Sennheiser HD650 Love (Appreciation Thread)

@TRex - I really don't know. I just received that email from a Sennheiser US Customer Support Specialist and shared it here.

Another thing, I mentioned the HD600 as well as the HD650 in my ticket. She ignored the HD600 in her response. Does that mean anything - who knows?
I have no idea how "on the ball" Sennheiser US Customer Support Specialists are in general, nor this one in particular. We make of it what we will...

 

Good question. They definitely wear out with use. Maybe someone here knows about shelf life.

 

If they are discontinued...

I'm just hoping for bigger neodymium magnets, the primary resonance frequency shifted down to like 60hz, and a slight housing redesign as the bigger magnets and primary resonance being shifted down means it wouldn't have to be as reliant on the housing for what meager bass extension it has.

The slight housing redesign could fix the 3k dirtiness as well. I think it's just some spots on the housing where waves at 3k get reflected on the 6## series, honestly.

 

Clever 'clamping pressure' mod!

 

I would love to see an improved HD6X0, I just don't trust Sennheiser to come through with one.

I have not heard any of these, only read about them. But from the impressions that I have from reading:
HD700 - Messed up beyond repair.
HD800 - I get the impression that this is pretty flawed (on most amps), as it comes from Sennheiser. I think that 6kHz peak would be a pain to me. $1500 initially.
HD800S - Seems like kind of a band-aid approach to criticisms of the HD800. $1700

HD 630VB I have not read anything that makes me think I would like it. I don't know if this is supposed to be the HD650 successor. It is the same price as the HD650.

I have not read anything particularly good about the new 5XX Series.

I have only heard the following post-HD6X0 Sennheisers:
Momentum Over Ear - I bought these for my Girlfriend. She likes them. I don't. Too dark and bassy for me.
HD598 SE - I bought these for $100 Black Friday before last. Kind of pleasant, easy to drive headphones. Fine for the money, but I rarely listen to them.

It seems like Sennheiser was on a roll during the creation of the HD580/HD600/HD650. (At least for my taste.) I'd like to hear the story behind the designing of these.

 

^^^^

Even though it had limpdick bass, the midrange is heavenly good. Even Andro can't touch the HD650 midrange. Heavenly good.

Keeping mine for sure.

 

HD800 is a lot different, but they didn't lose the touch. Still the best modern flagship, IMO...

HD700 and 630VB on the other hand...

another note, HD600, and to a slightly lesser degree the 650, are still the most tonally accurate headphones I've heard. In the mids, at least.

 

I agree.

 

My point was - I would love to see an improved HD6X0, I just don't trust Sennheiser to come through with one.
The rest of the jibber jabber in that post was just my reasons for feeling that way.

On another note, this is the most complete source for Sennheiser spare parts that I have found:
http://headphonespares.sennheiser.co.uk/

 

I love how this is called "decorative part".

 

Edit: Lightning Deal is over, $375 now.

 

The HD 600 sort of hides the bass distortion with an upper mid/treble boost. Pretty muchthe same otherwise and the HD 650 go lower. I chose the HD 650 as less annoying with some instruments and better cable.

 

I think it's the dynamic driver being superior to the planar driver in terms of conveying weight to notes and the dynamics in the music.

I recently had the same experience comparing a 2016 LCD-3 to my 650. I had no engagement with the music when using the planar. Everything was there but the sound seemed flat.

 

Pretty late to the party on this one. All I did is remove the front foam ("oh") and then the rear foam ("What in the hell?!). I am blown away by their performance. Okay, like this they're raw up top and cooler down low. But the resolution/plankton, imaging, separation, clarity just shot through the roof, and the stage has grown in width. Biggest shock I've had with headphones. If I'd done this a few years ago I think I may have never moved up to TOTL priced headphones. It's completely re-calibrated my viewpoint. Just need to do the mods proper and get back to my desktop system.

So the foam was responsible for that warm, smooth, inviting, non-fatiguing sound that made them so popular. I suppose it was so they sound a little more like sound waves from speakers propagating through a typical room.

I only did a quick comparison to the £1000 more expensive TH900 and given the price difference my thoughts are not favourable. Going from memory I'd use them over the HD800 for music listening.

 

I emailed Sennheiser over the weekend to see if I could get confirmation about discontinuation as well and got this response:

 

Good to see this confirmed...again?

 

It's like Groundhog Day.

 

Sheesh.. they need to get everyone in the company updated and on-board about whether this is being discontinued or not.

 

Confirmed what again? Ishcabible posted a screenshot that stated the opposite to be true of what @Dino had posted.

 

This happens every few months. It never amounts to anything. I won't even begin to entertain the notion that the HD6X0 is discontinued until they are marked as such on the official Sennheiser German website.