[Eee Pee]

Mjolnir and 650s could easily be my desert island (with solar panels and batteries) set up.  The front panel LED is so bright I wouldn't need lights.  Though I guess a good glowing tube might work too.  Until it died.  Then no more desert island music... 
 
I'm listening with the Vali right now.  First time since I got it a few weeks ago.  I've always used the 800s with it.  Quite a change!  Kinda nice that I can really crank it without getting stabbed in the ears with treble lasers.

 

[retskrad]

Finally I can watch youtube videos on these cans, no more headache. it's a miracle.

 

[ButtUglyJeff]

Oh, and another heavenly combo was the Woo WA6-SE.  That's another "desert island" pairing.....

 

[AL13N]

That's a pity but it may be a moot point as I can't find the HM5 pads in the UK.

Here you go... Clicky

 

[obsidyen]

I was thinking of buying WA7 Fireflies for HD650 but it seems HDVD 800 is the best. It's expensive but since I'm a Sennheiser fan, maybe I should increase my budget. That said, it's really expensive. So it's a tough decision. I'm sure it's better than Chord Hugo though, which was one of the major disappointments really. It has a wow factor at first but the more I listened to it, the more I became aware of its shortcomings.

 

[hodgjy]

  I was thinking of buying WA7 Fireflies for HD650 but it seems HDVD 800 is the best. It's expensive but since I'm a Sennheiser fan, maybe I should increase my budget. That said, it's really expensive. So it's a tough decision. I'm sure it's better than Chord Hugo though, which was one of the major disappointments really. It has a wow factor at first but the more I listened to it, the more I became aware of its shortcomings.

 
I'm telling everyone, but it's not getting noticed, the TEAC HA-501 is an outstanding pairing with the HD650. Best I've ever heard.

 

[obsidyen]

   
I'm telling everyone, but it's not getting noticed, the TEAC HA-501 is an outstanding pairing with the HD650. Best I've ever heard.

Thanks, I'll try it if I get the chance.

 

[JamieMcC]

   
I was at the NYC head-fi meet, and listened to several amps with my HD650s  My favorite was the Woo WA22, but I guess it should be for $2k.  But it was superior to the HeadAmp GS-X, which is close to double that price.
 
I loved Schiit Mjolnir with the HD650, that is a very worthy step up, and far more budget friendly.  I would say very close to on par with the HeadAmp, at one forth the price....
 
My big amp disappointment was the Bottlehead Crack.......thats right the Crack.  It was way too think, and it lacked resolve in my barely usable opinion.  But, to be fair, the guy who built this it a tube rolling addict, and I don't know how severe a change can be had rolling tubes.  Some amps are more effected by tube rolling then others.  And, I forgot to ask if he Speedballed his amp yet.....

 
Yep you got be wary on what kind of set up folk are using there is a rather unfair review slating the T1 which turned out to be mostly based on mp3 listened to straight off a iphone for fecks sake!
 
This evening I finished building up a couple of new stock Crack kits no Speedballs and have been having a first listen even without speedballs they sound really dynamic and engaging, about 30 minutes ago I swapped out the $5 stock 6080 tube and rolled in a Tungsol 5998 tube on one of them and in all honesty you could easily be mistaken that your listening to a different amp the improvement is significant right across the board.
 
Interesting review of the top tier tubes for the Crack,
 
 http://the-key.enix.org/~krystal/review-tube-bottlehead.html
 
They are in a couple of spare bases as their stock bases are still drying
 

 

[MattTCG]

The stock Crack seems to respond more appreciably to tube rolling than Crack with sb IMO. ymmv

 

[donlin]

I'm telling everyone, but it's not getting noticed, the TEAC HA-501 is an outstanding pairing with the HD650. Best I've ever heard.

A solid state amp by a big manufacturer will never get any attention on head-fi no matter how good it is. Not sure why.

 

[62ohm]

 

I'm telling everyone, but it's not getting noticed, the TEAC HA-501 is an outstanding pairing with the HD650. Best I've ever heard.

A solid state amp by a big manufacturer will never get any attention on head-fi no matter how good it is. Not sure why.

 
The BHA-1 seems to get a lot of attention though..
 
edit: and actually when looking to upgrade from the WA3 I did considered the HA-501, was very close on pulling the trigger before finding a very good deal on the Senn amp which was too good to forfeit.

 

[Tuneslover]

A few months ago I posted my HD650 dilema (Post #19062).  This is my follow-up:
 
A week ago I noticed that Amazon dropped the price of the HD650's to an acceptable $470 Cdn so I pulled the trigger and ordered a pair.  They came a few days ago so in order to burn them in I have them plugged into my Schiit Modi/Magni stack, which are being fed by my iMac which is playing continuous random selections of music from my iTunes library (my ripped CD collection).  I think I'm beginning to understand the Sennheiser enthusiam.  Am I becoming a Sennhead?  As long as I can resist grabbing my HE500's for a quick comparison and just stick with the 650's for a prolonged period of time.  So far I am quite pleased by the mellow sound of these cans.
 
Although I love my HE500's sound (planar magnetic mid's are heavenly) I must confess that I can't have very long listening sessions with them due to their fatiguing weight and comfort short-comings.  That's where the 650's are truly superior.  Unfortunately the 650's have always sounded too polite for my taste.  I experienced this on numerous past auditioning sessions which left me wanting more from these Senn's.  What changed?  A few weeks ago at Toronto's TAVES show I had an opportunity to try many awesome high end headphones (most for the first time) where I decided to give the 650's another listen, amplified by Woo.  Nice, very nice indeed.  Was it the Woo amp or was it those 650's, or both?  Probably both however that was the first time I took notice.
 
An impulse purchase?  Yup for sure but the price drop sealed the deal!  So personal ownership has given me long comfortable listening sessions over the past few days with a terrific variety of music.  Am I a convert?  HELL YA!!
 
The way I see it I now have a terrific choice at my disposal between these 2 drastically different headphones.  Each can be enjoyed for their specific strengths depending on the type of music I select and the mood I'm in. 
 
Now that I have about 50 hours of burn-in on them, I'm going to introduce the 650's to my Lake People G109S.  This should be good.  Stay tuned.

 

[HemiSam]

  After spending the last 6-7 years with more expensive phones (HD800, Stax007, LCD-2, LCD-3), I have returned to the 650's and couldn't be happier.  An impulse buy resulting from the combination of some posts on head-fi, a great deal on a new HD650/Balanced Cable and having the HDVA600 amp on hand has resulted in the best overall sound I have ever experienced in my system.  I bought my first pair of 650's back when they first were available (2004 I think) and always liked them a lot but this time around they are unbelievably good and absolutely more enjoyable to listen to than the flagships.  I'm not sure if it's because the phones have improved over the years or just the synergy of running them balanced on the HDVA600.  There is definitely no veil, the midrange is magical and the bass is explosive.  There is no grain or sibilance even at high volumes.

 
What DAC are you using?  Inspiring post BTW.
 
HS

 

[donlin]

What DAC are you using?  Inspiring post BTW.

HS

SimAudio Moon 260D Neo

 

[HemiSam]

SimAudio Moon 260D Neo

 
Very nice.  Thanks for sharing.
 
HS