Sennheiser HD650 - advice needed

titaniumx3

titaniumx3

titaniumx3

Soldato
Joined
11 May 2006
Posts
5,786
Thinking about getting a pair of Sennheiser HD650 cans, but I've read that they are not easy to drive using normal headphone outputs which are too weak.

I understand an external headphone amp is always prefereable, but having to splash out on one of those would be a bit too much, considering that I have to get the headphones too.

I'm looking to runs these mostly from my PC and I currently only have a X-Fi Extreme Music sound card. Would this be enough? How about a Asus Xonar Essence?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
Hi there. I have the HD650 for a while now and they are great headphones. Before getting the Xonar Essence l currently have l used a Xonar D2. Get an amp or a sound card with an amplifier like the Xonar Essence.

You will miss a lot if you use them with a "normal" soundcard.
 
Well I'm pretty much dead set on getting the HD650 now, so now the question is, should I get a Essence STX or ST.

Assuming sound quality is the same from both cards, I'd rather get the ST version, purely due to the fact that my PCI slots are furthest away from my graphics card; don't like my sound cards being close to my graphics cards, can't be good for sound quality.
 
I think the ST is one you should go for, as you said, it's probably not a good idea to have it so close to a GFX card. The ST is said to be slightly better, as it has a better clock. Quite frankly I think you would have to be an audiophile to tell whatever difference there is between them. Even then, it would be hard to tell. I have an ST, but I don't have hard to drive headphones such as the HD650's. It's a superb card, the Essence. I mainly use mine with my stereo amp and speakers.

I had thought the Essence's amp was not really high enough quality to get the best out of the HD600/650's, and other similar headphones, but I have read many comments that it does a good job, and has a better headphone amp than many give it credit for. There is no doubt, the HD600/650's are capable of better sound than what the Essence can provide, because they scale very well. To get the best from them, you would probably have to spend far more than you would want to, but an Essence is certainly a good starting place I would say.
 
Anyone with a HD 650 who also wears glasses, do you have any comfort/fitting issues?

I wear glasses and with my current Audio Technica ATH-A900 (big headphones) and I have no issues as my glass frames are pretty thin.
 
I've done exactly what you are considering and my HD650's have never sounded better. Previously i've run them directly from a Creative Xtreme Music and from an Arcam amp, switching to the Essence a few months ago, which is significantly better.
 
Just received the Essence ST (still waiting for the HD650). I have a few questions:

Which driver should I use and is there anything in windows I need to modify to achieve best audio quality?

I've read there's some sampling rate settings in windows that need changing. I use foobar2000 as my main music player, listening to mainly flac ripped audio CDs.
 
If you were being particular you might change the sample rate to match the source to avoid resampling, but as you are using Foobar there's a much better solution. Two in fact. Either use the wasapi plug-in or asio.

You'll need to do some research on their use but basically they both allow the output from Foobar to bypass the Windows sound components, instead passing it directly to your soundcard for processing. An added benefit of this is for Foobar to have exclusive use of the Souncard so that you don't have system sounds, or any other, interrupting your music while you listen.

I use the wasapi plug-in available from the Foobar web-site. It's simply one file that you place in the appropriate Foobar directory and is activated by selecting the correct option in the Foobar options menu. It's actually really simple.

As far as setting up your Asus driver control panel goes, for best quality select 'Hi-Fi' mode to disable all DSP effects and, when you recieve your Headphones, you'll want to select the middle of the three 'Headphone Gain' settings. (High).
 
Last edited:
Just got mine and have been listening for an hour or so.

Packaging was excellent, nothing extravagant but very sturdy/protective and easy to open. The headphones are simply in a box, surrounded with foam.

Build quality is excellent. It's seems to be a mixture of metal and plastic but the plastic parts don't make it look cheap. The design is very "tight" as in it feels very simple but sturdy and unlike my ATH-A900s, there's absolutely no creaking. The cable is nice and thick and the headphones smell funny; all good signs!

Comfort is excellent, far better than my A900s, I simply adjusted the headband to accomodate the size of my head (required seven clicks on either side) and it seems to fit my head perfectly, plus the velour pads are infinitely better than the pleather crap on my A900s. The headphone itself is also a little smaller and significantly lighter than my A900s. Finally, some common sense being used in headphone design!

Sound wise I'm not saying much as I'm sure these will require several weeks of burn in before the sound settles, but my initial impression is that they already match my A900s, actually more like my PX100s but so much more clarity. The bass sounds a little closed in but that's to be expected at this stage. What I'm most happy about though is that the overall sound is balanced (to my ears anyway), no particular frequency range seems too weak or strong, plus the treble while a little grainy sounds just right.

Also I like how they sound very clear but relaxed at the same time, it's usually one or the other with most headphones I've tried.

Can't wait for them to burn in properly. :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom