Senn 650 stock cable impressions...

[Solude]

You know that thing they say about making assumptions? That it makes an ass out of u and me? Well I relearned an old lesson this week.

I purchased my Senn 650 with the Cardas based on Jude's review and was happy, sort of. A couple people had real issue with the Cardas/650 combo so when I had SFT's SilverLine in house I compared them. The SilverLine had more bottom end but lost energy and clarity. The Cardas went back on.

But now that I've ordered another pair of Beyer 880 I wanted to baseline my Senn 650 and finally unpacked the stock cable. I plan to compare the two cans in stock form, make my choice, then use the 650 to audition various cables to find synergy for the chosen headphone. I will be ordering a 2m Moon BD v2 when Drew has stock again and a 2m Zu at the same time. For now I live, happily, with the stock cable.

What I didn't expect was that the stock cable would err be good, real good actually

Get the obvious out of the way... its lighter, more flexible, slides on clothes easily and isn't smurf blue

But more importantly its more balanced than the Cardas. I always felt my previous MF A324 was shouty, too much midrange emphasis, and lacked extention. I got the Tri-Vista and things improved. The bottom end was still a little recessed though and I thought it might be the bass light nature of the Gilmore design. My Reference is similar to the Lite and GS1, not the V2, so I had my doubts but where else could I look? The cable of course

In comparison to the Cardas the most obvious change was the romantic character it imparted. The sound got real liquid, in a very obvious way. The other change was that bass deficiency was gone, replaced by a full well controlled bottom end. The top end, now that the midrange had been taken down a notch, also filled in nicely. Where I would have previously said the Senn 650 had a recessed treble, its now balanced with the rest of the frequency range. Lower than the bass, yes, but not in a recessed way. The treble is full on shimmer and inline with the rest, pleasant and easy to follow.

The stock cable on the Reference has the liquidity and glow that made the Cardas/Dynahi a fun listen. But I still prefer the Reference since I get to keep the solid bottom end and speed that was lost on the Dynahi

Long story short... stock cable good, Cardas not so much.

I have renewed hope that should the Beyer 880 still be too unforgiving for me, that I can get where I'm going with a cable swap on the Senn 650

[fewtch]

I like stock Senn cables myself, very airy sound with a nice 3D soundstage. IME cable swaps mostly change things here and there, often to the detriment of something else.

Best of luck with the DT880s, I really love mine. They can be pretty revealing, but good recordings sure sound amazing.

[euclid]

thanks for the impressions, ive found the stock cable balanced in respect to upstream changes so i havnt had the desire to change it yet.

have you tried taking out the foam that covers the drivers? i had a pair of grado 325i along with the hd-650 and although i didnt like the grados very much, they also left me wanting more from the senns. i decided to try the defoaming and it became a very happy medium between the two.

[Glod]

I largely agree with you Solude. The stock cable is darn good one. The cable and the phones seem to be so well matched and certainly not an afterthought.

This also does it so difficult to improve on the total package. I have only tested three different cables: Cardas, Equinox and the RnB Audio GFT. I heave never listen to any of the silver cables. By judging what most describe these like, I don’t think I have missed anything.

Changing cable will shift the balance of the stock like you say. The Cardas is a good cable but it overdoes it in the bass department by curbing the floppy infra bass too far, in my taste. Cardas has also that prominent, polished like bathroom marble, lower mids: which is quite a contrast to the stock's slightly grainy texture. The Equinox has a much better soundstage width, and the RnB a much better depth and layering.

I think I have been most happy with the Equinox, but at the moment I just cannot remove the RnB cable… It has a very charming and joyful character, which removes any of the dull personality, if the 650 ever had one. I am not sure I will like it in the long run, but for the moment it is a very enjoyable experience. The RnB has the same excellent extention and linear reproduction as the Equinox.

If I was to have a main criticism of these cables, I too would say they miss the romantic touch of the stock cable. Especially the Cardas is quite sterile I would say. I think the RnB comes closest, but then in a different way.

When will a cable surface which controls the lowest bass, expands the soundstage in all 3D and keeps the glow and the extension of the stock?

[FaRKle]

I wonder how the HD650 cable will sound on my HD580's (broke my HD580 cable). Stupid Sennheiser Europe didn't send any to Sennheiser USA in Nov so I got backordered again till NEXT YEAR!!! (suppose to come in to Senn USA Dec. 19th, add xmas shipping delays and not working days, and I don't get the thing till next year!) ARGH! crap audio for 2 months...