[DavidA]

Hmm I tried Adele and was entirely put off by the mastering. No dynamic range on her beautiful voice. So sad.

Don't know if the vinyl is any better... Actually I think I have a vinyl rip and it's better, just still compressed. Sigh

Sorry, forgot that I used audacity to "remaster" the album so it sounds much better than the original.  Been doing a lot of this with the current generation of music that I've gotten, like Bruno Mars, Beyoncé, Demi Lovato, and Ariana Grande are those that come to mind.

 

[DavidA]

   
This is both a strength and weakness for the HD-650. They respond and scale well to power with ample reserves; but the minus is that the HD-650 are not good low-level listening 'phones.

Agree that they are not the greatest for low-level listening like when I'm going to sleep, best I've found for going to sleep is a MDR-7506 driven by a X1, the bass and treble are normally too much but at low volumes its great, its like the old loudness switch that a lot of the old stereo systems used to have.

 

[penmarker]

 
Sorry, forgot that I used audacity to "remaster" the album so it sounds much better than the original.  Been doing a lot of this with the current generation of music that I've gotten, like Bruno Mars, Beyoncé, Demi Lovato, and Ariana Grande are those that come to mind.

I'm interested with how you "remastered" a mixed song without the original individual tracks. Do you have any pictures for the setting or adjustments of some sort?

 

[DavidA]

  I'm interested with how you "remastered" a mixed song without the original individual tracks. Do you have any pictures for the setting or adjustments of some sort?

Have you used Audacity before?  There are some great tutorials on youtube and other sites.  
 
Basic process is to take a ripped wav file and open it in Audacity and use some of the available tools to alter the dynamic range, levels, EQ, filters, etc.  Make changes in small increments and try to compare the changes on a few different headphones to verify.  For me I use a UD-301/Ember/HD-700 and Bifrost/Lyr2/HE-560 to check the changes that I've made.  After I've made the changes I save the file as both MP3 and WAV is a different directory from the original.
 
Hope this answers your question.

 

[toddrhodes]

I have 650's on the way from the For Sale forum here, can't wait! Just today I ponied up for an Ember with the 6sn7 adapter, as I don't think my Bravo V2 is going to do right by 300-ohm cans. The Ember should scale well with my current Grados and my future HE400's from a buddy. Excited to try out the new setup (will be my work setup) once all the parts come in!

 

[SomeGuyDude]

  Have you used Audacity before?  There are some great tutorials on youtube and other sites.  
 
Basic process is to take a ripped wav file and open it in Audacity and use some of the available tools to alter the dynamic range, levels, EQ, filters, etc.  Make changes in small increments and try to compare the changes on a few different headphones to verify.  For me I use a UD-301/Ember/HD-700 and Bifrost/Lyr2/HE-560 to check the changes that I've made.  After I've made the changes I save the file as both MP3 and WAV is a different directory from the original.
 
Hope this answers your question.

 
That's not even remotely how remastering works. 

 

[kmitschiener]

Would anyone happen to have a 3d printer file of the hd 650 headband? )

 

[iancraig10]

That's not even remotely how remastering works. 

It would be nice if Audacity did the job though ......

 

[DavidA]

   
That's not even remotely how remastering works. 

I know that, that's why I put the " " around it.  A better description would be to just say edit the files to try and correct problems in the original.

 

[Solrighal]

Adele's producer managed quite a trick with 21. It actually sounds progressively worse the more money you throw into the playback chain. Still, I doubt she cares. Megabucks!

 

[DDDamian]

The vinyl rip I have is much less compressed than the CD according to Audacity and about 4db quieter according to R.G. (although that part is irrelevant as it's a rip). Too bad about the wow in it but worth the trade-off. Will have to check if the pressing is in the tags.

 

[whirlwind]

 

   
I personally think amplification plays a large part in the HD650 feeling "boomy" or not.  I would never refer to this headphone as fast.  But it does feel a little quicker with good power being applied (and more silver in the cable, but I'm going to pretend I didn't say that part)....

 
This is both a strength and weakness for the HD-650. They respond and scale well to power with ample reserves; but the minus is that the HD-650 are not good low-level listening 'phones.

+1
 
For really low level listening , I will always go for my Grado, as they do not lose any detail at lower levels.

 

[castleofargh]

 

 

   
I personally think amplification plays a large part in the HD650 feeling "boomy" or not.  I would never refer to this headphone as fast.  But it does feel a little quicker with good power being applied (and more silver in the cable, but I'm going to pretend I didn't say that part)....

 
This is both a strength and weakness for the HD-650. They respond and scale well to power with ample reserves; but the minus is that the HD-650 are not good low-level listening 'phones.

+1
 
For really low level listening , I will always go for my Grado, as they do not lose any detail at lower levels.

@ButtUglyJeff I would be careful not to dumb down changing an amp for another one to just being a power difference. that would be conveniently forgetting about so many other possible reasons that comes from using 2 different amps.
while I agree that I also kind of felt that with the 650, and it indeed usually happens that the amp with more power feels like it still brings something to damping the sub, I certainly wouldn't draw any conclusion about power alone. first because I never conducted an actual test at matched volume levels. but even more so when the laws ruling electricity aren't the kind to bend just for one headphone. at some point the only way to get more power to pass through the hd650 is to push the volume louder.

@whirlwind   all the grados roll off sub bass so much that your comment makes sense to me. the reason is simply that a good deal of what would change due to the equal loudness contour stuff of our ears when listening at lower level, is already too rolled off on the grado at normal listening to make a noticeable difference compared to the mids.
to me it's more like the grado sounds as bad at normal level as it sounds bad at quiet level, but I'm a sucker for sub bass, so I'm very much partial on this I'm afraid.
for low volume listening, I instead go with V shaped stuff that feel more balanced when used quietly. that way I still have some feeling of bass/sub. but the side effect is that I hate V shaped signature, so I never ever listen to those stuff at normal listening levels

. they have an exclusive "quiet usage" in my case. at least you can still have fun with a grado at normal level.
whatever the method, it can be challenging to really enjoy music at low volume levels. I wish someone would upgrade our ears already.

 

[whirlwind]

 

 

 

   
I personally think amplification plays a large part in the HD650 feeling "boomy" or not.  I would never refer to this headphone as fast.  But it does feel a little quicker with good power being applied (and more silver in the cable, but I'm going to pretend I didn't say that part)....

 
This is both a strength and weakness for the HD-650. They respond and scale well to power with ample reserves; but the minus is that the HD-650 are not good low-level listening 'phones.

+1
 
For really low level listening , I will always go for my Grado, as they do not lose any detail at lower levels.

@ButtUglyJeff I would be careful not to dumb down changing an amp for another one to just being a power difference. that would be conveniently forgetting about so many other possible reasons that comes from using 2 different amps.
while I agree that I also kind of felt that with the 650, and it indeed usually happens that the amp with more power feels like it still brings something to damping the sub, I certainly wouldn't draw any conclusion about power alone. first because I never conducted an actual test at matched volume levels. but even more so when the laws ruling electricity aren't the kind to bend just for one headphone. at some point the only way to get more power to pass through the hd650 is to push the volume louder.

@whirlwind   all the grados roll off sub bass so much that your comment makes sense to me. the reason is simply that a good deal of what would change due to the equal loudness contour stuff of our ears when listening at lower level, is already too rolled off on the grado at normal listening to make a noticeable difference compared to the mids.
to me it's more like the grado sounds as bad at normal level as it sounds bad at quiet level, but I'm a sucker for sub bass, so I'm very much partial on this I'm afraid.
for low volume listening, I instead go with V shaped stuff that feel more balanced when used quietly. that way I still have some feeling of bass/sub. but the side effect is that I hate V shaped signature, so I never ever listen to those stuff at normal listening levels

. they have an exclusive "quiet usage" in my case. at least you can still have fun with a grado at normal level.
whatever the method, it can be challenging to really enjoy music at low volume levels. I wish someone would upgrade our ears already.

different stokes for different folks

 

[JacobLee89]

  different stokes for different folks

 
I plug a tiny black box to my big black box. I plug a slightly bigger blue box - with a few dials attached - to the tiny black box. I finally plug my singing headband to the slightly bigger blue box, and singing headband starts singing.
 
This hobby is as complex as we allow it to be, and it's a barrel of fun!