[palmfish]

Quote:

I'm not very adept at describing SQ since it is a very subjective experience.  Suffice to say though both my NuForce HD and Schiit Valhalla do the HD650 justice.  Both provide ample power and any perceived differences are minimal with perhaps a slight edge to the Valhalla overall for dynamics and a certain "creamy" and smooth sound which appeals to me.  Others may have entirely different opinions.  Personally I listen mostly to Jazz, female vocalists, and some classical.  YMMV.  
 

Thank you!

 

[SkinnyPuppy]

I was thinking about getting these with a good amp/dac combo around $200. Would an iBasso D4 or D10 power these enough or would i need a better amp?

 

[metalsonata]

Quote:

I finally redid the balanced cable of my HD650. As expected, the violet
matches with the titanium silver nicely.

I don't know about you, but I think the sexiness of my HD650 just went
up by 10pts. 

Gorgeous--not seen anything like that before. How'd you go about it?
 

 

[Guest5]

These are marvelous headphones, no doubt about it. For the skeptics, just listen to them at low volumes, feel the realism of sound coming and you have the answer. Exceptional quality headphones. 

 

[NotJeffBuckley]

They really do excel at low-volume listening. Moreso than any other headphone in my lineup. I know that's a quality that is traditionally associated with Grados, but the HD-650s are positively smooth at any volume (no doubt because they're tuned among other things for dynamic, full-range orchestral music reproduction - it wouldn't really do if you lost all detail in a quiet passage and had to turn it up only to be deafened by a crescendo!).
 
I am fairly certain I have the pre-white-material versions. I ... am not convinced, and I guess there will be skeptics, but - I am not convinced that there should be an expected difference between a darker colored but acoustically transparent thin material and a lighter colored but acoustically transparent thin material. It seems too coincidental to me - they've switched to a lighter color and it brightens the sound? I just don't see it. It's so thin, thinner than the finest pop filter I've ever seen in a studio, maybe there is some material quality they like about the new stuff but in terms of sound I sincerely doubt that the stuff that seems to act primarily to keep crud out of the enclosure has an "unveiling" impact on the sound. It's all too convenient, if you'll pardon my repetition. If I painted the whole headphone a lighter color it wouldn't sound brighter; unless the driver or the sort of acoustic honeycomb structure of the mounting/enclosure itself has changed I don't think there's any basis for a sonic difference (and there's plenty reasonable doubt, in my opinion, given that comparisons would mostly be between older, more used headphones and newer, less used ones). And why wouldn't Sennheiser advertise an improvement, were it the case? I just don't grasp it, I'm sorry, no offense to anyone's subjective perception intended at all.

 

[sphinxvc]

I think some time back there was a picture of dismantled HD650s, the new and old drivers side by side, with different part numbers on them.  
 
Also, the K701s are painted stark white and are way brighter than the HD650s.

 

[NotJeffBuckley]

:-o
 
Quote:

Also, the K701s are painted stark white and are way brighter than the HD650s.

 
 

 

[Raptor34]

Quote:

 
Also, the K701s are painted stark white and are way brighter than the HD650s.

Oh, the horror.    zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
 

 

[Remonster]

I don't think anyone was suggesting that the color of the material is what made the headphones sound different, but if the new ones do sound different (my brand new HD650 is in the mail and I've never heard an older one, so I have no clue) AND they changed the color in 2009 (or whenever) then people are merely saying that the new color is an indication of the new model.

 

[NotJeffBuckley]

What I'm saying is that according to them, at least, it's just a different color of acoustically transparent material; if they did change the drivers that's a different story, I've only heard that, not seen it, and not asked anyone in the know about it either so I couldn't comment.
 
Regardless, I'm not at all dissatisfied with my HD-650s, I know only that they sound fantastic and I am happy to have them

I should hope that's the same for other HD-650 owners. As long as they sound awesome it doesn't matter whether the acoustically transparent material is black or white.
 
Though right now I am having a serious affair with Beyer cans. DT-990s, DT-770s, I feel the 880s would be a bit too close to the HD-650s but at this rate I'll end up picking some up - or the Teslas. The HD-800 seem like a pretty remarkable departure from the Sennheiser house sound that I've loved since about a month into owning the HD-650s, so unless they've got an HD-700 in the works that takes the HD-650 sound and builds on that... I'm leaning toward some Beyer Tesla T1.

 

[Remonster]

After posting here I decided to check my front door and I found a nice package from Headroom waiting for me (I guess it's hard to hear the doorbell when you're playing Metallica at unreasonable volumes). First of all, I was not expecting the HD650s to come packaged the way they were. I've had HD280 Pro, HD380 Pro and HD558s from Sennheiser so I was expecting the same retail packaging but the padded box these come in is extremely nice.
 
I haven't even burned them in yet but already they sound absolutely fantastic. I have completely forgone analytical listening for now and can not stop listening to all different genres of music. These are easily worth $500, but I don't have to tell any of you that.

 

[SkinnyPuppy]

Quote:

I was thinking about getting these with a good amp/dac combo around $200. Would an iBasso D4 or D10 power these enough or would i need a better amp?

anyone?

 

[Remonster]

I've never used an iBasso so I can't help you there but as I said I'm loving my FiiO E7/E9 which is also $200 with my HD650s so I highly recommend it.
 
Does anyone know if the cable on these can be split further down the line? The cable splits into two separate cables fairly close to the headphone and I wish I had a little more room to turn my head without the cable tugging on my neck. There's a bit of plastic holding the cable together at the point right before they split, any harm in cutting this off?

 

[plin]

Yes, you can carefully cut it and split some more of the cable. You can replace the plastic holder with some velcro wrap or something similar that wont injure the cable. 

 

[skeptic]

     Quote:

I was thinking about getting these with a good amp/dac combo around $200. Would an iBasso D4 or D10 power these enough or would i need a better amp?

 
"Enough" is the key word here.  Will you get adequate volume?  Yes.  Will they sound as good as they do out of full sized amps?  Probably not.
 
The general rule of thumb on head-fi is that you shouldn't buy a portable amp to drive full sized phones unless you really need portability.  High impedance full sized cans (like Sennheisers and Beyers) generally require ample voltage swing.  This is why tube amps are such a popular solution for driving them and why portable amps running off a 9volt typically don't generate rave reviews.