Sennheiser - HDB 630 Around-the-ear Bluetooth Wireless Headphones - Black

I compared these againt Aipod max usb c lossless, Sennheiser 560s with iFi Zen DAC v2, AirPods Pro2, and I must say the HDB 630 is my fav. The mids are truly amazing and streaming them over Spotify lossless works great. I also tried Tidal but Spotify takes the overall win in terms of experience. The BTD 700 dongle and battery are top of class. I never cared much about battery because I use these at home and work but not having to charge in two weeks of average few hours a day use is pretty stellar.

These are the best headphones I've ever had. The sound quality is excellent, and I especially love their unique dynamic equalizer and connectivity—I can switch devices instantly, and it's intuitive and easy to use.

The HDB 630 by Sennheiser provide the sensation that the first pair of wireless headphones in a long time is being made with the mindset that the customer cares about sound, and still desires to enjoy the perks of Bluetooth and noise cancelling. They do not deal with gimmicks but in getting the fundamentals of comfort, tuning and useful features that are really needed. Design and build The HDB 630 out of the box do not attempt to amaze anybody with flashy styling, this is actually part of the charm. They look clean and understated all black with a smattering of classic Sennheiser serious audio equipment ambiance as opposed to fashion accessory. The plastic and metal components are solid, and they are properly assembled, without the creaks and hollowness on this price range. The ear cups are deep and oval and the pads are not rigid such that they shape around the ears rather than pushing them flat, and this contributes a lot when listening to long music. The forgiveness of the pads will doubtless be a blessing to people who wear glasses specially and you will find they seal up easily, without your having to hold them on to your head with your death grip. The force of clamps is moderate it is tight enough to walk or commute and yet not tight enough to make you want to take off after an hour. The power/pairing and a physical toggle along with a gesture-detecting touch surface are located on all the primary controls, which are on the right ear cup. It is the everything on one side strategy which makes things simple as soon as your muscle memory comes into effect. The cups are further swiveled and can be packed in a bag. Only negative thing is the full swivel occasionally has the effect of you wearing them in a position that is not exactly of center axis and this can alter the sound in a subtle way which you can only notice when you swivel the swivels. Comfort and everyday use The HDB 630 are very easy to live with in the day to day use. The padding of the headband is sufficient so that you do not feel a hot spot just above the head of the head, and the weight between the cups and band is well distributed. They do not feel anything feather-light whatsoever, in an hour or two of hearing, but they neither go beyond that to get these off my head weary. A pure design of isolation is good in itself and to put them on in a silent chamber is to have a pleasant impression of hush anticipation before the power is turned on. The closed-back shell coupled with the soft pads together gives a commute ride or a visit to an office a big reduction of the surrounding back talk and buzz. Another strength is the life of the battery. You may actually consider these as charge em to forget it after a few days. The quick-charge option is really handy on top of an already lengthy run time a quick top-up will literally provide you with enough time to play through a workday or a long flight. Transparency Noise cancelling HDB 630, although not the best in the market, is good when noise cancellation is your highest consideration. They do a good job of low frequency rumbles, air conditioning, bus and train noise, or airplane cabin rumbles. But they are not that close to the level of silence that the even strongest ANC rivals reach. At this price, there are those individuals who might anticipate the best of the best in terms of cancellation and are slightly disappointed. Under real-world conditions, in most cases, commuting, in a cafe, being on an airplane, they filter out enough noise that you start hearing your music or podcast, and you do not even have to blast it. Transparency/ambient modes are useful when one needs to hear announcements or even quick conversations without necessarily removing the headphones. They are rather natural and do not have that over-processing, underwater sound that certain transparency modes do, but then they are not any better than having nothing on your ears. Sound quality Sound is the one area that the HDB 630 really stand out amongst the typical wireless crowd. The total tuning has all been brought to neutral and natural instead of the normal V-shaped lots of bass and treble, scooped mids sound that most consumers are used to. Provided you were fond of the Sennheider traditional concept of HD 600/650 of tuning, this seems to be a modern, closed-back and wireless adaptation to this principle. Bass is focused, swift and tamed. It has actual punch and weight when the song requires it, however it does not blur into the midrange and make everything look like a low-end shimmer. There is sub-bass without being overindulged these are not aiming at shaking your head necessarily. They dwell on definition instead, with kick drums being easily articulated, bass guitars being easy to follow and the electronic bass lines remaining articulate. The vocals are quite realistic and natural: clear and forward without being shouty and nasal. Pianos, acoustic instruments and strings sound natural and well balanced. It is in this midrange-level that most mainstream ANC headphones fail to perform, the HDB 630 are able to maintain that midband clean even with ANC active. The treble is harmonious and moderate. It has lots of detail and air, yet does not have the biting sizzle or piercing peaks that some wireless headphones have that make them tiresome to wear over the years. The use of cymbals, hi-hats and sibilants are not overdone. When you are inured to headphones that emphasize the treble to create a sense of detail, you may find the HDB 630 to be a little more relaxed at the top at first but the more you listen the better they sound. It is a very good closed-back noisy-cancelling wireless imaging and soundstage. You have a consistent feeling of side-by-side placement, as well as a degree of depth, without the elements falling into the heart of your head. It is not an open-back experience and when it comes to this category, they are spacious but not cramped. Features and connectivity The flexibility of the HDB 630 is one of the most remarkable features which is related to connections and tuning. These allow regular Bluetooth audio listening, of course, although they also include a dongle developed by Sennheiser to allow them to support low-latency and high-quality wireless audio. It comes in specially when playing video, watching a game or when using products whose Bluetooth sound quality is not always good. On top of wireless, USB-C audio and a standard 3.5 mm analog input is also present. USB-C especially is exceptional it allows you to get the headphones nearly like an external DAC/Amp combo, with cleaner and more detailed sound than most Bluetooth connections of compatible devices would offer. Wired USB-C is the option that will extract the full extent of quality out of them. The companion app offers an additional aspect of adjustment which is missing in most wireless headphones. It has a true parametric EQ, rather than just a basic 3-band EQ, giving you the ability to make very specific adjustments to frequencies - adjust exact frequencies, bandwidth, and gain. It is a dream feature to enthusiasts, able to give them a touch warmer, or a touch more sparkly, or pursue your favorite target curve. Additional listening capabilities are also included such as crossfeed where left and right channels are slightly combined to simulate how speakers could sound in a room. This can help in making listening more natural, and less tiring, with older stereo recordings which hard-pan instruments. A single notable feature: once you use the microphones, whether placing a call or in a meeting or switching on voice chat, the Headphones mode change to one in which it allocates more mic bandwidth than strict playback quality such as many Bluetooth headsets. That is to say that the quality of music suffers under a telephone call. In casual calls it is okay, but in case you had the hopes of gaming, chatting, and listening to full-quality music at the same time using Bluetooth technology, the latter is something you should know. Microphone and calls In terms of voice calls, the microphones are a fairly sufficient isolator of your voice in relatively noisy settings. Users will typically have no issue with your voice being heard during work or even in a for a minute conversation, wind noise is managed even though you are not in extreme conditions. These are however not attempting to be the best communication headset. There are more aggressive voice focus models, should you use the phone most of the time, as in extremely noisy environments. What stands out in a good way: Exquisite, truly audiophile quality tuning, tight bass, gorgeous mids and smooth treble. Exceptional quality sound including all connection types but with USB-C and its provided wireless dongle as a noticeable improvement. Very comfortable and close deep pads, good distribution of weight and strong passive isolation. Parametric EQ, crossfeed and versatile wired/wireless options are sophisticated and meaningful features. Long durations on the battery and fast charging. Where they fall short: The kind of noise cancelling is good, even over some, which will not be accepted at this price by some. The design is not flashy or fashion forward and a bit of a dull one. Audio fidelity during calls is limited by the performance of the Mic and Bluetooth hands-free mode. All controls upon one ear piece and entire swivel design have not a large learning curve, and sound can be affected by the location when placed unevenly. Sennheiser HDB 630 is like a breath of fresh air in an industry that is littered with list of features that on paper seem impressive but in real life sound like a mediocre companion. In case sound quality, comfort, and actual control over the tuning of your headphones are important, or you can accept only good as opposed to best in the noise cancelling, they are easy to recommend.

I’m a Momentum 4 owner who just got these Sennheiser HDB-630s. The Momentum 4 headphones have performed phenomenally for me over the past few years. The two are mostly similar in appearance with some minor aesthetic differences. I discovered while trying to pair these to my phone that the HDB-630 does not work with the Sennheiser SmartControl app. I was instead prompted to download SmartControl+, which has support for the additional features that the HDB-630 offers. Fortunately, my Momentum 4 and other Sennheiser devices work with the new app as well, so I added them all and deleted the first-gen SmartControl app. The HDB-630 headphones look good to me despite reading some online complaints that they look “cheap” or “plain.” These admittedly aren’t as snazzy-looking as some of the competition, but unless they’re really weird or ugly-looking, I couldn’t care less about looks with headphones. My main concern is sound, and these deliver in spades in that category. They sound much better than many “prettier” headphones.   The headphones ship inside a rigid zippered storage case along with a USB-C charging cable, USB-C Bluetooth receiver, airplane adapter, and 3.5mm audio cable. Unlike the all-black Momentum 4, the HDB-630 has silver metallic-like accents, although both headsets are plastic. Weight isn’t bad, and the HDB-630 feels comfortable on my head for short or lengthy listening sessions. The soft adjustable cups fit my ears comfortably and don’t feel shallow or tight. The cups also do not heat up or feel uncomfortably warm during wear. The headband is soft and mostly unnoticeable on my plus-size head. Overall, the headphones have been comfortable, even when worn nonstop for several hours at a time. Battery life has been impressive. I’ve been listening all week long and have not had to charge them yet. It’s not exactly surprising because the Momentum 4 also had excellent battery life.   Sound is where these headphones excel. They’re billed as hi-res audiophile quality, and they do indeed sound spectacular. Sound is pure, with everything tuned flat and no EQ distortion out of the box. Treble and midrange are clear with no shrillness or overly bright properties. Bass is controlled and clean-sounding while maintaining good impactful resonance. Sound can be tailored in the Sennheiser SmartControl+ app through several different methods. Both a parametric and 5-band graphic EQ are offered. The app also allows crossfeed for blending the right and left channels. It was my first time trying crossfeed enabled headphones and it has been impressive. Numerous presets are offered for different genres, and sound can be assigned to location-based zones that activate preselected presets based on location (home, train, work, gym, etc.).   I don’t know if these will be particularly appealing to bass heads because these aren’t bass-heavy like some of the bass-centric competitors. Even with bass boost enabled, these have a tighter, more controlled sound for listeners who prefer well-balanced music versus overpowering bass that drowns out everything else. I appreciate bass as much as the next person, but bass is one of those things where it’s easy to go overboard and ruin the sound if not careful. I have extra bass-enabled headphones for times when I want to rattle my teeth with an overload of bass. For everyday listening however, these are much more suitable. Like the Momentum, the HDB-630 has several useful operational features. The headphones sense when they are removed from or placed into the case and automatically power on or off accordingly. The ANC is good and robust. I typically have loud PC fans running in the background, and it easily masks that noise along with non-loud ambient sounds around me. Certain sound frequencies and louder volumes sometimes bleed through, but the ANC is more than sufficient for my needs. The ANC also has wind noise reduction for mic use. The mic sounds good for occasional use, but I almost never use headphones for calls unless it’s an emergency. For those who do use the mic, it sounds fine for meetings or phone calls. The one area of disappointment was the cup touch controls. They don’t work on this HDB-630. I loved them on my Momentum 4, and they were handy for advancing tracks and adjusting volume, but they simply don’t work at all on this set. I tap and swipe, but it does nothing. I confirmed the feature was enabled in the app, and it still works fine on my Momentum, but not at all on these. I’m hoping it’s just a firmware issue and not a physical defect. My only other issue with these is the same as the Momentum: non-replaceable cup cushions. I just have to hope neither cushion ever gets worn out or damaged.   Now for the big question: should you get these if you already have the Momentum 4? It really depends on what you’re looking for. If you are happy with the Momentum 4 and only considering these because they’re new, I’d say stick with the Momentum. If specifically seeking a more audiophile neutral quality with more evenly balanced sound and tighter, more controlled bass, these are the ticket. If you own neither and don’t particularly need a more neutral sound, I’d suggest the Momentum 4 based on price alone. I’ve seen it selling for up to 60% cheaper than the HDB-630. Not a small price difference.

📦 UNBOXING: Inside the box, you’ll find the protective case which has everything secured inside. In that case, you’ll find the HDB 630 headphone, the BTD 700 wireless dongle, an airplane adapter, a 2.5mm to 3.5mm analog cable, and a USB Type-C to Type-C cable for both charging and listening over USB. Additionally, there’s a quick start guide including instructions for both the HDB 630 and BTD 700 dongle. 💪 BUILD: My immediate first impression is that the protective case instills confidence that the headphones will be protected in a drop. The case has dedicated compartments and pouches for all the accessories, so everything remains very organized, but you won’t be able to fit additional cables comfortably. The headphone itself weighs 311 grams, so it’s lightweight, but still heavier than some of the other mainstream competition for ANC headphones. It’s a very plasticky build with a no-frills look that makes it pretty unexciting when it comes to aesthetics and feel in the hands. But the focus for the HDB 630 isn’t aesthetic—it’s sound. The ear pads are user-replaceable which is great, and there are already a number of options on the market since the HDB 630 uses the same attachment mechanism as the older Momentum 4. ⚙️ CONTROLS: The right earcup houses all the HDB 630's controls. There is a single button that when long-pressed (3s) is used to power on and off, and if held for longer (5s) will enter pairing mode. Once paired, a single press will spawn your voice assistant, and a double-press will tell you the battery life. All other controls are performed via touch-sensitive controls on the outer ear cup. A single-tap will play/pause, and a double-tap will switch between transparency and ANC modes. Swiping up and down will increment the volume, and swiping left and right will skip tracks. Also pinching inward with two fingers will decrease transparency, while spreading outward will increase transparency. The change is in 40% increments, and phases between ANC and transparency modes. One poor user experience I noticed is that double-tapping doesn’t switch back to ANC mode unless transparency is at 100%. In my opinion, the headphone should have options to dependably switch between ANC, off and transparency and remember the levels set for ANC and transparency modes. While this isn’t a deal breaker for me, I do think that it makes for a less intuitive experience. There are additional gestures for phone calls you can find in the manual or the app, and if you want to completely disable the touch-sensitive controls and rely on playback controls from your source device, you can do that, too. ☁️ COMFORT: The HDB 630 uses a new Japanese Protein Leatherette headband from IDEATEX, and I can confirm that it delivers on comfort. With headphones, I am usually most sensitive at the apex of my scalp, and I had no issues with wearing the HDB 630 for hours at a time. And because the headphone weighs in at only 311g, there shouldn’t be much downward pressure to necessitate more padding. Similarly, the ear pads use a synthetic leatherette which applies a gentle amount of clamping pressure. I never experienced any pain at my jaw or at my temples—especially as someone who wears glasses while wearing headphones. So if you like to wear headphones while working, studying, relaxing, gaming, etc. then the HDB 630 will hold up well for hours at a time. 🎧 SOUND QUALITY: Sound is where the HDB 630 excels. Out of the box, this headphone excels at delivering a neutral sound signature for more analytical listening. However, the smartphone app gives you the ability to use either a 5-band graphic equalizer or a full fledged parametric equalizer to fine-tune the sound signature to your liking. To my ears, they sound much more like a 600-series Sennheiser audiophile headphone than the typical consumer Bluetooth headphone, which audiophiles will definitely appreciate. Compared to the vast majority of ANC headphones, the HDB 630 stands among the top options for audio performance, and it even undercuts many of those options in price. Since this is a closed back headphone, its sound stage won’t reach the width of something like an open back HD 560S. But it does a good job at creating stereo separation so that instruments can be positionally distinguished in the mix. 🔊 ANC / AMBIENT SOUND: The ANC performance is reasonably competitive on the HDB 630, which I’m happy to see. However, to attain the best performance, I found that I needed to make some configuration changes in the app. First, I set “Noise Control” to “Custom”, as the “Adaptive” mode is not nearly as strong with its ANC. Then I set the Anti-wind feature either to “Off” or to “Auto”, as the “Max” mode will incur quite a bit of noise bleed. Before making these adjustments, the ANC performance was fair, but not even close to competitive with the best known ANC headphones on the market. After making these adjustments, I would say the HDB 630’s ANC performance is a step below the best ANC headphones on the market. So if the best ANC is your primary focus, then you might want to look at those options. But if sound quality is more important to you, then I think the HDB 630 is way more impressive. For transparency, I think Sennheiser still has a ways to go to reach the performance we’ve seen out of other brands. With transparency set to 100%, I still feel like there’s a veil over my ears, and things are still quieter than if I had simply removed the headphones from my head. Moreover, there’s an audible noise floor that I can hear when transparency is enabled. While it is lessened when the transparency level is lowered, it’s just not something I experience on some other flagship ANC headphones. To me, it’s still very usable, but it’s not going to be competitive with the best. 🎙️ MICROPHONE QUALITY: The microphone quality is great thanks to the 4 onboard MEMS beamforming microphones. In my testing, my voice had a clear presentation that sounded closer to the microphone, and had a good mid-range focus so my voice never sounded tinny or overly bassy. Without any additional processing, there was some background audio bleed, but my voice always remained clear. Using the microphone while plugged into USB-C yields no real improvements in clarity. In my testing, the sample rate only goes up to 16kHz, and sounded very similar to the performance on Bluetooth. 💿 SOFTWARE: The HDB 630 can be configured with the Sennheiser Sound Control Plus app, and it’s overall an improved app compared to their original Sound Control app. You don’t need an account to use the app, but doing so can allow you to backup your settings. Most importantly, the app allows you to control your ANC and transparency modes, enable the Anti-Wind mode, and use a graphic EQ or parametric EQ. You also have access to a couple crossfeed modes for music where the bass may be imbalanced into one ear. There’s also the connection device list that lets you connect/disconnect the headphones from remembered devices. You can toggle multipoint connectivity here, which I used during my time testing it. One thing I didn’t like is that it appears the Sound Control Plus app does not work over Bluetooth LE mode, which means that you cannot configure the HDB 630 if it’s not connected to your phone. So if the HDB 630 is connected to a laptop and a TV, I cannot change the settings from the app until I first disconnect the headphone from one of those devices, then connect my phone to the HDB 630. This is quite inconvenient; and given that there is no way for me to change which devices I want to be connected to from the headphone itself, this is the only way to “quickly” change the connected devices. And there’s no way to trade the phone’s connection for another device in the list. Sennheiser needs to improve here compared to its competitors, so I hope this is something they’ll consider in an update or future model. I appreciate the parametric EQ, as it gives users the ability to really tune the headphone to their liking. It allows you to do an A/B comparison before you save a change to a preset, and also bypass the EQ so you can hear how it compares to the stock signature of the headphone. If you’re new to EQ’ing, Sennheiser also has a Sound Check feature that lets you listen to your own music and select from 3 options for each band in the 5-band graphic EQ. You can also use the Sound Zone feature to automate your EQ preset and Noise control settings based on your geo location. 🔋 BATTERY: Battery life is great in my experience. Sennheiser claims up to 60 hours of battery life, and even with ANC enabled, I’ve been getting incredibly long battery performance. This is a headphone that will last a full week of heavy use, and for lighter usage, perhaps even two weeks before needing a full charge. The HDB 630 tops up to 100% in 2 hours, and a 10 minute charge can yield up to 7 hours of playback. 🧐 CONCLUSION: Overall, the HDB 630 is a superb sounding headphone that delivers solid ANC performance. It sounds better than every other ANC headphone in its price bracket, and still sounds better than many headphones that are even more expensive. The inclusion of the BTD 700 dongle makes it versatile for a wide variety of circumstances, but its lack of LE Audio means that its microphone won’t be good for wireless gaming since it will use low bitrate mono audio when the microphone is engaged. Moreover, Sennheiser has a way to go with making their connectivity switching a more seamless experience like the competition. If there’s anything to take away from this review, it’s that Sennheiser made sound quality the highest priority for the HDB 630, leaving other features in a decent state, but not as good as the competition.