[applebook]

After obtaining my HD650, I decided that I wanted to keep the marble look of my fairly new HD600, whose headband and pads are now nicely broken-in as well.

Here are the two nestling before the surgery:

The HD600's innards...

...the HD650's guts all lie in wait...

...which driver is which?

...their front sides...

...the HD650's heart receives its vessel...

...and a shot of the driver's face...

...and finally, here is the result. The HD650 is now encased in the HD600's headband. I really love the way that the darker driver covers and lighter grills look.

Already the HD650 sounds better because the earpads are worn-in

The HD600's drivers and grills will go into the HD650 headband. As for my HD650, I still have plenty of plans for it. Which color should I paint it? I'm contemplating deep blue.

Don't ask me the ultimate reason why I made this transplant, but I'll offer several: the process is simple and quick (under 30 minutes, no tools required); I prefer the HD600's case, especially the emblem's color, though I know that its designation is now incorrect; the vice-grip on the new HD650 was too much to bear even for a few days; plus, I'm bored waiting for my XLR plugs to arrive.

 

[Little J040]

Lol, nice job! I agree i prefer how the 600s head band as well. Looks nice!

 

[Vertigo-1]

*Runs over to his pair of HD580 Jubilees and HD650s......................*


MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

 

[Naga]

shoulda gotten the 600 refurb w/ the unknown 650 drivers in them

 

[ArcTeryx]

So now that you have a pair 650's with the 600 drivers in em... seems like you won't be needing that anymore... Would you like to donate them to my cause?

 

[Beagle]

What cheap looking moulded plastic crap. How can Sennheiser justify charging a list of $549 for those? Probably cost $2.00 to make. And people complain about Grado!

I still think they sound smooth and nice, very reliable not the cord though

 

[ej82m]

I'm not a fan of the marble, but great job.

 

[cheechoz]

I like it, but if I had it my way, I would put the HD650 drivers in the HD580 Jubilee headband. I think Vertigo-1 might be getting some ideas!

 

[skyline889]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Beagle What cheap looking moulded plastic crap. How can Sennheiser justify charging a list of $549 for those? Probably cost $2.00 to make. And people complain about Grado! I still think they sound smooth and nice, very reliable not the cord though

First off the Sennheiser HD600 headband is not constructed out of plastic, they are made from carbon fiber, the same material that the body of F1 cars, McLaren Mercedes SLRs, Ferrari Enzos, Ferrari F50s, Koenigsegg CCs, Pagani Zondas, Ascari AZ1s, Porsche Carera GTs, and Bugatti Veyrons are made from. This headband is not a cheaply made plastic piece of crap, it costs a hell of a lot more to manufacture than the cowhide that the Grado RS1 headbands are made from, what about the Mahagony earcups that Grado uses? Mahogany is one of the cheapest woods available and the price to manufacture these are also low because Mahogany is extremely forgiving to work with. How do you explain how Grado charges $695 for these? How about we take a scissors to each head band and see which makes it out alive okay? And to give you a further idea what carbon fiber is capable of my friend just installed a new Bomex carbon fiber hood on his Nissan 350Z (Fairlady Z in Japan) after his last one got blasted with bits and chunks of VQ35 when he overboosted his turbo. Since he was throwing his old hood away anyway we decided to have a bit of fun. Many manufacturers claim that you can run over a carbon fiber hood and it won't be damaged aside from cosmetic scratches. Well I can vouch for this, we ran over his old hood with my Dad's LX470 (this is a 5500 lb suv!) and it didn't even buckle. Can you say the same about the materials they use to build the RS1s. I don't think so. Lastly nobody sells the HD650s for $550 the most anyone charges is $499, and the headband pictured is from the HD600 which retails at Headroom for only $350.

 

[applebook]

Skyline, nothing that he says has any credibility with me. In case you haven't already, I recommend that read his HD650 rants regarding its supposed lack of neutrality and Tyll of Headroom's reponse. It's an interesting rebuttal with informative graphs comparing the entire 580/ 6XX line and with other cans.

 

[seeberg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by skyline889 First off the Sennheiser HD600 headband is not constructed out of plastic, they are made from carbon fiber, the same material that the body of F1 cars, McLaren Mercedes SLRs, Ferrari Enzos, Ferrari F50s, Koenigsegg CCs, Pagani Zondas, Ascari AZ1s, Porsche Carera GTs, and Bugatti Veyrons are made from. This headband is not a cheaply made plastic piece of crap, it costs a hell of a lot more to manufacture than the cowhide that the Grado RS1 headbands are made from, what about the Mahagony earcups that Grado uses?

Ummm, I hate to steal your thunder, but whether or not the HD600 and subsequently the HD650 use any carbon fiber is currently debateable. I've done a search on this, and it seems that if any carbon fiber is found, it is either in a resin with loose carbon fiber threads in it and used sparsely to little effect (considering the sonic similarities between the HD580 and HD600)-unlike regular lay-and-bake methods, or simply as a faux finish, like it apparently was in the HD580 Jubilee. There isn't any definitive proof on the matter as of yet, and personally I think it's a waste of time trying to find out unless someone has a broken HD600/650 to use as a guinea pig to test. A similar debate was waged as to what the Sony SA5000's headband was made out of, possibly magnesium as stated by Sony, plastic, or as I theorize, plastic with an aluminum powder-based paint finish to give it a metallic feel. After it was confirmed that the SA5000's use essentially the exact same cable as the SA3000 and SA1000, I wouldn't put it past Sony to cut corners here.
See these threads:
http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showt...fiber+headband
http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showt...fiber+headband

Personally, I'd like to see an all-carbon fiber headphone, but I get the feeling I won't see one until one is made(Or I make one

Anyone know how to make a mold of some SR60's?)
Also, no need to flame. Chill out, alright? No need to go bonkers when you disagree with someone else's opinions or claims.

,
Abe

 

[applebook]

You've missed Skyline's point. He was refuting a fanboy's derogatory comment, which I avoided. Whether or not the headband of the HD6XX is carbon fibre is not reason enough to degrade the headphones' values.

P.S. The "cheaply molded plastic" of the driver cups are carbon fibre on the 6XX.

 

[skyline889]

Sorry, I didn't mean to rant but 'applebook' obviously invested quite a bit of time putting these headphones together and the thread is obviously targeted towards people who love Sennheisers (Why else would you be looking at a thread about switching Sennheiser headbands?) so why someone who hates Sennheisers would come here and criticize them is beyond me.

I am also aware of the process used to create carbon fiber however, if the carbon fiber "cloth" is baked into a thick enough resin, the weave won't show. For example on a Ferrari F50 the resin they used was thinner so as to save weight, so even through the paint the carbon fiber weave was visible from an angle, however on the Merc SLR, if you have seen one you will know what I mean, the weave is not visible at all, in fact the surface is so smooth if you didn't know it was made from carbon fiber you would think the body was aluminum or even steel. This is because weight was not so much a priority with this car (as with all Mercs actually) so they put it the carbon fiber in a thicker resin which creates a stronger finish product that is also much more visually appealing. Headroom also lists the Sennheiser HD600s as having carbon fiebr headbands and I consider them a very reliable source. The only way to know for sure though is to split the headband open, and seeing what lays inside. Perhaps when my old 600s dies out, which probably won't be anytime soon though, I will crack them open. Oops I guess I did it again, sorry.

 

[AintLDS]

Very cool mod, Applebook. I like the look of the 600 better as well - it's the little blue emblems that do it for me.

The drivers look almost identical from the photos. What differences have you noticed between the two?

 

[devwild]

Nice swap. I love how the old senns were so modular, I wish senn would have stuck with that idea.

I have a pair of HD525s with HD600 drivers and the plush pads, so if you think yours are mislabeled...