Sennheiser HD650 - The classic beauty in a grey dress Appreciation thread!

BananaDunka · 8 Feb 2016 at 01:37

The X2 bass is more like having a sub in your head. Not basshead bass, but tight and low kickdown. The 650's bass is not as pronounced, but it is more accurate to my ears and way more refined. Everything about the sound is just more grown up, even though the X2 is more grown up than the X1.

The 650 is the superior headphone for music, whereas some will prefer the X2 for multimedia and sheer comfort.

There is no other headphone I have handled that beats the X1/X2 for comfort and build quality.

darreny · 11 Feb 2016 at 14:10

Installed the STX yesterday and whilst the improvements aren't massive over the dg the one thing that was apparent was the lack of background noise, it's a strange thing I never noticed with the dg until I put the STX in.

Girlfriend asked me last night that due to the soundleackage, what is the point of having headphones. I had no answer

Ayahuasca · 11 Feb 2016 at 14:11

Just be pleased you've got a girlfriend who asks questions and doesn't try and belittle your tech purchases

darreny · 11 Feb 2016 at 14:21

I thought that's what she was doing lol

Marsman · 11 Feb 2016 at 15:58

Tell her that if she is going to criticise the sound leakage of your headphones that entitles you to criticise the next time she spends money on another handbag or pair of shoes that she doesn't need.

james.miller · 11 Feb 2016 at 16:04

they leak sound because they are open backed. open backed sounds better. That's all she needs to know

rids57 · 11 Feb 2016 at 16:05

The DG is a very capable little card and has quite a decent DAC onboard but as you've discovered, it's not aimed at high quality audio equipment. The differences between DACs can be quite subtle, even when you include much more expensive equipment, as the DAC chips are relatively cheap, so you don't need to spend much for a very capable DAC. The main differences are in the analogue circuits surrounding the DAC, in that they can subtly improve things like instrument separation and sound stage, though the differences are still small compared to those made by the end device, be it speakers or headphones.

Where the STX scores over the DG is it's headphone amplifier, it's actually quite a potent beast and can drive most headphones quite easily, while a DG or SBZ can struggle with higher impedance and insensitive cans.

darreny · 11 Feb 2016 at 16:29

I'll ask her why we have a dishwasher and a sink.

Yeah strange how we pay more not to hear something. Also had an issue where using music bee in wasapi mode turned sound off for youtube and other things so I had to put music bee back on direct sound, doesn't happen with the stx

darreny · 11 Feb 2016 at 16:33

Dg drove the 650s ok for me it did struggle with the k712. Only have the stx on 64-300ohm setting

Angst · 11 Feb 2016 at 17:25

darreny said:
Installed the STX yesterday and whilst the improvements aren't massive over the dg the one thing that was apparent was the lack of background noise, it's a strange thing I never noticed with the dg until I put the STX in.

Girlfriend asked me last night that due to the soundleackage, what is the point of having headphones. I had no answer

My girlfriend said basically the same thing to me when she heard my headphones, then said that she didnt want to try them because she could hear them while i was wearing them.

rids57 · 11 Feb 2016 at 17:29

darreny said:
Dg drove the 650s ok for me it did struggle with the k712. Only have the stx on 64-300ohm setting

Yes, it was my K702 that finally made me upgrade to the STX from the SBZ (and DGX before it) - they are about as sensitive as a lump of cheese

darreny · 11 Feb 2016 at 17:34

Angst said:
My girlfriend said basically the same thing to me when she heard my headphones, then said that she didnt want to try them because she could hear them while i was wearing them.

There's just no answer

Angst · 11 Feb 2016 at 17:53

darreny said:
There's just no answer

I just had to ask her to leave the room for a moment and think about what she had done.

darreny · 11 Feb 2016 at 18:06

How spooky as I said I'm not gonna dignify it with an answer, she is a teacher

Ryanr1987 · 12 Feb 2016 at 00:45

Ayahuasca said:
Just be pleased you've got a girlfriend who asks questions and doesn't try and belittle your tech purchases

This!

My Wife rarely pays attention to my headphones, she complains about the noise mainly. I managed to get her to listen to my LCD-2's the other day, she thought they sounded awful! I wasn't impressed. The only headphones I managed to get her to like was my old Shure SRH440 and my Denon D2000's which she loved.

The rest are rubbish according to her ears!

Angst · 12 Feb 2016 at 10:45

Ryanr1987 said:
This!

My Wife rarely pays attention to my headphones, she complains about the noise mainly. I managed to get her to listen to my LCD-2's the other day, she thought they sounded awful! I wasn't impressed. The only headphones I managed to get her to like was my old Shure SRH440 and my Denon D2000's which she loved.

The rest are rubbish according to her ears!

A new wife is needed.

Ryanr1987 · 12 Feb 2016 at 11:11

To be fair she's pretty laid back about me being into gaming/audio a lot of other peoples wives I know are pretty difficult when it come to that sort of stuff.

Plus, she's easy on the eyes Haha

rids57 · 12 Feb 2016 at 15:57

... if not the ears

Angst · 12 Feb 2016 at 20:56

After all the talk ive bought a pair of these yet again to compare to my he 400i, one or the other will be on mm in the next few weeks.

Ryanr1987 · 12 Feb 2016 at 20:57

I have to sale either my LCD-2 or 650 to find for my gaming PC. Been making comparisons for ages and it's hard to choose.

I was gonna sale the K612 Pro but they perform better for games.

I'd always pick the 650 over the 400i and HE-500 though.