[musicbuff]

I purchased the Musical Fidelity M1SDAC 3 weeks ago. In that time I've discovered the MF M1SDAC doesn't do well with my Sennheiser HD 650 headphones. I played some old CD-R's of music I'd copied from a couple of old LP's (from the 70's and 80's). The Senn's made the CD-R's sound muddled and lifeless. I got the same results when listening to professionally produced Christmas CD's. But when I listened to the same CD's played through the MF DAC Headphone amp/Grado SR 80i headphones the music sounded vibrant and the separation of voices and instruments was very good. I heard details from the CD-R's I hadn't heard in all the years I've been listening to this music, even when played on my Pioneer turntable. I love the Grado sound but there's quite a bit of sibilance with some music through the SR80i's. I'd like to upgrade my Grado's to either the RS1i or the GS1000i (now that the e-series is out the i-series is more affordable). My question is which headphone would my MF DAC drive best, the RS1 or the GS1000? I don't want to buy cans that the DAC can't sufficiently power. If I spend hundreds of dollars on new cans I want them to be driven to do their best. Please don't say buy a new HP amp. I've gone down the road of purchasing a Bottlehead Crack with the Speedball upgrade for amping my HD 650's and was highly disappointed. I want new HP's to go with my DAC, not a new DAC to go with the Senn's. Thank you for your responses.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

How old are the HD650s? I tried the original M1HPA with my HD600 and they weren't muddy at all, not even in any sense "warm." Old earpads however makes bass really muddy on the Sennheisers. Actually, it will be the same on the Grados eventually, but at least their earpads are cheap.

 

[musicbuff]

I'm not sure how old they are.  I purchased them a couple of years ago used.  How do earpads muddy the sound and where can I purchase new ones?

 

[ProtegeManiac]

  I'm not sure how old they are.  I purchased them a couple of years ago used.

 

Have you used them a lot after purchase? The previous owner's plus your hours on them could be several hundred accumulated hours. I have two sets of earpads alternating here (one older) on my HD600 every month or so (but then I only use them on average 2hours, and not everyday) so it's never too far off from what reasonably broken-in earpads sound like.
 

  How do earpads muddy the sound...?

 

Old earpads are more compressed so they put the drivers a lot closer to your ears. Take any headphone, put them on, then push them in (if it's an open headphone, do it without blocking the open area). On brand new earpads the HD600 sounds closer to the HD800 than what people say about the HD600 (which is likely on older earpads, including confirmation bias when someone tries them on during a meet after several other people used them throughout that day.
 

  Where can I purchase new ones?

 

The Sennheiser distributor in your area - ie Sennheiser USA. It's somewhere in the website, you pick the product and you get the list of parts available for it - hell somebody went in there before and ordered all parts for the HE60 electrostat headphone. Then he assembled a batch of them from what were supposedly spare parts, so there are a bunch of HE60s out there with no serial numbers (which might still be as valuable to some considering the sneaky origins).

 

 

[musicbuff]

Well the Musical Fidelity M1SDAC wasn't at fault.  As a DAC it's performing marvelously.  I've coupled it with Sennheiser's HDVA 600 HP amp and the combination is fantastic.  I also got Sennheiser HD800 cans and the balanced cable to go with them.  This is definitely my end game.  I couldn't want more!!

 

[ProtegeManiac]

  Well the Musical Fidelity M1SDAC wasn't at fault.  As a DAC it's performing marvelously.  I've coupled it with Sennheiser's HDVA 600 HP amp and the combination is fantastic.  I also got Sennheiser HD800 cans and the balanced cable to go with them.  This is definitely my end game.  I couldn't want more!!

 
Did you get to try new earpads with the HD650?

 

[musicbuff]

No, I didn't opt for new earpads because the old ones didn't look compressed.  It's weird but somehow the headphones sound okay again.  I did snap the earpads out and looked them over.  They felt and looked fine so I put them back and they sound good.  To brighten them a little I recently removed the inner thin foam pads and the treble is a bit better.  I've ordered a Sennheiser CH650S balanced cable for them.  When it arrives I hope it improves the sound even more (not expecting a night and day difference) but these cans are definitely Jacks-of-all-trades.  I'm very happy to have them. 

 

[musicbuff]

I got my balanced cord (CH 650 S) Friday.  When I hooked it up and took a listen, my jaw dropped.  There was a night and day difference.  The soundstage expanded a lot, details increased, imaging sharpened, the bass went deeper and got tighter.  They aren't as detailed as my HD 800's but the 650's are definitely a new beast and I'm loving it!