[TeddyShot]

Hello, I currently own a Sennheiser 598, which I love. It's soundstage is amazing when playing games and listening to orchestral music. The mids are fantastic and while I wish the lows were more prominent, the response is nice and tight. Now moving on to what I know of the 650; the soundstage is weaker than the 598, I'm not sure by how much but I really like a nice soundstage, the mids are slightly better than the 598, a definite plus, the lows are fantastic in comparison to any open headphone, I love great bass, the detail is largely improved over the 598, whereas the 598 is considered mid-fi the 650 is considered Hi-Fi, and last the 650 is considered dark and veiled. Now as for this last part, I've heard that the newest version of the headphone has little to no veil due to the new dampening material. I'm not sure how much it is improved but some have said that they heavily disliked the old version, but once trying the new one, they loved the sound.

Now if I buy this headphone, I will buy it new. So please only comment those that have the newest version.

I'd like to add that I will be running the headphones off a Cayin C5 portable amp.

 

[sgbwill2]

Hi, I previously owned a pair of Sennheiser 558's which are very similar to the 598's. The soundstage of the HD 650's is far superior however a portable amp like the Cayin C5 wont do the 650's any justice. They need a relatively powerful desktop amp to drive them as they are 300 ohms as opposed to the 598's which are 50 ohms; Therefore a good amp and source is needed to get the best out of them. To my ears the 650's are superior in every way to the 558's. I am unaware of any changes that Sennheiser has made to the 650's in fact I don't think they have made any changes, however if they are using different dampening material I doubt this would make much of a difference as the 650's use barely any dampening material at all anyway (only 1 little foam disk per driver). One of the main attractions to the 650's is their warm/dark nature so don't be put off by this unless you like overly bright cans. But if you aren't going to upgrade to a desktop amp I would hold off on getting these for the time being until you do so.

 

[TeddyShot]

Hi, I previously owned a pair of Sennheiser 558's which are very similar to the 598's. The soundstage of the HD 650's is far superior however a portable amp like the Cayin C5 wont do the 650's any justice. They need a relatively powerful desktop amp to drive them as they are 300 ohms as opposed to the 598's which are 50 ohms; Therefore a good amp and source is needed to get the best out of them. To my ears the 650's are superior in every way to the 558's. I am unaware of any changes that Sennheiser has made to the 650's in fact I don't think they have made any changes, however if they are using different dampening material I doubt this would make much of a difference as the 650's use barely any dampening material at all anyway (only 1 little foam disk per driver). One of the main attractions to the 650's is their warm/dark nature so don't be put off by this unless you like overly bright cans. But if you aren't going to upgrade to a desktop amp I would hold off on getting these for the time being until you do so.

I'm not sure if your familiar with with the Cayin C5, but it is a very powerful portable amp, slightly more so than the Fiio E12. you should check it out. However, going back to the soundstage, it is said that the 558 has almost equal soundstage to the 598. But I've heard the 598 has a much better soundstage to the 650. And as for the dampening material. The older models used a black silk thread, while the new ones use a metal.

Cayin C5:
http://www.head-fi.org/products/cayin-c5-portable-hifi-audio-headphone-amplifier
http://www.head-fi.org/t/729545/the-new-cayin-c5-portable-power-house

 

[sgbwill2]

I personally wouldn't pair the 650 with any portable amp, it works but I don't believe they would be able to drive them efficiently enough or provide as much detail as a desktop amp would. The soundstage on the 650 is wider than the 558's I had when I compared them going back some time which led me to selling the 558's as they were inferior in every aspect. I was aware that they changed the material on the 580's but didn't think this applied to the 650's but you were right ( http://www.headfonia.com/sennheiser-hd650-600-and-580-updated-drivers/ ). I used to own a pair of 580's (same drivers as 600's) which had black dampening material and my 650's have the white dampening material. I compared them going back some time and I preferred the 650's and thus kept them. The audible changes were very minor (The 650's are slightly more neutral) though I would be happy with either phone to be honest.

 

[Roy Munson]

I think the HD650 is superior to the HD598 in every single aspect - not even in the same ballpark. Note though that I'm not a big fan of the HD598.
 
I don't know much about the Cayin amp but the HD650 will certainly give you the opportunity to scale up your gear in the future without needing to upgrade your headphones if it's something you wanted to do at some point. 

 

[TeddyShot]

I personally wouldn't pair the 650 with any portable amp, it works but I don't believe they would be able to drive them efficiently enough or provide as much detail as a desktop amp would. The soundstage on the 650 is wider than the 558's I had when I compared them going back some time which led me to selling the 558's as they were inferior in every aspect. I was aware that they changed the material on the 580's but didn't think this applied to the 650's but you were right ( http://www.headfonia.com/sennheiser-hd650-600-and-580-updated-drivers/ ). I used to own a pair of 580's (same drivers as 600's) which had black dampening material and my 650's have the white dampening material. I compared them going back some time and I preferred the 650's and thus kept them. The audible changes were very minor (The 650's are slightly more neutral) though I would be happy with either phone to be honest.

Do you know If the Objective 2 pairs well with the 650?

 

[sgbwill2]

'With the Sennheiser HD650, I even experimented with EQ’ing to get to make it to sound as it usually does with a whole bunch of other amps, but I quickly abandoned that attempt. I really don’t find the Senns to pair well with the O2. The Hifiman HE-400 with its thicker mids and powerful bass, does very well with the O2. The O2 softens the parts I find the HE-400 to focus too much on and as a result you get a nice match. Good detail, soundstage and clarity, as good as it gets on the HE-400.' Quote from Headfonia about the 650 with the O2. Link: http://www.headfonia.com/nwavguys-objective-2-by-jdslabs-and-epiphany-acoustics/2/ Personally I have only used 2 desktop amps with the 650 which are both tube amps and both are a great pairing with it which are the Little dot MK III and the La Figaro 339. Though it doesn't seem the 650's are a great match with the O2.

 

[TeddyShot]

[COLOR=444444]'With the Sennheiser HD650, I even experimented with EQ’ing to get to make it to sound as it usually does with a whole bunch of other amps, but I quickly abandoned that attempt. I really don’t find the Senns to pair well with the O2. The Hifiman HE-400 with its thicker mids and powerful bass, does very well with the O2. The O2 softens the parts I find the HE-400 to focus too much on and as a result you get a nice match. Good detail, soundstage and clarity, as good as it gets on the HE-400.' Quote from Headfonia about the 650 with the O2. Link: [/COLOR]http://www.headfonia.com/nwavguys-objective-2-by-jdslabs-and-epiphany-acoustics/2/ [COLOR=444444]Personally I have only used 2 desktop amps with the 650 which are both tube amps and both are a great pairing with it which are the Little dot MK III and the La Figaro 339. Though it doesn't seem the 650's are a great match with the O2.[/COLOR]

I asked this mainly because I've heard that the Fiio E12A is almost as good as the O2 in terms of SQ, and the Cayin C5 is on par with the E12A but with much more power and better soundstage.

 

[Roy Munson]

Honestly I wouldn't worry about getting into different amps. Go for a new can if you're looking for a new sound and then go from there. I didn't mean to try and direct you to question the amp you currently have in your possession. I was trying to make the point that in the future if you wanted to invest in a better amp or dac the HD650 would certainly give you room to do so.