[iancraig10]

I'll give you £150 for them, or a Beyer dt150!!!! :evil:

 

[acguitar84]

  today hd650 arrived.
thought i share my impressions...
 
My main setup is Macbook pro retina 2016 SSD > HiFace Evo Two > Hegel HD20 > Beyerdynamic A1 >  Hifiman he560 / Audeze Sine
I am satisfied with my setup but kind of wanted a headphone that is "easy on ears" and all about musicality but still remaining serious Hi-Fi kind of sound...
 
After reading reviews i thought hd650 could be it, i also auditioned hd600 once and was pleasantly surprised how a headphone from 90s could still sound good comparing to todays tough competition 
 
To my surprise i was disappointed with hd650...
 
hd650 is often described as juicy sweet creamy dark meaty musical ... mids focused , after all thats where musicality comes from , from the mids...
 
i find mids wide thick and light weighted , theres very little weight to the body of mids.
When i think of dark tonality , a rich  deep well layered sound comes to mind
tonality of hd650 is not dark  , its simply has dimmed treble and smoothed over / rounded sound , imaging is less focused compared to hd600 , so you won't call it a bright headphone , but just because its not bright doesn't make it dark ...
 
bass is dull , wooly and always on one note...
bass rolls off and theres almost no sub bass 
hd650 has slow dynamic and with that wooly one note bass it makes you feel like taking bath in a warm wet sand...
once you put something infected mushroom- becoming insane  , everything gets blended and bloated , and out of phase ...
 
2my ears hd650 is a hd600 with wider soundstage  , less focused imaging , dimmed treble , less sub bass and unnecessary mid bass hump ...    with another words  a ruined hd600
i don't think a more mid bass  and a wider soundstage was worth messing up tonal balance of hd600
 
 
what was a real surprise is how many head-fiers like hd650 and even prefer it to hd600 ö.Ö
 
a headphone like Beyerdynamic DT150 is way better choice for someone who want a majestic mids with a relax / mellow , smooth sound presentation ...
 
i was curious about hd650 so i bought it, well...now i know whats  "sweet dark musical sound"  is for 70% of head-fiers  

Gosh, it's crazy how different people hear different sounds! Since I've gotten my HD650, I have hardly touched my PS1000e. I really love the HD650! I'm running it on a current rig of  mimby - jot - HD650 (Balanced), and it's really been fun, frying my brain really, lol. It was even better with yggy, but yggy is busy on one of the speaker rigs, so mimby it is for now, on headphones. And mimby is holding it's own nicely on the rig. Love the HD650! 
 
Maybe you want to give it more time to burn in? I hope it works out for you!!

 

[Arttt]

@acguitar84 
 
im defiantly keeping it for a week to give it a proper burn-in and see its full potential once hd650 blossom ...
but early impressions are a deal breaker, hd650 is not what i was expecting it to be, hd600 is a superior headphone and probably i will end up sending hd650 back and geting hd600, re-cable it with Forza audio works Noir Hybrid cable and be done with looking for relaxing smooth easy on ears headphone to chill with...
 
 
im glad you enjoy hd650 

 

[Quinto]

Maybe you could give it some time without comparing to others.. I have both and love them equally, depending on my mood and type of music..

 

[calpiyuki]

Hey guys! I am one of the fortunate ones to have his or her transaction go through for the hd 6xx drop.  And to my understanding, hd6xx and hd 650 are technically the same with only cosmetic difference.  I currently have a cowon plenue d as my dap and I know that I need an external amplifier in order to feed the 300ohm beast.  Any recommendation for amps that I can pair with cowon plenue d?
 
Thank you

 

[tgh5000]

I am sure it has been mentioned here before. But this thread is too long. 
 
Anyway, what would be a good cheap amp for HD 650?
 
I got the HD6xx, which is essentially an HD 650.
 
I am considering Magni 2, O2, Audioengine D1. I heard HD 650 is amp picky. Could someone please recommend some good amp or amp/dac for HD650? Thanks.

 

[ubs28]

@acguitar84
 

im defiantly keeping it for a week to give it a proper burn-in and see its full potential once hd650 blossom ...
but early impressions are a deal breaker, hd650 is not what i was expecting it to be, hd600 is a superior headphone and probably i will end up sending hd650 back and geting hd600, re-cable it with Forza audio works Noir Hybrid cable and be done with looking for relaxing smooth easy on ears headphone to chill with...


im glad you enjoy hd650 

That is interesting . The HD 600 definetly has less sub bass according to my ears and the soundstage of the HD 600 is quite small.

If you describe the HD 650 as being a whooly one bass note, then try it on an other setup.

 

[ubs28]

Hey guys! I am one of the fortunate ones to have his or her transaction go through for the hd 6xx drop.  And to my understanding, hd6xx and hd 650 are technically the same with only cosmetic difference.  I currently have a cowon plenue d as my dap and I know that I need an external amplifier in order to feed the 300ohm beast.  Any recommendation for amps that I can pair with cowon plenue d?

Thank you

I hear great things about the Jotumheim if you're looking for something budget. I haven't heard it myself but considering all the good reviews it has it can't be bad.

 

[DavidA]

  @acguitar84 
 
im defiantly keeping it for a week to give it a proper burn-in and see its full potential once hd650 blossom ...
but early impressions are a deal breaker, hd650 is not what i was expecting it to be, hd600 is a superior headphone and probably i will end up sending hd650 back and geting hd600, re-cable it with Forza audio works Noir Hybrid cable and be done with looking for relaxing smooth easy on ears headphone to chill with...
 
 
im glad you enjoy hd650 

We all hear differently, to me it was the HD-600 that was a disappointment, 4-5khz peak was irritating to me with some tracks. a little bass lite, and far from relaxing smooth easy on the ears for my GF and I.
 
 

  I am sure it has been mentioned here before. But this thread is too long. 
 
Anyway, what would be a good cheap amp for HD 650?
 
I got the HD6xx, which is essentially an HD 650.
 
I am considering Magni 2, O2, Audioengine D1. I heard HD 650 is amp picky. Could someone please recommend some good amp or amp/dac for HD650? Thanks.

I would live with the HD-6XX for a while and save up for an amp that will do them justice but if you really want a cheap amp look at Garage 1217 amps, very flexible and quite a few on these thread like them a lot.

 

[Youth]

  i was curious about hd650 so i bought it, well...now i know whats  "sweet dark musical sound"  is for 70% of head-fiers  

 
No you really don't. That A1 amplifier is completely screwing over the HD650 and I wouldn't be surprised if your DAC is also bottlenecking it.  

 

[tgh5000]

I would live with the HD-6XX for a while and save up for an amp that will do them justice but if you really want a cheap amp look at Garage 1217 amps, very flexible and quite a few on these thread like them a lot.

 
What would be some amps that do them justice?

 

[DavidA]

   
What would be some amps that do them justice?

BH Crack, Project Ember, EC ZDS, EC Balancing Act, Liquid Gold, Liquid Glass, MHA-100, AudioGD Master 11, WA22, HA-501, Red Wine Isabellina, BH Mainline, Icon Audio HP8, Headamp GS-X Mk2 and WA6.  I've heard the HD-650 on all of these amps, if you notice the cost goes from $300 to $5000, the HD-650 will scale with the high end amps but you are very far in to diminishing returns.

 

[Faber65]

Speaking of new singers like Adelle.

What do you guys think of Lana Del Rey? I am wondering if that is her real voice or is it computer effects? she sucks live like most modern singers but her studio stuff is really good. But I have seen some of her live performances that were really good. I tend not to be caught up with how bad she is because her music is not found these days she is a rare gem now. She seems to have a special talent in bringing old style of music into the future with a type of evolution that feels natural if that makes sense.

Also I notice in a lot of new recordings there is a weird noise like the noise you get from playing an old Vinyl record. Is that intentional or a result of poor studio recording? I notice it in Adelle and Lana Del Rey recording.

I don't listen to modern singers besides these 2 so I can't comment much but I can say this weird noise is NOT on pink floyd albums.

I really like her style, but like most of the music I love her albums aren't very well mastered. Another prime example is Amy Winehouse. Amazing music, bad mastering.
.

About Amy Winehouse, probably the problem is not the mastering, but the highly compressed dynamic.
I never measured it, but to my ears her albums have a very low DR index.
I wish someone here had the possibility to do the measurement just for the sake of my curiosity.
Maybe DR is equal or below 9.
Something like that.
But of course, I am just guessing for fun.

 

[Faber65]

 

What would be some amps that do them justice?

BH Crack, Project Ember, EC ZDS, EC Balancing Act, Liquid Gold, Liquid Glass, MHA-100, AudioGD Master 11, WA22, HA-501, Red Wine Isabellina, BH Mainline, Icon Audio HP8, Headamp GS-X Mk2 and WA6.  I've heard the HD-650 on all of these amps, if you notice the cost goes from $300 to $5000, the HD-650 will scale with the high end amps but you are very far in to diminishing returns.

Agree completely.

 

[penmarker]

About Amy Winehouse, probably the problem is not the mastering, but the highly compressed dynamic.
I never measured it, but to my ears her albums have a very low DR index.
I wish someone here had the possibility to do the measurement just for the sake of my curiosity.
Maybe DR is equal or below 9.
Something like that.
But of course, I am just guessing for fun.

Ah yes, dynamic range. Reminds me how Woodkid - The Golden Age is a great album but the loud horns are the same volume as the drums and guitar and the vocals and other quiet passages. Like music on a 2D paper.
 
Imagine if they could make this song in high dynamic range - and don't bother getting the original audio files (vinyl, CDs, digital download) too, they have the same dynamic range.
Listen to the bass lines. Imagine if it was in high and full dynamic range.