The Sennheiser HD 620S are higher-tier closed-back headphones that the manufacturer promises can supply a wide and immersive soundstage like open-back headphones without all the limitations of open-backs, such as a lack of isolation and deep bass. Kitted out with creature comforts like thick padding and a cable that connects to one side, these appear to be aimed at enthusiasts rather than audio professionals. Their feature set and visual design share similarities with the enthusiast-oriented Sennheiser HD 560S. However, they're in the same line as the Sennheiser HD 600, which are venerable mixing headphones used by the pros. If nothing else, the HD 620S are already posed to break conventions and appeal to a niche audience, so let's see if they manage to synthesize the best parts of open-back and closed-back headphones.
The Sennheiser HD 620S are alright for neutral sound listening sessions. Their sound profile has a conservative bass response, balanced mids, and an uneven treble range, with either quite a bit of brightness or dulled clarity. Unfortunately, their frequency response consistency is negatively impacted by the soft ear pads, which don't seal evenly, and large ear cups, which can leave gaps in the seal for people with smaller heads or anyone who wears glasses. Despite promises from the manufacturer that these closed-backs can achieve a bigger, more open, spacious soundstage than what closed-backs are known for, they don't quite hit the mark, though the soundstage isn't totally closed off. They're also well made and comfortable with a replaceable cable, so you can certainly wear them for a long session, and most devices can drive the headphones sufficiently.
The Sennheiser HD 620S are poor for commutes and travel. They're bulky and don't fold down any smaller. Their wired-only connectivity limits most people's ability to connect to various devices. The headphones lack active noise cancelling (ANC), so while they can muffle high-pitched crying from babies, they can't block out the ambient din of an airplane cabin or the rumble of bus engines. Even though their clamping force is fairly high, they still leak enough that you might annoy your neighbors. Their bass sounds a bit weak, particularly if you wear glasses, and the treble is also veiled, while lead parts sound accurate, which is down to preference. That said, they're comfortable and well-made. You won't have to worry about draining a battery to listen on them, either, and most devices can sufficiently drive them without an amp.
The Sennheiser HD 620S are poor for sports and fitness uses. They're not designed for working out. Despite their comfortable and stable fit, they're not really portable. The wired-only design includes a long cable, which can easily snag on gym equipment. Plus, their soft ear pads are likely to feel slick if you start sweating, and they don't have any water, sweat, or dust resistance.
The Sennheiser HD 620S are a disappointing choice for the office. Despite their closed backs, they still leak audio, which can disturb your coworkers. They passively block noise like chatter and clinking dishes in the office kitchen, but it's less comprehensive in effectiveness than active noise cancelling headphones, so you'll still hear quite a bit of your environment. Depending on your preferred tuning, the headphones have a veiled treble response and aren't particularly bassy (especially if you wear glasses), though the mid-range reproduces melodic parts well. On the upside, they're wired only, so you don't need to monitor battery levels, and your laptop can drive them without an additional amp. They feel comfortable to wear, but there's no mic if you need to take a video meeting.
The Sennheiser HD 620S cannot be used for wireless gaming because they only have wired connectivity.
The Sennheiser HD 620S are passable for wired gaming. They're comfortable to wear with soft ear pads, and they have a stable fit that'll stay on even if you're an energetic gamer who moves around. Their sound profile has no drastic exaggerations that would totally obscure your ability to hear soundtracks and character voices, but they're not very rumbly sounding in the bass range, so explosions aren't as immersive. Similarly, their frequency response consistency is sub-par, resulting in weak bass due to a fussy fitting design that weakens the bass if you wear glasses. While not everyone wants a microphone, with these headphones, you'll have to get an outboard mic if you need to talk to your team. Their passive-only isolation helps to muffle high-pitched sounds but won't block your family or roommates chatting in the same room.
The Sennheiser HD 620S don't have a microphone, so you can't use them for phone calls.
The Sennheiser HD 620S come in one color, 'Black.' You can see our unit's label here. If you come across other variants, let us know in the comments.
If you ignore the marketing around the Sennheiser HD 620S, they're essentially closed-back headphones with angled transducers, and they look like the closed-back cousin to the open-backed Sennheiser HD 560S but with a chunkier build. Obviously, the HD 620S isolate better than their open-back counterparts, but their soundstage isn't as wide, open, or immersive. Their soundstage aligns more closely with other closed-backs like the popular Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO and Beyerdynamic DT 700 PRO X, which also output more consistent bass than the Sennheiser HD 620S. Adding somewhat to the confusion is figuring out exactly who the HD 620S are for. The manufacturer states these are for audio enthusiasts, which can account for the focus on upgraded comfort and build, while more professional features such as balanced cabling are available, but at an added cost.
Still trying to figure out what you want? Check out the best closed-back headphones, the best headphones for audiophiles, and if you really want a spacious soundstage, check out the best open-back headphones.
Though they look similar, the biggest difference between the Sennheiser HD 560S and the Sennheiser HD 620S is that the former are open-back and the latter are closed-back headphones. As a result, the HD 560S supply a much more immersive and open passive soundstage. They're also lighter in weight, and they deliver a more consistent sound. Of course, they don't isolate noise like the HD 620S. The HD 620S are slightly more premium in build with a metal-reinforced headband, but they clamp tighter. Their fit is much more fussy and is more likely to deliver inconsistent sound. Overall, their darker treble response makes them not quite as neutral sounding as the HD 560S, though that depends on your taste.
While both headphones are well-made and comfortable, the Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO are better for most people than the Sennheiser HD 620S. The Beyerdynamic have a more consistent frequency response, translating to a more predictable sound profile regardless of your head shape or if you wear glasses. Their sound is both brighter and bassier than the Sennheiser, though both headphones isolate out noise similarly. On the other hand, the Sennheiser are more comfortable with fewer exposed wires, and you can replace the detachable cable.
The Sennheiser HD 600 are open-back headphones with a brighter sound profile and a much more open and spacious soundstage than compared to the Sennheiser HD 620S. The HD 600 have a less erratic treble response and more detailed mids, though both headphones have subdued bass responses. Your audio is also reproduced with better consistency on the HD 600. The closed-back HD 620S block out more environmental sounds due to their closed-back design. They're comfortable and well-made, but they don't deliver audio as consistently, and their soundstage isn't as immersive.
The Sennheiser HD 490 PRO are open-back headphones, and they have a better passive soundstage than the closed-back Sennheiser HD 620S. The HD 490 PRO supply a much more consistent sound with more accurate bass to deliver a good amount of rumble and punch. They also include an extra set of ear pads and particularly perform better than the HD 620S for people who wear glasses. The HD 620S are well-made and comfortable with a sparser set of accessories. Their noise isolation makes them more suitable to wear in different environments. Their sound profile is relatively neutral, but their bass response is highly impacted by their inconsistent frequency response.
The Beyerdynamic DT 700 PRO X reproduce more accurate bass, and their treble is much brighter than the Sennheiser HD 620S. The Beyerdynamic deliver much more consistent sound between wears than the Sennheiser. Their mostly metal build and extra cable feel more premium. While the Sennheiser are slightly more comfortable, their bass is not as rumbly, and the bass is affected by wearing glasses. If you want a darker treble response, the Sennheiser don't boost treble as much, and their bass is also more subdued.
The Sennheiser HD 620S are closed-back headphones that share aesthetic similarities to open-back headphones such as the Sennheiser HD 560S and the Sennheiser HD 598. These have non-articulating oval ear cups and thick faux leather padding along the center of the headband and ear pads. The sliding headband glints with sections of silvery metal on an otherwise black plastic construction. Their straight cable is removable and terminates down the left side. Available in a single monochromatic black, the manufacturer's logo is placed on the outside of each ear cup, and the name is written along the top of the headband.
The Sennheiser HD 620S feel very comfortable. Their faux leather padding is generous around the ears where the headband meets your crown, and the headband distributes their weight well. Whether you have a larger or smaller head, the headband offers a good extension range. The clamping force is high, though, quite similar to other popular closed-backs, like the tight-fitting Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO. While this compression should help these cans form a good seal on your head, the overall size of the ear cups makes it harder to get a reliable seal, particularly at the bottom of the ear cups. Wearing glasses can also make getting a good seal over your ears difficult, as the arms interrupt the seal, impacting their sound. On the upside, the ear cups are deep enough to accommodate most people's ears.
These headphones aren't very portable. They don't fold down any smaller, and the ear cups can't rotate to lay flat. You can remove their cable to make them easier to carry, but otherwise, they're pretty large, and you'll need real estate in your bag to tote them around.
The Sennheiser HD 620S are well-built. Their housings are mainly plastic with aluminum, reinforcing the headband, and they're amply padded. Their removable cable is good, too, covered in para-aramid, which feels sturdy. However, they're a bit stiff to adjust. Unlike the thicker covering over the drivers on the Sennheiser HD 598, there's not much of a buffer protecting the drivers from getting pierced or damaged, as you can see here.
The Sennheiser HD 620S have a sound profile that highlights melodic instruments, which works well for classical, older pop, folk, and soul music. It's not going to bring the thumpy bass you want for EDM or bring attention to the vocal details of your favorite diva's voice, though. Because our bass measurements for over-ears use level-matched results from real human ears in combination with the testing rig's results as outlined here, there's a clear disparity between these results and the bass measurements using solely the testing rig. In the measurements using only the testing rig, you can see that these output a good amount of bass, but largely due to their inconsistent frequency response (which you can see in the next test), bass frequencies take a massive hit when the headphones are worn by different people, which is the most important consideration.
Overall, the headphones have a somewhat neutral frequency response with laid-back bass and relatively even mids and low-treble. The overall treble response is uneven and alternatingly darkens vocals and can sound overly bright on sibilant sounds like cymbals and Ss and Ts. Their de-emphasis in the treble response can make lower frequencies sound fuller because they don't compete with the treble for your hearing's attention.
The Sennheiser HD 600 boast a somewhat similar sound profile, except that the HD 600 sound far more accurate in the treble region. If you want more bass, the Beyerdynamic DT 700 PRO X supply a more neutral low-end than the HD 620S, even though they're also voiced with a more piercing top-end.
The Sennheiser HD 620S have sub-par frequency response consistency. Their ability to deliver consistent bass and treble is strongly impacted by their large ear cups, which often don't seal around your ear perfectly. Their soft ear pads, combined with the tight clamping force, can easily cause the seal to break because the padding doesn't always sit evenly, so you have to place them with care. If you have a small head, a gap can form at the bottom of the ear cup that diminishes bass.
Similarly, if you wear glasses, these can break the headphones' seal and dramatically reduce the bass, too. For example, the graph plots for 'Test 2' and 'Test 3' (above) represent the same person with glasses on ('Test 2') and glasses off ('Test 3'), and you can see how that single isolated variable significantly alters their bass consistency. Unlike the Sennheiser HD 490 PRO, these don't include ear pads that have specialty ridges to accommodate glasses' arms without compromising the seal.
Their bass accuracy is okay. The whole range is under-emphasized, and they tend to sound relatively more punchy and boomy than rumbly on basslines. This result seems to run counter to the manufacturer's claim that these are bassier than other headphones in the same line-up, like the Sennheiser HD 600. It's difficult to achieve a complete seal (which drastically impacts the bass frequencies) with these due to their soft ear pads that can compress unevenly and large ear cups that don't fit everyone perfectly. As a result, songs like The Night by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons still have a good amount of punch behind the prominent bassline but not as much weight and thump.
Their mid-accuracy is excellent. They convey lead and melodic instruments evenly for the most part. The minor underemphasis can weaken vocals in the high-mids slightly, but otherwise, keys and guitars sound full.
Their treble accuracy is middling. The range is uneven, reproducing vocals with weakened intelligibility. Sibilant sounds like Ss and Ts in vocals and cymbal hits are alternately dull and somewhat piercing.
Their peaks and dips performance is adequate. The headphones follow their own sound profile somewhat. A small dip in the low-bass reduces rumbling bass frequencies, and a peak in the mid-bass adds body to basslines. A small dip from the high-bass into the low-mid reduces boominess and clutter from thick rhythm guitars. Through the rest of the mids, a series of bumps and narrow dips mostly add focus to vocals and melodic instruments. In the treble range, a narrow peak adds presence to vocals, but it's followed by an uneven couple of dips, which dulls and hollows out the detail and articulation of voices and cymbal hits. Lastly, a tall peak in the mid-treble adds sharpness and can make sibilant sounds like Ss and Ts sound painfully bright.
The Sennheiser HD 620S have good imaging performance overall. Most of the products we've tested by the manufacturer demonstrate good ergonomics and solid quality control, so these results align with that. Their group delay is below the audibility threshold, resulting in tight bass and transparent treble. Similarly, their amplitude is well-matched. Frequency mismatch is okay, but it's the phase mismatch where their imaging struggles. The stereo image shifts to favor the right driver in most of the bass range, particularly the mid- and high-bass frequencies, and the soundstage is affected by this phase mismatch, giving the impression of it closing inward on the left side. Imaging varies between units, so these results are only valid for our unit.
The Sennheiser HD 620S have a disappointing passive soundstage. While that's pretty normal for closed-back over-ears, the manufacturer advertises that these have a wider and more spacious soundstage than most closed-backs. Compared to open-backs, these sound less open (unsurprisingly) and don't interact much with your environment, causing your audio to still sound like it's coming from inside your head. That said, they interact with your outer ears somewhat, so their soundstage will sound wider than in-ear headphones, for example, but these don't have an open-back level soundstage.
These over-ears have good weighted harmonic distortion. It's low enough that your audio remains pure and clean throughout the frequencies. The handful of peaks in the low-bass and the low-treble, while elevated, are so narrow that they won't impact your audio's quality.
These are the settings used to test these headphones. Our results are only valid when used in this configuration.
The Sennheiser HD 620S have middling full-range noise isolation. As with most closed-back headphones that passively isolate you from external sounds, they have a much stronger impact on trebly sounds than lower frequencies; sudden and bright clinking sounds in your office kitchen are tamped down effectively. However, you'll still hear folks talking. Rumbling construction noise outside your window will reach you, too.
These headphones struggle to create an isolating seal with the glasses' arms. Because an unbroken over-ear seal is essential for optimizing isolation, you'll experience less effective noise isolation performance if you wear glasses.
You'll note the small bump in the bass region, and this appears to be unique to the headphones interacting with the testing rig and, importantly, not something you'll experience.
These have poor noise isolation in common scenarios. That's expected from headphones with passive-only isolation, which most effectively blocks high-pitched noises. For instance, if you're on an airplane, the lower mid-range and bassier ambient din can still reach your ears. In an office, your coworkers will get muffled somewhat, but not very effectively.
As mentioned in Noise Isolation - Full Range, the small bump in the bass region is not something you'll experience when you wear the headphones.
Their leakage performance is fair. What escapes is pretty even in volume across the mids and treble range, and sounds like vocals, lead instruments, snares, and cymbals are audible to those nearby in your household. Bass leaks, too, but not as noticeably. Because the headphones are closed-backs, they don't leak as much of your audio as open-backs, like the Sennheiser HD 560S.
The Sennheiser HD 620S are passive headphones with low latency. You can adequately drive them with most audio sources, like laptops, so they don't need a headphone amp. They include a para-aramid covered 6-foot cable that connects via its twist-and-locking 1/16" TRRS jack to the left ear cup, unlike the Sennheiser HD 490 PRO (aimed at audio professionals), which has separate wires going to each ear cup. The twist-and-lock design is secure, but it might be a pain if you need to find a replacement. You can also upgrade the package by opting for the manufacturer's balanced cable, which is available separately. The other end of the cable is a 1/8" headphone jack. You also get a 1/8" to 1/4" adapter.
Most PCs can sufficiently drive these headphones via their analog connection to your PC's headphone jack.
These headphones support audio only via their analog cable when connected to your PlayStation's controller.
You can plug the headphones into your Xbox controller's headphone jack for audio support only.