mcygn
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jan 6, 2006
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[size=x-small]Sennheiser HD 650: veiled? burn in? replacement cables?- a first week[/size]
Having read alot about the wonders of the hd650 in this forum, i tried a set at a local shop: they let me hear detail via a musical fidelity dac hooked up to a decent cd player (an x-ray, in the shop) and that to an x-can v3 that my existing closed back studio phones - which i enjoy tremendously - seemingly did not.
So i have had a brand new set of 650's for 5 days.
First Week's Impressions
So far, they have been a disappointment: now i know what posters here mean about a "veil" over the sound. There's a kind of thickness that is a surprise. Not muddied but muffled-ish. I've noticed this particularly with female vocals, but also with orchestral work. Where solo strings can rip through very nicely, there is a murk when the full orchestra kicks in. French horn sections sound like they have cotton batting in them. I was expecting something fast, tight, distinct, throughout the spectrum.
Burn In?
The headphones have been left on with symphonies pumping through them for the past 5 days - so they're past the 100 hour mark, and yet the thickness remains.
First question is: what is the burn in time for these phones?
Second question: does this veil go away after that point, or is it a constant "feature" of these phones?
Third party cables
Of the reviews on this site of the 650s, more than a few mention using the phones with third party cables like the silver dragon or zu mobius.
Indeed, one of the richest reviews makes it clear that the phones were NOT reviewed with the stock cable:
jude's at http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showt...threadid=48059
There is also considerable interest in replacement cables:
http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showt...ser+650+cables
http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showt...ser+650+cables
Such reviews on cables suggest that they are one way to address the veil problem, but is it really so bad that a $495 set of headphones requires an additional outlay of $100-200 to pull the sponges out? That's a crass way of putting it, isn't it, but perhaps you know what i mean?
So Far
So while i like what i'm hearing in many respects, there's simultaneously a murkiness or cotton batten-ness that i wasn't expecting, and find disappointing - so far.
I'm hoping that another hundred hours will rectify this, but i'm not sure, from what i've heard in this forum, that that will be the case; that a costly cable upgrade may be the only solution?
Looking forward to replies/experiences of people with hd650's...
points i'd like to hear about:
burn in time: how long? changes to expect?
only replacement cables as a solution to pull the orchestra and horns out of the mud?
or after an approriate burn in time, life will be sweet again and replacement cables only sweeter still?
bonus question: how take the ear pads off (without damaging the phones)?
Thank you for yoru time
mcygn
system:
musical fidelity
version 3s of
x-psu driving an x-dac, x-10 buffer, into x-can
Having read alot about the wonders of the hd650 in this forum, i tried a set at a local shop: they let me hear detail via a musical fidelity dac hooked up to a decent cd player (an x-ray, in the shop) and that to an x-can v3 that my existing closed back studio phones - which i enjoy tremendously - seemingly did not.
So i have had a brand new set of 650's for 5 days.
First Week's Impressions
So far, they have been a disappointment: now i know what posters here mean about a "veil" over the sound. There's a kind of thickness that is a surprise. Not muddied but muffled-ish. I've noticed this particularly with female vocals, but also with orchestral work. Where solo strings can rip through very nicely, there is a murk when the full orchestra kicks in. French horn sections sound like they have cotton batting in them. I was expecting something fast, tight, distinct, throughout the spectrum.
Burn In?
The headphones have been left on with symphonies pumping through them for the past 5 days - so they're past the 100 hour mark, and yet the thickness remains.
First question is: what is the burn in time for these phones?
Second question: does this veil go away after that point, or is it a constant "feature" of these phones?
Third party cables
Of the reviews on this site of the 650s, more than a few mention using the phones with third party cables like the silver dragon or zu mobius.
Indeed, one of the richest reviews makes it clear that the phones were NOT reviewed with the stock cable:
jude's at http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showt...threadid=48059
There is also considerable interest in replacement cables:
http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showt...ser+650+cables
http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showt...ser+650+cables
Such reviews on cables suggest that they are one way to address the veil problem, but is it really so bad that a $495 set of headphones requires an additional outlay of $100-200 to pull the sponges out? That's a crass way of putting it, isn't it, but perhaps you know what i mean?
So Far
So while i like what i'm hearing in many respects, there's simultaneously a murkiness or cotton batten-ness that i wasn't expecting, and find disappointing - so far.
I'm hoping that another hundred hours will rectify this, but i'm not sure, from what i've heard in this forum, that that will be the case; that a costly cable upgrade may be the only solution?
Looking forward to replies/experiences of people with hd650's...
points i'd like to hear about:
burn in time: how long? changes to expect?
only replacement cables as a solution to pull the orchestra and horns out of the mud?
or after an approriate burn in time, life will be sweet again and replacement cables only sweeter still?
bonus question: how take the ear pads off (without damaging the phones)?
Thank you for yoru time
mcygn
system:
musical fidelity
version 3s of
x-psu driving an x-dac, x-10 buffer, into x-can