HeadphoneOverreview

Philips SHP9600

The SHP9500's warmer sequel: the comfort and the big stage survived, and the arguments moved to its upper mids — and its hinges.

43 sourcesUpdated
$80Typical US price

Score aggregates reviewer opinions across topics.

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Philips SHP9600

The short version

What to know.

An open-back retune of the SHP9500. Four measurement rigs agree on its shape: about 2–3 dB more mid-bass than an HD 6XX, a 5–6 dB dip through 1.5–3.5 kHz, and a narrow peak near 6 kHz. Reviewers and owners broadly agree it is very comfortable, sounds spacious, needs no amp, and is not a detail or resolution headphone. They split on almost everything about its balance — pleasantly warm or dark and muddy, punchy or bloated, smooth treble or a 6 kHz glare — and on its plastic build, where a run of owners report an earcup's yoke coming away from the headband. Most value verdicts are positive at today's ~$80 and negative at the original $129.99.

About this product

The 2020 successor to the SHP9500 on the same chassis and 50 mm angled driver, retuned for more mid-bass and less treble; the pads are a little deeper and the pad clips face the other way, so 9500 pad mods don't carry over. Launched at $129.99 (€129); Philips has since marked it discontinued, but it still sells new on Amazon at around $80. The SHP9600MB is the same headphone bundled with a boom mic. Not the SHP9500/9500S, and not the pricier Fidelio X2HR or X3.

For most of the 2010s the Philips SHP9500 was the default answer to "what's a good cheap open-back?" — featherweight, enormous-sounding and bright. In 2020 Philips answered its critics with the SHP9600: the same plastic-and-steel frame and 50 mm angled driver, slightly deeper cloth pads, and a retune that adds mid-bass and pulls the treble back.

It launched at $129.99, nearly double its predecessor, and reviewers spent that first year arguing about whether a retune was worth the money. Philips has since discontinued it, but it still sells new for around $80 — which is where most of today's verdicts are made.

A good fit for

  • Long-session listeners — desk work, films, marathon gaming — who prize comfort above all
  • Anyone who found the SHP9500 too bright or thin and wants the same frame with more body
  • Single-player games and movies, where the spacious stage pays off (a clip-on boom mic makes it a headset)
  • Plugging straight into a phone, laptop or console with no amp
  • Buyers who find it new at $60–90, where most verdicts turn positive
  • Tinkerers happy to EQ the upper mids back in — it takes correction well

Think twice if

  • You want clarity and vocal bite — the upper-mid dip is the one thing every graph shows
  • You chase detail and resolution; 'grainy' is the recurring word
  • You're coming from bright or V-shaped headphones and dislike a warm, bass-forward sound
  • You're rough on gear or want a headphone that will survive years of daily handling
  • You play competitive shooters — several reviewers prefer the SHP9500 for footstep cues
  • You need isolation or listen around other people

The reviewer consensus

Agreement &
disagreement.

5 / 12topics divide opinion
isolationsoundstageimagingdetaildynamicscomfortvaluetonalitybassmidstreblebuild
1 Strong agreement6 Mostly agree5 Divided opinions

Common ground8

  • Exceptionally comfortable for long sessions — light, roomy cloth pads and a wide headband — though clamp depends on head size.
  • A wide, open, spacious presentation that suits films and single-player games.
  • Easy to drive straight from a phone, laptop or console, and its balance barely changes with the source.

Points of contention5

  • Tonality: balanced and pleasantly warm to most, dark and muffled to a third — the same measured shape heard two ways.
  • Bass: welcome body and punch over the SHP9500, or a mid-bass lift that bloats and muddies the lower mids.
  • Mids: natural if a little set back to most; congested and veiled to a minority led by a measurement reviewer.

A closer listen.

12 topics · 5 divided
Left: criticalRight: positiveTighter lines: more agreement

Tonality

Leans positiveDivided opinions
Reviewer sentiment26 supporting sources
CriticalNeutralPositive

Band: opinion spread · Dot: weighted average

Sources split: about two-thirds by weight hear a balanced or pleasantly warm, relaxed tuning; a third hear it as dark, muffled and muddy. Both camps describe the same measured shape — more mid-bass, a recessed upper midrange — and differ on whether that is warmth or a veil. Listeners coming from brighter or V-shaped gear land in the second camp most often.

Measured

Four rigs agree on the shape. Against an HD 6XX on the same rig (Audio Amigo, Capra Audio, GadgetryTech): +2.1 to +3.0 dB at 80–150 Hz, −5.3 to −6.1 dB at 1.5–2.5 kHz, −5.3 to −5.7 dB at 2.5–3.5 kHz, and +4.0 to +5.8 dB at 5–7 kHz, with the ear-gain peak at ~6 kHz on all three. RTINGS scores it Bass −1 dB, Treble −2 dB against its target and calls the signature 'Balanced'. DIY-Audio-Heaven measures a ~10 dB slide from 300 Hz to 5 kHz (about 5 dB shallower in practice because of the angled driver).

vs. listeners — RTINGS and DIY-Audio-Heaven read nearly the same curve and reach opposite verdicts: judged against RTINGS' own target it scores 'balanced', while DIY-Audio-Heaven, whose plots read flat as neutral, calls the same upper-mid dip 'overly relaxed'. The split is the reference and the listener's habits, not the unit.

Where it splits
Balanced to pleasantly warm — relaxed and easy to like66%

“Their balanced sound profile delivers a somewhat mid-forward tuning with ample boom and mostly clear treble that mostly follows our target, except in the bass.”

RTINGS (Thauvette, Fischer & Gariepy)
Dark, muffled and muddy — the warmth reads as a veil34%

“This headphone has an ‘overly relaxed’ sound”

DIY-Audio-Heaven (Solderdude)
Link to this topic

The hardware

Specifications.

Checked

Design

Type
Open-back over-ear
Drivers
1 × 50 mm dynamic (neodymium)

Electrical

Impedance
32 Ω
Frequency response
6 Hz – 35 kHz

Connection

Cable
Detachable, 3 m
Plugs supplied
3.5 mm, 6.35 mm

Physical

Weight
292 g
Dimensions
172 × 100 × 201 mm

Manufacturer-published figures, not measurements · from documents.philips.com.

Follow the evidence

Sources 43

1–6 of 43 sources

Read with context

Limitations & method.

As of

What to keep in mind 8

  1. A read of where the reviews land as of October 2026. Most of the editorial reviews date from 2020, when this was a new $129.99 headphone; many of the harshest verdicts are really verdicts on that price.

  2. Philips has stopped making the SHP9600, so new stock comes from third-party sellers and prices move around. Whether it's a good buy depends a great deal on what you'd actually pay.

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