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

I just realised an error on my part. Why don't I just contact Jason direct and see if he's happy to send out a Valhalla 2 for review to be published on Neowin. I have a stash of reviews there now with nice pics and thoughts from a user perspective without going all out technical. I think that gels with the Schiit work ethic too.

If I really like it then I can buy the unit off them, or simply send it back and buy a new one for myself.

Hits 2 birds with 1 stone then and gives Schiit some additional global coverage.
 
Ryanr1987 said:
No trouble reselling at all. Ah that's good, saves waiting for customs! Did you get another cable sorted? I'm looking into getting a nice chunky, custom cable.


While I love their Vali and Val2, I'm not the biggest fan of the Schiit house sound which tends to be a little rough, dry a bit less musical than I usually like(Val2 is smoother, more hifi, refined and doesn't really fit this category and so does the Vali). All are technically very good though and this is just a sound preference on my side.

Asgard 2 reminds me of a more refined magni, a bit warmer, bit more musical, I'd say it's somewhere between the Magni and Vali in tone.

I think the Vali is their best model outside of the Val. With the vali, the tubes are not roll-able so you don't have to worry about tube rolling and it's very small.
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Hrm, is that harsh sound that you speak of not a characteristic of pure transparent sound? Of course, when compared to the 'buttery warmth' of tubes, a transparent amp is going to sound quite harsh in comparison indeed.

My goal ultimately is pure transparency - I'll let the phones colour the sound.
 
Harshness is a result of peaks, exaggeration in the response, distortion or a combination of those.

There's no such thing as a pure sounding headphone, amp, dac. When it comes to neutrality, the most recommended equipment for it is always on the warmer side rather than the colder side and I agree that warmth is natural..

When I look for something natural, it must never sound out of place, coherency, tonality, how human voices sound, if I hear harshness then it's a result of one of the above I mention or all of them. Buttery smoothness is something I enjoy because it's euphoric, relaxing, intimate but buttery smooth can also be natural. There's too many headphones, amps that focus on extracting detail at the expensive of peaks in the response causing harshness/roughness and so many enthusiast have it in their head that this is neutral.

If something sounded dead flat, it would bore most to tears I imagine but it's impossible to achieve that. I believe warmth is reality. I guess it's a personal thing so what I believe to be natural may be way off what you believe.
 
mrk said:
Alternatively the O2+ODAC Revision B might be something that could give greater amplification for the 650s without adding any colour to the sound.
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Kind of not so impressed with the O2 now for driving HD600 series headphones - not sure what it is - might be due to how cheap the buffer op amps (JRC4556) are means a big variation in quality (or a drop in quality since the O2 was originally designed) - but while it sounds great with current demanding headphones the O2s I've heard and other devices that use the 4556 as a buffer directly driving the headphones don't impress me so much with headphones like the 600s that require lots of voltage swing now having heard a variety of different systems from my own builds and higher end amps.
 
That's a shame, ah well I strike O2 from mind then :p

I like warmth in sound really, probably why I've been a long term NAD amp owner even though I've tried others out in between but always gone back to NAD. In this regard I'm perfectly happy to have the D7050 act as DAC and obviously power the speakers. The line-out will drive the headphone amp.

A black Valhalla 2 will look sweet-as next to the NAD :cool:
 
My headphone preferences only lie in open air sadly, just can't handle full size cans that are closed back. I need that open feeling!

The most airy heapdhones I've ever owned were the Grado SR60i. Absolutely superb sounding headphones. I had the C325 Bee back then and that combination sounded sublime. Sadly the Grado of that price bracket have extremely uncomfortable headbands, extremely uncomfortable earpads and and extremely tight clamp. Enjoyed the sound for 30 minutes before my head started to hurt from the discomfort :eek:
 
Yeah I'm the same. If I have closed back I have the have them slightly U shaped with an airy treble otherwise things get congested. Really like the Shure 1540 and NAD HP50 though!

I used to own the SR60i, crazy headphones!
 
mrk said:
That's a shame, ah well I strike O2 from mind then :p

I like warmth in sound really, probably why I've been a long term NAD amp owner even though I've tried others out in between but always gone back to NAD. In this regard I'm perfectly happy to have the D7050 act as DAC and obviously power the speakers. The line-out will drive the headphone amp.

A black Valhalla 2 will look sweet-as next to the NAD :cool:
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It doesn't sound bad - but once I had a bit broader experience I started to notice some minor imperfections that weren't there with other reasonably high end amps - complex higher pitched vocals can be a tad "off colour" for want of a better way to put it - making it harder to distinguish the gender and sometimes there is a bit of "smeariness" - unfortunately I don't have access to say a 2011 era O2 to see if its due to a change in component quality or something like that - though my own DIY experimenting seemed to narrow it down to the 4556 op amps.
 
Ryanr1987 said:
Harshness is a result of peaks, exaggeration in the response, distortion or a combination of those.

There's no such thing as a pure sounding headphone, amp, dac. When it comes to neutrality, the most recommended equipment for it is always on the warmer side rather than the colder side and I agree that warmth is natural..

When I look for something natural, it must never sound out of place, coherency, tonality, how human voices sound, if I hear harshness then it's a result of one of the above I mention or all of them. Buttery smoothness is something I enjoy because it's euphoric, relaxing, intimate but buttery smooth can also be natural. There's too many headphones, amps that focus on extracting detail at the expensive of peaks in the response causing harshness/roughness and so many enthusiast have it in their head that this is neutral.

If something sounded dead flat, it would bore most to tears I imagine but it's impossible to achieve that. I believe warmth is reality. I guess it's a personal thing so what I believe to be natural may be way off what you believe.
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So with how you recommend the Val 2 and the other DIY one for tubes with the 650s, what's your solid state preference then?
 
For anyone who has recently bought a HD650, I've got a question for you. If you look through the speaker grill on each earcup, can you see a small silver/holographic sticker with the Sennheiser logo attached to the driver assembly? I've noticed one on my right driver, but not the left one. Also, on my old 650, there are no stickers at all.
 
titaniumx3 said:
For anyone who has recently bought a HD650, I've got a question for you. If you look through the speaker grill on each earcup, can you see a small silver/holographic sticker with the Sennheiser logo attached to the driver assembly? I've noticed one on my right driver, but not the left one. Also, on my old 650, there are no stickers at all.
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Don't have 650s to hand but my old 600s have no holographic and the newer ones have just a sticker on the right driver and not left.
 
titaniumx3 said:
Oh cool, I was just concerned that I may have got a fake driver or something. Bought both my 650s from the rainforest so should be genuine.
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My new pair are from there as well - while I highly doubt they are fakes there is definitely a difference in the sound between my old ones and new
 
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