If you want an objective measure for how good a pair of headphones is, look at how long it’s been on sale. Sennheiser’s HD 650 has gone unchanged for 13 years, having once been the pinnacle of the German company’s lineup. Priced at its usual $500, this set of open-back cans remains a benchmark setter that others have to compare themselves against, but today it’s getting a makeover that drops the cost down to a frankly ridiculous $199.99. Massdrop, the crowd-shopping website that collaborates with headphone manufacturers to do special limited editions of popular headphones, has worked with Sennheiser and is today offering a special HD 6xx variant at that lower price.
The Sennheiser HD 6xx is identical to the HD 650 in its sound signature, construction materials, and Ireland-based manufacturing. It only differs in having a new "midnight blue" color scheme that swaps out the 650’s grays for an almost-black shade of indigo blue around the ear cups and the headband. The 6xx also makes a couple of convenience improvements: the cable has been shortened to 1.5m / 5ft and it now terminates in a 3.5mm connector instead of the 650’s 6.35mm jack. Otherwise, though, this is the exact same HD 650 that my colleague Chris Plante fell in love with over a decade of happy listening.
There are only 5,000 units available for the present drop, which begins right now and is unlikely to last a terribly long time at all. US deliveries are expected to be completed by December 25th, though no such promises are made for international customers.
In any case, the advice for these headphones at this price is a no-brainer: buy them while you can. You won’t find any other $200 headphones coming close to this level of quality anytime soon.
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