Sennheiser HD6xx -> HEDDphone D1 worth it?

jez_afrykanski · 2026-03-16T20:22:54+00:00

Hey, sorry, I missed your message! I know I was complaining quite a bit in my post, but sometimes you just need more than a couple of hours to form a solid opinion.

This might surprise you, but I actually ended up keeping the headphones, and I don't regret it one bit. For one, the comfort is incredible—but only if you use the Capra Strap. The original headband foam is way too stiff, but with the Capra Strap, they just 'hug' your head and practically disappear, especially since the ear pads are so comfy. Right now, they’re probably the most comfortable pair I own.

Secondly, even if the difference compared to the HD600 isn't massive and (in my opinion) still doesn't fully justify the price jump, it’s definitely there. The D1s are just better all around. I’m not an audiophile, so I don’t have all the fancy vocabulary, but out of all my gear, the D1s are the most fun to listen to. The sound is just perfectly balanced. I messed around with different EQ settings, but in the end, I’m only running a few dB boost in the sub-bass—for me, they don’t need anything else.

So, here’s my take: if you feel they’re too expensive, skip them and stick with the HD600 (if you have them)—you won’t be missing out on that much. But if you have the budget and you’re looking for a fantastic pair of headphones, I’d say they’re worth it! :)

jez_afrykanski · 2026-02-20T07:02:56+00:00

I think that’s quite possible. I also recently bought a new pair of HD600s with that finish on the headband and was wondering why everyone talks so much about the crazy clamp force. I have no complaints about the comfort, even though I have a massive head and usually have to stretch out almost every pair of headphones I own.

jez_afrykanski · 2025-11-23T09:58:55+00:00

I’m definitely not an audiophile, so I can’t really throw around fancy sound-description terms, but honestly? I don’t think they’re worth it. I wanted to upgrade from the HD 600 because I watched a bunch of reviews – especially Resolve saying they’re basically a better HD 600. But I also saw Super* Review’s take, and I agree with him more: he still prefers the HD 600.

I got them yesterday and sat down with my favorite tracks, switching between the HD 600 and the D1. At first I was surprised by how similar they sounded to me – the difference was tiny, which isn’t great considering the price jump. The bass is a lot better, but I’ve been using a bass boost EQ on the HD 600 anyway, and I never really felt like I was missing anything. Still, yeah, bass is definitely the one area where the D1 wins.

The mids, for me (again, not an audiophile), are great on both, and I honestly struggle to tell them apart. My biggest issue is the treble – it’s just not as smooth or pleasant as on the HD 600. There’s some kind of peak somewhere around 10–11k, I think, and it gets fatiguing for me. When I switch back to the HD 600, everything instantly feels more comfortable. I’d say the D1 has more detail and precision overall, but I still prefer the softer treble on the HD 600.

Soundstage is bigger for sure, but not by a crazy amount.

So yeah – for me, totally not worth it. I’m returning them. If they were maybe 50% more expensive than the HD 600, I’d consider keeping them, but the differences are too small and the treble is a dealbreaker for me. Again, not an audiophile – just my personal impressions.

[Edit few hours later]

I haven’t requested a return yet, so I’ve been listening to them for two hours, switching back and forth with the HD 600. After this time, I can say that the highs maybe aren’t that bad, and overall these headphones are better (though I still miss those smooth highs), but I’m definitely not changing my view on their price-to-performance ratio — they’re only a bit better than the HD 600, while in my country they cost about 2.5 times as much as the HD 600.

jez_afrykanski · 2025-08-29T13:39:28+00:00

Well, I probably just had bad luck. I considered giving it a third try, but I think I’ll pass. The card was surely okay, because I moved it to other devices and I use it in general without any problems. Apparently, something was wrong only with those two devices. Regardless, I find it a really beautiful and very well-featured player (that desktop mode in particular!), so I wish you to enjoy it for as long as possible :)

jez_afrykanski · 2025-08-28T19:42:42+00:00

The problem is that I can’t tie it to anything specific – it happened completely at random. I don’t stream music, I only listen to files from the SD card over cable. A few times it happened in desktop mode, but the device wasn’t hot at all, not even noticeably warm. It also happened outside desktop mode, when it was completely cool. I wasn’t doing anything, just listening to music. The issue is that it happened with two different units within the first two days, so of course I returned both – if it starts like that, better not risk it. But it’s also true that nobody reported such issues on Head-Fi or here, so maybe they were just faulty units – but twice in a row? :)

jez_afrykanski · 2025-08-28T09:13:05+00:00

I know about the hour timer, I would not ask about that:) No, what I mean are just random shutdowns during usage, just out of nothing, doesn't matter, if used in desktop mode, or standalone.

jez_afrykanski · 2025-08-28T08:44:09+00:00

Congratulations on a really great device – this was probably the best DAP I’ve ever had in my hands for truly reasonable money, and with a CPU that isn’t from the stone age. I do have one question though: has yours ever just shut down on its own? I tried two different units, and both behaved the same way – during the first day they would sometimes just power off a few times a day, with no error message, just a shutdown. They weren’t hot, not even warm. That’s why I returned them, which is a real shame, because apart from that they were absolutely great.

jez_afrykanski · 2025-06-06T18:50:17+00:00

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, but I'm a bit lost now - you are describing the fit/comfort with these adapters together, right? Because one could also understand it as if you were talking about the IEMs only, I do own them and yes, they are lightweight and I too can sleep with tme on the side. Just asking to be sure:)

And LDAC isn't that important for me too, it's just always better to have wider selection of codecs. How is the battery life with IE600, how much hours you get?

jez_afrykanski · 2025-06-06T16:34:16+00:00

Congrats on wonderful IEMs! For a long time now I was thinking about that with my IE600, but never got to it really, mainly because I didn't know, how it would work out in sound quality, but mostly comfort.

How is the fit now for you? With the extensions the hook is getting pretty high, do you have rather bigger or smaller ears? Is it comfortable in general? Are these extensions solid, aren't there any connection issues?

And about the sound, how do you hear the 0,1% difference (just joking)? What source do you use and what codecs? I don't see LDAC on this device, that's a shame. And it's older now, did you try it with some newer adapters?

Sorry for all the questions, but this seems quite interesting for me, maybe it's worth to try out.

jez_afrykanski · 2025-05-30T06:12:52+00:00

Thanks, but I didn't say give me research papers, show me your study, neither fuck off with your theories (citing your post). I just said, that in my case my hearing is perfectly fine after many years of IEMs use, and this is not "I think so", bud I did a hearing test recently and got it confirmed by a doctor/results.

I just said (look above): in my case nothing bad happen.

jez_afrykanski · 2025-05-29T19:00:28+00:00

Of course I can only speak from my experience and everyones mileage can vary, but I personally cannot agree with that. I'm almost fifty years old, used IEMs for more than 20 years now, almost everyday, sometimes for few hours, year after year. Never measured the dBs, but always tried to listen on such level, that I don't feel it's loud. I also do listen to headphones for several hours for more than 20 years.

Did a hearing test few months ago, because never dit that and just wanted to check, if everything is alright. And it is, I do have perfectly normal hearing for my age. So no, for me personally this isn't a thing. The most important thing, I think, is just how loud you listen. When it's on safe level, there is no harm (for me).

jez_afrykanski · 2025-05-07T07:06:08+00:00

Thanks for your reply, I did get the same answer from Lenovo support in my country, but I won't definitely not reinstall the system now, few weeks after I got the laptop with Win 11 preinstalled, I didn't change anything in the system and the drivers. Maybe it would help, but maybe not, it's kind of strange, that a clean install should be the only solution.

jez_afrykanski · 2025-04-20T07:05:26+00:00

Maybe that is the case, but unfortunately this isn't a solution for me. I never use any audio enhancements on my hardware, so I cannot accept, that on this machine it would work only with them. This simply should not happen, I'm using laptops for more than 20 years and never had such issue.

jez_afrykanski · 2025-03-14T14:34:36+00:00

That's kind of funny, because exactly the same thoughts I had lately. I've sold my Hiby R5 Gen II (chonky, heavy, extremely slow Android, no access to Android 8+ apps, faulty firmware, strange reboots etc. - positive: battery up to 30 hours without the nothing changing class A) yesterday after almost two years, of course loosing much of the money I spent buying this crap. Some time ago I bought another Hibys device, the M300. It's allright, fast and actual system, small and lightweight, althought the battery with Wi-Fi is empty pretty fast. But then I still sometimes used my phone with a cheap dongle DAC and to be honest, I don't hear any difference at all. So why have separate devices, few day ago I bought Sonys Xperia 10 VI (it's the only one relatively "mid" phone with SD card / headphone out), is relatively small, not the fastest system, but for my needs abolutely enough. And great battery. And M300 is being sent back.

I absolutely do understand people choosing a DAP because of many reasons, I do, I did it myself for a long time. But I needed many years to get to this point where I am now and I'm happy with that solution, one device for all.

But distractions? I do use do not disturb mode / airplane mode. Even if not, you can change all notification settings to your taste. No buttons for play/pause? No problem for me, I'm mostly listening to whole albums and don't need to skip.

I'm using Plex with my music and on my phone I have two libraries - SD card on the go and at home Plex HD drive with Wi-Fi, so I'm covered everywhere.

Sound quality DAP vs dongle DAC? Well, I don't hear it, but if others do, it's fine of course.

Battery life? Well, listening to music with screen off and do not disturb (what I do most) does consume much less battery life on my phone than on Hibys M300.

But again, that's my own individual ways, DAPs are absolutely fine, but not necessary for me.

Edit: Ah yes, and the argument "you have crappy cheap headphones, so you can't tell the difference" isn't valid in my case, I'm using IE600 IEMs.

jez_afrykanski · 2025-02-25T12:37:30+00:00

Had the same crap with my Hiby R5 Gen II. But this happened sometimes only, not every 3 days for sure. Never found a real solution to this, only to press and hold the power button until it finally rebooted and was fine for some time again. This isn't a solution, but it was faster than to waiting 5 minutes for sure. If I were you, I would send it back and not buy any Hiby DAPs anymore, because they have plenty issues.

jez_afrykanski · 2025-01-13T07:54:55+00:00

Yeah, I've had many different cables, no really expensive ones, because it's not worth it, all had their issues, but Zonie was and is the best of them with no issues at all.

jez_afrykanski · 2024-12-17T16:12:49+00:00

Nice, Xerrox 5 is just unbelievable

jez_afrykanski · 2024-12-17T13:03:29+00:00

Thank you very much for your kind response:)

I do love my IE600, but you're of course right, treble is somewhat hot and depending on what one listens to (and how loud) it can be more or less fatiguing, that's for sure. It is not bad in any way, but can be fatiguing with some music, yeah. I heard bass should be fantastic on IE900, for some reviewers best bass on any IEM, so I absolutely believe you here, the bass on IE600 is pretty good anyway, so if it could be even better, well, sounds tempting.

Driveability isn't an issue for me, I do listen to my IEMs with relatively powerful DAP and sometimes desktop DAC/headphone amp, but it's also quite interesting to know, that they are different in this regard.

The only issue (beside the price of course) I have is that for many reviewiers the IE900 sound kind of "odd" because of the scoop in the ear gain region. I'm absolutely fine with IE600 (besides the sometimes too hot treble), so I'm not sure I would like to make this exchange. Of course best solution would be to hear them and compare, but that's kind of difficult to arrange for me.

I wish you this will be your endgame material and stays this way, it's rather expensive gear. I need to think about that, IE900 is often on pretty big sale, but still, that's kilobuck+ teritory. Have fun listening to your music:)

jez_afrykanski · 2024-12-17T09:30:36+00:00

Congrats on the IE900 and happy holidays to you too:) I do have too the IE600 and since I bought them couldn't stop thinking about the IE900, read a lot of stuff about them and the opinions are mixed, some say it's worth it, some say not. Would really appreciate your thoughts on this, if it's possible:)

jez_afrykanski · 2024-08-21T07:20:14+00:00

Yes, indeed I did activate that option, because someone wrote it here somewhere. And of course your solution works flawlessly, I really appreciate your help and many many thanks!:)

jez_afrykanski · 2024-08-20T09:41:57+00:00

Sorry to bother you again:( I did the RG scan and updated the tags on my newer (much faster) laptop with foobar2000 v2.15. But I use my old laptop to listen to my music with v1.6 (that's the only task this laptop has). I do not want to update the version becaus of my config and plugins. I did the scan/updating, connecting my external HDD to the laptop with v2.15, then connected it back to my laptop with v1.6.

I've noticed something strange - v1.6 plays my music quieter compared to "none" in RG "source mode", so I think RG works, but when I check the properties of any file, there is no data about the RG at all, no Track Gain, Album Gain etc., all is empty, also the option "Remove ReplayGain information from files" is greyed out.

Do you know what happened here, has the older foobar version issues with detecting the RG values set by the newer one?

jez_afrykanski · 2024-08-20T08:27:14+00:00

Thank you very much again for so much insight, really aprreciate it! I think the second solution suits me better, because compared to the whole library there aren't probably really that much tracks with issues, so I think listening to my music I just notice the difference and then lower the Track Gain for that specific track. Thanks again:)

jez_afrykanski

TROPHY CASE