[ubs28]

  I recently bought a pair of HD650s used from here and am slightly underwhelmed... The sound quality overall is better than anything else I've listened to however, a lot of the detail in songs I listen to regularly are muddled and not as clear as I'm used to hearing (for instance through my Piston 2s). I'm powering the HD650 with a Schiit Modi 2 uber and a Vali coming from FLACs through my macbook.

For example in Radiohead's Idioteque at around 1:18 (https://youtu.be/E7hvGPLexL0?t=1m17s) there is a backing vocal track that I'm used to hearing much more clearly. 

I'm trying to identify if this is an issue with a piece of equipment or if its just the nature of the HD650. Any ideas?

 
Try the HD 650 with the Chord Hugo. The Chord Hugo is extremely transparent which helps greatly with the HD 650. It also gives the HD 650 a more open sound.
 
If that is not enough, then I guess you need to upgrade to the HD 800 S.

 

[FlySweep]

^^^ LMAOOO ^^^

 

[chuckwheat]

  I recently bought a pair of HD650s used from here and am slightly underwhelmed... The sound quality overall is better than anything else I've listened to however, a lot of the detail in songs I listen to regularly are muddled and not as clear as I'm used to hearing (for instance through my Piston 2s). I'm powering the HD650 with a Schiit Modi 2 uber and a Vali coming from FLACs through my macbook.

For example in Radiohead's Idioteque at around 1:18 (https://youtu.be/E7hvGPLexL0?t=1m17s) there is a backing vocal track that I'm used to hearing much more clearly. 

I'm trying to identify if this is an issue with a piece of equipment or if its just the nature of the HD650. Any ideas?

In my personal opinion, the Vali is very dark and muddy for the hd650. It's one of the few tube amps I would not pair with the 650. I probably have an unpopular opinion...

 

[vhsownsbeta]

I recently bought a pair of HD650s used from here and am slightly underwhelmed... The sound quality overall is better than anything else I've listened to however, a lot of the detail in songs I listen to regularly are muddled and not as clear as I'm used to hearing (for instance through my Piston 2s). I'm powering the HD650 with a Schiit Modi 2 uber and a Vali coming from FLACs through my macbook.


For example in Radiohead's Idioteque at around 1:18 (https://youtu.be/E7hvGPLexL0?t=1m17s) there is a backing vocal track that I'm used to hearing much more clearly. 


I'm trying to identify if this is an issue with a piece of equipment or if its just the nature of the HD650. Any ideas?

Also, I recently ordered the Crack with Speedball upgrade for Bottlehead's sale so I'll see if that makes a good amount of difference. From my understanding the Speedball upgrade is supposed to improve the clarity a good amount.

The Crack and some simple HD650 mods are your path to enlightenment...

 

[penmarker]

Lesson to be learned from the past few pages - if you wanna get good sound from HD650, be prepared to make sacrifices.

 

[numberandlocation]

Will patiently wait for mine to be delivered then.

 

[Solrighal]

  Lesson to be learned from the past few pages - if you wanna get good sound from HD650, be prepared to make sacrifices.

 
What sacrifices? A social life?

 

[TheEldestBoy]

Hi All,
 
I'm leaning heavily towards getting the HD 650 (the other 2 options being the HD 600 or the HiFiMan400S), and I'm wondering if the dac/amp set-up that I currently have will be enough to get me going before I eventually upgrade to something more substantial.
 
I have a Peachtree Music Box:

1. http://www.peachtreeaudio.com/musicbox-amplifier-with-dac.html

 
I appreciate that this isn't the ideal dac/amp to drive the HD 600/650's, but I'm hoping that it's enough to get started. 
 
Note:  I don't listen at very loud volumes, so getting a lot of volume isn't necessarily a concern for me here.  I just want to be able to get started with the 650's, and then will upgrade when I have the resources to do so.
 
 
The specs of the Music Box are as follows:

 
Any insight from you guys is greatly appreciated!

 

[Odin412]

  I'm leaning heavily towards getting the HD 650 (the other 2 options being the HD 600 or the HiFiMan400S), and I'm wondering if the dac/amp set-up that I currently have will be enough to get me going before I eventually upgrade to something more substantial.
 
I have a Peachtree Music Box:

1. http://www.peachtreeaudio.com/musicbox-amplifier-with-dac.html

 
I appreciate that this isn't the ideal dac/amp to drive the HD 600/650's, but I'm hoping that it's enough to get started. 
 

 
What a cool-looking amp! I hadn't seen that before. And yes, it's definitely good enough to get you started. One of the things that I really like about the HD 650 is that while it is forgiving of both equipment and recordings it really scales up (meaning that it sounds better as you hook it up to better amps/DACs to drive it). I have a Peachtree Decco 65 to drive my main speakers, and while the headphone amp in the Decco is not the best it still sounds good with the HD 650. My favorite way to drive the HD 650 is via the Schiit Bifrost Multibit/Valhalla combo. It also sounds really good with the Cavalli Liquid Carbon.

 

[TheEldestBoy]

   
What a cool-looking amp! I hadn't seen that before. And yes, it's definitely good enough to get you started. One of the things that I really like about the HD 650 is that while it is forgiving of both equipment and recordings it really scales up (meaning that it sounds better as you hook it up to better amps/DACs to drive it). I have a Peachtree Decco 65 to drive my main speakers, and while the headphone amp in the Decco is not the best it still sounds good with the HD 650. My favorite way to drive the HD 650 is via the Schiit Bifrost Multibit/Valhalla combo. It also sounds really good with the Cavalli Liquid Carbon.

 
Thanks for the info, Odin412.
 
Keep in mind though, your Decco65 has a much more powerful amp than my Music Box... You think it'll be enough to get me going though?  

 

[Odin412]

   
Thanks for the info, Odin412.
 
Keep in mind though, your Decco65 has a much more powerful amp than my Music Box... You think it'll be enough to get me going though?  

​You're welcome! Although the Music Box' headphone amp is limited to 50 mW/channel at 32 ohms I'm going to guess that you'll be OK. The reason being that the HD 650 is a high impedance headphone (300 ohms) so it doesn't really need that much power. (In technical terms it requires voltage more than current, which your amp should be able to provide.) Others in the forum may have different experiences and suggestions.

 

[TheEldestBoy]

 
​You're welcome! Although the Music Box' headphone amp is limited to 50 mW/channel at 32 ohms I'm going to guess that you'll be OK. The reason being that the HD 650 is a high impedance headphone (300 ohms) so it doesn't really need that much power. (In technical terms it requires voltage more than current, which your amp should be able to provide.) Others in the forum may have different experiences and suggestions.

 
 
Thanks again!

 

[martyn73]

Hi,
 
I'm looking for an amplifier for my HD650 which provides an improvement over my Chord Mojo. Please can anyone advise if the Musical Fidelity MX-HPA is more powerful than, say, a Burson Soloist SL Mk2? I've checked the various sites and the SL Mk2 is rated at '2.5W at 16 Ohms', whereas the MX-HPA provides '1.8 Watts per channel into 8 Ohms'. This probably suggests the Burson amplifier is more powerful, but I may have misunderstood the ratings and other factors probably affect overall sound quality and 'synergy' with the HD650 which no doubt benefits from a powerful solid state amplifier.
 
 
The MX-HPA offers balanced output which may provide improved sound when connected to the MX-DAC (which I also own). Does using the HD650 with a balanced amplifier and XLR leads genuinely improve sound quality, or am I better served continuing with an amplifier with single-ended output?
 
Thanks,
 
 
Martyn

 

[ButtUglyJeff]

  Hi,
 
I'm looking for an amplifier for my HD650 which provides an improvement over my Chord Mojo. Please can anyone advise if the Musical Fidelity MX-HPA is more powerful than, say, a Burson Soloist SL Mk2? I've checked the various sites and the SL Mk2 is rated at '2.5W at 16 Ohms', whereas the MX-HPA provides '1.8 Watts per channel into 8 Ohms'. This probably suggests the Burson amplifier is more powerful, but I may have misunderstood the ratings and other factors probably affect overall sound quality and 'synergy' with the HD650 which no doubt benefits from a powerful solid state amplifier.
 
 
The MX-HPA offers balanced output which may provide improved sound when connected to the MX-DAC (which I also own). Does using the HD650 with a balanced amplifier and XLR leads genuinely improve sound quality, or am I better served continuing with an amplifier with single-ended output?
 
Thanks,
 
 
Martyn

 
It depends on the design of the amplifier really....
 
For example, I have a Cavalli Liquid Carbon, which is a balanced amp.  It delivers twice the power in balanced operation, then it does in single ended.  Not all balanced amps operate like this.  But in my case balanced makes an immense difference.  There are amps that have XLR outputs more for convenience then anything else, but aren't truly balanced.
 
I'd focus on finding an amp that sounds good, and not worry too much on specs like this.
 
I feed my balanced amp with a non balanced DAC, and I couldn't be happier with the results.  Why?  Because I like the DAC tonally...

 

[DavidA]

  Hi,
 
I'm looking for an amplifier for my HD650 which provides an improvement over my Chord Mojo. Please can anyone advise if the Musical Fidelity MX-HPA is more powerful than, say, a Burson Soloist SL Mk2? I've checked the various sites and the SL Mk2 is rated at '2.5W at 16 Ohms', whereas the MX-HPA provides '1.8 Watts per channel into 8 Ohms'. This probably suggests the Burson amplifier is more powerful, but I may have misunderstood the ratings and other factors probably affect overall sound quality and 'synergy' with the HD650 which no doubt benefits from a powerful solid state amplifier.
 
 
The MX-HPA offers balanced output which may provide improved sound when connected to the MX-DAC (which I also own). Does using the HD650 with a balanced amplifier and XLR leads genuinely improve sound quality, or am I better served continuing with an amplifier with single-ended output?
 
Thanks,
 
 
Martyn

Hard to tell which amp will drive the HD-650 since I couldn't find any specs as the output at 300ohms, I would suspect its a lot lower for both amps since the output ratings are give at fairly low impedances.  As for your balanced question it really depends on the amp and you will also need to get a balanced cable to make use of a balanced amp.  One of the better SS amps I've seen mentioned on this thread and the HD-600 thread is the Project Polaris from Garage 1217.  Like the Project Ember, the output resistance/impedance on the Polaris is adjustable so you can better match it to various headphones and unlike the other amps you mention the output of the Polaris is shown with different output resistance setting and at various headphone impedance ratings.