I have personally tried the Superlux HD668B AND Shure SRH440.

The SRH440 is light years ahead of the HD668B, both in sound quality and build quality.

The 440 is plasticky and cheap feeling. But it still feels like a chinese product made by a branded company. The 668B just feels like a cheap china product (those flimsy stuff that cost RM10 or so).

The 440 sounds boring and not engaging. Lacking warmth, thickness, extension and feel. It's not a bad headphone but U must like the sort of sound it produces. It does have bass (quite flat response), mids and highs (bit sibilant from what I can remember). Keep in mind that it is a monitoring earphone and therefore sounds like one.

The 668B just sounds like a wannabe product. It has super sharp piercing highs and LOTS of it. It is extremely sibilant and painful to listen to. The mids are pretty much nonexistent. I've never heard vocals so far away before. When I turned the volume up to hear the vocals, the sibilant, piercing highs comes and kill me. I can't even remember how the bass is like because the piercing highs are just too distracting. If you like that kind of sound, you'll love the 668B.

My recommendation is: If you live anywhere near Jaben, go try them out! Jaben has the 440 and although Jaben does not carry the 668B, they have a unit to try out. If you like how it sounds, wa-la! $$ saved.

Source for testing: HifiMan HM-601.

This post has been edited by polkiuj: Nov 29 2011, 10:23 PM

yea, most people like monitoring earphones somewhere in the middle of their audiophile journey. =)

after you get out of the audiophile state and start listening to ur music (not ur eq) then your sound preference changes drastically. =D

Akuma, no offense but if u have never tried both, you are not in a position to compare them. Also if a 601 has not enough power to drive them, I dunno what will. Maybe a speaker amp?? A 601 can even drive a HD650 and if it can't push a 668B the u better not buy a 668B because the amp u need to drive it will cost more than a thousand bucks.

If u think piercing highs, recessed mids and flat bass is the ideal monitoring signature then ok. 668b is ideal.

For me, a monitor should not have a sound preference and ideally flat. A 440 is nearly there in that it is flat and boring (no musicality or sound preference)

The 668B is way too bright to be a monitor. Simply because sounds from speakers should not come out like that. A monitor should be relatively bright but not to the 668b level.

I do not hate highs. I own a re0 which many praise its highs. But if it's super extremely sibilant then it is a serious issue. It is FAR worse than a dba02 which also has relatively piercing highs.

Stop reading reviews as they are pretty much useless. Try the headphones u wanna buy. Test around to see what you like. If u can't, buy something that has a return policy. Worst case scenario, lose some $$ in a buy sell.

I would love to own a good, cheap earphone as much as any other.

What amp would u recommend to pair with the 668b? I'm willing to try it if it sounds as great as most reviewers say.

I've also tried the hippo box to tame the sibilance but no go with that.

Is OK then. I don't really want the 668B anyway cos it feels cheap, lol.

From my experience, amps and cables offer negligible differences. Won't help by much. =(