[castleofargh]

Well, with the HD 650, I can hear a clear diference between this thin cheap copper cable: https://www.ebay.nl/itm/Replacement...606101?hash=item468f1ac195:g:9TgAAOSwhr9cVeyg, the stock HD 650 cable, and Mogami 2893 copper wire.

With the thinnest cable producing the least bass, most distant mids and most uncontrolled treble, and the stock cable makes it fuller and more refined vs the thin ebay cable, and then the Mogami makes it fuller and more refined vs the stock cable. I did compare them multiple times, and to my ears it's clear that there's a difference.

I think it has to do with EMI/RFI interference resistance of each cable.

I have justified issues with listening experiences not limited to listening and trying to define the reality of sound changes anyway. I also have a problem with how hard it effectively is to do a proper A/B of cables, given the time it takes to swap them(more time means more involvement from memory, which in turn means less accurate stuff. that makes me very skeptical about the accuracy of such anecdotes, I'm not going to lie.
now if for some reason I don't know about, you have justified confidence that you're really getting those changes in the sound itself in the ways and proportion you discuss, then the right conclusion is that those cables are the cause(for whatever actual reason TBD). I'm not trying to get into a "all cables sound the same" type of debate. just one where we try to fact check what we experience, and where we discuss electrical appliances in a way that doesn't go against electrical rules.

as for EMI/RFI, again I guess anything is possible if we stand next to machines generating massive amounts of those waves or fields. but in typical real life experience, the quantities you would expect to pick up with a cable are not scary at all. even less so for a HD650 which isn't all that sensitive in the first place, so whatever noise has to reach a high enough voltage to even have a chance to get audible. maybe with some extremely sensitive IEMs that end up making a same voltage 10 times louder or more, we would be more likely to encounter situations where EMI or RFI do matter. even then I'm not sure how audible that would be in a normal environment, I remember going mad passing a security door with some IEMs in my ears and a given cable was clearly making it worst, but we don't usually spend our days inside security doors with IEMs on ^_^. anyway, back to hd650. while I don't know your listening circumstances, where you live etc, and don't want to claim something without proof, I at least wouldn't put EMI or RFI and how cables handle them, at the top of the probable causes making that headphone sound different for you. IMO those would be way down the list of likely causes. even more so because those stuff would logically generate noises, not boost the bass or change the signature. those stuff would require another type of electrical interactions(mainly EQ I guess).

 

[Johnsouter]

Just received my new 650.
What happened to the packaging....

 

[GoodBoy]

It's been refreshed. The headphone design is also slightly different.

 

[Johnsouter]

It looks a bit more modern now, more in line with the 660s.
I presume that the drivers remain unchanged?

 

[fragzone]

Of course it could all be in my head. But i feel like after 5 months of thrashing my hd6xx's (purely through on head time) they have 'burnt in'. I can finally appreciate the shear musicality, the liveliness. I liked them better than my other headphones out of the box, but it feels like the treble and separation is finally there. They boom and they bump and they breathe.

 

[Deftone]

Of course it could all be in my head. But i feel like after 5 months of thrashing my hd6xx's (purely through on head time) they have 'burnt in'. I can finally appreciate the shear musicality, the liveliness. I liked them better than my other headphones out of the box, but it feels like the treble and separation is finally there. They boom and they bump and they breathe.

You got used to their sound.

 

[fragzone]

You got used to their sound.

Most probably.

 

[BobSmith8901]

Interesting. I really like my 6XX's but I'm finding the same discovery thing with my Audio Technica MX40's. I never thought I'd ever like them but there's something to be said about the near-total sound isolation that they provide and I've gotten sort of used to their flat, un-offending sound signature that has occasions of nice clarity.

 

[gefski]

i believe in "component burn in", "listener burn in", and system synergy, thinking they sometimes coincide. However, I've been in this hobby long enough (and wasted enough $) to be willing to say "this thing just isn't going to work in my system".

 

[BobSmith8901]

i believe in "component burn in", "listener burn in", and system synergy, thinking they sometimes coincide. However, I've been in this hobby long enough (and wasted enough $) to be willing to say "this thing just isn't going to work in my system".

I'd add "de-rationalization burn-in": when, financially, you realize that you literally have no more money to spend in this area and you can't drum up a reason to buy that stands up for very long (the permanence of this condition is up for debate). Maybe "self-BS burn-in" (that an inferior component actually starts to sound good) also rises in parallel to "de-rationalization"!

 

[kailok18]

To feed HD6XX properly, would you guys recommend an SE amp or a balanced amp? Any recommended model / brand which is like a must have for a beginner setup?

 

[Ichos]

A good balanced design will open the scene more and bring more clarity and detail.

 

[castleofargh]

A good balanced design will open the scene more and bring more clarity and detail.

I love this! vague criteria for the cause, vague subjective description of the changes relative to an unspecified reference. and yet it reads as a statement

 

[Ichos]

Let's not start this balanced vs unbalanced again that it is for pro audio only etc.
It's stale news.
A proper full balanced design be it dap , amp or whatever will have always better channel separation , noise rejection etc from an equally good single ended one.
This can contribute to a better clarity and separation on a given headphone.
Of course this isn't the Holly Grail or the only way to go.
The first criteria of course is to like the sound of a given set up.
Or should we start the debate that all amps and dacs sound the same?

 

[G_T_J]

To feed HD6XX properly, would you guys recommend an SE amp or a balanced amp? Any recommended model / brand which is like a must have for a beginner setup?

Topping DX3 works great with my HD650 - plenty of power and control.