You could have saved me a bit of money. I have also read there is not noticeable difference between the JDS O2 and the more expensive ifi ican...

  Did you notice much improvement going from the asus stx to the dac/o2 combo? what about pluggin in the o2 amp to the stx?

Finally i received the HD650 today, i have to say at first i wasnt overly impressed with them but after listening for quite a few hours im appreciating the sound more and more. They sound best with electronic music from what i have heard so far. They also seem to be excellent with death metal...

Sennheiser HD215 DJ. They have almost no bass and sound totally hollow, mids and high were just okey. I gifted them after a week... 90$ down the drain.

Still waiting to receive my pair... meanwhile, if i decide to buy an amp later, do you think the JDS O2 would pair well with the xonar essence st card?

 

Apart from the highs, did you find the rest of the frequencies comparable to the higher end headphones?     Maybe they were running both headphones unamped? some comments you read over there are very odd.

I find some of the superlux HD668B vs HD650 comments disturbing:       Bear in mind i could have had the superlux for less than 35$!

    Do the online stores still sell the old version? It would be a pain to send the headphones back considering i will receive them around two full weeks after i made the payment.

  Hey guys, one last question before i pull the trigger on the HD650;   Do you think their clarity / detail is on par with other modern headphones in its price range like the HE-400, fidelio x1, ATH-AD900 X, etc.?   Also, i guess the only version being sold is the newer one (im buying them...

  Thanks for your response. I will be using the built in amp of the essence for a long while as i'm spending the entire budget on the HD650. If i decide to upgrade the amp in the future i heard the Matrix M-Stage HPA2 is a very good amp for the price.

The essence st has a built in headphone amp so i would run the hd650 with it. I have read the amp is comparable to one of the cheaper fiio amps.   The oe2 are just okey sounding, at least they are very comfortable (although my ears get warm with them!)

Great to know you have both to compare. I know the senns are far better, but i have read they are picky with amps or sound a bit bass shy with the essence.   For the record, im more a speaker man but my current pair of speakers need to be a bit cranked up to sound good... with the neighbouring...

  You mean the different levels of gain of the card? i leave it on normal gain as thats more than enough volume for me.

Thats odd.   I have the oe2 which i think sounds similar to the ae2 and there is no way the apple earbuds sound better even out of an ipod. Also, the bass isnt that prominent on them to my ears.