Sorry, I had to leave for a day.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Nirvana Woman 
If I asked you: what do you prefer for speed metal, a somewhat darker, warmer sounding headphone or a more aggressive, forward and brighter sounding headphone; what would your answer be?
If I am any judge on people, you'd probably tell me you wouldn't know and that you first needed to hear how it actually sounded.
If you however feel confident that you can answer that question right away, then you have your answer right there :).
I don't listen to speed metal lol, I was just using it as an example of music that is face paced and more oriented towards having good transient response and being able to give it a natural sound. Really, I can't actually judge with listening just like you said 
, I'm just curious about it's versatility.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Nirvana Woman Personally I don't care what genre it is, I just like how the 650's sound period. I like how I can always fall back on its sound signature, which to me is absolutely stunning. No matter the music, the highs will basically never be fatiguing, the mids will always be rich and the bass will always be appreciably prominent. I don't really believe they're "not fast enough" for certain genres. My experience with these headphones is that stuff that is meant to sound fast will sound fast, nothing more.
Finding out the truth for yourself will be the ultimate service you can do for yourself. I've heard people call the HD650's bright, dark, bass-light, bass-heavy, with rolled off treble, with too strong treble with certain tubes on their tube amp, with a nice 3d sound stage, with a lacking soundstage, warm, analytical, muddy, detailed...
You get the picture.
Hm, this is pretty much what I want. This whole concept of rich mids is kind of funny to me. Like, I have a can that apparently has recessed mids and I can understand, hear, and evaluate highs and lows but mids has always been a foreign concept to me lol. And that's apparently where most of the music is too! Hmmm, I guess I'll get the idea when I hear a contrast to the cans I have.
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Originally Posted by
dxanex ^ x2 and I also I agree with Nirvana Woman, descriptions of the HD650 are all over the map sometimes, but it just shows you how much the sound can change on them from set-up to set-up. I've literally read people say they are they are the best headphones they've ever owned to people saying they are the most boring sounding headphones they've ever heard! But one thing is for sure, they respond well to scaling up and just seem to get better and better as you go up the source and amp chain. (Did I mention they sound AWESOME on a good tube amp?)
That is a very good thing for me. I want a headphone that scales well and that I'll be comfortable with wanting to upgrade my system or take places and demo other peoples rigs with. I just hope they'll be good with the D1. I've demoed them for a tiny bit some months ago and I know at least that it had no problems at all driving them but the actual sound is something I didn't get a chance to evaluate much.
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Originally Posted by
doctorjazz I recently got my 650's, driving them with HiSound Studio V Anniversary, definitely not as high end a source as some of the amp/dac's I read about here (lusting after a Lyr...), but does drive them with no problem. I've been in a Power Pop phase/obscession recently (probably older than most posting-listening to Fountains of Wayne and Aimee Mann almost all the time, take a Wilco or a jazz break here and there), and, while there is certainy much happening in the mids, The music doesn't work if it doesn't have drive (especially FOW). Not only don't I find them slow, I find the need to dance when playing the music through them, not something that happens with many headphones. I also don't find the highs a problem (the JVC HFX500 have more energy, sometimes sibilance/harshness), and the resolving power, bass, rhythm, beautiful midrange (audiophile magazines always say 'most music residdes in the midrange') make these a keeper.
Hm, thanks for your evaluation. Harshness is something I know I can't take and if the HD650 keeps it smooth and warm while still keeping the life to the music, I would love that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
worldtipper
So, I'm currently in the honeymoon period with my 650s. I've had them for 5 days now and man, I've found the end game headphone until I'm willing to spend an equal amount on headphone gear as I did on my car. Going from 880/600's sure, the sound stage is smaller, highs are quite as sparkly, not as neutral etc but what really sets the 650s apart is how real the instruments sound. Maybe this is what's meant by the term detail? Instruments and drums have force to them and sound as though they are being played in my ear. The vocals/mids are present but never seem loud or harsh, it's a weird thing actually but freaking lovely. I'm glad I finally gave them a shot, the "veil" was my biggest concern but I really have no idea what all the fuss is about...theres plenty there to the highs, but enough missing so that they don't fatigue the the heck out of you.
Sincerely,
Another happy 650 owner.
Yeah, the "veil" people always say really is the one thing that's been holding me back. It's just now the more I hear people talk about it, the more the headphone doesn't seem veiled, just not aggressive and more natural and musical.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
fuzzybaffy
^ Gotta second that regarding the instruments and vocals on the HD-650. Been making the rounds with my music collection, and finally got around to listening to some rock tracks with the HD-650, and... yea, the guitars and vocals pop out immediately (not in a bad or obnoxious way). It's almost as if I can literally feel the texture of some of the guitar sounds. Really, really pleasing to ear. In fact, I'd say rock is the -best- genre for the HD-650, at least so far, from what I've listened to (over hip-hop, electronic, or pop).
Of course, this is different than me saying that the HD-650 is the best for rock in general, and that is NOT what I'm saying (since I obviously haven't listened to all headphones in existence). What I'm saying is, among all the genres that I've personally listened to, rock sounds the best on the HD-650.
Some rock tracks I listened to were from: the Beatles, the Verve, Richard Ashcroft, Doves, and Beck.
And also... I have to say, despite all the noise/distortion issues I've had (read: me using the crappy motherboard onboard audio), which I wrote about a few pages back, I'm still really, really pleased with the HD-650.
Yes, they aren't quite as "obvious" or forward as the the Grado RS-1 and/or Sony MDR-CD3000 I've had nearly 10 years ago, but I do remember experiencing fatigue with the Sony CD3000 (the treble was pretty bright), and I don't ever remember wanting to really sit down, sit back, and listen to music for long periods of time with the RS-1's (although, I have to admit the RS-1's at times, were quite exciting and fun).
It just seems to me, the HD-650 was meant and intended for long listening sessions. You can either just jam out to them, or do really low-level listening sessions, while still keeping things enjoyable.
Which brings me to another point... it just seems like Sennheiser built these having in mind that these would actually be used as, well, headphones, rather than just simply attaching mini-speakers on a headband (read: Grado headphones). The HD-650 sound signature that gets along with almost all genres, and its "laidback" presentation, all tells me that everything Sennheiser did was intentional, for the sake of comfortable, yet enjoyable headphone use, over long periods of time. It just makes me appreciate the headphones a little more.
Yeah, I appreciate the aggression of Grado but it just doesn't fit with me sometimes. I have a lot of music that isn't very aggressive type of stuff. It's not extremely slow either, It's somewhere in the middle and I think this warm treatment I keep hearing about is what I want.
I think I'm 90% sold on these. I want to read one more review my friend wrote between this and the 600 but I don't think it will matter. The more I hear of it, this is just what I want from music. An immersive, emotive twist on sound while still maintaining great sense of detail and overall fidelity.
