Sennheiser HD650 review


Introduction
My HD650 was my first hi-fi headphone, and also one of my most priced possessions for well over a year. I regret nothing in buying these, but I plan on selling them since they do not get enough head time since I acquired my SR-202's. I only got these back yesterday, after sending them off to get the left driver repaired since it produced ringing in the sub-bass. This pair has the new drivers, in case you're interested.

I already wrote a detailed comparison between this headphone and the SR-202, but I felt that it was simply not a good review. As a result, I have decided to rewrite my review in a different fashion only focusing on one headphone at a time. Like my HD 25-1 II review, I meant to keep it concise and clear without leaving anything out. If you want extreme detail in the sound description, give my other review a read and tell me what you think.


Listening setup
I have used these headphones with many an amplifier, including but not limited to the AMB Mini3, Audio-GD NFB-12 and Little Dot MK IV. For this review I used my HD650 out of the headphone output of the NFB-12.

I personally have not heard any significant difference between different amps, but I do believe that differences may exist.


Pictures






Build quality
The paint on the headband has the tendency to chip off. This is visible in the 6th image above. It's not really noticeable under normal use, but still unacceptable for this kind of equipment imo. I have not heard of a good method of preventing the paint from chipping, since it happened to even those who were extremely careful with it.

Other than this small issue, I would say these are incredibly well built and feel like they could easily withstand 20 years of regular use. They also look absolutely stunning, in my opinion.


Cable & accessories
The cable is really well built, and is detachable too. It feels smooth, strong, and will not curl up in any way. I see no reason to get aftermarket cables with this headphone, despite the large popularity of such cables.

The headphone comes with a 6.3mm -> 3.5mm adapter cable of similar high quality.
It also comes with a travel box, which although not of super high build quality, does its job quite well. On one of the corners the cardboard started tearing (see picture 7), and I have no idea how this happened.


Comfort & isolation
These headphones are amazing in terms of comfort. It's the most comfortable headphone I have tried to date, which is no easy feat. In my case, the clamping force is of medium strength, although people have reported it to be too high and found that slightly bending the black metal ribbon fixed the issue.
The cups can be adjusted in height, and the entire construction can be twisted. This ensures that it will fit pretty much all heads comfortably.
The pads are made out of velour, and are very soft. They do wear after some time, and people have reported that washing or replacing them for new ones has increased comfort and sound quality.

These headphones are of open design, but still have a decent amount of isolation. Not enough to serve for portable use by a long shot, but more than enough to make you want to put them off when having a conversation. The sound leakage is also reduced because of this isolation, and as long as you don't listen to your music loudly the sound leakage is too soft to bother a person sitting next to you in a normal office environment.


Sound quality
I find the HD650's very good sounding, and definitely worth their price in this regard. Even with the price increases of about a year ago. I got these sound impressions completely based of my other review of the HD650, as well as my own memory.

Frequency response This can is not flat. It has a considerable mid-bass boost and an overall warm sound. They sound very laid-back and smooth with most music. The treble is fairly flat, although a bit attenuated. They are relatively neutral, and can become next to completely flat with slight EQ. Personally I like their natural sound signature since it's fun.

Bass The bass extension is nice and deep. They have a good amount of bass thump and is excellent for electronic genres in my opinion. They are good with rumbling bass guitars and convey a strong sense of energy.

Mids The mids are sometimes drowned out a bit by the bass, but overall it feels pretty flat. The mids especially feel nice and smooth and present a good natural timbre. Instruments like acoustic guitars sound very good on the HD650 because of its smooth nature.

Treble Treble feels fairly flat, but attenuated compared to mids and bass. Cymbals sound good, and there is no sibilance. There is no harshness and they do not sound fatiguing. The treble does lack a bit of detail, but is otherwise of excellent quality.

Soundstage Every headphone has a weakest link, and for the HD650 it's its soundstage. It conveys a good sense of width and distance, though it's smaller than my electrostatic SR-202. The soundstage is smoothened out a lot, and has relatively bad instrument separation. In cases where many instruments are present, it feels like the can loses control and puts it in one big blob of sound. Overall it's not bad, but it leaves me wanting for more.


Conclusion
Apart from their relatively weak soundstage, these are very good sounding headphones. Taking into consideration their excellent build quality and comfort, I can see why these are so popular. While my experience with other mid-fi cans is limited, this one definitely has my glowing recommendation at its price point. Especially when comparing it to it's price before they raised it.

Sennheiser HD 25-1 II Review


Introduction
I bought these headphones about a year ago to enjoy my music with decent isolation, comfort and sound quality on my portable rig. I was very satisfied with them, and have been up until I got my IE80's. The IE80's are simply better in terms of sound quality and portability. However, these cans are still absolutely awesome in other aspects.

Before I'm going to do away with my trustworthy HD 25-1 II's, I thought it'd be worth the effort to write a review about them. I tried to keep this review short and clear, without leaving anything out. I'd like to think I succeeded, but like always I kindly ask for your input.


Listening setup
I wrote the sound quality impressions collectively from several setups:
Galaxy Note -> HD 25-1 II
Galaxy Note -> AMB Mini3 -> HD 25-1 II
Audio-GD NFB-12 -> HD 25-1 II
Audio-GD NFB-12 -> AMB Mini3 -> HD 25-1 II

If there is one thing I noticed from these comparisons, it'd be that this can is the furthest from picky; whatever you drive it from it'll be very near it's full potential. It has crazy high sensitivity as well, and I found myself listening to it one an airplane directly out of my phone or iPod with no need for extra volume.

I compared it to my IE80 primarily, but also did detailed comparisons with my HD650 and SR-202. I won't list the comparisons themselves, but rather what I found out through comparing them. If you're looking for the comparisons shoot me a PM.


Pictures




Build quality
The build quality of this can is legendary -- and rightfully so. There is simply no way you're going to break them, even if you tried. And if you're particularly vandalistic, you can still replace every single part of this headphone. They feel light in your hands, and are relatively small too. This makes them perfect for chucking them in your backpack.
These are labelled as professional DJ headphones, and are in fact used a lot by (famous) DJ's all over the world. And from a durability point of view I can definitely see why.


Cable & accessories
The cable is extremely good in terms of durability. The plug is very good in this regard as well, since it's right angled and very stiff. The included screw-on 6.3mm adapter is also very nifty.
However, there are a couple things which I don't like about this cable. For instance, while the cable never ties itself in knots, it does not stay straight either. It curls up awkwardly, which is not very pretty nor practical. Secondly the plug is too well-built; it is so stiff that it has destroyed multiple jacks of mobile devices, since it put too much stress on them. Eventually I started using this can with a 3.5mm extension cord just to relieve stress from my phone's jack, but this was a far from practical solution.

I personally bought the basic version, which only came with a 6.3mm adapter, and nothing else in terms of accessories. The complete version includes a pair of velour pads and a bag as well, but I doubt these are worth the extra price.

Not really an accessory, but I should also mention the swiveling ear cup. This is a feature meant of DJ's where they can swivel back one of the ear cups to hear the music from the headphones and speakers at the same time. I personally don't think this has much added value, since tilting the headphone works just as well. It also takes a bit of effort to get the fit perfect once you're swiveling it back to its original position.


Comfort
Comfort is surprisingly good. While the clamping force is still relatively high, I can comfortable wear them for several hours. They only start getting uncomfortable after the 3 hour mark, and more quickly if it's hot. They come with a split head band, and adjustable cups. There is a relatively comfortable cushion on the head band and the pads are quite comfortable too. Make no mistake -- these are far from as comfortable as a pair of full size cans like my HD650 or SR-202, but they are definitely not bad considering they're portable cans.

One annoying thing that should be noted is that it usually takes several seconds before I've found a comfortable fit. And putting the headphones on with only one hand is difficult, especially without practice. Though that's true for most headphones.


Sound quality
Overall I find this to be the most lacking area of the HD 25-1 II. For the price I'd like the sound quality to be a bit better, although all round they are decent enough for regular use by any audiophile.

Frequency response These cans have a recessed sub-bass, probably thanks to the small driver size. They are fairly flat in the mid-bass and mids, but have a recessed upper-mids/lower-treble with a massive spike at 10kHz. Overall I would describe these headphones as having a bit loose bass with a harsh treble, but with an overall feeling of neutrality.

Bass The bass packs quite a punch in terms of volume. More so than my HD650, but less than my IE80. The bass does sound a bit loose and uncontrolled, perhaps caused by the mediocre soundstage. In my experience these are well suited for electronic music, but aren't the best for things like conveying the energy of rumbling bass guitars with heavy distortion.
They do feel fairly neutral in terms of frequency response in the bass region. And for most smooth bass guitars used in rock they perform adequately.

Mids I find the mids to be decent with male and female vocals, and in general acceptable with piano, reed instruments and horns. Not too much to say about the mids since they sound fairly normal and neutral.

Treble One of the worst factors of the HD 25-1 II. Female vocals can sound a bit harsh when high pitched, cymbals sound tinny and just weird in general, they have noticeable sibilance, and are sonically fatiguing due to their harshness. The huge 10kHz thump in the FR can probably account for all of this, and I have found that EQ'ing helps to tame this beast. It's performing sub par in this area in my experience, although I may be making it sound a lot worse than it is. It should also be noted that these do not sound bright, but rather just harsh.

Soundstage The second bad factor. The soundstage is fairly small. Instruments sound like large sound sources, and are poorly separated. In the more chaotic passages all the sound is clumped up into one big ball. There is hardly any sense of distance either.
This is probably the same for most portable cans, and perhaps I'm spoiled by comparing to my IE80 and SR-202, but I do feel that this is the can's weakest area along with the harsh treble.


Conclusion
Overall these cans are pretty neutral. They do lack in energy, soundstage and treble. For the money they are pretty decent. But I wouldn't get them just for the sound quality; I'm sure there are better alternatives at this price. The fact that it's indestructible, portable and isolating are its main selling points.
They are pretty good value, but not if you go by sound alone.

This was the first full-size headphone I bought, before I had any knowledge of hifi audio. And I perhaps only bought it to my friends with their Logitech G35 jealous, as these cans were supposed to be superior (they are, but not by much)

The first thing I noticed when opened the package is the excellent packaging job done by Razer. I was not surprised, since I had bought several Razer products before (keyboard, 2 mice, keypad and mousemat; let's just say I love Razer).
Several moments later I rushed to plug the USB plug of these cans into my computer to give them a listen. They sounded much better than anything I had heard before, although if listen to them now I find them horrible. A more detailed description of the sound would be that it lacks engagement and has very soft bass and mediocre highs. But back then (actually less than a year ago) I saw nothing wrong in that.
After I played some of my favorite games with this thing I learned that the surround sound is simply put awesome. I could accurately identify the source of all sounds. Although this could also be done by a reasonable sound card.
After playing a little I decided to go on Ventrilo (voice chat program) to talk with some of my friends. They immediately started complaining about load static background noise on my microphone. I logged of Ventrilo and gave my microphone a listen. Apparently this is an unfixable hardware problem that is present in a good portion of the Megalodons. It could be reduced by tweaking a lot with the microphone loudness and sensitivity, but although softer it still is there. This was probably the biggest disappointment of this headphone.

Conclusion: These cans are excellent for gaming but lack in sound quality and especially microphone quality. If I were to assign a value to these headphones I would probably put it around 70-80ish dollars, less than half of the price. Ah well, we all learn from mistakes, don't we?