[BobSaysHi]

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Oh my. That poor HD650. What do you have in store for it Bob?

It's a franken650 (HD650 drivers in an HD580 body) so the ugly plastic that's on the HD580 was still on them. I did take out the foam thing covering the back of the driver, but I didn't hear a difference. Taking out the front foam thing did a hell of a lot, though. They sound much better without all that stuff between the driver and your ear.

 

[olor1n]

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Oh my. That poor HD650. What do you have in store for it Bob?

It's a franken650 (HD650 drivers in an HD580 body) so the ugly plastic that's on the HD580 was still on them. I did take out the foam thing covering the back of the driver, but I didn't hear a difference. Taking out the front foam thing did a hell of a lot, though. They sound much better without all that stuff between the driver and your ear.

Do you know which HD650 driver you have? I have a new HD650 and I find removing the front foam gives it a hollow metallic quality. All a matter of preference of course but I don't think removing the foam is necessary for these newer "less veiled" drivers.

 

[jasonb]

i'm a fanboy? i'm now i'm a huge fan, but a fanboy?
 
what i do know is that the HD650 paired with my HeadRoom amp is perfect for my tastes. i like them a whole lot.
 
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LOL! Don't try to hide Jason. Everyone knows you're one of the biggest HD650 fanboys on Head-Fi!

 

[olor1n]

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i'm a fanboy? i'm now i'm a huge fan, but a fanboy?
 
what i do know is that the HD650 paired with my HeadRoom amp is perfect for my tastes. i like them a whole lot.
 
Quote:

LOL! Don't try to hide Jason. Everyone knows you're one of the biggest HD650 fanboys on Head-Fi!

 

 
Me too! High five!
 

 

[BobSaysHi]

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Quote:

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Oh my. That poor HD650. What do you have in store for it Bob?

It's a franken650 (HD650 drivers in an HD580 body) so the ugly plastic that's on the HD580 was still on them. I did take out the foam thing covering the back of the driver, but I didn't hear a difference. Taking out the front foam thing did a hell of a lot, though. They sound much better without all that stuff between the driver and your ear.

Do you know which HD650 driver you have? I have a new HD650 and I find removing the front foam gives it a hollow metallic quality. All a matter of preference of course but I don't think removing the foam is necessary for these newer "less veiled" drivers.

Well, I bought them without the front foam, but when I had my first pair of HD650s, I preferred the sound without the foam the same. Besides that, the mod is completely reversible, so if you don't like it, you could just put them back in. I have the new drivers.

 

[olor1n]

 
Yeah I only gave it a brief listen. I may give it another go. My concern would be of particles getting in and affecting the drivers (sort of like the infamous Grado grattle when hair gets on the driver).

 

[BobSaysHi]

Quote:

 
Yeah I only gave it a brief listen. I may give it another go. My concern would be of particles getting in and affecting the drivers (sort of like the infamous Grado grattle when hair gets on the driver).

I wouldn't worry about it, but if you like the sound w/o the foam, you could get a pair of pantyhose and cut them to cover the hole over the speaker cone.

 

[olor1n]

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll look into it.
 
What made you decide to get the HD650 again?

 

[BobSaysHi]

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Thanks for the suggestion. I'll look into it.
 
What made you decide to get the HD650 again?

I never should have sold them in the first place. I got my first pair brand spankin' new for $240. However, my monitor died, so I needed funds and I sold my HD650s. I wish I'd sold something else instead.

 

[sphinxvc]

@olor1n
 
I do have them plugged in properly!  That would be silly, haha.  The FLAC files definitely help the issues I mentioned before.  I'm not sure if it's burn in or what but I'm not noticing as much lacking as I first did.  If they can do In Utero well that's good enough for me.  I just switched back to War Pigs by Black Sabbath, and there's better separation now.  
 
I'm using the Earth op-amp for now.  I guess it was either the op-amp or the brand new 650 drivers burning in earlier.  Or my ears?  Any which way, I don't care, after today's jam session I know one thing - everything has been worth every penny so far.
 
I remember you posted something about liking Rihanna on the 650s a few pages back, well I've got one for you (a new low?) - Little Wayne - A Millie - The Carter III
 
1 reason: I've never heard bass that low.  
 
@jason
 
I'll be checking out Depeche Mode - any other artists/songs that were just rid-ic-ulous on the 650s for you?

 

[jasonb]

Massive Attack would be a good group to check out. Mezzanine is probably their most popular album. lots of layering on top of more layers, then some more.
 
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@jason
 
I'll be checking out Depeche Mode - any other artists/songs that were just rid-ic-ulous on the 650s for you?

 

[olor1n]

Quote:

@olor1n
 
I do have them plugged in properly!  That would be silly, haha.  The FLAC files definitely help the issues I mentioned before.  I'm not sure if it's burn in or what but I'm not noticing as much lacking as I first did.  If they can do In Utero well that's good enough for me.  I just switched back to War Pigs by Black Sabbath, and there's better separation now.  
 
I'm using the Earth op-amp for now.  I guess it was either the op-amp or the brand new 650 drivers burning in earlier.  Or my ears?  Any which way, I don't care, after today's jam session I know one thing - everything has been worth every penny so far.
 
I remember you posted something about liking Rihanna on the 650s a few pages back, well I've got one for you (a new low?) - Little Wayne - A Millie - The Carter III
 
1 reason: I've never heard bass that low.  
 
@jason
 
I'll be checking out Depeche Mode - any other artists/songs that were just rid-ic-ulous on the 650s for you?

Like I said, I laughed at that guy until I found one of my adapters didn't fit properly either. I'm glad you're adjusting to the sound. I look forward to your impressions of a properly burned in Moon. It may just blow your mind.
 
Diana Krall - Live in Paris is the most ridiculously transparent album, Exile on Main St. is just indescribable and Big Boi's Sir Luscious is epic. The Fun is quiet revealing but so is the HD650. Great recordings will sound amazing through your setup but bad recordings will also sound crap (brickwalled stuff like Kanye and Cudi).

 

[jasonb]

not really my style, but i can't deny how good it sounds. very good recording.
 
Quote:

Like I said, I laughed at that guy until I found one of my adapters didn't fit properly either. I'm glad you're adjusting to the sound. I look forward to your impressions of a properly burned in Moon. It may just blow your mind.
 
Diana Krall - Live in Paris is the most ridiculously transparent album, Exile on Main St. is just indescribable and Big Boi's Sir Luscious is epic. The Fun is quiet revealing but so is the HD650. Great recordings will sound amazing through your setup but bad recordings will also sound crap (brickwalled stuff like Kanye and Cudi).

 

[sphinxvc]

The Diana Krall album is just transcendental.   The level of clarity and details are just a good step above anything else in my flac collection, now why is that?  Is it because it's 96 khz while 90% of my other music is 44 khz?  I have some Michael Jackson and Beatles 96 khz songs and they aren't as good.  
 
Another thing, this is the only album where I have to push the volume pot to 12 o'clock.  Same for you olor1n?  Every other album I'm between 9-10 for casual listening, & 11 for hyped / rock-out stuff.
 
Checked out Depeche Mode, pretty sweet.  Wish there was some online music store where I could buy flac track by track so I could listen to my old favorite mp3s without having to buy the cds.  It's such a drag looking for someting in flac.    
 
Most of my mp3s sound brickwalled.
 
Edit:  By the way, what do you all use to rip CDs?  I thought flac was lossless period, yet when I tell my computer to convert CDs to flac it asks what level of compression I want and I have choices between 0 and 10 - when I choose 0 I get an option called "Enable mid-side coding for stereo input" unchecked off.  5 is default.  Ripping a Paul Weller cd now with 0 level compression and my 2.0ghz intel dual core is taking about 10 minutes converting each track to flac!  (I'm using a software called Max but I imagine the flac compression would be universal.)

 

[olor1n]

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The Diana Krall album is just transcendental.   The level of clarity and details are just a good step above anything else in my flac collection, now why is that?  Is it because it's 96 khz while 90% of my other music is 44 khz?  I have some Michael Jackson and Beatles 96 khz songs and they aren't as good.  
 
Another thing, this is the only album where I have to push the volume pot to 12 o'clock.  Same for you olor1n?  Every other album I'm between 9-10 for casual listening, & 11 for hyped / rock-out stuff.
 
Checked out Depeche Mode, pretty sweet.  Wish there was some online music store where I could buy flac track by track so I could listen to my old favorite mp3s without having to buy the cds.  It's such a drag looking for someting in flac.    
 
Most of my mp3s sound brickwalled.
 
Edit:  By the way, what do you all use to rip CDs?  I thought flac was lossless period, yet when I tell my computer to convert CDs to flac it asks what level of compression I want and I have choices between 0 and 10 - when I choose 0 I get an option called "Enable mid-side coding for stereo input" unchecked off.  5 is default.  Ripping a Paul Weller cd now with 0 level compression and my 2.0ghz intel dual core is taking about 10 minutes converting each track to flac!  (I'm using a software called Max but I imagine the flac compression would be universal.)

I usually listen at moderate levels so the volume dial on high gain is pretty much set at 9 o'clock, 10 if I feel like "cranking" it. 12 o'clock is crazy loud. How do you have your Fun connected? I use optical out of my MacBook so I get line level output. If you use usb I'd suggest you check that volume on your mac is set to maximum if it isn't line level. Also, make sure you have your Utilities>Audio Midi Setup configured to match your best quality flac ie 94khz, 24bit (quit itunes entirely before changing these settings).
 
Lastly, flac is a lossless format. The only thing you're changing with those settings is the output file size (which requires more grunt to achieve smaller sizes), but the quality is unchanged.