[Rdrcr]

 
I agree though balanced makes the 650 come to life.

 
Yep.  Agreed.
That's been my experience.
 
Mike

 

[music4mhell]

 

   
Hi there
 
the dark blue was from Ted -- balanced. Not much of an improvement vs. stock balanced.
 
Hope that helps.
 
EDIT: Balanced always gets me more clarity and lower noise floor than SE. Basic principles of common mode noise rejection, that's all. Also double the voltage swing at output, with balanced.

I think you mentioned Cardas Cable before the edit , but I was never impressed with what the Cardas did for the 650.. I agree though balanced makes the 650 come to life.

I have Cardas cable for HD650, i just love it. I never used my HD650 much, but after cardas cable i am listening more to my HD650.

 

[Solrighal]

I used to own the AKG Q701 & the HD 650 simultaneously. As close to a night & day difference as I've ever heard. It didn't take long for me to sell the Q701.

 

[tdockweiler]

  I used to own the AKG Q701 & the HD 650 simultaneously. As close to a night & day difference as I've ever heard. It didn't take long for me to sell the Q701.

 
That's strange to me because I think they're quite similar in sound.
Well, I have the bass modded Q701 and the HD-650 has slightly more low bass presence and is somewhat fuller in the mids and more closed in sounding.
 
I actually recently bought the DT-990 250 ohm Premium and sold that because it wasn't different enough from my other headphones

Everything people told me about that headphone was wrong.
 
For example, it was not cold/brittle or some sort of bass monster. No major treble spikes to me.
I scored a pair for $130 NEW in November 2016 and am kicking myself for getting rid of it.
 
I liked the DT-990 250 way more than the DT-880. If I ran a studio i'd buy a DT-880 for sure. It's just kind of boring to listen to.

 

[iancraig10]

The dt990 has a fun sound with quite a treble peak. Not boring at all. If anything, people might describe the hd650 as having a more boring sound tbh.

You may have different hearing to others though since you weren't aware of a peak.

 

[Dobrescu George]

  I used to own the AKG Q701 & the HD 650 simultaneously. As close to a night & day difference as I've ever heard. It didn't take long for me to sell the Q701.

 
I actually confirm to this. They are really different in my experience and while I like both, I surely wouldn't recommend them together unless they're bought as complementary setups 

 

[Solrighal]

The AKG's were better than the HD 650's for classical music - and by some margin too - but I don't listen to classical often enough for that to outweigh the negatives. The two HUGE downsides to the Q's for me were the ridiculous peak in FR at 2k and the stupid bumps on the headband. To this day still the most uncomfortable headphone I've ever used.
 
* edit - I also performed the 'bass-mod' (removal of the little stickers over the ports) on my Q's.

 

[DavidA]

   
That's strange to me because I think they're quite similar in sound.
Well, I have the bass modded Q701 and the HD-650 has slightly more low bass presence and is somewhat fuller in the mids and more closed in sounding.
 
I actually recently bought the DT-990 250 ohm Premium and sold that because it wasn't different enough from my other headphones

Everything people told me about that headphone was wrong.
 
For example, it was not cold/brittle or some sort of bass monster. No major treble spikes to me.
I scored a pair for $130 NEW in November 2016 and am kicking myself for getting rid of it.
 
I liked the DT-990 250 way more than the DT-880. If I ran a studio i'd buy a DT-880 for sure. It's just kind of boring to listen to.

Tried the Q701 once and it was one of those sound signatures that just didn't get me, the DT-990 premium I liked at first listen and agree with @iancraig10 that it has a treble peak that some just can't get pass but its tamed a lot with well match amp.  Its a fun sound to me as well where the HD650 can sound boring at times if I just listened with the DT-990, HD700, HD800 or almost any Grado and agree with @Solrighal about the bumps on the headband

.

 

[SP Wild]

can't agree with you on the K7XX or Q701 being "slower" than a HD650 and the sound stage is not "flat as a pancake" or the driver housing "flaps like dumbo" with the bass.  do you have a defective K7XX?

Enlighten me. I have no idea what you are whining on about.

 

[DavidA]

Enlighten me. I have no idea what you are whining on about.

my apologies, miss read your post

 
@LazyListener, thanks for the catch

 

[LazyListener]

Agree that Q701 and 650 are very different sound signatures.  650 being warmish and smooth, Q701 being brightish and analytical.  The bumps on Q701 headband were awful, just painfully awful.
 
Still considering the K7xx.

 

[LazyListener]

  not whining, just saying

I think SP Wild was referring to K1000, not K7xx.

 

[SP Wild]

my apologies, miss read your post

@LazyListener
, thanks for the catch

I thought so, all good.

 

[SP Wild]

The AkG 7 series and Sen 6 series is a very good example of similar transient response, yet manifesting in completely different sounds. Their driver speed is amazingly very similar.

I'd like to hear more Beyers, I think I would take to the Beyer sound.

 

[Dobrescu George]

The AkG 7 series and Sen 6 series is a very good example of similar transient response, yet manifesting in completely different sounds. Their driver speed is amazingly very similar.

I'd like to hear more Beyers, I think I would take to the Beyer sound.

 
Beyers have a really nice sound actually albeit it is also different from HD650 and AKG Q701. The technical part of Beyers is generally good as well. 
 
Beyer house sound is closer to HD650 than it is to Q701, at least to those ears.