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Help analyze SQ of HD595 vs HD650

post #1 of 62
10/22/07 at 7:46pm
Thread Starter 
I recently picked up a set of HD650s and while they definitely sound great, I'm having a hard time detecting much of a difference between them and my HD595s. I don't have an easier method of comparing them other than removing one pair and plugging the others into the amp. Perhaps I'm missing something, but other than a bit (and that's not an understatement, I was amazed with the bass the HD595s put out after being amp'ed and tube rolled)

I'd like to train my ears to be more subjective and notice the subtleties, but at this point, I'm having difficulty with this.

Sorry It's a pretty vague post, but I appreciate any suggestions!

Thanks!
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post #2 of 62
10/22/07 at 11:40pm

It may be too subjective

There may be little difference to your ears. All the technical mumbo-jumbo aside, the 595 is so close in heirarchy to the 650 that there has to be some similarity in the sound.

I have a pair of 580's. I used to own a pair of 555's that I sold a couple of years ago. I definitely think that the 580's are a significant step up from the 555's, but I don't know how much difference there is between the 595 and 650.

There are a lot of posts where folks feel let down thinking tha the 650 is going to be some ecstatic aural experience; when they try them they conclude that after all that money and anticipation, is that all there is?
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post #3 of 62
10/22/07 at 11:43pm
no way, mine HD595 sounds completely different from the HD650. then again, i have the old 120-ohm version, which sounds very different from the new version.
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post #4 of 62
10/22/07 at 11:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by cotdt View Post
no way, mine HD595 sounds completely different from the HD650. then again, i have the old 120-ohm version, which sounds very different from the new version.
x2, 650 is alot more refined all round, imo. More bass, tighter highs, and a much bigger soundstage. I had both for well over 7 months, and did extensive A/B testing, 650 always on top.
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post #5 of 62
10/22/07 at 11:53pm
Thread Starter 
I definitely agree on the bass, but I'm not seeing a difference whatsoever in the soundstage or the highs.

I'm not sure if I have the 50 or 120ohm version of the 595s to be honest, I bought them in 2005 if that's any help?
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post #6 of 62
10/23/07 at 6:09am
Lollan, maybe try another DAC? Are you using lossy compresion for playing your music? You'd better discontinued doing so, If you did for your comparisons.
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post #7 of 62
10/23/07 at 6:57am
Strange. I have the 595 and I recently bought a (used) hd580 and from the second I put them on I heard the difference. I had high expectations of the hd580 but I was (and still am regularly) blown away by it's sound.
I would imagine that going from hd595 to hd650 should be a more or less comparable experience...
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post #8 of 62
10/23/07 at 10:34am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by majkel View Post
Lollan, maybe try another DAC? Are you using lossy compresion for playing your music? You'd better discontinued doing so, If you did for your comparisons.
I wish that were an option, I just got this one and I don't know of any hi-fi'ers in the area yet. Most of my music is 320kbps, which I've not been able to detect loss in compared to lossless codecs.

At this point, I'm more concerned on the cables if anything, my analog cable from the DAC to the amp is very cheap, I'll grab a bluejeans cable and hopefully notice a difference.
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post #9 of 62
10/23/07 at 11:27am
Every CBR mp3 (besides Blade) has corrupted soundstage and imaging. Another thing is limited bandwidth. If you disabled lowpass filtering while ripping, you made it even worse because of using up bits for high frequency encoding thus lowering midrange accuracy.

Upgrading the interconnect is also a good idea.
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post #10 of 62
10/23/07 at 11:36am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by majkel View Post
Every CBR mp3 (besides Blade) has corrupted soundstage and imaging. Another thing is limited bandwidth. If you disabled lowpass filtering while ripping, you made it even worse because of using up bits for high frequency encoding thus lowering midrange accuracy.

Upgrading the interconnect is also a good idea.
I'm not too experienced on the advanced ripping options, do you recommend a certain program that enables these?
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post #11 of 62
10/23/07 at 12:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Agnostic View Post
Strange. I have the 595 and I recently bought a (used) hd580 and from the second I put them on I heard the difference. I had high expectations of the hd580 but I was (and still am regularly) blown away by it's sound.
I would imagine that going from hd595 to hd650 should be a more or less comparable experience...
X2 here, except I got new HD580.
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post #12 of 62
10/23/07 at 3:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by rivieraranch View Post
There may be little difference to your ears. All the technical mumbo-jumbo aside, the 595 is so close in heirarchy to the 650 that there has to be some similarity in the sound.
wow, nice way to be condescending to others who have actually heard the headphones and know from this experience that they sound very different indeed. But then again, maybe that's just my technical mumbo-jumbo talking.

Personally, I'd take an HD580 over an HD595 any day of the week. The HD595 are very attractively designed, they just can't perform like the old series.
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post #13 of 62
10/23/07 at 3:51pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by facelvega View Post
Personally, I'd take an HD580 over an HD595 any day of the week. The HD595 are very attractively designed, they just can't perform like the old series.
Which just shows that everyone has different ears. I still prefer the 595 to the 6x0 series (though in many ways the 6x0 is technically better). To me the 650 and 595 are very different sounding though with the 650 having a lot more bass and being very smooth sounding.*

Ant

* Note all statements apply to 120 Ohm 595, haven't heard the 50 Ohm
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post #14 of 62
10/23/07 at 4:27pm
Hi Lollan, you might want to allow the 650s to break-in for a while and revisit the A-B comparison later. Straight out the box the drivers will be a little tight. After they relax a bit the true colors will begin to show.:.
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post #15 of 62
10/23/07 at 4:58pm
I recommend using WMP10 or 11, there is a FhG codec which I prefer to LAME.
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