Heliosonic
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jun 9, 2011
- Posts
- 12
- Likes
- 10
Hello Head-Fi community!
As you can probably see from my account, I'm brand new to this site.
I have been saving up some money to buy a headphone set-up because I figured it would be a waste to spend money on a stereo speaker system when I'm going to move out in a year or so and probably end up in some cramped 3x4 student room
So after visiting my local hi-fi shop where I was generously given the time to listen to the:
-Senn Hd650, 600, 598,
-Denon AH-D2000
-Beyerdynamic DT 880, DT990
(yes....a glaring hole in this list is AKG but sadly I have not had the chance to listen to their headphones except for a 601 or something that was poorly amplified with a horrible sound source (THANKS TO THE MEDIAMARKT! -____-' ) And besides that, I figured the 701 will be way too hard to amp since I've heard it's harder to drive then the HD 650)
Both unamplified (straight out of the jack of a Marantz cd player...forgot which one but whatever, it was around 700 euros so it was probably all right ;D) and amplified by a musicalfidelity amp (same...sorry, should've written that down). I was thoroughly surprised by the HD 650. Although I really liked the Denon headphone as well. The HD 650 just gave me more satisfaction and sounded a lot smoother and (probably) less exhaustive for my ears. It was also nice to hear how scalable the HD 650 was, when I connected it some other amps.
Anyway, I want to buy this headphone. However, I have a few questions:
-I heard there is a new and an old version of the HD 650? How can I identify the new from old? I heard it has to do with white foam inside or something and I've heard about how foam mods can improve audio quality so I'm curious to hear more about this.
-Amps amps amps. What amp? Because I intend to use my laptop/PC/mp3player/Cowon/Ipod etc. as source, I was thinking about saving money for a Nuforce Icon HD or HDP. (though....since I'm purely looking for a headphone setup I'm probably going for the HD)
Is this a good choice? If not, what are good alternatives? Lastly, a friend of mine advised me to look into Audio GD but, I live in The Netherlands and have absolutely no experience with importing from Asian countries. I also had problems with finding out if there are any hidden taxes, import fees etc etc that I should look out for.
-How come there are such huge price differences between online shops? I've seen HD 650's ranging from 290-450 euros!
Does this have to do with the old and new version? Should I be cautious? I think I'm going to buy them at Megapool because they have a good price but, also because I have been told that they have an official Sennheiser retailer license which would make it easier when something goes wrong and I need to use my warranty/return the headphones.
Wall of text....check! Well, I was told that head-fi is a very serious community so yeah....I tried to make my first post ever count as much as possible
MANY THANKS IN ADVANCE!
Please feel free to post any info or advise on factors that I might have forgot to think about and of course I'm also open to hear about alternatives. (let's just say that 400euros max for headphone, 500 for amp)
As you can probably see from my account, I'm brand new to this site.
I have been saving up some money to buy a headphone set-up because I figured it would be a waste to spend money on a stereo speaker system when I'm going to move out in a year or so and probably end up in some cramped 3x4 student room
So after visiting my local hi-fi shop where I was generously given the time to listen to the:
-Senn Hd650, 600, 598,
-Denon AH-D2000
-Beyerdynamic DT 880, DT990
(yes....a glaring hole in this list is AKG but sadly I have not had the chance to listen to their headphones except for a 601 or something that was poorly amplified with a horrible sound source (THANKS TO THE MEDIAMARKT! -____-' ) And besides that, I figured the 701 will be way too hard to amp since I've heard it's harder to drive then the HD 650)
Both unamplified (straight out of the jack of a Marantz cd player...forgot which one but whatever, it was around 700 euros so it was probably all right ;D) and amplified by a musicalfidelity amp (same...sorry, should've written that down). I was thoroughly surprised by the HD 650. Although I really liked the Denon headphone as well. The HD 650 just gave me more satisfaction and sounded a lot smoother and (probably) less exhaustive for my ears. It was also nice to hear how scalable the HD 650 was, when I connected it some other amps.
Anyway, I want to buy this headphone. However, I have a few questions:
-I heard there is a new and an old version of the HD 650? How can I identify the new from old? I heard it has to do with white foam inside or something and I've heard about how foam mods can improve audio quality so I'm curious to hear more about this.
-Amps amps amps. What amp? Because I intend to use my laptop/PC/mp3player/Cowon/Ipod etc. as source, I was thinking about saving money for a Nuforce Icon HD or HDP. (though....since I'm purely looking for a headphone setup I'm probably going for the HD)
Is this a good choice? If not, what are good alternatives? Lastly, a friend of mine advised me to look into Audio GD but, I live in The Netherlands and have absolutely no experience with importing from Asian countries. I also had problems with finding out if there are any hidden taxes, import fees etc etc that I should look out for.
-How come there are such huge price differences between online shops? I've seen HD 650's ranging from 290-450 euros!
Does this have to do with the old and new version? Should I be cautious? I think I'm going to buy them at Megapool because they have a good price but, also because I have been told that they have an official Sennheiser retailer license which would make it easier when something goes wrong and I need to use my warranty/return the headphones.
Wall of text....check! Well, I was told that head-fi is a very serious community so yeah....I tried to make my first post ever count as much as possible
MANY THANKS IN ADVANCE!
Please feel free to post any info or advise on factors that I might have forgot to think about and of course I'm also open to hear about alternatives. (let's just say that 400euros max for headphone, 500 for amp)