[skeptic]

Yours was a reasonable assumption 

  I certainly could have connected the dots better between my description and link!

 

[upstateguy]

So here I was with a Blue Circle Thingee,  North Star 192 DAC, computer flac, and a GS-1 trying to listen to the Jesus and Mary Chain's "April Skies" with my T-1s.... 
 
you'd think that would sound good, but I was looking for some realistic bass and a lot less of the annoyingly bright mastering on that cut...
 
so you guessed it, out came my 650s and ahhhhh.  Gotta love those 650s
 
After all is said and done, the 650s sound more like real instruments than any of the other headphones I have.
 
And although the T-1s are sitting right next to me, I'm still listening to the 650s (with my second set of Sennheiser USA factory direct, $12 cables).. 
 
I like streaming, and tonight, the piano playing on "SomehowJazz" (320 mp3) (http://72.55.137.198:3200/) is the cat's meow.......  

 

[hdtv00]

"the 650s sound more like real instruments than any of the other headphones I have"
 
I've had a pair for like 5 now and I noticed that exact thing within an hour of listening. Cymbals, drum sticks banging against each other, guitars, everything just sounds much much more like a live instrument. That's the difference I can tell from my older HD 560 II, it has lots of detail maybe better sound stage even, but man the 650 literally at times makes it seem like you're listening to live music.

 

[Byronb]

  "the 650s sound more like real instruments than any of the other headphones I have"
 
I've had a pair for like 5 now and I noticed that exact thing within an hour of listening. Cymbals, drum sticks banging against each other, guitars, everything just sounds much much more like a live instrument. That's the difference I can tell from my older HD 560 II, it has lots of detail maybe better sound stage even, but man the 650 literally at times makes it seem like you're listening to live music.

 
And that is what we are all after!

 

[joebobbilly]

  "the 650s sound more like real instruments than any of the other headphones I have"
 
I've had a pair for like 5 now and I noticed that exact thing within an hour of listening. Cymbals, drum sticks banging against each other, guitars, everything just sounds much much more like a live instrument. That's the difference I can tell from my older HD 560 II, it has lots of detail maybe better sound stage even, but man the 650 literally at times makes it seem like you're listening to live music.

+1

 

[hdtv00]

I wanna say that this is without a fancy $300 cable, and without an stand alone amp or special DAC. I'm using onboard ASRock Purity Sound from motherboard, supports up to 600 ohm so I thought it would be ok, and it is really. But now that the $300 cable(hey I had to at least try one) will be here within the hour, I wonder what nice crack and speedball would make it sound like. OH NO someone stop me haha.
 
Anyway I'm 44 now I got the HD 560 II's when I was 24 and man they made me realize instantly that there was something to this high end audio stuff. The 560 II's are nice but the 650's little bump in bass brings actual life to a recording. Good times all, and thanks all of you for the 10 years or so of reading and researching on here for all the valuable lessons learned before I went and jump totally in for myself. The head fi for sale has saved me money and you all got me on the right path, or at least a decent one.
 
Now let me run to the mail to see if my cable is here. Dragon V2 10 ft FYI.

 

[Unfie]

  I wanna say that this is without a fancy $300 cable, and without an stand alone amp or special DAC. I'm using onboard ASRock Purity Sound from motherboard, supports up to 600 ohm so I thought it would be ok, and it is really. But now that the $300 cable(hey I had to at least try one) will be here within the hour, I wonder what nice crack and speedball would make it sound like. OH NO someone stop me haha.
 
Anyway I'm 44 now I got the HD 560 II's when I was 24 and man they made me realize instantly that there was something to this high end audio stuff. The 560 II's are nice but the 650's little bump in bass brings actual life to a recording. Good times all, and thanks all of you for the 10 years or so of reading and researching on here for all the valuable lessons learned before I went and jump totally in for myself. The head fi for sale has saved me money and you all got me on the right path, or at least a decent one.
 
Now let me run to the mail to see if my cable is here. Dragon V2 10 ft FYI.

 
Let us know if that fancy $300 cable does wonders for the sound! I'm kinda joking, but I'm a bit curious as well. Right now, I don't buy into the cables doing much. Then again, I haven't actually tried a different cable on my HD 650s. I've replaced the cables on my IEMs a few times, though. I didn't hear a difference...

 

[hdtv00]

I bought it from for sale forum here for only $130 , which sure is still a lot of money for a cable, but factor in that cable works with my 20 yr old 560 Ovation II's as well and I felt that cuts the cable cost in half since both can use it. Plus if you had to buy a stock replacement cable it's gonna cost you what at least $20 or more anyway. So I went ahead and did it , although having been reading here for so long I know getting amp and DAC first is the smarter(bigger result) way to go first.
 
In the end head fi market I can sell everything if I want back to someone on here that's just as curious as I was, smoke , kid and pet free home so there is littler risk to any of the items and they'll remain in perfect shape. I've already decided that I won't be keeping the Senn Momentum's but I wanted to try them, they are great , it's just I have a pair of IEM that have almost exactly the same sound signature. And I'll put that $200 back into getting proper portable, usb or home amp dac, we'll see.
 
Dang even though it's same plug the outer part around it is to big it won't fit my 560 II's but plugs right into the HD 650's. Let the listening begin.

 

[ButtUglyJeff]

   
Let us know if that fancy $300 cable does wonders for the sound! I'm kinda joking, but I'm a bit curious as well. Right now, I don't buy into the cables doing much. Then again, I haven't actually tried a different cable on my HD 650s. I've replaced the cables on my IEMs a few times, though. I didn't hear a difference...

 
Happy with mine, but I'm not sure if its the smattering of silver, or the balancing, has done the real improvement...
 
I suspect its a bit of both...

 

[James-uk]

I find alcohol makes the biggest improvement in my setup

 

[EdTheWright]

I find alcohol makes the biggest improvement in my setup

+1

 

[dxanex]

I wanna say that this is without a fancy $300 cable, and without an stand alone amp or special DAC. I'm using onboard ASRock Purity Sound from motherboard, supports up to 600 ohm so I thought it would be ok, and it is really. But now that the $300 cable(hey I had to at least try one) will be here within the hour, I wonder what nice crack and speedball would make it sound like. OH NO someone stop me haha.

Let us know if that fancy $300 cable does wonders for the sound! I'm kinda joking, but I'm a bit curious as well. Right now, I don't buy into the cables doing much. Then again, I haven't actually tried a different cable on my HD 650s. I've replaced the cables on my IEMs a few times, though. I didn't hear a difference...

Nothing against having a really nice fancy cable, especially if you're all about looks...But for the same amount of money, just the base Crack build would have done much, much more to scale up the sound quality

 

[hdtv00]

Oh yea I totally know that from reading posts on here for a decade, but I didn't pay $300 for it got it used on here for $130 and I happen to have just that much laying around so I jumped in, I do mention somewhere on here in my recent ramblings just that, that going for amp/dac first would be a far clear cut improvement in audio quality. I forget when I mentioned that but I know I did. So for $130 for the Moon Cable Dragon V2 10 ft version I thought was fair. It was more fair when I thought I'd be able to use it for both 650 and 560 II, but it doesn't really fit into the slot of the 560 II good enough, cable to thick to lock into place.
 
What I need to figure out is how much I want a portable amp/dac rather than one for home use only. More reading to do as far as that goes and options.

 

[SP Wild]

  So here I was with a Blue Circle Thingee,  North Star 192 DAC, computer flac, and a GS-1 trying to listen to the Jesus and Mary Chain's "April Skies" with my T-1s.... 
 
you'd think that would sound good, but I was looking for some realistic bass and a lot less of the annoyingly bright mastering on that cut...
 
so you guessed it, out came my 650s and ahhhhh.  Gotta love those 650s
 
After all is said and done, the 650s sound more like real instruments than any of the other headphones I have.
 
And although the T-1s are sitting right next to me, I'm still listening to the 650s (with my second set of Sennheiser USA factory direct, $12 cables).. 
 
I like streaming, and tonight, the piano playing on "SomehowJazz" (320 mp3) (http://72.55.137.198:3200/) is the cat's meow.......  

 
Having heard both, I couldn't agree more old friend.

 

[GeorgeVes]

I think loving certain headphones is heavily based on how your life has been when you've been really into them. Pretty much the best years of my life so far have walked around hand in hand with the HD650, so I will never really forget 'em, even though I got HD800 now. The emotional imprint is really a lasting one, one that transcends the flow of time.
 
Even though I've spent my fair share having the HD650 as a portable solution, I totally f-ing loved them. Being accompanied by your favorite music at this rate of fidelity all around, changing scenery, experiencing new events, meeting new and fascinating people, that's what it's all about.