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HD650's Are not as nearly good as i expected them to be(no bass),Do i need to upgrade source or amp?

post #1 of 56
6/15/09 at 9:38pm
Thread Starter 
I bought a Sennheiser HD650 a couple of days ago,it came this morning,i unpackaged it and hooked it up to my Project Headbox II,I was listeing to music on my computer(ITUNES,Auzentech X-fi Prelude soundcard).The highs are great but there is no bass at all,i put a pink noise on for 3 hours and put many 20-70hz bass tones on.Unfortunatly they still don't produce enough bass,the treble overpowers the bass by quite a large margin.

I bought the amp with my Beyerdynamic DT990 PRO 250OHM(The £100 one's).The beyer's are the best headphones i have ever tried,i wanted to upgrade so i thought the Hd650 would be ideal,Ive had at least 50 hours on the beyer's.They have perfect amounts of bass and treble.The Senn's have had 3 hours of testing and 1 hour of Music.Is it too early to make conclusions or is this how they are supposed to sound.I ahve The UE SF5P and The Senn IE8 and they oth produce more bass.I also find that the beyer's have a more natural sound.

Could it be a defect or are they designed to be bright.I expected them to destory my Beyers as they are double the price.I think my source and amp is fine.I got them for £200 on amazon(they are £250+ everywhere else)

Any advice on how to improve the sound or how to solve my issue is welcome
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post #2 of 56
6/15/09 at 9:53pm
These cans need lots of power to really showcase their ability. If you search for information there are a few threads regarding this specific issue.

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/why...ealism-425057/
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post #3 of 56
6/16/09 at 12:32am
both the HD650 and the DT990 can be a pain to drive with some prosumer devices, but in general I found the HD650 to be more efficient than the DT990.


If you are finding the HD650 to have more treble than the DT990 something is very likely wrong with your 650.
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post #4 of 56
6/16/09 at 12:36am
I dont know if you believe in burning in, but I just received a pair of 650s from a fellow member and have been used for about 200 hrs by him... they sound great off a ZERODAC+DV336SE amp combo. The bass is just right, but not overwhelming, but I am comparing them to my pair pf 701s!!
Your comparison to 990 might not be a fair one as they are known for their bass from what I have heard.
START THE BURN IMO...
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post #5 of 56
6/16/09 at 2:18am
Do any of these people read before buying? In a nut shell you need an amp and source dude. No the Pro-Ject and the X-fi don't count. Burn-in has nothing to do with your problem.
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post #6 of 56
6/16/09 at 2:20am
I'm sure you don't want to hear about powerful amps. Just buying a reference quality hp don't mean they will sound reference out of everything. The 650s become world class with world class components. Start going down the chain, the 650s will give you what you feed it. What is world class? Balanced or single ended in the 4 digit range. You can get pretty damn good sound in the 500-1k range. You get adequate sound below 500 (with some exceptions).

Your amp is putting out 60mv @ 300 ohms max. That's not very much juice to work with. This amp initially sold for $100 so would sound good with low impedance, efficient cans. Get an amp that will give them much more power than this and you will start grinning.
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post #7 of 56
6/16/09 at 8:34am
Thread Starter 
I see that the amp could be a problem,i can't spend up to £500 on a amp.I think there a 30 day money back offer with amazon.Shpould i just listen to music for the next week,do i need to leave them on pink or white noises for hours.I will upgrade my amp and headphone equipment in the next 2 months.i am willing to spened up to 400 on an amp,what would be ideal for my two headphones.Is the graham slee amps good enough.Do i need a DAC as i am using my prelude's line out,-i though that was analogue.Does anyone else remember how their senn's first sounded?

thanks for all the replies,much appreciated
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post #8 of 56
6/16/09 at 8:49am
The Solo is great with Senns, the Novo should be quite decent too.
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post #9 of 56
6/16/09 at 9:18am
Unless the amp is absolutely horrible, the HD650 still should not sound like a treble-heavy headphone. Even out of a shuffle it still sounds like an HD650 - underpowered perhaps, but the same basic sonic signature. Try it on on some other gear you have handy to verify that the headphone itself isn't faulty.
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post #10 of 56
6/16/09 at 9:23am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Happy Camper View Post
I'm sure you don't want to hear about powerful amps. Just buying a reference quality hp don't mean they will sound reference out of everything. The 650s become world class with world class components. Start going down the chain, the 650s will give you what you feed it. What is world class? Balanced or single ended in the 4 digit range. You can get pretty damn good sound in the 500-1k range. You get adequate sound below 500 (with some exceptions).

Your amp is putting out 60mv @ 300 ohms max. That's not very much juice to work with. This amp initially sold for $100 so would sound good with low impedance, efficient cans. Get an amp that will give them much more power than this and you will start grinning.
Would 150mV / 100 ohms be enough to drive the HD650s (or even the HD800)? I don't really know what it really means to be 150mV/100 Ohms but that's the spec of my current source.
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post #11 of 56
6/16/09 at 9:44am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ph0rk View Post
Unless the amp is absolutely horrible, the HD650 still should not sound like a treble-heavy headphone.
My HD650s on my ipod have zero bass. On my Mini3 the bass is significantly improved. On my Xcan it's greater again. Just for comparison sake, I'd never amp them from my iPod

This thread could also help.....http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/sen...d-bass-428763/
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post #12 of 56
6/16/09 at 10:07am
Plenty of bass with my PPAv2 amp which I am selling as a matter of fact.
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post #13 of 56
6/16/09 at 10:08am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ph0rk View Post
Unless the amp is absolutely horrible, the HD650 still should not sound like a treble-heavy headphone. Even out of a shuffle it still sounds like an HD650 - underpowered perhaps, but the same basic sonic signature. Try it on on some other gear you have handy to verify that the headphone itself isn't faulty.
I agree. Even straight out of my iPod my HD650 has more punch in the bass region than any of my other headphones.
I would say the original poster is either used to very bass heavy cans (I don't think I've never heard any that rightfully fall into that category myself, although comparitively speaking I would certainly place the HD650 there) or there's something wrong with his headphones.

Edit: Just to verify that my memory wasn't playing tricks on me I just plugged my HD650 into my iPod Touch now and tried out a few relatively bass heavy tracks (Madonna's "Heartbeat" and Bat for Lashes' "Trophy"), and while the iPod can't drive them quite to my usual listening level, they are definitely not what I consider lacking in bass. As ph0rk indicated, underpowered but same recognizable sound signature as when they are hooked up to my main system (albeit with assorted quite apparant deficiencies, aside from volume, like lacking details and precision, smaller sound stage and boomy bass).
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post #14 of 56
6/16/09 at 11:05am
asarao123 from what I have been reading from your response I don't think you have ever heard anything close to a natural pair of headphones while the HD600 is the most natural pair of headphones I have ever heard. The HD650 is very close to that but with a little more kick in the bass. The DT880 on the hand from my impression of it from other people reviews is that it more live and has a lot more bass and extends, while Sennheiser is more of a laid back pair of headphones. So my best recommendation is, what you hear from your HD650 is the what your gonna get and if you don't like you may want to try the Denon D2000 or D5000 which would probably suit your needs better.
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post #15 of 56
6/16/09 at 11:26am
Out of my Zero, the HD650 are pretty bass anemic too. They improve greatly when driven by the DV332.
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