[wrecked_porsche]

Hello my fellow Head-Fiers, I have a very quick, simple and precise question for you guys that currently have both the HD650 and HD600.

Which one has more details and better instrument separation?

[size=xx-small]*Assume proper amplification is available and [size=x-small]stock single ended cable[/size] is used.[/size]

Feel free to post a comment in the thread too if you want.

Please vote only if you have both these cans or have heard them side by side, otherwise just view the poll results, don't simply vote just for the heck of it and skew the poll results. Please.

Thank you for observing this simple request of mine.

 

[Tarkovsky]

I own a pair of HD600s, and having never heard the HD650s, I'm not much of an authority, but word of thread is that the HD600s do a better job of accurately reproducing the signal as the 650s are warmer. It depends on what you mean by detail, and all the following is presumed, but I''d bet that you'd get more instrument separation on the HD600s w/ a cable upgrade than the 650s w/o.

 

[wrecked_porsche]

Thanks for the input Tarkovsky, I appreciate it.

Cable upgrade will only come if(more like when

) I decide to go balanced further down the road. Otherwise, I'm sticking to the stock single ended cable for now.

When I say "detail" I mean how much of instruments and details you can pick up in a given song.

When I say separation, I mean how easy it would be for me to single out a single instrument of my choice and follow it throughout the song. Some headphones have sufficient detail, but everything sounds chaotic, sounds like a wall of sound, you can hear everything but its all happening at the same time, its chaos.

So, what I'm trying to say is, which of these two headphones will present me with as much detail as possible while allowing me to clearly distinguish one instrument over the other. I want the layers to be clearly defined and I want to be able to pick out any instrument of my choice and follow it.

In my Darths, there is detail, but its being presented to me all at once, its messy.

FWIW, I've done tons of reading regarding the neutrality of the HD600 and warmness of the HD650. I'm not concerned with all of that, and I do not wish to discuss that, I'd be fine with either, the only important thing to me is details and separation.

 

[gallardo88]

WP, I guess we're in the same situation...

 

[milkpowder]

It's easier to perceive fine details from the HD600 because of its frequency response but I actually think the HD650 is more detailed. Can't help much more since I've never compared both directly.

 

[iancraig10]

The detail is still there with the 650's. A timbre change is the most noticeable thing about them in comparison to the 600's but I still use my 650's more than the 600's.

I like the way that the 650 reproduces cymbal sounds. On good recordings, you don't just hear the splash but the underlying pitch of the cymbal itself. (like a gong). That's something that I hear live and close up in music making which many headphones make a pigs ear of!!

Ian

 

[Gurra1980]

To my ears the hd650 did loose some detail in the highs, this was not the case with hd600, in the other freq I did not notice any difference, HD650 had more bass but I don't think I heard more details there. HD650 was the only headphone that I could not hear any noise with in my x-can it was easy to hear with others, the problems with the x-can caused hi frequency noise.

 

[wrecked_porsche]

Ok, so what most of you guys are saying is that they have roughly the same amount of details; so, how about separation like I described in my previous post then?

@gallardo88, tough eh? Let me know when you've decided.

 

[Zorander]

They have about the same level of detail resolution. Personally, I prefer the HD-650 which is so smooth-sounding (the HD-600, to me, is comparatively grainy) and delivers musical messages much better.

Cheers!

 

[pabbi1]

I prefer the HD600, and have long used them with a variety of cables and amps, so I know them well. But, the sad thing is I cannot detect this 'smoothness' and extra bass everyone attributes to the 650 - I have a REAL hard time telling the difference, save that extra grit / traction of the 600.

 

[kamal007]

to my ears, the only difference between hd600 and hd650 is the hd650 is abit warmer than the hd600

 

[wrecked_porsche]

Oh no... the poll results are split almost 50-50...

Thank you to all of you who voted or posted your thoughts in this thread. I guess I can't go wrong with either one of the HD6xx....

I've heard the HD580 with stock cable + HD600 grills, I liked it somewhat.

Just to give you guys a rough idea/background, I have the closed Darths V3 to cover bass heavy music such as dance music ('80s cheesy dance music rocks!) and live rock concerts.

I listen mostly to chill out music(Buddha bar) and jazz(Norah Jones + Diana Krall) and trance (Armin Van Buuren)

I'm looking for a headphone that is somewhat on middle ground. I have plans to get the 2005 DT880 600 ohm(heard 250 ohm version, LOVED it) or AD2k(thanks to Elephas; I think this is TEH headphone I've been searching for!) to cover the trebles/ultra details somewhere in the distant future. But that is a story best saved for a different time.

Darths = bass heavy music
HD6xx = middle ground
AD2k or DT8880 '05 = the nice sparkly stuff

So, I hope you guys have a rough idea for what I'm looking for between the two HD6xx cans. I'm pretty much set on getting a HD6xx, reason is my dad's friend might be going to Kong Kong soon, I heard that Senns are cheap there.

I'm just hoping that the HD650's don't mush up the details like my Darths. That way, I'll end up with redundant cans, bass heavy and fun but lacking detail somewhat and not much separation...

For that reason alone I'm leaning towards the HD600, I have a feeling the brighter sound might give the impression of more details and separation? That way the HD600 will serve its purpose as the "middle ground" headphone for me.

 

[Zorander]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wrecked_porsche /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm just hoping that the HD650's don't mush up the details like my Darths. That way, I'll end up with redundant cans, bass heavy and fun but lacking detail somewhat and not much separation...

It really depends on the upstream equipments you will be using. The HD-650s are immensely revealing of the quality of the gears it is playing with. Pair it with lousy gears and it will sound lousy. Pair it with good stuff and it will be diamond to your ears.

Few other headphones IME can reveal such stark difference between different gears.

Cheers!

 

[wrecked_porsche]

Did you vote yet? I'm guessing you'd pick the HD650?
Current upstream equipment is the iBasso D1 dac with D1 amp or microshar u107 amp. Its only temporary.

I see myself owning the Meier Opera in about 2~3 years time. Busy saving up.

All good things come to those who wait, and I'm in it for the long haul.

Regarding the HD650 revealing of the quality of the gear, I must say I notice and can tell changes in sound with my Darth Beyers when I use either pure silver interconnects or pure copper interconnects. Synergy with amps also play a huge role.

So, yeah, I agree, the slightest change in upstream equipment makes a difference to how a headphone sounds.

Oh yeah, pls vote!

And thank you!

 

[Zorander]

With regard to your poll question, my answer was that both are similar enough in those regards. The poll options only allow answering for either phone, so I can't really vote.

But if you asked me what my personal preference is, it's quite obviously the HD-650.

Cheers!