Sennheiser HD650 Love (Appreciation Thread)

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

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  1. KurtSvensson

    KurtSvensson Friend

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    God damn it , your profile picture looks so damn jolly. I can't help but just smile when I see it, I absolutely love it.|\/| With that said, I need to change mine, gives people the wrong vibe. I'm considering joining the cat club.

    Well let me know once you've sat down for a few hours, I'm in no hurry.|{
     
  2. Luckbad

    Luckbad Traded in a unicorn for a Corolla

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    Ordered some Dynamat Xtreme. What does the quarter foam mod do? That's the only one that's irreversible without buying new pads.
     
  3. TomNC

    TomNC Friend

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    The dynamat/dynaliner mod clearly enhances the definition, tightness, and texture of bass. Interestingly it can even add too much bass if you apply the dynamat on too large areas. Besides the areas showed in the pictures posted recently, I also added some on the top metal plate. I am sure this is the upper limit and I don't want to cover more surface. But it should be noted that I drive the HD650 from speaker taps which increases bass in itself.

    As suggested by a fellow SBAFer here, I got some dynamat from a local car audio shop for $10.

    With the three-element mod(removal of back foam, coin cut of inside cover, and dynamat), the HD650 is transformed to high-performance HD650S.
     
  4. fierce_freak

    fierce_freak Friend

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    I see what you did there...lol. Looking forward to receiving my hd650. I remember removing the back foam when I previously owned a pair.
     
  5. Luckbad

    Luckbad Traded in a unicorn for a Corolla

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    How much adds too much bass and where? Because I'm going to do that on purpose.
     
  6. Registered_for_pics

    Registered_for_pics New

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    I got a new HD 650 and I am very happy with its sound.

    Anyway, I am asking about amplifiers. I currently power it via a Fiio E10K and it gets plenty loud with High Gain. Low Gain also kinda works volume-wise, but I think it lacks slam that way. I am currently considering getting an O2 to hook up to the E10K's line output. Would you say the O2 will noticeably sound better than the E10K's amp?
     
  7. TomNC

    TomNC Friend

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    I don't think O2 is nearly adequate for HD650. I got one from Massdrop and could not cancel the order once I committed impulsively. It has a warm sound and can drive the HD650 to loud levels. But it only does fairly well with mids like voices. For trebles and bass, it falls short to great extents. Basically I hear the mids in focus and anything else lack clarity. So soundstage is weak too.

    I cannot recommend something else as I have limited experiences with amps. But one thing I am sure is the HD650 deserves a very good amp, and DAC too.
     
  8. Psalmanazar

    Psalmanazar Most improved member; A+

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    You've just described the HD 650 in general. The soundstage is not that big but very accurate with instrumental placing and space unlike some larger soundstage headphones, neutral enough mids, treble slightly dark, and it's an open dynamic headphone so yes it has sub bass roll off but nothing too bad like Grados or the the HD 540 which starts rolling off at 200 Hz. For real instruments, it's fine/headphone subbass is not exactly real/etc etc etc.

    Honestly the Schiit Magni Modi stack sounds fine.
     
    Last edited: Jun 26, 2016
  9. TomNC

    TomNC Friend

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    @Luckbad

    Please check out Bill-P's posts in this tread and others regarding his mods of the HD600. He seemed to cover as many areas as allowed. At one occasion, he said he wanted to remove some dynamat treatments and that applying the dynamat to very few areas would make a noticeable difference.

    I inferred that more dynamat treatments would enhance bass more and I could be wrong. Please ask the master himself. With dynamat in selected areas, I think bass is enough to my taste and I don't want to add more. As more surfaces are left untouched, I would think doing more would have a bigger effect. So do check with Bill-P to find out.
     
  10. TomNC

    TomNC Friend

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    Thanks for the tip with O2. I'll experiment.
     
  11. Psalmanazar

    Psalmanazar Most improved member; A+

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    You replied before I finished editing my post with more info. Check out what I wrote about the gain selections of the O2 on the mayflower one.
     
  12. Registered_for_pics

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    I would get an O2 from Head n Hifi in Switzerland, I can have whatever gain option I'd like. I thought about 1x for my IEMs and 2x for my HD650.
     
  13. thegunner100

    thegunner100 Hentai Master Chief

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    Would anyone be willing to send some dynamat my way to give them a try?
     
  14. rott

    rott Secretly hates other millenials - Friend

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    I got my HD650 in 2005. First foray into head-fi. Anyway, compared to the stock cable, when I tried it with an Equinox cable, it did add a richer tone to the higher frequencies but also made the soundstage somewhat narrower, which for me offset the advantage enough for me to prefer the stock cable.

    I got my HD600 in a great Amazon Lightning Deal around X-Mas a few years ago, and ended up liking it more than the HD650 which eventually got sold. I never got the opportunity to try either on tubes, so don't know if that would have changed my perception.

    Since acquiring the SRH1540 and recently LCD-X, the HD600 doesn't get as much attention (lack of synergistic equipment), but it still remains a benchmark. I've tried plenty of headphones in the $250 - $800 range, and even though they're comparatively bass-light and not being driven optimally, the Senns just sound so much more "right/real/authentic" that it amazes me how much of a relative bargain they are these days. (Granted, the Dre-generation headphones are primarily targeted to deal with the craptastic production values of recent popular music.)

    I can't remember specifically in which site/thread I recently read it, but someone mentioned that the LCD-X was essentially just an HD650 on steroids or something to that effect and therefore not a great value, which I can agree with at least as far as Audeze pricing is concerned. (Glad I got in on an authorized retailer's mistaken 20% discount that lasted just a couple of days!)

    Which cans are generally considered the spiritual successor to the HD650, if there is such a thing currently? It can't be the HD800 if they sounds so vastly different, right?
     
  15. NoStream

    NoStream Acquaintance

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    The spiritual successor to the HD650 is the HD650. There's no headphone that does what the 650's do better.

    My recent production 650's are really excellent. Honestly, they were a bit woolly stock, much like my older pair. But the mods give them just enough of a bass bump and upper treble bump to make them near-perfect tonally, and they wind up sounding more crisp and transparent. The only other options I've heard that are as tonally excellent are the 600's, UERM, and JH-13. My 800's need EQ to compete with the 650's in terms of tonality.
     
  16. rott

    rott Secretly hates other millenials - Friend

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  17. Besnia

    Besnia Facebook Friend

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    Hi Purrin, and everybody else, nice to e-meet you, this is my first post here!

    (please excuse my English, it's not my native language :) )

    I have to agree with you this is an excellent headphone, and a great value for money. To my ears, and with some mods, it exceeds the 1-2K eur headphones in most areas, with the exception of the HD800. I used to own HD800, LCD-2F, 3F & the X, along with AKG Q701 at the same time. Currently I only have LCD-2F (with replaced drivers, which are much better than the old stock ones) and HD650. Except for the lower midrange and sub-bass authority, the 650 is better than the LCD in every way, especially the treble.

    Purrin, do you hear any audible differences at normal (sub 80-85db) listening levels after applying the dynamat pieces? It's an interesting mod I haven't thought of doing, because it seemed to me the driver couldn't exert enough force to vibrate the chassis at normal listening levels.

    I would suggest two other mods that would improve the sound quality. As shown in the picture below I've removed the screens and glued a natural cork sheet on the front baffle. If you want to try it out, you don't have to remove the screen, just use some mild adhesive that will keep the cork sheet attached, to see if you will like the sound. If you don't, you should be able to easily remove the cork. (if you do this tweak, make sure the foam on the back of the magnet is removed). The other thing I did was to remove the protective grill, but by doing so there's a pretty good chance of ruining the cone (you know, like accidentally stuffing your thumb inside, etc). I wouldn't recommend you doing that, unless you have replacement drivers at hand. The reason I removed it was that the grill introduced phase distortion and the treble sounded a little nasty. I've been a keen DIYer for years, and my philosophy is there mustn't be any obstacles between the driver cone and my ears.

    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Well, those are my 2 cents. I'm going to try the dynamat tweak this week! It's great that there are places like this on the net where people can share their experiences. Thanks, everyone! :)

    Best regards,
    Mario
     
  18. BleaK

    BleaK Friend

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    Tried the remove back foam mod (not the quarter mod, since it's irreversible), and after some days I still didn't like it. I felt it had an "etchy bite". So I decided to reverse the mod, which is easier said than done.

    What I tried was to put back ONE of the foam plates. And that is probably the best balance to my ears. It removed the "etchy bite", yet still have the same air as the full removal. I tried one driver without foam and one with the single layer foam and I couldn't tell the difference in soundstage or "airiness". The only thing was that the sound was a bit more balance with maybe a slight hint less midbass and less "bite" in the 2-3kHz area.

    This is all according to my ears ofcourse, and I am pretty new to modding so this could be some placebo bullshit going on. But if you're curious try a single plate of foam (if you kept it) and report back. I just put one back and pulled with a tweezer until it was even on all sides.
     
  19. sphinxvc

    sphinxvc Gear Master (retired)

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    I did the dynamat. It works as advertised.
     
  20. BioniclePhile

    BioniclePhile The Terminal Man - Friend

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    When I get the 650, where exactly does the dynamat go? And where can I get dynamat?
     

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