[Larryonfire]

 

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/siemonsen/

I used last weekend to make a little dogfight between the new and closed full-size Shure SRH 940 top of the line studio monitor and the open, laidback  sounding classicSennheiser HD 650.  The Shure is an 42 Ohm can, which means it´s more easy to drive on your Ipod, than the 300 Ohm Sennheiser, that needs a good amplifier to sing the best. They both cost around 300 euro in my region.

Shure SRH 940 comes in a suitcase generously equipped with accessories and I would call it a very flexible headphone. You get an extra set of velour pads, 2 different cables to chose from, adapter jack and SRH 940 can be folded together. The Sennheiser HD 650 only comes with an adapter for minijack and can not be folded. I think that other headphonemanufacturers can learn a lot from Shure, when they bring out new cans in that pricerange. You feel like Shure cares about your needs and not just want to rip of your wallet.

The test between Shure SRH 940 and Sennheiser HD 650 was exciting to make and has clearly changed my view on what an analytic closed headphone has to offer. With the Shure SRH 940, you get a great, honest and revealing headphone. The downside is that it exposes any weakness in your music or system. If there is noise or compression in the music, SRH 940 will show it to you. My setup did certainly not pass that test with flying colors, because my Musical Fidelity X-Can V8P headamplifier is kind of noisy, which I was not aware. I live happily in the dark with HD 650, but on the other hand, I´m missing out on details and vocal delights in the music. If you consider the Shure SRH 940, you must ask yourself, can my system bare the naked truth. It´s not a huge problem when the music plays, but could be a disappointment for those, who don´t know the hole deal, when they buy the SRH 940.

I was not nearly as surprised by the beautiful vocal presentation on the Shure SRH 940, as on the fact that the soundstage on both headphones were pretty close. I would have guessed that the open back Sennheiser had a bigger advantage here. The Shure SRH 940 gives you a quick, clear and clean sound, that helps on giving a precise presentation with lots of nuances, especially in the vocal apartment. Music on the SRH 940 is upfront without being treble harsh, however, bad or compressed recordings are not to prefer on the SRH 940. The HD 650 is much more tolerant and forgiving, but slower and some would say it has a darker approach. The bass on the Shure SRH 940 is slim, tight and precise, while the bass on HD 650 has a larger and more flappy character. I can´t say I prefer one headphone over the other, it depends on my mood, time of day and the music. SRH 940 gives you lot of information from the music and is in some ways a better headphone than the Sennheiser, but it comes at a price, as I described. The HD 650 is also known to scale up very well, so plug it on a 1200 euro headamplifier and it will sing like no tomorrow. So in some ways my test is inclusive, but the basic differences still stands.

To sum it all up, with the Sennheiser HD 650 you get a smooth and laid back brother, while you with Shure SRH 940 gets the feeling of sitting in the studio and help producing the music. Both things are good and my recommendation is that you buy, at least two different types of headphones to switch between. And I say at least.

 

[bcasey25raptor]

Thanks for the impressions. It further solidifies my interest in the srh940. I am going to get these when i get the funds no exceptions.

 

[crinacle]

Another review praising the 940's detail.
 
At Black Friday, you shall be mine.

 

[DefQon]

Closed vs Open, Dark yet similar neutral sound signature vs Somewhat neutral with a slight forward mid thump and lightly warmish sound signature. Also the stock cables on the HD650 is rubbish (my opinion no need for attacks), get some slightly better ones like the Cardas cables or a custom made one using grade silver wiring and end plugs + pair up an amp like one of the Creek Audio's and you would find the HD650 almost perfect in everway. Personally out of the SRH range from Shure, 440, 840 and 940, I found the 440 to be best sound for value, with the 840's coming in second and lastly the 940 which I found could not separate some of the instrumentations in some of the music I had. Nonetheless good observations.
 
EDIT: As you also mentioned, the HD650's do scale up very well when paired up with "the perfect" amp, I find them almost as finicky with amp's as the Beyer's DT990 600ohm version.

 

[MacedonianHero]

IMO, there was no fight....it was a massacre. The HD650s have better bass (not that's hard over the bass AWOL SRH940s), better more organic mids and treble that doesn't pierce your eardrums.
 
Soundstaging...not even close, but then again, its an open vs. closed headphone.
 
My two cents of course....

 

[Larryonfire]

Well MacedonianHero, I see you have all the heavy artillery a man can dream of. But in my midprice system, the test was quite accurate. Your 2000 $ Woo Audio WA22 headamp would give another result than my 500$ X-Can V8P did. So I don´t think you are totally fair in that justment. I agree with those who thinks, that the SRH 940 is praised too much to the sky right now, but in this pricelevel I liked what I heard. I tried in my review to look at what synergy different music, system and cans made, and from that draw some conclusions, that was not just a happy go lucky recommendation. Just my one cent

.       

 

[NinjaSquirt]

Quote:

IMO, there was no fight....it was a massacre. The HD650s have better bass (not that's hard over the bass AWOL SRH940s), better more organic mids and treble that doesn't pierce your eardrums.
 
Soundstaging...not even close, but then again, its an open vs. closed headphone.
 
My two cents of course....

I have to agree, although I love Shure for their universal IEMs (Westone 4s are better but modular cables for Shures sold me). I can't say the Shure SRH940 are in the same league as the Senn HD650, and I'm not a fan of the Senn HD650s either. It's a classic example of a headphone that tries to do more with less quality. Sure, the Shure SRH940s had better high extensions but it sounded completely lifeless and even then, it wasn't the full range you could hear on higher end headphones. Another thing is the artificially unimpactful bass which frankly most could do with the same priced AKG K702s which has a larger sound stage, better instrument seperation, detail, about the same mids and just about the same bass.
 
Although I didn't like the sound signature of the HD650 much at all, I have to say it did just a few things, but it did them well (i.e. bass and mids).

 

[electropop]

The bass from the HD650/600 is not very precise. I don't see how it could be "better", since many even less expensive cans "blow them out of the water". I don't recall Jaco being a "one-note man"

 

[germe83]

I love the photo taken at the beginning of the post. It looks like the two headphones are mating.

 

[MacedonianHero]

Quote:

Well MacedonianHero, I see you have all the heavy artillery a man can dream of. But in my midprice system, the test was quite accurate. Your 2000 $ Woo Audio WA22 headamp would give another result than my 500$ X-Can V8P did. So I don´t think you are totally fair in that justment. I agree with those who thinks, that the SRH 940 is praised too much to the sky right now, but in this pricelevel I liked what I heard. I tried in my review to look at what synergy different music, system and cans made, and from that draw some conclusions, that was not just a happy go lucky recommendation. Just my one cent

.       

FWIW....I owned my WA22 after I owned my HD650s. My A-B comparisons with the HD650s and SRH940s were out of a Peachtree Nova.

 

[Brooko]

I actually think a fairer comparison would be the SRH940 vs the HD600 - as the HD600 is not quite as dark.
 
But even on my extremely modest system, I'm totally with Peter - the HD600 slays them in almost every possible way.  The HD600 are at least realistic sounding - somthing I found that the SRH940's definitely weren't.

 

[MacedonianHero]

Quote:

I actually think a fairer comparison would be the SRH940 vs the HD600 - as the HD600 is not quite as dark.
 
But even on my extremely modest system, I'm totally with Peter - the HD600 slays them in almost every possible way.  The HD600 are at least realistic sounding - somthing I found that the SRH940's definitely weren't.

I wouldn't say it was fair...I'd take the HD600s any day of the week over the SRH940s UNLESS you needed a closed headphone.

 

[Brooko]

 
Quote:

I wouldn't say it was fair...I'd take the HD600s any day of the week over the SRH940s UNLESS you needed a closed headphone.

 

[milosolo]

I don't think you necessarily need a $2000 amp to bring the best out of the HD650. My $450 Lyr works just fine. 

 

[IMAWolf]

Quote:

I love the photo taken at the beginning of the post. It looks like the two headphones are mating.

Just when i thought i've seen the worst of Head-Fi......