Possible damaged headphone drivers (Sennheiser HD650)

Are you sure there isn't a stray hair against the driver?  That is always the first thing to look for when you hear buzzing.  Take a look.

Try listening to some sine waves or just silence to see if the fuzziness is still there. Could be the sign of some worn-out tubes.

There's a chance your amp could be clipping, too.

Failed drivers happen in a few ways.  One is if the cone is torn, damaged or becomes separated from the voicecoil.  This can make a buzzing sound and, in some cases, the driver will stop working.

The other way is if the voicecoil gets shorted.  This happens when the voicecoil heats up too much and melts the enamel insulation on the wires.  The wires then touch each other and the voicecoil shorts out.  If this happens, they usually won't work at all.

Play any track that has a section with only bass, or a bass test track with a solid 60hz note or so. This will get the driver moving with no other sounds to get in the way. If it's going to buzz due to failure, it will do it here. The above is what I used to figure out that my porta pro's had a buzz due to the metal outer cover of one driver rattling.

Hi ImitationOfLife,

It's an old thread, but I wonder how it worked out for you.. Did you manage to test/replace the driver?

It looks like I have the same problem which I just noticed yesterday. There is annoying buzz in the right driver which is noticeable when playing low tones loud.

I performed a test, played a pure 20Hz tone through my headphones and the problem was very prominent. the right driver was producing this buzz while the left one was mostly vibrating. (I say mostly because I feel I heard some buzz also but nowhere near the level of the right one).

I don't see any dust/particles there (and that was my first reaction to check that)..

Does anyone have experience with this? Is easy to damage drivers by listening music loud? Can sennheiser test my pair? (I guess I'm out of warranty already)

This page and this page will show how to open up a HD650.  Open it up and check the driver pod.  The driver pod snaps in and can sometimes come loose which can cause a buzzing.  Check the make sure the driver pod is snapped in properly.  You can also remove the driver pod to check if there is a hair or other object on the driver and also check if the driver is visibly deformed or damaged.  Just be careful around the hair thin voice coil wires in the pod.  It is very easy to snag one and break the wire.  So be careful.

If you have a multi-meter you can check the impedance (resistance) of each driver to see if one has been shorted (blown).

Don't worry about the intermittency problem mentioned in one of the pages I linked to.  That's be dealt with by Sennheiser years ago.  I only linked to that page because it shows how to remove the driver pod.

If you do need a new driver you can see that it is easily  user replaceable.  So no need to send the entire headphone to Sennheiser.  Just order a new driver (iirc they're about $60 for a new driver pod).  You'll have to call Sennheiser to order.

Thank you very much Ham Sandwich,

I did check resistance - seems perfectly fine for both - 296 Ohm

I'll try to open them up and inspect carefully.

I have a question if the drivers where hand matched doesn't that mean I would have to replace both.