Sennheiser HD650 Love (Appreciation Thread)

Discussion in 'Headphone Measurements' started by purr1n, Sep 27, 2015.

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  1. Dino

    Dino Friend

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  2. gixxerwimp

    gixxerwimp Professional tricycle rider

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    1 picture = 1k words
     
  3. dark_energy

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    Just posting my HD650 mod. Using dynamat-like material.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  4. James Whiting

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    [​IMG]


    Here is the material I mentioned. Second Skin Luxury Liner, it comes in the sample pack!

    [​IMG]


    Ah here you can see my suspension system which is actually designed to increase clamping force. You will
    notice I have also damped the headband at the swivel point. This is dynamatt extreme with lots of extra goop
    packed around it and a piece of luxury liner cut to fit the space. So the headphones are relatively locked to my
    favourite head and ear spacing. The cups will still swivel slightly with more force than normal! You can see
    the black rings around the cups. Underneath those rings are about five pieces of Luxury Liner cut to wrap around
    the cups. I use two of those same hair band strechies that you see on my suspension! I gooped them together
    with dynamatt butyl rubber worked into to the hair bands. This allows to keep the hair bands in a relatively fixed
    position. They are still removable with a bit of effort. The luxury liner is very lightly tacked down with butyl goop!


    [​IMG]

    Here you can see my grilles external diffraction ring made from thin cut paint brush foam! There is
    a layer of softer difraction foam underneath this as well butted up against the edge of the cups!

    Paint is a combination of four different nail polish shades and a clear coat!

    There you have it.


    I love em!
     
    Last edited: Jan 24, 2017
  5. gixxerwimp

    gixxerwimp Professional tricycle rider

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    Holy crap! Those are no longer HD650s! They're Frankenheisers ... :p
     
  6. James Whiting

    James Whiting Facebook Friend

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    Indeed Sir!

    They are the easiest things to modifiy. Much more mod friendly than the majority of tweaks I have done over the years! Perhaps they are too mod friendly. Just wondering if any other mods will occur to me! I do believe I am done however! If I had an extra $500 or $600 burning a hole it might be fun to try silver/gold Zenwave Audio headphone cables. But I am very happy with the OCC litz copper ones I have!

    Happy Listening:punk:

    jgwtriode
     
    Last edited: Jan 27, 2017
  7. Derf

    Derf Acquaintance

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    Somewhat random brain spew incoming...

    Doing some listening on my slightly modded 650s tonight (coin foam). Decided to do some more comparing between Ether-C Flow and 650 since I hadn't done that much before. In Radiohead's Weird Fishes Arpeggi on the 650, I can feel and even see the tip of the drumstick hitting the cymbal that's going through most of the song. It is completely engrossing and visceral. It kind of tickles my right ear, but in a way the feels right. Put on the Ethers and that feeling is totally gone. I can't see the impact anymore. No more tickling. The sound is still there of course, but floating farther outside of my ear, and with a bedsheet over it. I can feel the same thing in the opening of Reckoner... I have no idea what any of this translates to in technical terms, but whatever it is I want more of it.

    How is it that this thing can feel so much more alive than a headphone that's four or five times the price? And this is just out of the Liquid Carbon single ended. I can't imagine what a ZDS is like. God, I want it so badly. It seems the 650 will be sitting on my head a lot more in the future....
     
  8. Sherm

    Sherm Acquaintance

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    A very similar thing happens to me when switching between my LCD-2 and modded 650. With the 650, cymbals, drum impacts, and guitars just seem to pop a lot more in a pleasant way. I definitely concur with the tickle sensation you describe. It can be a little fatiguing at higher volumes, but that sensation of impact and texture is quite addicting to me as well. "Alive" is a great word to describe the difference.
     
  9. DigMe

    DigMe Friend

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    And the rattling type noise in the left ear on Reckoner.. feels so realistic and alive.
     
  10. James Whiting

    James Whiting Facebook Friend

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    Agreed! As good as I used to think the Paradox Slant was at this...the mods to the 650 improve on that performance substantially! The last couple of mods really brought this out! Luxury Liner around the cup most particularly! Not a huge improvement but a refinement that by reducing background noise and smearing made that
    sense of impact and texture even more prominent than it was!

    Did a bit of system retunning and tweaking. Better mechanical setup and fiddling a bit with
    Process Lasso and Fidelizer 7.6. Oh my do the qualities discussed get absolutely magical!

    Happy Listening,

    jgwtriode
     
    Last edited: Feb 15, 2017
  11. Dino

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    I bought a second HD580 on ebay that I am fixing up. I was needing a few parts. Looks like Sennheiser US (http://en-us.sennheiser.com/) no longer has telephone service so I opened a support ticket:

    Ticket details
    Message:
    I am interested in buying grills for HD600 or HD650. The part number for the HD600 grill is 092815. I cannot find the part number for the HD650 grill.

    I also need the clips that hold the headband pad for HD600/HD650. (The clips with "Made in Ireland" on them).

    Any help in helping me find out how to purchase any or all of these parts would be most appreciated.
    ____________________________________________________________________________________________________

    Here is the response:

    Good Day,

    Thank you for contacting the Sennheiser Customer Service team.

    The HD650 are discontinued and we no longer carry these in our warehouse or have parts available.

    Sennheiser USA Customer Service Team
    Mon-Fri: 8:30 a.m. - 7:30 p.m. EST
    (877) 736-6434 ext 1

    Kandis Shirley
    Customer Support Specialist
    Sennheiser Electronic Corporation
    ____________________________________________________________________________________________________

    The bold type and big font was done by me.

    Hopefully this isn't quite accurate, especially about parts availability. (Imagine no new earpads!)
     
  12. cskippy

    cskippy Creamy warmpoo

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    If true, that's a bombshell!
     
  13. Case

    Case Anxious Head (Formerly Wilson)

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    Still listed as for sale on the website.
     
  14. Dino

    Dino Friend

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    Of course, I hope she has this wrong.
     
  15. TeskR

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    I was about to grab a pair of HD650 off Amazon UK a few days ago (about $100 cheaper than buying here in AUS) and I noticed they are now listed as "Currently Unavailable" with no ETA on when they are getting more in (page states: "We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock.").

    Edit: Not sure if this happens with other products on Amazon often as I do not use it much.
     
  16. Dino

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    When I first read her response, I thought well that is sad and the end of an era. But there are still plenty of HD580s (and 600/650s) on ebay, etc. Those HD580s are pretty old and a lot of them look pretty cherry. They are usually quite reasonably priced and just need a headband pad and earpads. Then I thought of no new Sennheiser pads. The Chinese headband pads might not be too bad, I don't know. The earpads are necessary for these headphones to sound correct and they do wear out. If this email turns out to be correct, we may be comparing and looking for the best Chinese earpads. :(

    Other random thoughts:
    Maybe it is just Sennheiser US that will discontinue stocking replacement parts.
    Sennheiser Germany just ships to Germany and Austria.
    Sennheiser UK might be a source for parts. They do not subtract VAT for us in the USA, but it is better than nothing.

    Edit: The reason I was talking about HD580 is only because they are older than HD650 and I thought they might offer a peek at the future of the HD650 on the used market a few years after the HD650 is discontinued. I wasn't sure if that was clear.
     
    Last edited: Mar 3, 2017
  17. Dino

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    I shop at amazon.com quite a bit. I have seen products with listings as you've described, numerous times. Sometimes they get more, sometimes they don't.
     
  18. riker1384

    riker1384 Acquaintance

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    I have 650s (silver) and just got a pair of black-screen HD580s to compare. I've had these before but not at the same time.

    Both lack sub-bass but the 650 is a bit better. HD580's treble is rougher, fatiguing, and with the lack of sub-bass they sound thin/bright with rock music. 650's treble is much smoother, but overall they are warm and the upper-bass boost can get annoying.

    I tried rear damping (cotton/foam damping, not Dynamat) on the HD650s and it didn't seem to improve them. I don't want to do non-reversible mods or endless random mods. Might try the AKG K240 front foam. Might try the Sonarworks EQ software.

    On music that doesn't highlight the treble trouble, the 580 gets closer to "you are there" in the room with the musicians. The 650 sounds more like listening to speakers or from the back of a well-damped auditorium.

    Conclusion: No perfect headphone. Use speakers whenever possible.
    ===========
    BTW, on the topic of parts being discontinued, I wonder, is it a good idea to stock up on extra earpads? Do they only wear out with use, or do they degrade just from time if they sit around unused?
     
  19. DigMe

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    There was talk and rumors of the discontinuation not that long ago and at that time I want to say someone high up in the company put the rumors to rest but that doesn't really inspire confidence when reps are saying they are discontinued!
     
  20. TRex

    TRex Almost "Made"

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    Wait - so they are really gonna discontinue the venerable HD650?!
     

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