[genck]

Latecomer to the 6XX reporting. It's much better than I expected...
The good thing about setting your expectations low is that surprises still happen

 

[jasonb]

I enjoy my HD650 most with a little EQ. I like a little more top end, and I bring up the sub-bass to a more neutral level.

 

[paulybatz]

I am
Enjoying my 650s a lot lately...I think the lightness is impressive

 

[gargani]

Headphones and amps aren't designed that way anymore. Instead modern pairing when it's not a complete mess, tends to follow 'impedance bridging'. The amp will ideally have an impedance close to zero, and the load(headphone) will be a lot higher. That way we get strong electrical damping and the voltage at the headphone isn't affected too much by the headphone itself, which is what we usually want.

I'm with @L0rdGwyn on not forcing the correlation between sound and amp's impedance too much. If you're specifically after a little bass bump near 100Hz(wherever your own HD650's impedance peaks), then sure enough you can get that with an amplifier's output having one or two hundred ohm. But for anything else, a different amplifier is a different amplifier. It wouldn't be rational to reduce all the differences down to 2 impedance outputs. I usually whine that people do it for power, but the problem is the same. Even more here where you wouldn't expect 100ohm or more from a SS amp. So we end up with apples and oranges.

With that said, it's not impossible that you would prefer a slightly lower electrical damping(all else considered equal even though it wouldn't happen). We usually consider that such a thing doesn't have a sound on headphones beside the possible small change in frequency response. But that's only because headphone amplifiers usually stick to being rather low impedance and headphones have pretty good mechanical damping. So the scenarios we can encounter on speakers with a relatively high impedance amp, are typically not relevant on headphones like this one.
But if the amp's output was something like 300ohm or more, then all bets are off. I wouldn't be too surprised if that had it's very own sound(added to the characteristics of the amp itself and the evident mid bass boost we'd get from the hd650's impedance curve).

I own a Yamaha receiver circa 1999. According to the owner's manual, the headphone output impedance is 350 ohms.
Plugging the hd 650 into the jack definitely boosts the bass.
I find the hd650 already has enough upper bass combined with a little extra lower mid range. Someone might prefer the extra bass.
Myself I find it too much.

 

[Brad57]

I own a Yamaha receiver circa 1999. According to the owner's manual, the headphone output impedance is 350 ohms.
Plugging the hd 650 into the jack definitely boosts the bass.
I find the hd650 already has enough upper bass combined with a little extra lower mid range. Someone might prefer the extra bass.
Myself I find it too much.

My 598 have 50ohm impedence . When I connect it to btr3 which has 40ohm impedence the bass comes alive and is a different headphone altogether. The bass goes deeps without hurting other frequencies. I don't get the same bass performance from my lower impedence amps like fiio q1 or nx4 granded they have superior amps.

 

[paulybatz]

Interesting stuffs Brad...another testament to having the proper amps

 

[genck]

My 598 have 50ohm impedence . When I connect it to btr3 which has 40ohm impedence the bass comes alive and is a different headphone altogether. The bass goes deeps without hurting other frequencies. I don't get the same bass performance from my lower impedence amps like fiio q1 or nx4 granded they have superior amps.

It seems the btr3 has 0.3 ohm output impedance
https://www.fiio.com/btr3_parameters
32 ohm loaded was how they arrived at the <0.3 ohm value when measured

edit: not trying to get off topic, just an fyi

 

[Brad57]

It seems the btr3 has 0.3 ohm output impedance
https://www.fiio.com/btr3_parameters
32 ohm loaded was how they arrived at the <0.3 ohm value when measured

edit: not trying to get off topic, just an fyi

Ok in that case I retract my conclusion about op impedence. But what I said about btr3 is real though. Maybe the device has good low end after all. Google gave me wrong value .

 

[RobertSM]

Really enjoying the Sennheiser hd650 with the SPL Phonitor X in balanced mode. Very resolving yet relaxed. Focused.

 

[Sermo]

Hi,

I'm looking for a new pair of open back headphones to complement my LCD-2C (Hopefully with Dekoni Velour pads soon). I'm running it through my iFi Micro iDSD BL and it works surprisingly well. That little brick has power!

I've been looking at the Sennheiser 6XX and 58X and I'm interested in both of them. Which one would you consider is the closest in terms of sound, imaging, soundstage etc to the 660s? I really liked the 660s sound but don't want to spend that amount of money atm. (I haven't heard the 600 or 650 before).

I listen to all kind of music, everything from Hans Zimmer to techno. I also game a lot and will probably attach a modmic to the headphone.

Thanks!

 

[Emulle]

Hey fellas.

What's the general consensus on the 'best' desktop DAC/AMP combo for the HD650/6xx? Is it the Bottlehead Crack (w/ speedball or wo/ speedball)?
I am looking for something to use at my desktop with my PC.

I was also wondering if anyone use a portable USB-C DAC/AMP and are happy with the performance.

Cheers,
Emulle

 

[henriks]

I am useing ifi xcan balanced, this combo works great.

 

[genck]

Hey fellas.

What's the general consensus on the 'best' desktop DAC/AMP combo for the HD650/6xx? Is it the Bottlehead Crack (w/ speedball or wo/ speedball)?
I am looking for something to use at my desktop with my PC.

I was also wondering if anyone use a portable USB-C DAC/AMP and are happy with the performance.

Cheers,
Emulle

I couldn't tell you what the "best" would be because I only have a couple of amps, both solid state. But I can say that I get a very full sound with depth through my Asgard 3, much more than the magni. I've also run the 6xx on my LG V50 and it actually sounds good, surprisingly. They don't seem that hard to drive but I haven't heard them on an OTL amp.

 

[Brad57]

Hey fellas.

What's the general consensus on the 'best' desktop DAC/AMP combo for the HD650/6xx? Is it the Bottlehead Crack (w/ speedball or wo/ speedball)?
I am looking for something to use at my desktop with my PC.

I was also wondering if anyone use a portable USB-C DAC/AMP and are happy with the performance.

Cheers,
Emulle

Best portable one would be chord mojo. But then again it has battery issues and basically no warranty.

 

[HungryPanda]

Just got the iFi Xcan will try it on my HD650 once charged up