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

[PapaLazaru]

Whats your budget?

I've done a ton of research on desktop headphone AMP/DAC combo's recently, I'm thinking of grabbing a Marantz HD-DAC1, seems to be a bit of an underrated AMP/DAC, the only really negative I can find is the relay switches clicking and no RCA L&R input, outside of that it seems like a good buy for £560, plus is looks sexy as hell imo.

Bumping this thread before it falls off.

Seriously considering getting that Marantz now. Especially as the Jotunheim is out of stock and even when it was in stock a couple of months ago, you could not get it with the DAC module.

 

[rids57]

Why not order from the US?
$499 including balanced DAC, 230V and even a UK plug.
Expected shipping week of February 13th

 

[Numpsy]

fwiw, I've also been thinking about a Jotunheim, and when I mailed Shiit.eu earlier they said they should have stock within the next 2 weeks.

On a related note, does anyone who has the multibit version of the modi have any experience with leaving it turned on all the time vs. turning if off when not in use? I see posts on head-fi saying they recomend leaving it on, but that's just some thing else heating up the room (trying to decide whether to get the Jot with the built in DAC, or one of the external ones - simplicity vs. extra connections etc).

 

[Ryanr1987]

I leave my Mimby off. Really don't see the point in leaving it on.

 

[rids57]

Leaving the Modi Multibit on won't eat much electricity and has the benefit of keeping the electronics at a stable temperature, which can be an issue with multibit apparently.

 

[Ryanr1987]

I've heard that, not sure what to believe. I know it sounds fine from the get go but I'll experiment. I guess it's fairly efficient electricity wise.

 

[rids57]

It's true of the multibit designs that use discrete components as there is a lot to warm up but I believe the Modi Multibit uses a custom chip or chips to perform the R2R ladder functions, so the need to leave on 24/7 should be lessened although not completely negated.

 

[Numpsy]

I guess it's fairly efficient electricity wise.

6.something Watts apparently (so not a great deal, but more than I expected when it's idle), still may as well get the better one while i'm at it


Saying that, I'm deciding what DAC to get but will probably also get some new headphones to get with it later - I have some Oppo PM-3s but i'm looking for something open backed, with bigger (more ear space) earcups (and probably the ability to use a balanced cable if i get a Jotunheim).
And yes, the HD650 is a possibility there.

 

[Amidar]

I'm thinking of getting a nice cable, I'm liking the look of the toxic cables for the 650 but the Moon audio Black/Blue Dragon cables are tempting. I never used to be a cable believer but recently I've been hearing differences between them. I don't think it's worth the price though if s lot of these cables and the differences is tiny.

Try Forza Audio, superb built cables.

http://forzaaudioworks.com/en/category.php?id_category=36

 

[stuartharrison]

I've had my HD565 ovations for over 20 years - lovely open sound.
They need new ear pads - they take the same ones as the HD650's.
Have any of you found good quality replacement ear pads?

 

[danza]

I've bought these for my HD 580s & HD 650s and they're fine:

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/Replacement...00-HD650-UK-/121912615279?txnId=1731827512002

 

[Marsman]

Have you found that they change the sound at all?

 

[Rroff]

Have you found that they change the sound at all?

I've found with the 600 series pretty much any deviation from the original pads degrades them and even between wearing my glasses and not makes a noticeable difference even though its only a slight change physically :S

 

[danza]

They're pretty good. I had some other non-genuine pads that were quite different (had a weird waffle fabric covering and sounded rubbish), and they ended up in the bin. These ones are fine as far as I can hear.

 

[stuartharrison]

I've bought these for my HD 580s & HD 650s and they're fine:

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/Replacement...00-HD650-UK-/121912615279?txnId=1731827512002

Thanks - I'll give them a go.

I'd just bought some others from a different seller, which looked the same in the picture and they're less padded than the original ones.

 

[Rroff]

Running my 600s with a pseudo balanced amp setup and one thing I'm really noticing is how it brings out vocals - I've never heard a setup that sounds like this before including the popular mainstream tube amps - though I don't have experience of proper high end balanced setups to compare.

 

[rids57]

what is a pseudo balanced amp?

 

[Rroff]

Each driver has an independent, isolated, active ground ("reduces" crosstalk blah blah) - but its not a fully balanced system with differential signalling from input to output.

I was actually playing around with it to see if it had any impact on surround audio reproduction like the Sennheiser GSX (which it doesn't really seem to) but surprisingly I do see some differences in normal music use over single ended.

 

[rids57]

right, same as you'd get if you put a single ended input into the Jotunheim and used the balanced out.

 

[Rroff]

I'd assume so - basically setup like this on each channel:

Spoiler

Some other designs - though they are DC coupled - have a resistor on the ground channel non-inverting connection (pin 5) to ground to match the input resistor in place of C6 but I assume as I'm AC coupled it is ok to skip it - seems to work but could be issues I'm not aware of.

Each dual op amp (one per audio channel) has its own separate power supply with galvanic isolation though with single ended input they obviously have power supply grounds tied together through the shared input signal ground - as they are floating shouldn't be an issue.