[bookaboo]

hi everyone. this is my first post on head fi so be gentle with me. i have recently discovered the magic of head fi and would like to give a review of my gear. i have a Benchmark Dac 1 which i run with an onkyo nsd1 ipod dock so that i get direct digital out from the ipod running apple lossless files which gives me pretty much cd quality sound.
 
i started out with a pair of grado sr80i which i founfd the treble to be too fatiguing and so sold them and lashed out and bought some Hd650s. after a thorough burn in the HD650s started to open up and now are quite stunning. i recabled with a headphile silver cable to bring the sound a bit more forward and after reading the debates on recabling would like to throw my 2 cents in to say that there is definitely a difference with different cables. i actually found a marked improvement in sound with adding a grado extension cable to the stock cable initially which led me to experimenting with different cables finishing with the headphile cable which i picked up on ebay for $70.
 
i would like to give a shout out to howard (fred fred 2004) as well as i have 2 of his amps and find them to be of excellent quality - his desktop RA1 18v amp is very good - in some ways it even is preferable to the dac 1 (it is more smoother and musical - the dac 1 can be a little analytical at times) i have just ordered hi rechargeable ultimate cmoy for portable use and will post my impressions when this arrives. he is also a pleasure to deal with and one of the best sellers on ebay( and no i arent affiliated with him in any way) a tip for dac 1 users - definitely remove the jumpers on the headphone output as the increase in power makes the hd650s sing and really brings out their bass.
 
i auditioned a pair of HD25s and set them against ATH M50 and DT770 and others and fell in love with their upfront sound - it was like the grado but without the fatigue and ear ringing! so i sold some stuff and bought a pair for portable use which i will use with my ipod and new amp from howard. they need a good 50hrs burn in to really open up as they are a bit harsh out of the box but once burnt in watch out!! these headphones rock!!  and make classic rock and indie sound great!
 
so there you go - my first post. i will follow with some more impressions on the 2 setups when i have had a bit more time with them.
 
 
 
 
 

 

[Ultrazino]

Great first post, nice introduction. Welcome aboard and sorry for your wallet.

 

[Proglover]

Welcome to head-fi, nice first post indeed
 
You have 2 great headphones

 

[drewjp]

Welcome aboard! And yeah, sorry for your wallet.
 
I've discovered that the Sennheiser 'house sound' is what I prefer, also. After AKG and Beyer, I keep coming back to Senn for the lush, warm sound. Good choice in your two headphones!

 

[bookaboo]

i have just recently recabled the hd 650 with the moon audio blue dragon cable and i feel now i have the perfect headphone sound for my tastes. the mids and treble are more forward, clearer and warmer than with the stock cable. veil is gone. a definite upgrade IMHO. im very curious about the silver dragon but that will have to wait for me to get tired of this sound.

 

[milosolo]

I don't think I would have purchased the HD650 had I only auditioned them with the stock cable. Aftermarket cables make a night and day difference with them imo and turn the HD650 into a real value when compared to the next tier up in cans, e.g. LCD2. I also heard a huge gain in SQ during the 200 hour burn-in that I did. 

 

[FearSC549]

Quote:

I don't think I would have purchased the HD650 had I only auditioned them with the stock cable. Aftermarket cables make a night and day difference with them imo and turn the HD650 into a real value when compared to the next tier up in cans, e.g. LCD2. I also heard a huge gain in SQ during the 200 hour burn-in that I did. 

What kind of cable do you use with your HD650?

 

[milosolo]

It's in my sig; DHC Molecule. I only have that cable because I bought my HD650 from a HeadFI'er and this is what came with it. I had auditioned the HD650 and LCD2 bot with ALO cables in Portland prior to purchasing the HD650. My notes say that the HD650 with aftermarket cables was an "incredible value". They remove the veil, provide low & well-defined bass, great extension with slight roll-off in the top end, etc. etc. Now that I have a lot of hours on the HD650 I am convinced any quality aftermarket cable will bring out the best in this hp.