Sennheiser HD650 Appreciation Thread!! - Page 706

Quote:

Originally Posted by maarek99 

 

I've had this experience when pairing the HD650 with equipment that doesn't suit it. It can become very slow and dull. 

 

But when you pair it correctly (whatever that is) and give it a bit of volume, it will really rock. HD650 does react surprisingly well to faster sources and amps and it will climb that mountain. I'm listening to Nightwish at the moment and it plays it great I think. z

Just wondering what you consider makes an amp or dac "fast"?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nirvana Woman 

Just wondering what you consider makes an amp or dac "fast"?

This amp is pretty fast...

Hi y'all, I'm thinking about upgrading to the HD 650s from the D2000s. Now, I found the D2000s to be fatiguing/bright so I ruled out the HE-400s. I could have gone for the HE-500s, but I would not be able to afford an amp/dac within my budget ($600), and the LCD-2s are just out of my price range (for now). So the HD 650 + ~$200 amp/dac looks like the best path. 

I'm mainly wondering, how much should I pay? They've been around for a long time, so what's a good deal on one of them new or used? 

I snagged a used pair recently for $300 USD, Amazon has them for $400 new. Headroom lists them at the full retail price of $499.

The Fiio E17 and E09k combo reportedly pairs well with the HD650 (I'll report back once everything arrives and I have the opportunity to listen to it). The bonus is you also end up with a portable amp/DAC which is great for driving multi-BA IEMs (no noticeable hiss with the UM3X, which are VERY sensitive to amplifier hiss).

Edit: I just noticed that the HD600 and HD650 are the same price on Amazon currently 

Has anyone tried DT880/990 Pro cushion pads with their HD650?

Quote:

Originally Posted by awsanderson 

thanks, is anyone running their 650's balanced and was it worth it?  keep in mind I'd need a new amp and cables but my dac would be fine

I think a crossfeed sounds worthwhile, which is a primary motivation for balanced output, but it's a really huge step economically. Putting aside DIY cables, XLR cables for the HD-650 that I've found are $275–$300. That's a big expense for a $350–$500 set of headphones. A Mjolnir amp will set you back $750, never mind a DAC. That puts the headphone proportion of the investment below 33% (approaching 25% with a decent DAC in the mix), which seems awfully low, given that even Schiit will tell you to allocate most of your head-fi investment to transducers. Put another way, you'd have to quadruple your investment in the 650 to adopt balanced output. 

Now, with the HD-800, the proportion comes back into line, with about 50% of spend on headphones, including a DAC. So if you have your eye on eventually upgrading from the 650 to the 800 (or similarly-priced 'phones), it could make sense to use the 650s with balanced output in the meantime, as I'm sure they'll deliver the benefit of the crossfeed. Still, using the 650 paired with a Dragonfly or Modi/Magni stack as a baseline, you'd have to quadruple the investment to arrive at HD-800s with balanced kit upstream, an outlay of more than two grand. On the bright side, for three grand, you'd have a an awfully high-performing head-fi rig, leaving little on the table before moving into cost-no-object territory. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aerocraft67 

 

I think a crossfeed sounds worthwhile, which is a primary motivation for balanced output..

Huh? You don't need a balanced amp to implement crossfeed and it isn't even offered on a lot of the popular balanced amps.  It's not a feature that gets mentioned much in discussions about balanced amps.  The whole balanced vs. unbalanced question is difficult to even address, since it comes down to differences between amplifiers that may or may not have anything to do with being balanced or not.  BTW, balanced cables for the HD-650 can be found inexpensively--since re-terminating the stock cable is relatively straightforward.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aerocraft67 

 

I think a crossfeed sounds worthwhile, which is a primary motivation for balanced output.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Barry S 

 

Huh?

I may have gotten too sloppy here conveying impressions from my own personal head-fi journey; I've been doing a lot of research in a short time. An interest in crossfeed led me to an interest in balanced output, which remains underdeveloped. I was under the impression that superior crossfeed implementations use balanced output. Unfortunately, I don't remember where I picked that up. Now that you mention it, I'm aware that crossfeed is possible without balanced output, and have posted accordingly elsewhere. In this post, I assumed the non-balanced crossfeed implementations away, and completely skipped over the merits of balanced output in its own right.

Speaking of which, I had read your posts about DIY cable termination and your experience with the balanced Schiit kit before posting—it even crossed my mind to link to it in response to awsanderson, and I'd still like to hear your take on this question directly. Part of the reason I didn't address balanced output purely on its own merits is that it didn't seem worthwhile unless it supported a crossfeed (or perhaps another crossfeed-like application that thrived on balanced output). The other part is that I knew I'd be out of my element expounding on balanced output. I hope the perspective in my previous post remains useful. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aerocraft67 

 

I may have gotten too sloppy here conveying impressions from my own personal head-fi journey; I've been doing a lot of research in a short time. An interest in crossfeed led me to an interest in balanced output, which remains underdeveloped. I was under the impression that superior crossfeed implementations use balanced output. Unfortunately, I don't remember where I picked that up. Now that you mention it, I'm aware that crossfeed is possible without balanced output, and have posted accordingly elsewhere. In this post, I assumed the non-balanced crossfeed implementations away, and completely skipped over the merits of balanced output in its own right.

 

Speaking of which, I had read your posts about DIY cable termination and your experience with the balanced Schiit kit before posting—it even crossed my mind to link to it in response to awsanderson, and I'd still like to hear your take on this question directly. Part of the reason I didn't address balanced output purely on its own merits is that it didn't seem worthwhile unless it supported a crossfeed (or perhaps another crossfeed-like application that thrived on balanced output). The other part is that I knew I'd be out of my element expounding on balanced output. I hope the perspective in my previous post remains useful. 

Ok I got you.  Sometimes these issues get mixed together.  Occasionally, people say that balanced is better based on comparing balanced amp X to unbalanced amp Y, but I don't understand how to tease out what part of the improvement is due to the balanced design vs. other factors.  Manufacturers don't even seem to agree what constitutes a "true" balanced design.  I have a Mjolnir, but there's no such thing as an unbalanced Mjolnir--there never could be based on what Schiit says about the amp topology.  So, I don't worry too much about what balanced means, but focus on comparing amps--regardless of topology.

The Mjolnir does an outstanding job driving the HD650s--I've never heard them sound so clean and tight.  It also does a good job squeezing out every bit of detail the HD650 is capable of producing.  The price of a Bottlehead Crack with Speedball upgrade delivered assembled to your door is in the same ballpark as the Mjolnir.  A Lyr and a few sets of tubes easily gets you close to (or beyond!) the Mjolnir's cost.  So it's worth considering the Mjolnir--especially if you want a more forward signature with great detail and dynamics.

I should have made a video on re-terminating the HD-650 cable--maybe I still will.  The Sennheiser stock cable is $20 shipped and good Neutrik 4-pin XLR is another $5, so the cable shouldn't be a factor.  I might even be persuaded to make one for the price of a six of my favorite IPA. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by muxamed 

Has anyone tried DT880/990 Pro cushion pads with their HD650?

Won't work. They're round, and the HD650 pads are elliptical in shape. While the original pads aren't cheap, they are very comfortable.

Quote:

Originally Posted by calipilot227 

 

Won't work. They're round, and the HD650 pads are elliptical in shape. While the original pads aren't cheap, they are very comfortable.

I saw this picture the other day I was referring to headband cushion. Sorry

Yeah, I guess that could work. But the headband is already generously padded as it is, and replacement padding is about $10 from Sennheiser (much cheaper than the earpads).

^ I am SO stealing that...