Sennheiser HDB 630

Back Story: Having been a fan of the Sennheiser HD 650, as part of my wired headphone collection, I have been avidly reading and watching reviews of Sennheiser’s most recent release, the HDB 630 wireless headphones. Reviews have been mixed, with some saying the overall sound is fairly flat and dull compared to the lively Sennheiser Momentum 4. Others have said it is a masterpiece of engineering, with the ability to be EQ’d to the same spec as a Momentum 4, if that is your preference.

Me, I prefer to put them on my head, EQ them and work it out from there and that’s what this review is about.

A Shout Out to JB Hi-Fi Ringwood:

These are currently retailing for $999.00 AUD. So, with a little bit of Internet research and a couple of gift vouchers, the lovely staff at JB Hi-Fi in Ringwood managed to reduce the price to just over $700.00.

It pays to do your research and find another Australian based retailer, so you can price match.

Unboxing:

Well, this is a bit of a masterclass in how you should get your headphones (apart from a silk-lined wooden box!).

The headphones come packed in their hard-shell case, complete with accessories:

• Airplane 2-prong cable adapter

• Bluetooth dongle (for higher res throughput)

• RCA cable

• Guide booklet

• USB charging cable

The case has a velvet lining, to keep everything protected.

Sennheiser HDB 630 Looks and build:

These are ‘closed-back’ headphones, as opposed to ‘open-back’, which are generally known to keep the sound more internalised within the earcups.

The overall aesthetic of these headphones is understated class, with satin looking black coloured earcups, black leather headband and a silver coloured brushed/textured aluminium cup swivel hinge and lower headband arm.

The earpads are black coloured luxuriously soft leatherette, with each cup labelled ‘L’ and ‘R’, with the right cup lettering stating ‘42MM DYNAMIC DRIVER, FROM IRELAND’. The left cup lettering says ‘SENNHEISER, HDB 630’.

The headphones are relatively light, weighing in at 311g (without cable).

Adjusting the arms to your head is a silent and smooth affair, whereas other brands choose a ratchet system, with numbered markings on the metal arm. This is more sophisticated, where you make the adjustment and the arms are simply held firmly in place.

Buttons:

There is only one button, on the bottom of the right earcup, for on / off.

When putting the HDB 630’s on, I found the earcups to be a tight fit, in comparison to the Soundpeats Cove Pro. I found myself jiggling a fair bit with the left cup, trying to get the right position inside the earpad.

Once fitted, the ear seal is excellent but interestingly, they don’t feel at ultimately comfortable as the Soundpeats Cove Pro or the Bose QC Ultra Gen 2, as the clamp force of the HDB 630’s is noticeably greater. The Cove Pro and Bose QC Ultra Gen 2 earpad hole is a tiny bit bigger and the clamp force doesn’t feel it is even there when you have them on your head. The Cove Pro is a real contender with a Bose headphone in fit and comfort.

The new Bose Ultra second gen also has a similar build to the Cove Pro and is instantly comfortable, with just slightly more room inside the earcups.

Setting up:

When you turn the HDB 630’s on, it apparently measures your ears (inner ear) for the best ANC and sound experience.

The internal voice tells you they are on and you then go to your phones Bluetooth settings and find the Sennheiser HDB 630 in the device list.

Once you have paired the headphones to your phone, as I did with my Galaxy S25 Ultra, I then used the Sennheiser Smart Control app to find the headphones and then continue to set up the headphones via EQ.

Note: at this point I tested the ANC settings: Noise Cancelling, Normal and Transparent.

Nosie cancelling added about another 5% noise cancelling, blocking out a little more of the music from my computer, comparable to Bose standard.

I set the headphones to my go to settings: ‘Noise Control: Custom ANC at 100%, Crossfeed: High, Anti-wind: on and set the graphic or parametric EQ to taste for the best possible resolution and best ANC.

Soft Touch Controls - Right Earcup:

With a few hours of practice, you can easily navigate the touch controls on the right earcup touch pad:

• 1-tap for stop start music

• 2-taps for transparency mode with no music and then again to return to music with ANC

• Swipe forward-back to move the track forwards / backwards

• Swipe up/down for volume

• Call Control:

o Swipe forward to answer call

o Swipe back to end call

o Hold 1-finger for 2-seconds to stop call

o Tap 1-finger twice to answer call

o Tap finger twice to switch between 2 calls

o Press the button near the earcup hinge to mute or unmute the call

o 2-fingers stretch outwards (at the same time) for adaptive noise cancellation

o 2-fingers stretch inwards (at the same time) for transparency mode

• Press the upper button near the hinge once for voice assistant

Sound test:

At 50% volume on my Samsung S25 Ultra and using Spotify lossless and Tidal, I played a variety of tracks.

Due to the excellent ANC, background is black and assists immensely in hearing the frequency range of the tracks.

Jazz tracks just simply pop, with trumpet well separated from drums and bass.

Electronic tracks are punchy and fully enveloping. The sub-bass the often wells up in these tracks is visceral and grabs you in your stomach, as much as an audio experience, as one you can feel.

Soundstage on some tracks like Hotel California – Live is sublime, with the slow drum beat really catching you and the Spanish style guitar weaving in and out.

Lionel Richie is well separated from the instruments in the All Night Long track.

The sheer body to Sara K’s track, All Your Love is compelling. Her vocals are so well rendered and are a contrast to the acoustic guitars.

Watermelon Man by Herbie Hancock is an audio experience, with the calling bird sounds at the start of the track.

The guitars at the start of Grown Folks by Snarky Puppy are so well rounded in space, you can grab each note as it is strummed.

Unfinished Symphony by Massive Attack delivers the gravity of that sub-bass, rendering it so well from the vocals. All throughout the track the bass has a shimmering-reverberation effect. This caught my attention, as I typed these words that I had to stop and listen.

Outside Ambient Street Test:

Walking the dogs on the footpath by the road and then into the park is a real experience. The ANC is so good, you barely hear anything outside the earcups, the envelope is about 99%, with occasional noise filtering in.

There was appoint where I was looking down and didn’t hear a large SUV approach me until I saw the shape of the car right next to me. The entire sound from the vehicle was blocked completely.

In my office I ran a YouTube Airplane white noise video quite loud, on my PC 7.2 surround sound Denon amplifier. I could not hear the plane sound at all except when you stopped playing music. You could hear it, as if it was coming from a long distance away.

I then played a restaurant ambience YouTube video. Again, no sound filtered in, and only filtered in from a distance, when you stopped playing music through the headphones.

Sitting next to a room fan (moving fan head test): I could not hear anything.

Call tests:

I recorded the following via calling myself on my own phone and listening to the calls on my message bank.

• Caller’s voice: Good but sounded a bit electronic.

• In Office: Excellent.

• Fan-Wind: Can hear a bit of wind noise.

• Plane sound via PC (YouTube): Can hear a slight rushing sound.

• Restaurant sound via PC (YouTube): Can hear a slightly garbled background sound.

Interestingly: the call tests on the Sennheiser HDB 630 did not do anywhere as well as the sub $70.00 AUD Soundpeats Cove Pro. Considering the HDB 630 is more than ten times the price, it is a good demonstration of how companies implement their technology differently.

Train travel:

I will be travelling by train again, in the next few weeks so this review will receive an update regarding how well these headphones do with blocking out the noise of the announcements from the train cars and the general ambient sound of the people on the train and the train wheels rolling on the tracks.

Battery Test:

For real world use I would only use the settings I mentioned for maximum sound quality:

Sennheiser indicates battery life with Bluetooth and ANC on is up to 60 hours. In my book, that is nearly five weeks of train journeys for work.

Thoughts:

For sound, I would give an A+++. Excellent sound quality combined with excellent ANC brings out the overall sonic range of these headphones. It also assists with soundstage and tonal balance.

For comfort and fit, I would give an A ++ (almost as good as the Soundpeats Cove Pro and the Bose QC Ultra 2). I think it is because of the weight difference:

• Sennheiser HDB 630 is 311g

• Bose QC Ultra 2 is 263-265g

• Soundpeats Cove Pro is 250g

For the ability to EQ: A+++. This works as good as most of the current proprietary company apps.

If I were to sum up the sound signature: a high-end hi-fi type of sound signature, with the ability to play all genres. The app has the ability to EQ the sound signature to taste, and you can save your EQs in the app.

Last Word:

For the price point of RRP $999.00 AUD, you absolutely get top tier sound, build, comfort and ANC. I strongly suggest like me, you do a bit of research and get a better price match.

As it compares to the Bose QC Ultra 2, another top tier example: the Sennheiser is only really separated by:

• The Sennheiser being heavier, about 45 grams.

• The Sennheiser uses touch controls on the flat of the earcup, which I really like and find really useable.

• The Sennheiser earcup pads are slightly smaller / tighter fitting (which I finally fixed by the time I finished this review, by stretching them out a bit).

These could be your final headphones, for home, work and travel. It can do it all.

The software app is excellent and very usable, from initial setup to fine tweaking.

If I were to score the Sennheiser out of 100, I would give it 99.

The ANC, like with the Bose is almost 100% perfect, but occasionally some noise outside just gets in. Yes, it is that good that I have to get that picky!

The weight, comfort and fit are comparable, with a little bit of adjusting (but you can feel the weight difference when you A and B test the Bose and the Sennheiser directly, one after the other).

The only difference regarding my first impressions when I put on the Sennheiser HDB 630, was that I said, ‘Wow!’, whereas when I put on the Bose QC Ultra Gen 2, I said, ‘OMG!’

I think I was expecting the Sennheiser’s to sound more ‘hi-fi’ like – like a good set of high-end speakers but I didn’t think the Bose were going to be as comparable, so I was a bit more surprised, as the Bose QC Ultra Gen 2 is a massive leap forward from my Bose QC 25’s, which I have travelled with, on off planes and was my ‘daily driver’ for train trips to work and back.

This has been another Ant review, the second for 2026.

I hope you have enjoyed reading it, as much as I have had in compiling it.