[olegausany]

Quote:

 
 
pictures like this always make me want to re-buy HD 650s.
 
would it be a bad idea? having lcd-3 already and he-500? 

I see your excellent collection where each one most likely does something better than others. Unfortunately I heard all of them but PS1000 (never heard) only at the meets but think that HD650 have something to offer. The only reason I'm selling mine is that I want 1 pair of headphones which will allow me to enjoy my music regardless of genre instead of collection where each pair works best for some of them and at this moment HD700 is doing just that 

 

[MattTCG]

Quote:

New HD 650 owner here! Just purchased them used off eBay for $300 shipped- not sure if I got a good deal but one of the first things I'm going to do is clean the ear pads. Is there a guide to remove the headband padding as well? Also, is it safe to clean the material with water and maybe soap?

 
Absolutely!! I give mine a bath about every three to six months or so. Just use some very warm water and a drop of non bleach liquid laundry soap. Two bowls...both with warm water and one with the liquid detergent. Squeeze vigorously in the soapy water and then move to the bowl with the plain warm water and do some more squeezing. Wring the water out and then pat dry and let air dry. They will be almost like new and smell fresh as well. 

 

[slair76116]

Hi Guys, Noob here with a HD650 (I've had for 2 years now and I feel I've waisted it without a proper AMP/DAC)
 
   Could you please recommend the best AMP/DAC combo for less than US$1000 I can't spend a penny more.
 
I don't want to buy a AMP now and DAC later either, This will be my final setup due to financial constraints
 
Source is my MSI GX70 3BE laptop
 
Thank you very much

 

[MattTCG]

On the entry level the Asgard 2 with a odac (rca outs) would knock your socks off. Would cost you $400 plus shipping. 
 
For $670 you could use the A2 and upgrade to bifrost uber without usb and it would rock your world. Add usb for another $100.
 
You can go further but the returns would be small. You can actually beat the $670 combo with a vintage 70's receiver but that conversation is for another day. 

 

[olegausany]

Quote:

Hi Guys, Noob here with a HD650 (I've had for 2 years now and I feel I've waisted it without a proper AMP/DAC)
 
   Could you please recommend the best AMP/DAC combo for less than US$1000 I can't spend a penny more.
 
I don't want to buy a AMP now and DAC later either, This will be my final setup due to financial constraints
 
Source is my MSI GX70 3BE laptop
 
Thank you very much

If could spend extra $50 you can get excellent DAC/Amp combo Woo Audio WA7 with upgraded Electro Harmonix tubes, if not just get with the stock ones

 

[Gilly87]

If I had that 1k to feed my HD650, I'd buy a built Bottle head Crack and a Schiit Bifrost.

Hi Guys, Noob here with a HD650 (I've had for 2 years now and I feel I've waisted it without a proper AMP/DAC)

   Could you please recommend the best AMP/DAC combo for less than US$1000 I can't spend a penny more.

I don't want to buy a AMP now and DAC later either, This will be my final setup due to financial constraints

Source is my MSI GX70 3BE laptop

Thank you very much

 

[RedBull]

pictures like this always make me want to re-buy HD 650s.
would it be a bad idea? having lcd-3 already and he-500? 

I think lcd3 and hd650 tonality is very similar (only better?), i think it's not so good idea

 

[Pepper]

Hello,
 
I just recently received a pair of HD650s and I am very worried/disappointed. I'm hoping you owners can help me out.
 
My chain is the following:
 
16bit 44.1 .flac > Schiit Modi (DAC) > Bottlehead Crack + Speedball Upgrade (amp) > Sennheiser HD650.
 
SUMMARY:
 
1. The treble just doesn't sound good. It's just very unnatural and artificial. It just doesn't sound believable at all. Hearing treble on my old Westone UM3Xs was better.
 
2. The bass presentation was very, very disappointing. The bass is not dynamic at all; it just sounds like a big floppy woosh that hits without any sort of character. It's like having someone with a big drum who hits it exactly the same every single time. The bass is not tight nor punchy.
 
3. The mids aren't particularly impressive either. I find the mids on my Earsonics SM3s sound better... I really thought that big cans would blow my universal IEMs out of the water, but so far, no. I mean, maybe it's not the signature of the HD650s to have very forward mids, but the voices don't sound lush or anything either (even at a greater distance than something very mid forward like the SE535s or SM3s).
 
4. The best thing I can say about them is that they seem very flat from top to bottom, and are fairly revealing (I can instantly hear a bad recording and exactly what is a cheap sample vs. a good quality recording). Electronic music often sounds bad on them because of the way it picks apart the often crappy synths and samples some producers use.
 
5. Overall, I just don't find anything they do very realistic or natural. It's just very unnatural sounding. Voices sound like they're being played to me (I'm used to vocals that sound like they're realistically singing to me). Music just sounds like it's being directed into my ear, rather than any kind of immersion. The treble is perhaps the worst part though; it just sounds fake.
 
I am very let down by the HD650s. I have been asking a lot of questions on the Bottlehead forums about the amp and how to make sure that I'm getting optimal amp performance. I'm doing some resoldering in the amp tomorrow on the capacitors to make sure everything is proper. I even ordered a more expensive and highly reputed tube for my amp (a Tung Sol 5998) to try and warm up the sound and to make the most of the headphones through the amp, so I'll have to see the difference when that arrives. In the meantime, however, I would like some feedback on the headphones themselves from good owners like you guys.
 
There haven't been a lot of burn-in yet on the headphones. I've been running pink noise at higher than listening volume into them, but I've only gotten to put in about 5-7 hours so far. Should I expect big improvements at 50-100 hrs?
 
I have the silver driver HD650s!
 
Thanks,
Pepper
 
P.S.: They're still better than your average headphone by a lot, but their sound isn't very alluring. Do you think it's maybe just a sound signature problem? I personally like warmth, lushness and very good vocal rendition (mid forwardness).

 

[olegausany]

Quote:

Hello,
 
I just recently received a pair of HD650s and I am very worried/disappointed. I'm hoping you owners can help me out.
 
My chain is the following:
 
16bit 44.1 .flac > Schiit Modi (DAC) > Bottlehead Crack + Speedball Upgrade (amp) > Sennheiser HD650.
 
SUMMARY:
 
1. The treble just doesn't sound good. It's just very unnatural and artificial. It just doesn't sound believable at all. Hearing treble on my old Westone UM3Xs was better.
 
2. The bass presentation was very, very disappointing. The bass is not dynamic at all; it just sounds like a big floppy woosh that hits without any sort of character. It's like having someone with a big drum who hits it exactly the same every single time. The bass is not tight nor punchy.
 
3. The mids aren't particularly impressive either. I find the mids on my Earsonics SM3s sound better... I really thought that big cans would blow my universal IEMs out of the water, but so far, no. I mean, maybe it's not the signature of the HD650s to have very forward mids, but the voices don't sound lush or anything either (even at a greater distance than something very mid forward like the SE535s or SM3s).
 
4. The best thing I can say about them is that they seem very flat from top to bottom, and are fairly revealing (I can instantly hear a bad recording and exactly what is a cheap sample vs. a good quality recording). Electronic music often sounds bad on them because of the way it picks apart the often crappy synths and samples some producers use.
 
5. Overall, I just don't find anything they do very realistic or natural. It's just very unnatural sounding. Voices sound like they're being played to me (I'm used to vocals that sound like they're realistically singing to me). Music just sounds like it's being directed into my ear, rather than any kind of immersion. The treble is perhaps the worst part though; it just sounds fake.
 
I am very let down by the HD650s. I have been asking a lot of questions on the Bottlehead forums about the amp and how to make sure that I'm getting optimal amp performance. I'm doing some resoldering in the amp tomorrow on the capacitors to make sure everything is proper. I even ordered a more expensive and highly reputed tube for my amp (a Tung Sol 5998) to try and warm up the sound and to make the most of the headphones through the amp, so I'll have to see the difference when that arrives. In the meantime, however, I would like some feedback on the headphones themselves from good owners like you guys.
 
There haven't been a lot of burn-in yet on the headphones. I've been running pink noise at higher than listening volume into them, but I've only gotten to put in about 5-7 hours so far. Should I expect big improvements at 50-100 hrs?
 
I have the silver driver HD650s!
 
Thanks,
Pepper
 
P.S.: They're still better than your average headphone by a lot, but their sound isn't very alluring. Do you think it's maybe just a sound signature problem? I personally like warmth, lushness and very good vocal rendition (mid forwardness).

Which program you use to play your files and what kind of computer you have Windows or Mac? If Windows I would recommend to use Foobar2000 with WASAPI (event) out and 24 bit depth. Also make sure that both player's and system's volume are set to maximum while you use amp's volume control to make sure you are listening to bit perfect playback

 

[Pepper]

Quote:

Which program you use to play your files and what kind of computer you have Windows or Mac? If Windows I would recommend to use Foobar2000 with WASAPI (event) out and 24 bit depth. Also make sure that both player's and system's volume are set to maximum while you use amp's volume control to make sure you are listening to bit perfect playback

Thanks for the suggestions.
 
I have both a Mac and Windows, but I'm doing my listening on my Windows 7. I am using Foobar2000. I have some 24bit files, but the vast, vast majority of the .FLACs I have are in 16bit.
 
I just installed the WASAPI component thing. I think it's enabled? I just installed the component in Foobar, and it's not grayed out or anything. I'm not sure if it's just always on passively, or if I have to click on or anything.
 
I don't know if it's a placebo or I'm hearing the effects of burning in, but things are maybe sounding a tiny bit better (the treble in particular). Maybe I did have some bit-loss because I run a million different programs at once (I have 16GB of RAM because of how many things I have open at once all the time).
 
Thanks a bunch, and keep the suggestions coming . You guys are great!

 

[olegausany]

Quote:

Thanks for the suggestions.
 
I have both a Mac and Windows, but I'm doing my listening on my Windows 7. I am using Foobar2000. I have some 24bit files, but the vast, vast majority of the .FLACs I have are in 16bit.
 
I just installed the WASAPI component thing. I think it's enabled? I just installed the component in Foobar, and it's not grayed out or anything. I'm not sure if it's just always on passively, or if I have to click on or anything.
 
I don't know if it's a placebo or I'm hearing the effects of burning in, but things are maybe sounding a tiny bit better (the treble in particular). Maybe I did have some bit-loss because I run a million different programs at once (I have 16GB of RAM because of how many things I have open at once all the time).
 
Thanks a bunch, and keep the suggestions coming . You guys are great!

Go to Files -> Preferences -> Output amd make sure that Device is set to WASAPI (event): Name of your DAC  and Ouput data format is set to 24 bit. It doesn't matter that most of your files are 16 bit they will play just fine. Once again make sure that volume sliders are set to maximum

 

[Stoney]

Don't break them in at higher than listening levels.  At least, I never do that.  
 
Can't comment about the sound, but different expectations and desires count for a lot. Different reference points such as IEMs make a big difference in what sounds you like.  
 
At first, I thought my HD650 was worse than my Phonak PF232 IEMs.  But as I improved my source, my amp, replaced the Senn cables, etc, I found that the PFE may have more extension but will never sound as realistic, startling at times, as my HD650.  Part was changes in expectations, but most was change in the transparency due to removing the foam, replacing the cables to my 650 (Cardas Clear Light) and from DAC to amp (Moon Blue Dragon v3).  

 

[GaryPham]

Agree, you should really be running Bit-perfect outputs on foobar to get the fullest out of your setup.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/a/foobar2000-a-guide-to-set-up
 
I was initially somewhat letdown by my DT880 and HD650 also until I discovered bit-perfect outputs.

 

[bracko]

Quote:

Don't break them in at higher than listening levels.  At least, I never do that.  
 
Can't comment about the sound, but different expectations and desires count for a lot. Different reference points such as IEMs make a big difference in what sounds you like.  
 
At first, I thought my HD650 was worse than my Phonak PF232 IEMs.  But as I improved my source, my amp, replaced the Senn cables, etc, I found that the PFE may have more extension but will never sound as realistic, startling at times, as my HD650.  Part was changes in expectations, but most was change in the transparency due to removing the foam, replacing the cables to my 650 (Cardas Clear Light) and from DAC to amp (Moon Blue Dragon v3).  

Personally I think that HD650 are great right out of a cheap sound card. The sound signature and the main qualities and characteristics of the sound of HD650 are present even with a very simple source and amplification. The sound quality would improve significantly with a better source and amplification but the sound signature would still be the same IMHO. So if the sound signature is the problem then .... 

 

[jimmers]

Quote:

I personally like warmth, lushness and very good vocal rendition

Strange, the general consensus seems to be that this is what HD650 do.
 
Give them some time, when I first got mine 3yrs ago (coming from HD555 at home, PX100 at work) I was somewhat shocked, they didn't sound at all like I had expected, which was HD555 but "better" in all areas. To me mine sounded rough and uncouth (I previously have described my first impression of them as "aggressive" but no one here seemed to believe that) I was OMG what have I done, blown $400, even after the 40-80 hours burn-in (that I didn't really believe, but what the hell) still not liking - then at some point it clicked and all was good, then a few weeks later it shifted again becoming even better - just my subjective impressions. I'm sure glad I didn't give up on them - still loving them.
 
Maybe coming from IEMs your expectations are unrealistic, I can't make any comments on relative presentations as I can't use IEMs