[Quinto]

I was listening to the early Beethoven piano sonatas by Gould yesterday (2015 remasters) on my new HD650, after setiing my gain from -12Db to -6Db on my V200 and NEVER have I enjoyed it that much..not even on my GS1000/Grace M902 combo which I loved but also gave me tinnitus..
 
Ordered balanced cable for my M11 but I could very well live with the V200 combi..
 
The other thing is I found out (I'm slow, I know..) it is not very helpful to compare headphones besides one another..(same with different classical interpretations btw).. give your brain some bloody time hehe..
 
Nice review painted klown, spot on!

 

[iancraig10]

I found some of Gould's Beethoven performances a little odd. He was so eccentric with tempos and staccato playing, that he kind of lost the romance in some of the pieces, just imo though.

Bach's a different matter with him though.

I'm a synth player and my wife plays the piano. On electric, she loves the HD650 because the ids are so good.

 

[Quinto]

I found some of Gould's Beethoven performances a little odd. He was so eccentric with tempos and staccato playing, that he kind of lost the romance in some of the pieces, just imo though.

Bach's a different matter with him though.

I'm a synth player and my wife plays the piano. On electric, she loves the HD650 because the ids are so good.

I adore his op.10,  I'm not a fan of his later Beethoven, the last three sonatas are horrible 

..

 

[iancraig10]

Yes, I agree. They are quite variable. His groaning can be off putting as well.

Pianists are an unreliable lot!!! My wife is a pianist and she agrees as well!!!!

 

[Quinto]

Yes, I agree. They are quite variable. His groaning can be off putting as well.

Pianists are an unreliable lot!!! My wife is a pianist and she agrees as well!!!!

truth

 

[timkwhite]

  I agree, you will need to step up the dac quite a big jump to get much better  than dac in the STX

 
I agree. I started with the STX and the HD650's. I was really enjoying this setup and then attended my first head-fi meetup. I then upgraded to a schiit bifrost (standard) and a valhalla 2. I first tried the valhalla 2 with the STX and immediately noticed how much more presence the whole setup had. Love the OTL designs with the 650 ( I have since listened to the BHC, Woo and a few others with the 650 and all are fantastic with their own little signature). Then I replaced the STX with the Bifrost and didn't notice much at the beginning. I do feel that after my ears and brain went through their burn in I did notice a difference.
 
Having said all that, I would definitely support your upgrade path; first the amp (a OTL if the 650's are your only HP, which i believe you stated they are) and then a multi-bit DAC. I am planning on sending my BF in for the multibit upgrade soon, if nothing more than to keep up with the new hotness, but also because I am running the original BF without the UBER, so I can skip all that nonsense and go straight to the MB revolution.
 
Good luck with your amp search!

 

[Sal1950]

Pianists are an unreliable lot!!! My wife is a pianist and she agrees as well!!!!

Well she married you didn't she?  

 

[Solrighal]

The only Glenn Gould I have is his Goldberg Variations. Not bad. Classical though so not my thing really.

 

[iancraig10]

I have that on stereo and binaural. That is his most well known work.

 

[iancraig10]

Well she married you didn't she?  

You have to remind me!!!

I'm nuts, but she's worse.

 

[Sal1950]

 
One thing I have learned about the 650 is that it has the ability to make poor recordings, poor mastering jobs, or poorly encoded files sound better. Yeah, I know they don't sound "better", but certainly more palatable IMO. Everything I played though them sounded more pleasing to the ear than my other headphones or my Bowers & Wilkins 684 tower speakers. Is that the sound of the "Sennheiser Veil"? Maybe, but I don't care, I'm enjoying the music too much!
 
To sum up this review, I think I learned a lot about myself, my music listening habits, and my taste in gear. Like most everyone on this site, I spend a lot of time reading about gear, listening to new gear when I can, and dreaming of my next upgrade. The 650 has caused me to take a "pause" from all of that. In the same order I placed for the 650, I had also ordered a Senn HD-600. The 600 was on back order, so I had the 650 in hand only. Late in the week I made the comment to my GF that she could take all of my other headphones out back and light them on fire, and I wouldn't care much as long as I had my 650 in my hand. The next day I cancelled my order for the HD-600.
 
For now, the Sennheiser HD-650 is all I need. Period.

Good job!  Took a while but sounds like you've really found the essence of the 650s
People speak of the "veil", on the 650 I respectfully disagree. To me "veil" would be a reference to missing information or info covered up. I don't find this to be the case, they are as revealing of inner detail that I could ever ask for. They do have a quality I would call euphony, in which they make some of my "not so good" sounding recordings gain a little more pleasantness but without removing any musical information. Don't know how to explain what they did, maybe it's in the tonal balance? But what I do know as you've read over and over here of people selling to upgrade only to come back and buy an new pair. Depending on taste true upgrades are hard and very expensive to come. The 650s were SOTA when released 12 years ago and have remained the can of choice for many owners ever since. I believe they will continue to please new owners for a long time into the future.

 

[Solrighal]

As soon as I first heard my HD 650's I fell in love. I pretty much gave up looking for anything better that very day. They are just so smooth. They make poor recordings tolerable but at the same time allow great recordings to shine. I haven't heard anything more expensive but I've read a lot and they seem pretty unique.

 

[Luckbad]

  Good job!  Took a while but sounds like you've really found the essence of the 650s
People speak of the "veil", on the 650 I respectfully disagree. To me "veil" would be a reference to missing information or info covered up. I don't find this to be the case, they are as revealing of inner detail that I could ever ask for. They do have a quality I would call euphony, in which they make some of my "not so good" sounding recordings gain a little more pleasantness but without removing any musical information. Don't know how to explain what they did, maybe it's in the tonal balance? But what I do know as you've read over and over here of people selling to upgrade only to come back and buy an new pair. Depending on taste true upgrades are hard and very expensive to come. The 650s were SOTA when released 12 years ago and have remained the can of choice for many owners ever since. I believe they will continue to please new owners for a long time into the future.

 
RE: Veil: People are parrots.
 
The old HD650 had a veil, and "The Sennheiser Veil" has followed as a fun thing to blindly use as a criticism ever since. It was likely born of the slight veil the old driver version of the HD650 had plus the fact that the Beyerdynamic DT-880 and AKG K701 were the other headphones in the running for TOTL back then. The Beyers are very bright, making the HD650 sound veiled in comparison, and the K701 has no bass, which makes the HD650 sound veiled in comparison.

 

[Youth]

People who are calling HD650 veiled needs to clean their ears.

 

[painted klown]

Quote:

  Good job!  Took a while but sounds like you've really found the essence of the 650s
People speak of the "veil", on the 650 I respectfully disagree. To me "veil" would be a reference to missing information or info covered up. I don't find this to be the case, they are as revealing of inner detail that I could ever ask for. They do have a quality I would call euphony, in which they make some of my "not so good" sounding recordings gain a little more pleasantness but without removing any musical information. Don't know how to explain what they did, maybe it's in the tonal balance? But what I do know as you've read over and over here of people selling to upgrade only to come back and buy an new pair. Depending on taste true upgrades are hard and very expensive to come. The 650s were SOTA when released 12 years ago and have remained the can of choice for many owners ever since. I believe they will continue to please new owners for a long time into the future.

Thank you.
 
When approaching my 650 opinion piece, I didn't think I wanted to approach it like a regular review. In doing so, I also didn't want to say things like "On [insert song here], I found the bass to be palpable and real, reaching a quality level generally only found in [insert expensive audio gear price here] or more headphones. It had higher highs, lower lows, and midder mids and when compared to my reference gear, it was 98.531589% of what it had to offer, but at a third of the price!"
 
I didn't fill my review with audiophile adjectives or even a playlist of test tracks, it was just my thoughts on the enjoyment I got from the headphones. I thought about doing a playlist type of review, as I do feel there were certain songs that really showed me how much detail the 650's have, but I'm fairly certain everyone ITT already knows that Miles Davis sounds great on the 650.

 
Perhaps my thoughts on the way that the 650 subjectively makes everything sound so dang "good " was not quite worded in a way that accurately describes what I am hearing. In no way do I find the 650 to be lacking in any detail (it's quite the opposite to me actually), but was trying to figure out exactly what the "veil" is that I have read about. In all honesty, I don't think I heard the so-called veil, I was just trying to suss out what others referred to as the veil. The way the 650 makes bad mastering sound not-so-bad is what I assumed they were referring to. It doesn't remove the distortion present on the track or anything like that, but for me, it keeps me from quickly moving along to something else.  "Euphony", as you put it, would have probably been a better way to phrase it.

 

  As soon as I first heard my HD 650's I fell in love. I pretty much gave up looking for anything better that very day. They are just so smooth. They make poor recordings tolerable but at the same time allow great recordings to shine. I haven't heard anything more expensive but I've read a lot and they seem pretty unique.

I agree 100%. When playing back well recorded and well mastered music, you are in for a REAL treat. I too am in love with the 650. I am still in a bit of disbelief when I listen to them. It's like I am in shock that I actually own something that sounds this good! LOL!