[Jacques Flanders]

These have been glued to my head for a couple weeks now. I'm totally addicted to the sound. They have a certain quality of atmosphere or natural reverb that's hard to describe. Like they trade off a maximally wide sound stage for the perfect innate sense of space about everything. It makes a lot of other cans out there sound hollow or thin and stilted by comparison. Every year at Axpona I have left really impressed with how these stacked up against higher end sets (including the HD800!) and I'm glad I finally pulled the trigger on the purchase.

 

[tafens]

Anyways, I'm pulling an all-nighter at work so I'll have 6 more hours of uninterrupted listening, and will post my further thoughts later.

Looking forward to read about it!

 

[saias]

Hello, I have added 10 5x5mm neodymium magnets to an hd 6xx, the distorsion seems to be lower.
It would be interesting to measure it.

 

[castleofargh]

Hello, I have added 10 5x5mm neodymium magnets to an hd 6xx, the distorsion seems to be lower.
It would be interesting to measure it.

that's intriguing for sure. I did a little test last year after some fellow got me curious about this. and I did get tiny changes here and there in the measurements, but keep in mind that I used one magnet I happened to have around. and it remained on top of the back plastic design, unlike you who murdered a piece of that to get closer to the driver. so we can probably expect your experiment to supersize everything I had.


here's what I got(FR up and impedance below). I have absolutely no idea if this is what one should expect from sticking magnets around so take it for what it is, me fooling around and having no idea what I was doing ^_^.
the little reduction in the bass seems kind of consistent with the impedance change, but for this I removed the pads(why the low end rolls off that much and why the overall FR doesn't look like much of anything we know). I really did my very best not to move the headphone between the takes, and the FR is close enough to assume that I did an OK job of not moving much. so the little change found at 4kHz is also probably due to the magnet somehow(but maybe not, I don't even have a vague idea to explain that). otherwise the response didn't seem to care much.
as for distortions, well I'm using crappy stuff so I always measure way more than I should and my measurements aren't reliable. all I can tell is that THD showed no significant change in my case, nothing big that pops out anywhere. the variations weren't bigger than just taking the same measurement twice, so if something changed in term of THD, my crappy graphs were inconclusive.

now for the curious kid inside me, I would really love to see how the magnetic field is affected. because ideally we'd like something fairly consistent through the course of the coil. and IDK if a bunch of little magnets placed in circle are going to do that? again I don't have a clue. to quote a famous philosopher: "fracking magnets how do they work?"
but it sure is something interesting, I'd love to have a headphone/speaker designer to talk on this.

 

[kman1211]

that's intriguing for sure. I did a little test last year after some fellow got me curious about this. and I did get tiny changes here and there in the measurements, but keep in mind that I used one magnet I happened to have around. and it remained on top of the back plastic design, unlike you who murdered a piece of that to get closer to the driver. so we can probably expect your experiment to supersize everything I had.


here's what I got(FR up and impedance below). I have absolutely no idea if this is what one should expect from sticking magnets around so take it for what it is, me fooling around and having no idea what I was doing ^_^.
the little reduction in the bass seems kind of consistent with the impedance change, but for this I removed the pads(why the low end rolls off that much and why the overall FR doesn't look like much of anything we know). I really did my very best not to move the headphone between the takes, and the FR is close enough to assume that I did an OK job of not moving much. so the little change found at 4kHz is also probably due to the magnet somehow(but maybe not, I don't even have a vague idea to explain that). otherwise the response didn't seem to care much.
as for distortions, well I'm using crappy stuff so I always measure way more than I should and my measurements aren't reliable. all I can tell is that THD showed no significant change in my case, nothing big that pops out anywhere. the variations weren't bigger than just taking the same measurement twice, so if something changed in term of THD, my crappy graphs were inconclusive.

now for the curious kid inside me, I would really love to see how the magnetic field is affected. because ideally we'd like something fairly consistent through the course of the coil. and IDK if a bunch of little magnets placed in circle are going to do that? again I don't have a clue. to quote a famous philosopher: "fracking magnets how do they work?"
but it sure is something interesting, I'd love to have a headphone/speaker designer to talk on this.

I am curious too. Wondering what a stronger magnetic field will do, I am sure the sensitivity will increase but not exactly sure what else it will do. But I haven’t experimented with it much. A little bit with some Beyers. I did notice some sensitivity and sound changes, but never tried it with the HD 6XX/650. I have the perfect headphone for testing out any sort of differences involving the magnetic field, the DT 480, which comes with a ferrite magnet that can be removed/replaced, it also allows you to adjust the magnetic field by adjusting the distance of the magnet by a screw on magnet. Getting a stronger neodymium magnet may yield some interesting results, I just have to custom order some magnets for it.

 

[saias]

A few months ago I had a miniDSP EARS and could have made measurements. For what a hearing test is worth, I have tried a subwoofer test file without the extra magnets and the bass is definitely muddier. Considering the cost of the headphones, playing around is no drama (I bought two of them). Before installing the magnets the original must be glued on the edge else it will be pulled out. There is lots of information on magnetic circuits in loudspeakers online, like this: https://rmsacoustics.nl/papers/whitepapersoundgeneration.pdf https://rmsacoustics.nl/papers/whitepaperdistortion.pdf
I have had the idea on sunday morning while listening to this video seeing the fabulous magnets of the horns.

 

[dakanao]

Has anyone tried 1540 Alcantara pads on their HD650/6XX?

 

[metal571]

I've been through or heard all of these Sennheisers for years, 58X, 580, 600, 6XX, 650, 660S, 555, 595, 558, 598, 559, 579, 599, etc (jeeze, that naming scheme). The one that stays in my collection permanently now though, is the 650. I had the opportunity to compare the 6XX to the 650 recently at home and they really are the same thing in terms of sound. That makes the Drop version one of the all time best value headphones I've ever heard.

 

[BobG55]

I've been through or heard all of these Sennheisers for years, 58X, 580, 600, 6XX, 650, 660S, 555, 595, 558, 598, 559, 579, 599, etc (jeeze, that naming scheme). The one that stays in my collection permanently now though, is the 650. I had the opportunity to compare the 6XX to the 650 recently at home and they really are the same thing in terms of sound. That makes the Drop version one of the all time best value headphones I've ever heard.

It's a funny thing with me & the HD650. I'll put it aside for a while and listen to other headphones in my collection. After a period of time I'll get saturated and get in what I term my "come back to basics" mood. So, I take out my HD650s & use them with my vintage integrated amp which also fits in my "coming back to basics" mood. The result ? They (the HD650) never let me down & always fulfill my listening needs when in that mood. A few years ago I sold the HD650 that I had at that time. Within a couple of weeks, I began to miss them & regret selling them. At the end of that second week I ordered a new pair & have never been without them since. Since I'm not tech savvy I can't explain technically what I'm going to say next; it seems that when my HD650s are driven by a powerful amp [e.g. my vintage Kenwood KA-8006 int. amp., 70wpc] they really sound like a reference headphone which they were at one time. The so called veil is also non existent. To my ears anyways. Personally I think that the HD600 & HD650 are the most successful headphones ever made by Sennheiser. The HD800 has never "done it" for me. What I just wrote is all based on my personal subjective opinion because I can't read/ understand technical charts & measurements and God knows I've tried. Anyways I'm rambling (it's age).

 

[metal571]

It's a funny thing with me & the HD650. I'll put it aside for a while and listen to other headphones in my collection. After a period of time I'll get saturated and get in what I term my "come back to basics" mood. So, I take out my HD650s & use them with vintage integrated amp which also fits in my "coming back to basics" mood. The result ? They (the HD650) never let me down & always fulfills my listening needs when in that mood. A few years ago I sold the HD650 that I had at that time. Within a couple of weeks, I began to miss them & regret selling them. At the end of that second week I ordered a new pair & have never been without them since. Since I'm not tech savvy I can't explain technically what I'm going to say next; it seems that when my HD650s are driven by a powerful amp [e.g. my vintage Kenwood KA-8006 int. amp., 70wpc] they really sound like a reference headphone which they were at one time. The so called veil is also non existent. To my ears anyways. Personally I think that the HD600 & HD650 are the most successful headphones ever made by Sennheiser. The HD800 has never "done it" for me. What I just wrote is all based on my personal subjective opinion because I can't read/ understand technical charts & measurements and God knows I've tried. Anyways I'm rambling (it's age).

This is beating a beaten, decades old horse carcass, but for me, the 650 with absolutely brand new OEM pads is definitely not veiled. I have a feeling a lot of people hearing the 650 are hearing it with used pads which can start to deform as soon as just a few months with daily use and that does cause a veil in the air above 10k. I use this headphone to "reset" my brain all the time and always compare it against anything I'm reviewing, no matter how expensive.

 

[DavidA]

Has anyone tried 1540 Alcantara pads on their HD650/6XX?

I've tried SRH 1840 pads which are quite similar to the 1540 pads but not fenestrated and its fairly close to the stock pads but more comfortable to me. I only tried it for a few hours since I had just gotten new pads for my HD650 and it was a PITA to try to get the 1840 pads on the old HD6 mounting rings.

 

[kman1211]

It's a funny thing with me & the HD650. I'll put it aside for a while and listen to other headphones in my collection. After a period of time I'll get saturated and get in what I term my "come back to basics" mood. So, I take out my HD650s & use them with vintage integrated amp which also fits in my "coming back to basics" mood. The result ? They (the HD650) never let me down & always fulfills my listening needs when in that mood. A few years ago I sold the HD650 that I had at that time. Within a couple of weeks, I began to miss them & regret selling them. At the end of that second week I ordered a new pair & have never been without them since. Since I'm not tech savvy I can't explain technically what I'm going to say next; it seems that when my HD650s are driven by a powerful amp [e.g. my vintage Kenwood KA-8006 int. amp., 70wpc] they really sound like a reference headphone which they were at one time. The so called veil is also non existent. To my ears anyways. Personally I think that the HD600 & HD650 are the most successful headphones ever made by Sennheiser. The HD800 has never "done it" for me. What I just wrote is all based on my personal subjective opinion because I can't read/ understand technical charts & measurements and God knows I've tried. Anyways I'm rambling (it's age).

Honestly I've sold and owned the HD 6XX/650 numerous times. So I decided to just get the HD 6XX and simply keep it. It's always nice going back to them, they have their own unique sound that I always enjoy. It's not my warmest nor darkest headphones, I'd argue that people sometimes exaggerate the HD 650’s warmth and darkness, it's really a very neutral headphone with a bit of a roll-off on both ends. I'd say my T1.2 Black Edition(darkest and lushest sounding Beyer I've owned) and Audioquest Nighthawk Carbon's are both warmer and darker than the HD 6XX/650. My Amiron Home is a bit brighter and can sound initially sharp coming from my HD 6XX or T1.2.

I never really found the HD 650 veiled even when the pads get a bit worn, but interestingly I did find the HD 600 somewhat veiled with worn pads. Honestly the HD 800 never fully did it for me, it's really nice in many ways but I don’t think it’s a headphone I would listen to extensively in the long run. The Hd 650 is a headphone I can spend a lot of time with in the long run. But I do enjoy my T1.2 more and it's listened to more as I simply reach for it more and it's more musically engaging for me. Overall I'd say the HD 6XX is my third most used headphone, the T1.2 Black and my modded DT 480 - 200 Ohm(my personal reference headphone but since it’s rare and uniquely modded, I don’t use it as a reference for comparisons/reviews; though I do gush over it at times) are my most used headphones.

 

[gefski]

Using the V-Word in this thread usually starts a week long food fight, so I won't use it. However, compared to the cans I have spent some time with in my system that I consider to have the most open window on the music (top to bottom, not just high frequencies), there is a bit of cloud cover with my 600 and 650. Those cans are significantly north of the Senns $ wise though.

I agree with @metal571 on the 600/650 needing mint stock pads to really sing.

 

[HungryPanda]

I put the Dekoni fenestrated sheepskin pads on my HD650's and am loving the sound

 

[CaptainFantastic]

I put the Dekoni fenestrated sheepskin pads on my HD650's and am loving the sound

I did the same and I agree. I know some are against it, strongly against it, but I like what I hear.