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Sennheiser HD650 & Massdrop HD6XX Impressions Thread
Jun 1, 2015 at 9:22 AM Post #25,681 of 46,499
martinrmoutil said:
OK guys, so I've had the HD650 for some three weeks now, so I thought I'd share my impressions. Those of you who have read my first posts in this thread might still remember that I wanted the headphones for use with my PC, and for both gaming and music. I ordered the HD650 along with the Sound Blaster Z which has a powerful enough headphone amp to drive them. The SQ difference was really awesome and initially I would describe my feelings as being overjoyed. However, after spending some time listening to music, I realized the sound is actually kind of harsh - especially the bass occasionally almost hurt my ears. And I did not use EQ and played the music from HQ sources. So I did some research and realized the problem might be the SB as many people posted on various forums that the sound can be too in your face and the bass bloated. So I said to myself screw it, let's get the Asus Xonar Essence STX II. In fact I had my doubts about the SB even before I could listen to it because it is gaming oriented and moreover is powered by PCI, which is clearly not ideal. The lower price attracted me, but it turned out to be a mistake and I decided to change it for the Asus card (with a full refund on the SB), and I don't regret my money. Even my untrained ear can tell the difference between these two cards, the Asus is clearly more musical, and I am really happy now. I feel this is the ideal solution for someone who enjoys to have everything in one neat package - the PC. I am not a big fan of the idea of having extra boxes (amp, dac) lying around, and not being a true audiofile (yet), I don't feel like spending so much money either.


To tell you a little bit more about how I feel about my new headphones, let me just repeat what I told all the people in my family who were horrified to hear how much I spent on these things: For me the difference between cheap headphones driven from the motherboard and the HD650 plugged in the Asus card is like the difference between black-and-white and color TV (or 2D vs 3D). Yes, a black-and-white TV is capable of conveying (almost) the same information, but once you go color you never go back. I travel a lot and I must say that the fact I have to leave all this amazing music at home is making the trips quite stressful. :D And to think I watched Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells II from an old VHS rip my father did many years ago... Well, those days are over.

I just hope I won't feel the urge to try to improve the sound quality any further. I know it is possible, but I also know that I can't really expect to do such a huge jump in SQ ever again in my life; what I can expect however, is a huge jump in price if I want to improve the SQ even a little. Hopefully this equipment will stay with me for a long long time. Wish me luck in that regard. :)
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Good luck :) I would be happy with what I got. All amps sound a bit different, so the Xonar probably have its own "thing". You could have gotten a very decent combined dac/amp for that price however, just so you're aware. I dont know about latency on most dacs though, which also is a point when gaming.
 
Jun 1, 2015 at 9:34 AM Post #25,682 of 46,499
r2muchstuff said:
  I would like to try my 650 with my balanced source.  Thus the need for a cable with RSA connector.  Prefer about 4 feet and inexpensive since this is just the testing phase.  Suggestions?
 
Thanks,
R
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Cheap? EBay and China. Or DIY.
 
Jun 1, 2015 at 9:48 AM Post #25,683 of 46,499
@MartinRmoutil

I also thought the biggest jump in sound quality I'd heard was when I bought the 650's to go with my existing O2 amp.

Then I heard (and subsequently bought) the Project Ember. The improvement was not subtle.

Sorry for your wallet mate :wink:
 
Jun 1, 2015 at 10:04 AM Post #25,685 of 46,499
solrighal said:
@MartinRmoutil

I also thought the biggest jump in sound quality I'd heard was when I bought the 650's to go with my existing O2 amp.

Then I heard (and subsequently bought) the Project Ember. The improvement was not subtle.

Sorry for your wallet mate
wink.gif
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Well, it can happen in some distant future. But at least the headphones will be the same. :) For now, however, I am quite happy with what I have and it wouldn't even be practical for me to buy any extra equipment right now.
 
Jun 1, 2015 at 10:08 AM Post #25,687 of 46,499
kmitschiener said:
  Zorrofox, how did you find the O2? I'm thinking about picking one up as a transportable desktop amp for my HD 650s and possible Orthos in the future :)
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I also drove the HD650 with the O2, and can probably say very similar things as to what he would mention.
 
The O2 is a deceptively impressive amp if you know what you're looking for. It drives almost every headphones with very little effort, and has the noise floor of the vacuum in space.
 
It does however, only provide clean amplification, and that only. You won't hear any sound signature change. The sound signature of the headphones will be driven in a very clear, concise manner, and you can enjoy the headphones as they are.
 
You will get in return exactly what people will say of the HD650, only with less of that "veil" people speak of, since it's being driven to a good standard.
 
I recently moved into a DIY amp (SeNNator) specifically designed for the HD650 and I have to say, even though the sound is something I enjoy immensely over the O2, it's not enough to replace the O2.
 
In short, the O2 does it plain. But it's probably the best ever "plain" you can ever get at that price.
 
Jun 1, 2015 at 10:12 AM Post #25,689 of 46,499
r2muchstuff said:
 
Thanks, but I am hoping for a more specific "I bought from this place..." and I said inexpensive not cheap.
 
R
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Well then can you provide a budget range for "inexpensive"? It would help us narrow down the suggestions seeing as that term tends to be a bit relative.
 
Jun 1, 2015 at 10:27 AM Post #25,692 of 46,499
In that case DIY is definitely best value. Otherwise... this seems legit:
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/6-SENNHEISER-HEADPHONE-CABLE-HD600-HD650-MOGAMI-CARDAS-NEUTRIK-1-4-or-BALANCED-/171649354489?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item27f7194af9
 
Jun 1, 2015 at 10:30 AM Post #25,693 of 46,499
r2muchstuff said:
 
Good value, but lets say less than $100 US.
Thanks,
R
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PM @q2klepto - his are maybe a bit more up-market, but if you don't need much but decent cable and good terminations it's worth a try. The only other I can think of in that range might be Venus Audio - you can find them on EBay and they're in the US if that helps.
 
Edit: or what joebobbilly links :wink:
 
Jun 1, 2015 at 10:38 AM Post #25,694 of 46,499
martinrmoutil said:
  So it is much better than the O2 but not enough to replace it? What do you mean by that?
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The tonality is great, but it does not beat how clean the O2 sounds.
 
What the SeNNator amp does is "balance" out the HD650's sound frequency into a slightly more neutral sound. It does wonders for details and the sub bass (unreal might I add). It doesn't show the HD650's as they are at times, which is the No.1 headphone to chill out with.
 
That's when I switch back to the O2, and also is why I specifically built the SeNNator to accept the same AC/AC adapter as the O2: makes it super easy to switch out amps without having to dedicate a separate wallwart.
 
I also have a pair of T50RP's, which buddy up very well with the O2.
 
*Edit* So I guess what I'm trying to get to is this:
 
SeNNator: head bobble's constantly to the beat
The O2 : head nods slowly to the beat
 
Just two different moods to allow for.
 
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