[tolis626]

So, I've been finding myself using the 58x on the go a lot lately. Not in the bus or anything, but when I go out and about, walking my dog, etc. Among the most annoying aspects of doing this is the cable. Now, the cable itself is fine for use at home, but having a 2m thing dangling off of me while walking is sub optimal. So I've been looking to buy a cheap, 1-1.5m cable (preferably 1.2m) that's actually nice looking because, hey, I'm outside. I really wanted to go with Moonsaudio cables, but I can't justify spending 40-50€ on a cable at this point. So among other places, I'm looking at AliExpress and there seem to be a lot of cool looking cables there that actually seem decent. Does anybody have any experience with any of these? I especially like the braided ones with the transparent shielding that shows the copper. Only thing I like more are the fabric covered cables from Periapt etc. If no one knows anything about them, I'll probably pick one randomly and see what happens.

https://www.aliexpress.com/premium/...AS_20181106092000&origin=y&catId=0&isViewCP=y

 

[SolaVirtus]

I see there are 10-hour videos of this 'pink noise' on YouTube - I presume playing them with my headphones hooked up through a Magni 3 at medium/high volume would be sufficient for burn in?

That's about right. I'd suggest not louder than your loudest listening volume though. You wouldn't want to damage the headphones.

 

[PeteMtl]

So, I've been finding myself using the 58x on the go a lot lately. Not in the bus or anything, but when I go out and about, walking my dog, etc. Among the most annoying aspects of doing this is the cable. Now, the cable itself is fine for use at home, but having a 2m thing dangling off of me while walking is sub optimal. So I've been looking to buy a cheap, 1-1.5m cable (preferably 1.2m) that's actually nice looking because, hey, I'm outside. I really wanted to go with Moonsaudio cables, but I can't justify spending 40-50€ on a cable at this point. So among other places, I'm looking at AliExpress and there seem to be a lot of cool looking cables there that actually seem decent. Does anybody have any experience with any of these? I especially like the braided ones with the transparent shielding that shows the copper. Only thing I like more are the fabric covered cables from Periapt etc. If no one knows anything about them, I'll probably pick one randomly and see what happens.

https://www.aliexpress.com/premium/...AS_20181106092000&origin=y&catId=0&isViewCP=y

I bought a nice cable « NewFantasia » on Amazon. I paid 20$ more or less. It’s a 1.2m câble with mic + remote, fully compatible with 600 series Sennheiser headphones such as my HD58x. Therefore I now use this câble with my HD58x and my iPhone. I may listen to music, use the remote on the cable and even answer call with the microphone on the remote/câble. Best purchase for the HD58x if you want to use it as a portable headphone...

 

[Techy1210]

That's about right. I'd suggest not louder than your loudest listening volume though. You wouldn't want to damage the headphones.

Ok, thanks, I'll try it out.

 

[koover]

Ok, I'll have a look into it, thanks.

I keep seeing people talking about 'burn in' around here, and I've always sort of dismissed it, thinking 'how much is it really going to change?'.
I've got nothing to lose by trying it, so might as well give it a go...

I see there are 10-hour videos of this 'pink noise' on YouTube - I presume playing them with my headphones hooked up through a Magni 3 at medium/high volume would be sufficient for burn in?

Yeah, I’m not a big believer in headphone burn-in but when the manufacturers of said headphone say to do it, I believe they’re smarter then I. I’ve really never heard anyone burning in for 10 hours only so take what I have to say for what it’s worth. Anyway, most times I just burn in while listening and on my head. I do t want to wait and it’s a lot more fun that way.
Whatever you do, enjoy!

 

[koover]

That's about right. I'd suggest not louder than your loudest listening volume though. You wouldn't want to damage the headphones.

I respectively disagree. We have to remember some may only listen at 75 dB levels. That’s cool but only burning in at a persons listening levels depending on what it is, most certainly won’t damage the drives unless your constantly at 100 dB levels for hours on end. But again, so many opinions.
If you damage the drivers at say 85-90 dB? Get another headphone.

 

[SolaVirtus]

I respectively disagree.

Well I must disagree with your disagreement. We're on the same page. I was just trying to generally suggest not damaging the headphones, however loud that might be.

 

[DavidA]

Received my 6XX's around half an hour ago... My initial first 10 minutes listening to them with a few different music genres indicates there may not be enough difference for me personally to hold onto both these, and the 58X's.

Very early days though, so I'll give it a bit of time experimenting with various types of music to see if I hear more difference between the two.
Any recommendations for songs that may make the differences more evident are welcome.

I'd also suggest trying both headphones on different systems if possible since both react to different amp designs (OTL, SET, etc) differently. For me the HD650/6XX sounds best on a OTL amp while the HD58X sounds best on a hybrid or neutral/bright SS.

 

[Electrolite]

Ok, I'll have a look into it, thanks.

I keep seeing people talking about 'burn in' around here, and I've always sort of dismissed it, thinking 'how much is it really going to change?'.
I've got nothing to lose by trying it, so might as well give it a go...

I see there are 10-hour videos of this 'pink noise' on YouTube - I presume playing them with my headphones hooked up through a Magni 3 at medium/high volume would be sufficient for burn in?

Burn-in is real and you can measure it, now will the differences be enough to notice in every headphone? No... but there is another part of burn-in, the psychological, takes time for you to get used to the headphone, to understand all it's details and how capable it is I think this is even more present for the HD650. Spend a good time with it and when not using let it play some stuff.

Took me little more than 2 weeks to really notice the areas where the HD58X was superior to the SHP9500

This video shows how much can it change with burn in, but this headphone is known to change, so it won't be so crazy for a Sennheiser I think

 

[Dsnuts]

So, I've been finding myself using the 58x on the go a lot lately. Not in the bus or anything, but when I go out and about, walking my dog, etc. Among the most annoying aspects of doing this is the cable. Now, the cable itself is fine for use at home, but having a 2m thing dangling off of me while walking is sub optimal. So I've been looking to buy a cheap, 1-1.5m cable (preferably 1.2m) that's actually nice looking because, hey, I'm outside. I really wanted to go with Moonsaudio cables, but I can't justify spending 40-50€ on a cable at this point. So among other places, I'm looking at AliExpress and there seem to be a lot of cool looking cables there that actually seem decent. Does anybody have any experience with any of these? I especially like the braided ones with the transparent shielding that shows the copper. Only thing I like more are the fabric covered cables from Periapt etc. If no one knows anything about them, I'll probably pick one randomly and see what happens.

https://www.aliexpress.com/premium/...AS_20181106092000&origin=y&catId=0&isViewCP=y

This cable is fantastic. I got this exact one too. You can buy it in single ended or balanced which is shown here. Don't cost too much either. If you wait till 11/11 you can shave off a bit for these too.

 

[WilliamLeonhart]

Burn-in is real and you can measure it, now will the differences be enough to notice in every headphone? No... but there is another part of burn-in, the psychological, takes time for you to get used to the headphone, to understand all it's details and how capable it is I think this is even more present for the HD650. Spend a good time with it and when not using let it play some stuff.

Took me little more than 2 weeks to really notice the areas where the HD58X was superior to the SHP9500

This video shows how much can it change with burn in, but this headphone is known to change, so it won't be so crazy for a Sennheiser I think

For normal usage I think it’d be hard to notice the change because if you listen for 2 hours a day, 200 hours would be 100 days = more than 3 months. If anything it would be similar to watching a puppy grow up. It won’t be a daily noticeable change, instead more like “but 3 months ago...”
IME Grados are consistently subject to burn-in - I have never met a pair that didn’t. My HD6XX maybe went through some burn in, as for the HD58X I’m not sure

 

[koover]

Well I must disagree with your disagreement. We're on the same page. I was just trying to generally suggest not damaging the headphones, however loud that might be.

Well I’ll have to disagree with your disagreement of my disagreement. Lol.
I had too.
It’s all good man.

 

[Techy1210]

I'd also suggest trying both headphones on different systems if possible since both react to different amp designs (OTL, SET, etc) differently. For me the HD650/6XX sounds best on a OTL amp while the HD58X sounds best on a hybrid or neutral/bright SS.

The only headphone amps I own are the Magni 3 I bought a few weeks ago while waiting on my 58X's to arrive, and a Fiio E17. Really happy with the Magni so far, as not only does it go with my new headphones quite well, but it has brought new life to my old pair of DT 990 Pro's, which I've always felt needed a little more power than the E17 could give.

I do plan on getting a tube amp at some point, so maybe I'll keep hold of the 6XX's at least until then.
Any suggestions for a decent tube amp that wouldn't hurt my pocket too much? Maybe around £100-£150 or cheaper?
Perhaps I should go for a Vali 2 to stack with my Magni?

Burn-in is real and you can measure it, now will the differences be enough to notice in every headphone? No... but there is another part of burn-in, the psychological, takes time for you to get used to the headphone, to understand all it's details and how capable it is I think this is even more present for the HD650. Spend a good time with it and when not using let it play some stuff.

Took me little more than 2 weeks to really notice the areas where the HD58X was superior to the SHP9500

This video shows how much can it change with burn in, but this headphone is known to change, so it won't be so crazy for a Sennheiser I think

Thanks for the advice and video explanation.

I certainly am going to give it every chance to see what differences I can hear before deciding whether to part with one of them.
Although I said I didn't hear much of a difference, that's not to say I didn't hear any at all, I did. There were some I noticed quite quickly, such as the bass not being quite as punchy as the 58X's (yet still more present than I expected, which I was pleased about), and also, to me at least, the soundstage sounded narrower.
However, one of the selling points to me for buying this headphone was reading about the 'magical mids', and I found it difficult to separate both headphones in this area in the brief time I've spent with them.

As much as I'm going to give these headphones time, I also don't want to fall into the trap that @Jaywalk3r mentioned previously, where I convince myself I hear more of a difference than I really do..

For normal usage I think it’d be hard to notice the change because if you listen for 2 hours a day, 200 hours would be 100 days = more than 3 months. If anything it would be similar to watching a puppy grow up. It won’t be a daily noticeable change, instead more like “but 3 months ago...”
IME Grados are consistently subject to burn-in - I have never met a pair that didn’t. My HD6XX maybe went through some burn in, as for the HD58X I’m not sure

I had the exact same thought on this earlier.
For example, I've had my DT 990's for over 2 years, but I've never really noticed any difference with them in that time, but if the change is very gradual, then I'm not going to notice it anyway...

 

[tolis626]

I bought a nice cable « NewFantasia » on Amazon. I paid 20$ more or less. It’s a 1.2m câble with mic + remote, fully compatible with 600 series Sennheiser headphones such as my HD58x. Therefore I now use this câble with my HD58x and my iPhone. I may listen to music, use the remote on the cable and even answer call with the microphone on the remote/câble. Best purchase for the HD58x if you want to use it as a portable headphone...

Yeah, I know which cable you mean. Sadly, these aren't available (as far as I know) in Europe, and ordering from the US would defeat the purpose of searching for something affordable. Might as well go all out at that point. But thanks for the suggestion!

This cable is fantastic. I got this exact one too. You can buy it in single ended or balanced which is shown here. Don't cost too much either. If you wait till 11/11 you can shave off a bit for these too.

Yeah, I saw this before I posted here. It looks gorgeous. But even with the 11.11 savings, it's still like 30-40€, which is more than I'd like to spend. But I do like it too much to just pass. I dunno, I'm getting itchy here.

 

[spacequeen7]

^^ I received this cable few months ago ,it's very flexible but only 4 feet long ,noisy when twisted or in contact with clothes,I think balanced replacement is a better choice