This world is full of 'long-standing' misnomers my friend, even fundamental basic ones; i let my intelligence guide me, and when that fails i turn to God. PM me for the fault, i consider it too negative to voice in this thread.

  When you say "resolution", i interpret that as 'Transparency', because without transparency you wont hear the resolution. But, the HD600 is "Natural sounding" you say, that would definitely be a draw-card for me. I'll have to check-out the HD600 again. If it has the same or a similar overall...

Is there any opinions on whether the HD600 might be more preferable than the HD650? From memory, several weeks ago, i was of the opinion that the HD600 sounded better overall the the HD650, but admittedly that was only on low-grade amping.

  If you like to be grimaced at from other members of the public, well fine. I travel on trams, and people are always stacked all around me, and i myself find it very inconsiderate and disrespectful and annoying when i can hear someones music coming from their headphones, thus i would not...

  Congrats. The difference for me between hearing the HD650 from merely a smartphone only or a low-grade DAC/Amp compared to the C5D was truly a revelation, which also IMO qualifies as a testament to the quality of the C5D too. Very impressive headphone for the most part. Pity about the...

  Not quite sure what you mean, but if by "third-party" you mean other companies to resell it, NO!

  Yes possibly condescending, i see your point. Sorry! Anyway, i'll tell you the three out of the top four, but the one that has nailed it i wont mention because we should be allowed to have some secrets. F1 driving teams don't go telling the competition how they tune their engines if you...

  There is a difference, yes, not a huge difference, but noticeable; the C5D is pure class, and it has more power to drive the headphone properly. An iPhone is capable of driving the headphone, but not to full performance (this is not just talking about 'volume'), the C5D has a very neutral...

  You will need a proprietary "Lightning to USB" cable; Amazon sell Apple certified ones, and cheaper than Apple. Other third-party ones are known not to work properly.

  It is so hard to give you a nameeeee! Are you a music producer? Well then, NOOOOEEEE!! LOL

      Sorry to say, but yes.

    Whoa! Where did that come from??? You obviously didn't read the very post of mine which you quoted in your reply, or didn't read it properly. What part of "proprietary' format for 'exclusive' use in DAWs" didn't you understand?    And i did not leave, so what are you talking about?

  UAD is one of the big four companies, yes, but they are not the company that nailed it. There are glaring oversights and shortcomings in their approach and algorithm design that fail to model certain aspects of the hardware (despite their own claims), and although they sound very good and...

  I do appreciate your interest in the matter, but I sincerely feel as though it's not worth mentioning the exact company to you because it probably wouldn't be very relevant unless you are an actual music producer. These plugins are in proprietary VST (Virtual Studio Technology) format for...

  Believe me, the 'exact' sound of analog gear and tubes has been 'successfully' emulated digitally in software. There are four big name software companies in the music industry that make the best quality analog emulation plugins of actual hardware units, three of those companies get 'very...

  You are correct. What you described is exactly what music producers use "Saturation" plugins for when producing music. These plugins emulate Tubes and other analog circuitry accurately, specifically the harmonics and saturation (which are actually forms of 'distortion') added by analog Tube...

  I myself am also an enthusiast photographer, so am acquainted with what you're saying. In software if i take a RAW .DNG file (not a JPEG) and starting altering "White balance" "Contrast" "Colour Saturation" "Dynamic Range" and a "soft focus" filter, such things cumulatively do indeed...

  Currawong, i owe you somewhat of an apology. I've just realized that some of the amps/dacs you mentioned are "TUBE". So, i can confirm that your observations would be correct; do you notice this phenomena of... "like I'm at the back of the audience, with everything happening in front of me...

  I have an 'as new' E12 if you want it cheaper than the new price. I've only charged it about 5 times and it's in flawless condition. Someone else in America bought my FiiO E17K today too. PM me if you're interested.

  I take your point. However, i will mention that you are right in saying "Trickery". Why do i say this? Because to reiterate, the trickery is EQ tuning on the part of the manufacturer of the headphone. Like as if you were to take a fine priceless painting and start making some minor...

  I'm gonna have a shot at clearing-up this soundstage issue once and for all. I simply can't see how the X5 or for that matter an iPhone would turn the soundstage of the HD650 into a "blob" (as you call it). That simply can't be. I did the test today with an HD650. I've deliberately used...

    My take on the subject... I say that soundstage can be affected (or facilitated) by the combination of the DAC and headphone together as a pair. So, if the headphone has a veiled sound-signature, then that certainly would give the impression of a smaller soundstage. You asked a good...

      Looks like i stepped on a few toes. What's the problem? When people get their knickers in a twist and resort to sarcasm, usually it means a nerve has been hit. What y'all trying to say? Are the HD600-650 precious to you, or are they the last word in headphones, is that what you're...

    I'll go test again with a C5D, will that be adequate?

I'm not a fan of the HD650 sound, quite boxy and dark and a bit veiled. The HD600 is slightly better, and the HD558 is similar to the Shure 840.