[MuFu]

At the moment, the HD600s are looking likely for £139, but I could have sworn I saw HD580s mentioned here for <£100 a while ago. The general consensus seems to be that this might be a better deal. Anybody come across such an offer?

Cheers,

MuFu.

[NicolasB]

Harrow Audio have historically been quite good for 580s - homepage here, link on that website to a copy of the magazine ad which quotes £99.95 for 580s here.

(Oh, that's +£6.75 p&p, I just noticed).

[MuFu]

Great, thanks.

There are also the the new HD595s to consider at a similar price, but there aren't many published comparisons involving them and the 580/600 at the moment. I may wait until there's more information available or I can get a demo of my own.

MuFu.

[TameRacingDriver]

I definitely would not pay more than £100 for the HD580's, especially when there are phones like the the Sony CD1700 for £80 and Beyer DT531's for £70, both of which can seriously worry the 580's IMO.

[Mr.D]

A mate ofc mine just bought a pair of 580s up TCR on monday. I think he paid about £80. Will ask him what shop it was

[rOAdeh]

i remember ordering 2 pairs of 580s for 70 quid each several years ago from rs.. and got phoned up and told that they had run out of stock but i could have the 570s for the same price... at the time i was a hifi noob and accepted without realising how much better the 580s are but still im surprised we dont see any good deals at all on 580s atm... its rare i see them for less than £100 let alone £70/80

seems a pity that rs dont seem to stock them anymore, as much as some people slate them they can offer v good bargains - just look at the servo15 deals - and theyre annual sales are normally pretty good too

[Mr.D]

Yeah I got my HD600s from RS for £115. Just found the receipt from 4 years ago!

[Mr.D]

HD580s were available at ASK electronics on TCR.
They were about £90 but my mate haggled them down by saying that they were the same price as the 595s on their website and as they were a "lesser" model they should knock some money off. He got them for £80.

This was at the start of the week they may not have much stock left.

Mate is very happy with them: admits they are not as good as the HD600s or as comfortable but happy nonetheless. Prefers them to my BD DT250s ( so do I to be honest but I've got the HD600s at home) and some Grado SR80s.

Breaking News: could be bogus but someone has told me that ASK are also selling the HD600s for £110.

[MuFu]

Cheers, guys. After a great deal of reading I've decided to go for the HD595s (£107 from TMC - thanks pbirkett!). They're relatively new and scarce, and that's part of the appeal, I guess.

Being my first pair of high-end 'phones, I doubt I'll be disappointed. Having heard the HD600s and used various semi-decent cans in a studio environment, I suppose I also have some basis upon which to make a sensible appraisal. Will let you know next week.

Thanks,

MuFu.

P.S. This new headphone forum's no joke, eh?!

[TameRacingDriver]

I hope you'll give us a little review once you get em and they are burned in?

What source and amp will you use them with?

[MuFu]

Sure, I'll definitely try and make some comments. A bit difficult without being able to make any direct comparisons, but I have a very vivid recollection of the HD600s (wow), so that should help. I'm not expecting a similar level of transparency (or indeed tonality/character) from the 595s but ballpark will be fine.

I'm quite intrigued by the effect of the angled drivers. I've read several comments in reference to other similar designs pertaining to the more natural soundstage this is supposed to produce.

Source is an M-Audio Revo soundcard, either direct or through a NAD C350 headphone output - not sure yet, although the latter is far more practical. Not ideal (and I'm not exactly sure how the NAD handles headphone out in "power amp" mode, as it is) but I'm a student so am well into my overdraft and can't afford a dedicated headphone amp just yet.

Actually... part of the attraction of the HD595 is the lower nominal Z vs. the HD580/600. Should be less demanding in terms of amplification.

[TameRacingDriver]

You MAY find that the M-Audio powering them directly gives you slightly better results. Low impedance phones are more affected by high output impedance of your typical integrated amp, when driving headphones. Its a case of try and see.

[MuFu]

Argh... got to wait another week now . There's a UK-wide shortage apparently. :-\

[MuFu]

Three-weeks now...

I've asked AskDirect (directly, lol) whether they can price match since they appear to have them in stock.

I wonder if this is anything to do with the fire at Sennheiser's facility in Ireland?

[Cookie_Monster]

My dad has a pair of HD580's and I have a pair of HD600's and I have to say both are very impressive (as Sennheiser products usually are in my opinion) but you would really need to be a true audiophile to notice a difference between the two.

And I got my HD600's for £139 (inc del via UPS) at askdirect.co.uk.

http://www.headfi.com are very helpful for headphone reviews and information (even though it is an American website).

[MuFu]

I bought the HD600s in the end; that price was irresistable. They've had about 50 hours of use so far. I haven't tried hooking them up directly to the Revo yet. The NAD's headphone output is sufficient to drive them to painful levels and beyond, but the idle noise floor is a little high and I get the impression that the signal is no way near clean enough to do these 'phones justice. It must be a straight feed off the backend of the power stage. I'll get round to building a dedicated amp this summer after exams have finished. Might have a couple of decent 24/192 external DACs by then as well, thanks to the band I'm in.

They sounds great, as-is, though. "Refined" is the word that first comes to mind and I've been listening for hours and hours without getting P-O'd. They have the driest low-end I have ever heard... clinical to a level far beyond that which one might expect from a high-end speaker system. The one bad point is that I've already experienced the infamous (!) cut-outs due to one of the cable terminators making inadequate contact inside the phones. They seem ok now... just needed a bit of a wiggle.

I remain curious about the HD595s, especially after reading more and more encouraging comments on head-fi. In the future I might buy a pair and keep whichever I prefer.

Cheers.