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

powelly2010 said:
I'm currently using so 80ohm dt 770s pros which I've had for about 2 years now. Getting bored of them so want some new headphones, comfort is a massive factor for me as i often use them for 5+ hour sessions. I've seen on the Beyerdynamic you can customise some dt880 premiums which come out at around 250 euros with all the decent options and i also noticed you get a free pair of DTX72 in ears!

I love my current beyers and feel like this is a great deal but i also like the look of the 650s, however the ability to have custom headphones and the comfort are a massive plus for me :p

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HD650 over the 880. It's a different level, DT880 is dry, lean, bright, higher distortion weird depth to it's soundstage.

650 is warmer, better detail and resolution, smoother through the whole response. It's just better in all areas.

I really enjoy the DT770 it has high distortion and issues but for a closed headphone I think it punches above it's weight but the 880 doesn't in my honest opinion.

The 770 has a warmness to it and due to it's closed, thunderous resonating closed cups it did hide a lot of problems all beyers have which is lack treble smoothness. The open Beyers are a different monster and not always for the better if you like a smoother, more natural response. The who open line is lean and bright.

The 650 is just that damn good and the next full upgrade is probably the Audeze LCD-2 + 3) but even then the 650 beats them in areas and due to the lack of consistency, very often beats them. Hifiman HEX(£1300) but even then early impressions are saying the HD650 is better in key areas so maybe something like the HE-1000(£2800-£3000)

A side grade could be the Nighthawk(£500) which wins in treble extension and detail, distortion figures and bass extension but loses in mids, cohesiveness and micro detail(just about)
 
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Electromod is actually legit, he's a Schiit dealer.

Keep an eye out because stock will come in soon. Tubes amps have more options to alter the sound. A lot of people think tube amps are to produce a warm, gooey mess but actually a well made tube amp sounds more natural, articulate and resolving than most if not all solid states IMO.

The Schiit Valhalla 2 is a good example as it's very resolving and doesn't really alter the sound much at all! The Chinese tube amps are the ones that tend to be warm, I love them but can admit they are not ideal for resolution and detail which is important to a lot of people in this hobby.

Some people prefer solid state, it tends to be very good at detail, more leaner and shouty in the vocals when compared to some tube amps. I've compared a lot of solid states to tube amps and there's always an artificial roughness that seems to follow me with every SS amp I've tried. I'm of course, nitpicking as I'm sure many wouldn't even care but I personally, really care about how smooth an amp sounds with my phones.

I'm sure many people have different opinions on this though.
 
Rroff said:
I've found that to be the case with the commonly recommended/workhorse op amps OPA2132/2134, NE55xx series, etc. but I've found others that atleast for me sound decent (and I've always been a sucker for SS bass). I say it half jokingly but I wouldn't be surprised if the OPA213x are responsible for driving a lot of people to tube amps.


There is also the issue that in a lot of cases the DAC or soundcard will have a run of the mill op amp hanging off the output of the DAC as a buffer which will have some influence (though not as much usually as whatever you are using as the gain) on the sound even if you are running a tube amp unless you are picking something specifically designed to connect to something else and not drive headphones directly.
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I've started to prefer a lot of in house stuff. One reason I bought the Mojo wasn't because it got good reviews but because it was all made in house and not just passed around.

There's been some really great solid state ampos though but they have ended up being silly money! really enjoy the Eddie Current gear. Yea I'm with you on the SS bass, more visceral where as tube bass tends to be a bit more fluffy in comparison.
 
Rroff said:
I've found that to be the case with the commonly recommended/workhorse op amps OPA2132/2134, NE55xx series, etc. but I've found others that atleast for me sound decent (and I've always been a sucker for SS bass). I say it half jokingly but I wouldn't be surprised if the OPA213x are responsible for driving a lot of people to tube amps.


There is also the issue that in a lot of cases the DAC or soundcard will have a run of the mill op amp hanging off the output of the DAC as a buffer which will have some influence (though not as much usually as whatever you are using as the gain) on the sound even if you are running a tube amp unless you are picking something specifically designed to connect to something else and not drive headphones directly.
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I've started to prefer a lot of in house stuff. One reason I bought the Mojo wasn't because it got good reviews but because it was all made in house and not just passed around(And the funky lights :D

There's been some really great solid state amps though but they have ended up being silly money! really enjoy the Eddie Current gear. Yea I'm with you on the SS bass, more visceral where as tube bass tends to be a bit more fluffy in comparison.
 
I've ordered a lot of stuff overseas and had quite a few tube amplifiers and never had anything arrive broken. You will be fine. If you are concerned wait until electromod get some back in stock as they ship next day delivery.
 
Schiit stuff is quite well built don't really hear any issues. I've got one of my HD650's for sale in members market which are hardly used at all, I was going to use em for modding but didn't get around to it and no point having two pairs lol so if they are still up for sale when you are interested might be a decent deal for you.
 
Yeah I'm the same. I mean there's headphones that can wow you but then you go back to the 650 and it just sounds magical. I'm still trying to find a headphone that can flat out beat it, in under a grand and honestly it's really tough. Some headphones fool you with exaggerations in the response and you forget about the 650, until you put them back on.

I've yet to find a headphone that nails the timbre of instruments and the human voice as accurately as the 650. I know people must think I exaggerate how good this headphone is but honestly, I really feel it beats almost everything out there!
 
I just spoke to the guy who made my last Bottlehead Crack and he has two in build at the moment. I do kind of regret selling my last Crack. I'm going to take my 650 to my local audio dealer tomorrow and ask if they can crack a new LCD-2 out of the case so I can demo them. If I feel there's minimal difference then I'll get another Crack.
 
He sales then for £350 which is a pretty good! Cracks don't stay in the classifieds for long so there's a market for them for sure. If you can do custom finishes then I'm sure you can make something from them. Maybe grab a couple of kits and show off your work to build interest.
 
Quite looking forward to tomorrow. while I'm at Custom Cable I'm going to compare my 650 to other things. Is anyone interested in certain comparisons to the 650? Excuse to try more things haha
 
Unfortunately not, no. They do have some fantastic amps for demo though. The Chord Mojo would be available and that pairs great with the 650.

If you want to use your D7050 as a DAC then get the Valhalla 2 and call it a day, honestly. The Val 2 is the second best pairing under 1k IMO after the Crack and it spanks the 02 for everything. It doesn't sound tubey like the Chinese brands. It's resolving, quick, balanced with a natural sound to it.



It's so refreshing coming home from custom cable and putting the 650's back on my head, so much more impact, natural tone separation!
 
No I'm using the Mojo at the moment and will add a Crack to the chain again. I've had the Val 2 on a loan and it was fantastic. You can try Schiit Europe? I think even the US comes to a similar price. If you don't wanna get a Crack then I would personally wait for a Val2.
 
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