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

powelly2010 said:
How do these compare to say some dt880s
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DT880s are a bit closer to the K7XX sonically - wide soundstage, quite bright in comparison. Good for genres such as orchestral.

I had DT880s at first a few years back before I got the HD650 - HD650 was much better musically in general.

Comfort of the DT880 was much better however, but that was due to how they had zero clamping force, which meant they'd easily fall off if you tried to sneak a nap at your desk! :eek:
 
I had DT880 Premiums. Can't remember which ones, but suffice to say that they were miles better in every way than HD 650s. Except, to my ears, for sound. The 880s are so well built and very comfortable, not that the Senns are bad though.

I just didn't get on with them. Better than AKG K701s though. I think they sounded a bit thin compared to the 650s from memory.
 
The K7XX sold for £110 (asking price). Excellent, makes the HD650s an even greater bargain. If memory foam earpads for them ever pop up, I'm all over them.
 
Tephnos said:
DT880s are a bit closer to the K7XX sonically - wide soundstage, quite bright in comparison. Good for genres such as orchestral.

I had DT880s at first a few years back before I got the HD650 - HD650 was much better musically in general.

Comfort of the DT880 was much better however, but that was due to how they had zero clamping force, which meant they'd easily fall off if you tried to sneak a nap at your desk! :eek:
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danza said:
I had DT880 Premiums. Can't remember which ones, but suffice to say that they were miles better in every way than HD 650s. Except, to my ears, for sound. The 880s are so well built and very comfortable, not that the Senns are bad though.

I just didn't get on with them. Better than AKG K701s though. I think they sounded a bit thin compared to the 650s from memory.
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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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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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Ryanr1987 said:
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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Thanks, i think i will go for some 650s in a few weeks then. what amp/dac would you recommend with a budget of around 100-250 for both? (preferably the lower end)
 
where one one acquire Schiit stuff in the UK? only place i can see is electromod which looks dodgy at best to me and they're out of stock anyway.
Also whats the difference between a tube amp and a normal one, i'm quite an audio noob but I'm trying :p

One last thing, if i were to buy a Modi & vali/magni 2 what would i need to get setup so i can just plug and play with my pc? just like cables etc.
 
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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.
 
Thanks for the information! you really seem to know your stuff :p
I've only recently started reading up on audio and a pair of 650s and a modi/vali 2 seem to be a good place to start. As a person who has only ever really owned crappy headphones/headsets and a pair of 770s for 2 years now i'm sure i'll be blown away.

Time to save a few penny me thinks, thanks again for the info i appreciate it :)
 
Ryanr1987 said:
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.
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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.
 
The D3020 and D7050 from NAD are extremely close to the warm sound of the analogue NAD amps I've owned in the past (C320 Bee and C325 Bee). The Rotel RA02 I had was probably a touch smoother and warmer still, but the "NAD Sound" is very distinct. One of the few reasons I'm reluctant to want to move away from NAD!
 
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.
 
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