[Tuneslover]

Without the mod they were unlistenable for my ears. I would've sold them immediately. I've heard cans that I needed to get used to but I still liked them enough to give them that chance. Unmodded the 650 was not something I was remotely interested in. Dark, muddy and veiled, for my own ears. With the mod they are much better, but still very hard to get used to. But I am still listening. Jazz sounded great (but still dark). Classical sounded awful. Pop/electronica sounds pretty good. These seem to work best with bright recordings to balance out the dark signature.

I suggest you plug your 650's into your Jot, connect your Modi MB to your Jot and it to your source (I think you use a CD player, right?) and put it into repeat play for 2-3 days. Then with an unbiased mind begin to listen to the truly terrific system you've assembled.

 

[PATB]

How long did it take for you to get used to/enjoy the 650? And did you have others cans at the same time?

 
About six months.  I only had the SR-225 at the time -- so I had a bright and a dark headphone!  To be honest, I am VERY SURPRISED the HD650 is veiled with the Jot.
 
EDIT: I am assuming you are running the Jot balanced to the HD650.

 

[ColtMrFire]

About six months.  I only had the SR-225 at the time -- so I had a bright and a dark headphone!  To be honest, I am VERY SURPRISED the HD650 is veiled with the Jot.

Six months is a long time to stick with something you don't necessarily care for.

Veiled is a subjective term but to me they sound veiled in that I simply feel like I am missing something with the music. Like there is a chunk of something actually missing. I owned and loved the HD600 so I am not desperate for treble just a sense of engagement I am not getting...at the moment.

I am not running the 650 balanced into Jot.

 

[PATB]

Six months is a long time to stick with something you don't necessarily care for.

Veiled is a subjective term but to me they sound veiled in that I simply feel like I am missing something with the music. Like there is a chunk of something actually missing. I owned and loved the HD600 so I am not desperate for treble just a sense of engagement I am not getting...at the moment.

I am not running the 650 balanced into Jot.

EDIT:  Try balance first.

 

[kman1211]

Six months is a long time to stick with something you don't necessarily care for.

Veiled is a subjective term but to me they sound veiled in that I simply feel like I am missing something with the music. Like there is a chunk of something actually missing. I owned and loved the HD600 so I am not desperate for treble just a sense of engagement I am not getting...at the moment.

The Nighthawks do the dark sound better than the HD 650 imho, something is missing from the HD 650 to my ears while it wasn't the case on the Nighthawks, which is why the HD 650 was replaced despite the NH being slightly darker, it has more clarity and life to it's sound than the Senns. I find I liked the HD 600 more than the HD 650 as well, but I replaced the HD 600 with the new DT 1990 for my balanced headphone. The HD 650 and me have a troubled history, owned it three times, but realized something wasn't quite right each time. It's not a headphone for everyone. 

 

[bavinck]

  The Nighthawks do the dark sound better than the HD 650 imho, something is missing from the HD 650 to my ears while it wasn't the case on the Nighthawks, which is why the HD 650 was replaced despite the NH being slightly darker, it has more clarity and life to it's sound than the Senns. I find I liked the HD 600 more than the HD 650 as well, but I replaced the HD 600 with the new DT 1990 for my balanced headphone. The HD 650 and me have a troubled history, owned it three times, but realized something wasn't quite right each time each time.

How would the dt1990 compare with 650?

 

[ColtMrFire]

The only reason I sold the 600 was because it did not have the technicalities I needed for large complex orchestral music. I heard the 650 has a better driver and scales better and was a great pairing with Jotunheim so I took a chance.

The T90 has the technicalities but it is becoming a bit too bright for me.

I dont mean to crap on a popular headphone so take my posts with a grain of salt.

 

[kman1211]

  How would the dt1990 compare with 650?

The DT 1990 is an interesting headphone from Beyer, smoother than most Beyers in the treble, worth for those wanting to try a Beyer but not fond of their tendency towards brightness and peakiness. It's a robust, tactile, dynamic, and vivid sounding headphone but not fatiguing at all(with the balanced pads, it's more spacious less tactile with the analytical pads). Soundstage depends on the pads as does the bass. Before burn-in it does have a bit of a bite in the treble but that mellowed out quite nicely after a couple days. Very sensitive and transparent of the system. I don't currently own the HD 650 so I can't make a direct comparison sadly. 

 

[ColtMrFire]

EDIT:  Try balance first.

I am hesitant to pour more money into this yet since I am not sure I will keep them.

 

[penmarker]

The Nighthawks do the dark sound better than the HD 650 imho, something is missing from the HD 650 to my ears while it wasn't the case on the Nighthawks, which is why the HD 650 was replaced despite the NH being slightly darker, it has more clarity and life to it's sound than the Senns. I find I liked the HD 600 more than the HD 650 as well, but I replaced the HD 600 with the new DT 1990 for my balanced headphone. The HD 650 and me have a troubled history, owned it three times, but realized something wasn't quite right each time. It's not a headphone for everyone. 

 

[wazzupi]

Buried in your sardonic "get off my lawn" post is some obvious stuff I was definitely aware of. Its just the initial shock of going from a Beyer to 650. Still has the Sennheiser house sound I adore, but they are fairly dark and somewhat rolled off, yes.

I am trying different genres of music and allowing some brain burn in to happen. Jazz is sounding great.

Great idea the more people understand certain genres sound better with a particular set of headphones the better off they are I personally love my hd650s, vocals and mids blow everything out of the water with my la figaro 339 pairing, tube amps are great ! Things like detail imaging and soundstage are under 1000 dollars good enough I cant say anything about hd800 or beyerdynamics higher end, my experience has only been with el-8 nighthawk lcd2 and dt880s and a few others not so compelling headphones but i'll always keep a pair of hd650s.

 

[wazzupi]

The Nighthawks do the dark sound better than the HD 650 imho, something is missing from the HD 650 to my ears while it wasn't the case on the Nighthawks, which is why the HD 650 was replaced despite the NH being slightly darker, it has more clarity and life to it's sound than the Senns. I find I liked the HD 600 more than the HD 650 as well, but I replaced the HD 600 with the new DT 1990 for my balanced headphone. The HD 650 and me have a troubled history, owned it three times, but realized something wasn't quite right each time. It's not a headphone for everyone. 

I have to disagree nighthawks sound like a poormans el-8 open back to me they lacked everything compared to it but had a similar sound signature.

 

[kman1211]

I have to disagree nighthawks sound like a poormans el-8 open back to me they lacked everything compared to it but had a similar sound signature.

Didn't find them all that alike the El-8 to me personally. Though different systems, ears, preferences, etc. does play a role for sure.

 

[wazzupi]

  Didn't find them all that alike the El-8 to me personally. Though different systems, ears, preferences, etc. does play a role for sure.

I was probably being modest about it, but EL-8 open back sounds superior in all aspects to the nighthawk imo.  they were both running off the Audeze deckard.

 

[kman1211]

  I was probably being modest about it, but EL-8 open back sounds superior in all aspects to the nighthawk imo.  they were both running off the Audeze deckard.

Haven't heard the Audeze Deckard. When I compared the two I was comparing them on the Violectric V281 and a variety of tubes amps along with a few other headphones in the sub-$1000 range at the time. Thought the NH sounded better the LCD-2, EL-8, etc. so I decided to go for it for that reason and comfort. I'm not really a huge planar fan though.