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

Enjoy your rimming! er. wait..

ill listen thru the 650s when i get home, wouldnt put it past whoever uploaded that track for it to end up being an empty file, to catch out the people who think they have bat hearing hehe
 
NliOZd2.png


No one can hear it, but they will hear the effects of aliasing on a frequency this high anyway. Nobody's equipment is rated for this kind of super treble.

Case in point: turning the volume up high enough reveals the aliasing.
 
you couldnt answer before analysing the track, Tephnos?

I know the answer, you know the answer because you just cheated.

The point of that audio file isnt to trick people, its a 30 and 33khz tone generated and saved in 96/24, designed to test your bit perfect 96/24 playback. if you can hear anything, then its not bit perfect and that's the sort of thing people hear when they claim bat hearing. We all know that but you had to analyse the track before answering, and i asked you twice...afraid of getting it wrong? ;)


http://people.xiph.org/~xiphmont/demo/neil-young.html#toc_1ch

If you're curious about the performance of your own system, the following samples contain a 30kHz and a 33kHz tone in a 24/96 WAV file, a longer version in a FLAC, some tri-tone warbles, and a normal song clip shifted up by 24kHz so that it's entirely in the ultrasonic range from 24kHz to 46kHz:

Intermod Tests:

30kHz tone + 33kHz tone (24 bit / 96kHz) [5 second WAV] [30 second FLAC]
26kHz - 48kHz warbling tones (24 bit / 96kHz) [10 second WAV]
26kHz - 96kHz warbling tones (24 bit / 192kHz) [10 second WAV]
Song clip shifted up by 24kHz (24 bit / 96kHz WAV) [10 second WAV]
(original version of above clip) (16 bit / 44.1kHz WAV)

Assuming your system is actually capable of full 96kHz playback [6], the above files should be completely silent with no audible noises, tones, whistles, clicks, or other sounds. If you hear anything, your system has a nonlinearity causing audible intermodulation of the ultrasonics. Be careful when increasing volume; running into digital or analog clipping, even soft clipping, will suddenly cause loud intermodulation tones.
Click to expand...

love the reluctance to answer first :D
 
Last edited:
No james, it is because I've done all of this ages ago and saw right through you.

I indeed heard nothing, because my equipment is up to spec. It's only when you turn the volume way up that aliasing becomes noticeable.
 
Last edited:
Thinking of getting some HD650's but I'll need to power them and I don't really want an external amp if I can help it.
I've currently got a SB-Z soundcard and guessing this won't release their full potential?? What sound card will? SB-ZXR or Xonar STX?
 
Xonar STX would be a good shout, if you can find one for a good price. STX II and ZxR are too expensive for what they are in my opinion. Nearly £200 for a sound card I think is crazy, when any software/drivers problems or interference can render a lovely piece of hardware, completely useless.

Roughly around £200 will buy a Schiit stack, that will never be crippled by software issues such as useless drivers or OS sound card problems, like people have had with Asus Strix cards, and being external is away from EMI.
 
I might put my Vali 2 on a sort of loaner list so everyone can try it so if you do get some HD650's I can send it to you first to see what you think.
 
strix raid dlx very much recommended with those headphones, powers them no problems at all and has highly respected components onboard. plus the external box is great for switching between headphones and speakers.
 
Oh ok not really looked at that one, thanks for the heads up, bit cheaper as well

Anything else which will make the HD650's shine? Ideally I want to stick with soundblaster as I like their software.
 
Last edited:
Sufficient power isn't really a problem with 300-500 ohm headphones like the HD 650. Whatever you've got currently (SB-Z) will almost certainly be able to provide the voltage swing. You only need 0.2 Vrms to get 90 dB. It's the really low impedance, insensitive headphones that are usually harder to drive as they want lots of current.

Furthermore the high impedance means damping isn't usually a problem. Even if your SB-Z has a very high output impedance (like 10 ohms) the ratio is still good.

There are other ways it will be deficient but they're not critical tbh (slew rate especially).

In summary, just try with your SB-Z and get something if it's inadequate.

To answer your question about making them shine - obviously a high quality amp and source - but again not needed in the first instance.
 
Last edited:
joeyjojo said:
There are other ways it will be deficient but they're not critical tbh (slew rate especially).
Click to expand...

Atleast in terms of op amps upto a point I find slew rates somewhat important - on some of the bog standard ones with low slew rates the 600/650 can sound dull and muddy even when loud - I think part of the problem is people not distinguishing between parts rated for "typical" and "minimum" rates.

Rail voltage seems to have a small effect as well (though the voltage swing seems more important) below a certain level the bass and treble seems to collapse.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom