Quote:
I've heard some reports of recessed mids on the DT 880 but most seem to think it's a rather balanced pair of headphones. I'll keep the pads in mind, but I'd feel better about spending my money towards headphones/amps to try get as close as possible to what I'm looking for before doing any modding and such. The balance and smooth sound of the HD 650s really appeal to me but the supposedly "veiled" sound and not-so-good build quality scare me away.
Thanks again for your insight. I'm aware of the bright treble on the DT 880s and will definitely look out for that. However, I listen to very little treble-heavy music so it shouldn't be a huge problem. The occasional violin solo probably won't drive me insane even if the trebles do turn out a bit fatiguing to my ear.
Above all else, I just want a balanced and versatile pair of heaphones that can go well with a wide range of musical genre. I'm fine with a jack of all trade, but master of none. I've heard people describe the HD 650s this way, but again, the subpar construction quality and somewhat "veiled" sound drives me away.
For music like classical and similar acoustic music a little treble "sparkle" can be beneficial. For rock music with cymbals though, I can find treble "sparkle" or a Beyer style treble bump to be a little annoying. Very much a preference thing and also depends on your ears as to whether that type of treble bump is good or not. If I listened to only classical I could deal with that treble bump much easier.
I find the build quality of the HD600/HD650 to be fine. I've owned my HD580 and HD600 for nearly 15 years now. They've held up very well. I've had to replace the ear pads and the headband pads. Sennheiser makes those parts easily available. The HD600/HD650 is a bit of a problem though for folks who have a large head (a wide head). They don't stretch very well. They can be bent to better fit a large head, but you have to know the trick so you don't snap the plastic headband (bend the metal, not the plastic).
The Schiit Asgard amp de-veils the Senns and also gives them a nice Sennish dynamic kick that is missing in some/many other amps. Tube amps can also de-veil the Senns, but can have difficulty giving a dynamic kick at affordable price levels. The advantage to some of the tube amps with Senns is better tone compared to the Asgard if you want some of that tube style tone. For $250 the Asgard is a great deal for amping the Senns and puts some life into them at a relative bargain price.
I like my HD600 with classical music. I like the HD600 over the HD650 due to more treble. The HD600 gives more treble but doesn't have the Beyer style bump or emphasis. So the HD600 ends up suiting me. The Senns are laid back and not the most energetic. One way to balance that out is to pair the Senn with a Grado (even just an SR60) so you can get a lively Grado sound every once and a while to keep your ears from getting bored by the Senns. Things like string quartets on Grados with bowl pads are pretty neat too in a Grado sort of way. So a Senn and Grado pairing is kinda nice and they complement.
There's rumors that the HD600 and HD650 are being discontinued soon. Those rumors have gone around before so take it with a grain of salt. Right now the HD600 is no longer available at dealers and is now sold by Amazon in what looks to be an exclusive deal. The HD650 is still sold and available at dealers.
The Denon is also neat for big classical like Carmina Burana or The Planets or pipe organ (I should mention that I really like pipe organ, and thus really like the Denons). I get giddy thinking of listening to Carmina Burana on the Denons. Classical with boom boom.
The tizzy Denon treble isn't so much an issue with classical. Purrin did a
CSD waterfall plot of the D7000. It shows a ringing peak at about 8.5 kHz along with some smaller scale treble problems. That big 9 kHz ringing peak might be what is annoying me about the Denon treble. The D2000 is similar to the D7000. Think of the D7000 being a tighter more controlled version of the D2000. So I'd expect the treble peaks and issues for the D2000 to be worse than the plot for the D7000.
