Sennheiser HD250 Linear Impressions Micro-Thread
Oct 11, 2021 at 6:59 PM Post #391 of 543
I've had the same problem when I got my first HD250 pair, had absolute no bass at all.
After some research, one guy that knows a sennheiser's engineer, he said that HD400 foam is the closest to the part 13.
I purchased and used the HD400 foam as an inner foam, the opening towards the ear and the closed side towards the driver, hooked up ZMF universe pads and whoola, best bass I've ever heard and my most favorite headphone of all time.
Here is the HD 400 quote from page 13 of this thread...
 
Oct 26, 2021 at 12:37 PM Post #393 of 543
Well, I finally got them balanced and sounding incredible, and them the right driver starts doing strange things! It sounds like a sympathetic resonance (especially on acoustic bass and low piano notes). Very annoying, verging on unlistenable! I’ve had a look at the driver: there don’t appear to be any hairs in there, but there is some black residue (maybe from an old disintegrated foam disc?).

Any ideas as to what the problem could be? Am I looking for a new pair of HD250s? 🙁

Here is the offending driver:
B5FC1AAD-DB32-4F75-A525-46262FA793B3.jpeg
Imho there are hairs somewhere under the white mesh, when i opened mine (bought used) there were so many one could not believe they went over foam and white mesh
 
Nov 17, 2021 at 1:02 PM Post #394 of 543
@Ophidian would be good to hear how your 540s are similar and different than the 250.
Well, after years spent with both headphones I finally have the answer. Hd540 are more consumer oriented, nearly home use headphonee ( hd560 is much more emphasized to the fun side of things). Hd580 and later hd600 sits somewhere between the referential beauty of hd540 and between the more fun and less serious hd560. It is less lush than hd580, but more serious airy and beautiful. On the other side, hd250 linear is not anyhow related to the classic consumer home use, it was not made for enjoyment. And that is why I enjoy it even more than hd540: because it is more real, linearily tuned, it is even less trying to be "nice" than hd540, that is in the same way trying to be less nice than later hd580 and hd600. Hd250 linear is even more close to the real thing. It is very enjoyble. It is not adding anything to the music, it just plays it greatly and very very clearly and deeply like if you were there. Best headphone. The space and positiong is little less exagerrated (less large) than with hd540, but the tonality and music presentation is more natural, super clear and completely true to the source. It is the best headphone I know. I have dt48, akg240df(i prefer it to sextet a lot) hd540, 545, 560 ovation (I prefer ovation ii over ovation I), 565, 250 (i much prefer linear 1 over linear 2), 265 etc. All of these are good, well Dt48 is not everyone's cup of tee. But linear1 is outstanding. Yes hd540 is great for movies, music etc, but Linear1 is just more for a true live accoustical music performance enjoyment (think sitar, small ansambles, only human voice.. It renders all beautifully)

edited typos and added more praise :)
 
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Nov 17, 2021 at 6:15 PM Post #396 of 543
hd540 is more lush-soft, airy and silky, hd250 8s more natural and true to source.

how to return bass to your bass-lacking pads in hd250 and hd540: stick some foam into the circle around the drivers , and if you are having troubles with the pads that fall off the cup, use cleverly black electric tape from inside to attach firmly the pad into the cup. First i tried to use the black tape from outside, but I soon discovered, that tape that is used on the outside diameter of the pad changes the sound signature to plasticsound, so instead i attached it only apartly on the pad, then i used scissors, then i bended the tape so that when i push the pad into the cup itcwould stick to the inside wall of the cup and hold the pad in place. It also closes the small gap between the pad anr the cup which I believe further enhancescthe bass. Result: bass is back even with the bass lacking soft pads on hd540, and also those soft pleather pads on hd250 sound great and with right amount of bass. Do not forget - do not place black tape on the outside of the pad, it changes the sound a lot. Pad needs to breathe from inside out. Instead place it only very slightly on the pad ring, then use scissors and bend the tape and push it into the cup, and use something thin tu push the bits of the tape that do not get completely inside, inside.
 

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Nov 17, 2021 at 6:26 PM Post #397 of 543
but i think the main thing that helped is the foam

ironically best sounding pads i currently have are not original ones so I had to improvize, i think one of them was from hd560 or something similar. it has great timbre with hd540, now it also has bass :wink:. on hd250 i have probably that many times mentioned ebay soft pleather pad. or similar. sounds is very clear
 
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Nov 18, 2021 at 10:55 AM Post #398 of 543
I received the HD 540 today and after checking that that both channels worked i started to clean the thing. After removing the pads and the underlying black cover of the driver i noticed black scrumbles that were on the white background. Normally i can just remove this with a soft brush but this stuff is very sticky. I guess it's a leftover from the deteriorated black foam cover? Does anybody know a safe method to get that stuff off? I guess it has to be done with IPA ( not the beer:relaxed:) or something?
 

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Nov 18, 2021 at 12:30 PM Post #399 of 543
That’s what killed my HD250s…
 
Nov 18, 2021 at 1:45 PM Post #401 of 543
Nov 18, 2021 at 1:46 PM Post #402 of 543
I‘m not sure dunking them in a pint of Greene King would be terribly good for them, though…
 
Nov 19, 2021 at 2:13 AM Post #404 of 543
Hd250 is about true representation of the source. Clear, perfect for high quality recordings of single acoustic instruments like sitar, guitar, human voice, etc. Hd540 is more for music and movies enjoyment. It's space is bigger, airier, its presentation is less Clear and more soft and a bit lush. You can not enjoy bad recording with hd250, you can enjoy it more with hd540.

This is the type of music that hd250 excells with: Garden of Silence from Ivo Sedlacek. Especially song no.4 Lake.


It can be bought on his homepage as mp3 here http://ivosedlacek.com/en/eshop/ or as physical cd on his fabulous healing instrument webshop https://www.savitamusic.com/music-recordings . They send even flacs instead of mp3s ("If you would like to receive the ordered tracks in WAV or FLAC formats, just let us know - we will gladly send you").
 
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Nov 21, 2021 at 4:44 AM Post #405 of 543
That’s what killed my HD250s…
i am sad to say that one of the drivers of the 540 i got last week also has a rattle when is has to play a deep bass tone :sleepy: I asked for a refund of the headphones but of ofcourse the seller does not respond anymore, that *******.
On advice of fellow sufferers of this problem I removed the white mesh to look for hairs, dust, dandruff, pizza crumbles or whatever can eventually cause the rattle but everything looks fine.

do you know if the drivers of the 250 and the 540 are the same? If so i can buy the working driver of your 250 and make my pair complete again :L3000:
 
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