarly, you can’t EQ away the fact that it’s still a closed back headphone. Did Sennheiser disrupt the market with these headphones? Yes, the USB-C dongle and built in PEQ are amazing and should be the default for all TWS headphones. But the amount of overhype and shilling by prominent YT reviewers is pretty disturbing IMO — comparing it to HE-1s and saying it makes everything else redundant? Misguided at best and malicious at worst. I personally would just stick with my APP3s for on the go use… and definitely keeping my HD650s/HD800S (and IMO the HD800 secondhand is a way better bargain than this unless you actually need TWS/ANC)

I tried them at e-earphones today while on vacation in Japan. They’re decent commuter headphones but I think how good they are is significantly overblown by folks like DMS and Jake from LTT. They’re a leg up over XM6s but they’re still pretty closed-in sounding and misses the mark on airiness and imaging. Are they the best closed ANC over the ears today? Yeah, probably. Are they significantly better in audio quality over the APP2/3 to justify the bulk? No, IMO and their ANC is still leagues behind the APP3 and has the feeling of “pressurized” ANC that the XM3/XM4 has. The default tuning is also very bass heavy, not even close to neutral — I find it surprising that the same reviewers that complained about the bassiness of the APP3 applaud the default tuning of the HDB630s considering it has the same bass bloat without EQ enabled. Would I replace the HD650s with them? Not a chance. They sound way more realistic in its imaging and sound staging, and while you can EQ it similarly, you can’t EQ away the fact that it’s still a closed back headphone. Did Sennheiser disrupt the market with these headphones? Yes, the USB-C dongle and built in PEQ is amazing and should be the default for all TWS headphones. But the amount of overhype and shilling by prominent YT reviewers is pretty gross IMO — comparing it to HE-1s and saying it makes everything else redundant? Misguided at best and malicious at worst. I personally would just stick with my APP3s for on the go use… and definitely keeping my HD650s/HD800S (and IMO the HD800 secondhand is a way better bargain than this unless you actually need TWS/ANC) FWIW — currently use APP2/3, HD650/HD800S/ES-2a/X9000 and have owned XM3-XM5 in the past as well as almost all of the TOTLs back in the early 2000s including HE90/SR-O/Qualia. So was really looking forward to a true game changer but IMO this ain’t it. It is at best an incremental improvement over other TWS IMO

As I wrote in my original post — DMS and Jake from LTT. DMS is even in the linked video. Plenty of other hyperbolic posts on this subreddit too like https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/s/EgnpfjMIG5

I agree. They feel more like a Momentum 5 than anything truly groundbreaking. They just needed a new model naming convention to justify the price increase and the dongle

Why though, at its price point the competition is certainly not even close to flawless. That and not everybody prioritizes ANC over sound quality. Edit: don't get me wrong it would be great if the ANC would be better of course, but for some it might be good enough, and for others it isn't as much a priority, so I'm confused why it has to be perfect at this price point when from the looks of it it successfully caters to a lot of people in the space.

Waaaay more bass than the 650 is the major one. Similarly smooth mids and highs, but definitely feel like a closed back. Personally I think the bass on the 630s drown out the mids a bit, and while it plays low, it lacks punch/kick. Overall it really does sound great, especially in USB-C wired mode. What is there in the 650’s bass is super clean, it just doesn’t have a lot. The 630s have significantly more bass and play lower. I haven’t spent enough time with the EQ yet to try to improve the bass issue yet. I have a large head and find the 630s uncomfortable, and I can’t bend the headband like I did with the 650.

I have tried the px7 s2 and px8 s2 and today my 630s came in….quick answer is the px8 s2 sound better…to me it sounds fuller and the separation is better….the 630s are no slouch they have great mids but they did not have that “full” bass that the px8 or px7 has…vocals sound better as well in the bowers…the bowers also get louder not by much but they are louder than the 630s…again you wont be disappointed with the 630s but since I have the px8 I’m keeping them and returning the 630s…. Also…build quality of the bowers is just more premium…the 630s are just hard plastic…they don’t feel like a toy but the px8 is aluminum and Napa leather lol…the 630s do feel better than anything Sony tho so there’s that lol

I have tried the px7 s3 and px8 s2 and today my 630s came in….quick answer is the px8 s2 sound better…to me it sounds fuller and the separation is better….the 630s are no slouch they have great mids but they did not have that “full” bass that the px8 or px7 has…vocals sound better as well in the bowers…the bowers also get louder not by much but they are louder than the 630s…again you wont be disappointed with the 630s but since I have the px8 I’m keeping them and returning the 630s…. Also…build quality of the bowers is just more premium…the 630s are just hard plastic…they don’t feel like a toy but the px8 is aluminum and Napa leather lol…the 630s do feel better than anything Sony tho so there’s that lol

Well don’t get me wrong…the px7 s3 sounds AMAZING!!!like really close to the px8 s2…but the 630s just had a bit more separation than the px7…and the separation on the px8 puts me in a trance…I really can’t explain it…however my biggest deciding factor was the build quality…the px8 feels like a million bucks…the px7 feels like half a million and the 630s feel like they should cost $350 lol….

using the dongle in windows, I stay at 12/100 volume because of excessive volume. For iphone direct bluetooth connection, I can listen at 70-80% Are you using the 3.5mm instead of digital connection? HDB630 has 480 Ω impedance, so I think you will need an amp? Else, just use usbc, or bluetooth/btd700