[wolfetan44]

Quote:

I think that Amazon is quite often the one breaking the barrier. It is not always a reaction.

And the prices are usually very low

 

[thinh4u2]

Holy Schiit! Just bought me a HD650 for Christmas, after shipping and all it was $425 plus a $50 Amazon gift card.

What? It's 399 and should have free shipping. I am trying to use my 10% code, hopefully making them $310 after gc. Imo I would've still preferred to get another d2000 for $210 hope these hd 650 won't disappoint

 

[the fool]

I received my HD650 yesterday from amazon fr. This sound amazing 

, much better than my HD595, but the clamping force of HD650 is like hell to me, I can wear my HD595 whole day but  I could only wear HD650 for half hour, my ears hurts.

  I am sure this has been asked many times, but I will still ask: how do you  guys solve this issue?

 

[MattTCG]

It takes several days for the pads to compress to your head and then it will start to feel better, trust me. If you have a largish head, you can gently bend the metal between the cup and headband. This will also alleviate the clamp. Mine is as comfortable as butter now. 

 

[joebobbilly]

Yea, I have a stupidly big head also, so if you have a box (shoebox?) about the size of your head, just clamp the hd 650 on those when you're not using and it'll loosen up. 
 

 

[wolfetan44]

Quote:

Yea, I have a stupidly big head also, so if you have a box (shoebox?) about the size of your head, just clamp the hd 650 on those when you're not using and it'll loosen up. 
 

I love your avatar

 

[MattTCG]

Gotta be care about the shoebox trick as it may overcompress the pads. They kinda expensive to replace. 

 

[ac500]

Just thought I'd say some years ago I upgraded my HD650 to an HD800, and I'm once again back to the HD650 (plus some nice speakers for my "main" setup). In retrospect, I've tried far more headphones than I thought I would, getting into head-fi (the meme "Welcome to head-fi. Sorry about your wallet." is certainly correct ) Here's a list of some headphones I've had (the top 3 are IMO all top-tier in their own ways):
 
Sennheiser HD 800
Sennheiser HD 650
Audio Technica AD2000
 
Shure SRH-940
Beyerdynamic DT880
Sennheiser HD 280 Pro
Ultrasone Pro 900
 
Koss Portapro
Sony XB 700
AKG K500
 
I'm back to the HD650 and honestly I think it's safe to say these will be my headphones for the foreseeable future . Why?
 
There's always been something about the HD650 that is very hard to describe that just makes everything sound so smooth, musical, inviting, and just overall nice and enjoyable sounding, no matter what I'm listening to. They're still the most comfortable overall (I found HD800s to be very comfortable but the extra weight is subtly less comfortable over time).
 
Just so I'm not misleading: I should say that there is no doubt whatsoever that my old HD800 is technically superior all around (except for just one thing: the HD800 doesn't seem to be capable of the warm and smooth/lush bass the HD650 does well by default, even with equalization - though maybe tubes help here for the HD800, I haven't tried them). When I find a recording that agrees well with the HD800 (e.g. a really good classical piece), it's absolutely unmatched how realistic and lifelike it sounds. However I found myself restricting the types of music I listen to on the HD800 quite a bit, because it's really too revealing. If the HD800 had the sound signature of the HD650 with the HD800 technical proficiency, and the lighter weight of the HD650, it would be the perfect headphone, but I don't think any such thing exists.
 
For me, I think the HD650 reaches an amazingly good balance in its sound signature that just makes every type of sound and music work, and it's certainly holds up well in terms of true detail and resolution in a very subtle/refined way, because it doesn't throw it in your face like trebly headphones. I guess I'm at a point where the HD650's very precise but refined detail is more than sufficient quality for me.
 
All I know is given the wide range of music I like to listen to, the HD650 is the only headphone I can always consistently rely on sounding amazing.

 

[gopanthersgo1]

Just thought I'd say some years ago I upgraded my HD650 to an HD800, and I'm once again back to the HD650 (plus some nice speakers for my "main" setup). In retrospect, I've tried far more headphones than I thought I would, getting into head-fi (the meme "Welcome to head-fi. Sorry about your wallet." is certainly correct )

Sennheiser HD 800

Sennheiser HD 650

Audio Technica AD2000

Shure SRH-940

Beyerdynamic DT880

Sennheiser HD 280 Pro

Ultrasone Pro 900

Sony XB 700

AKG K500
Koss Portapro

I'm back to the HD650 and honestly I think it's safe to say these will be my headphones for the foreseeable future . Why?

There's always been something about the HD650 that is very hard to describe that just makes everything sound so smooth, musical, inviting, and just overall nice and enjoyable sounding, no matter what I'm listening to. They're still the most comfortable overall (I found HD800s to be very comfortable but the extra weight is subtly less comfortable over time).

Just so I'm not misleading: I should say that there is no doubt whatsoever that my old HD800 is technically superior all around (except for just one thing: the HD800 doesn't seem to be capable of the warm and smooth/lush bass the HD650 does well by default, even with equalization - though maybe tubes help here for the HD800, I haven't tried them). When I find a recording that agrees well with the HD800 (e.g. a really good classical piece), it's absolutely unmatched how realistic and lifelike it sounds. However I found myself restricting the types of music I listen to on the HD800 quite a bit, because it's really too revealing. If the HD800 had the sound signature of the HD650 with the HD800 technical proficiency, and the lighter weight of the HD650, it would be the perfect headphone, but I don't think any such thing exists.

For me, I think the HD650 reaches an amazingly good balance in its sound signature that just makes every type of sound and music work, and it's certainly holds up well in terms of true detail and resolution in a very subtle/refined way, because it doesn't throw it in your face like trebly headphones. I guess I'm at a point where the HD650's very precise but refined detail is more than sufficient quality for me.

All I know is given the wide range of music I like to listen to, the HD650 is the only headphone I can always consistently rely on sounding amazing.

This smashed all my buyers remorse Thanks!

EDIT: You haven't tried Denon's (D5000's) or K701's yet???

 

[ac500]

I've tried D2000s in a noisy store and didn't much like them - they sounded too "mushy" - but it was probably the noisy store. I generally don't like closed headphones, though I liked the comfortability of the Denons. I tried K701s out of an excellent amp at a meet, and while they were pretty good, they're much more similar to the HD800s sound signature, and in that field my HD800s blew them away obviously.
 
P.S. I think the reason I'm leaning away from forward/shrill headphones is, for some reason I think trebly headphones are more dangerous to the ears as I find them much more fatiguing. I can listen to my HD650s pretty much all day, but the HD800s can become fatiguing very rapidly.
 
In contrast, my speakers are perhaps a bit more forward than the HD650s, but despite sometimes more "sparkly" treble the speakers are not fatiguing at all. I think this is just inherent to the sonic differences between speakers and headphones: I think ultimately headphones are inherently fatiguing when it comes to treble due to them being so close to the ears, and there's not much that can be done about that (I'm not really sure why, since you should be able to tune around this - but it is what it is). What I like about the HD650 treble is it's extremely high quality and detailed but not "in your face" at all. 

 

[caracara08]

Ac500,i too went through many headphones. My first one was the hd650 and after trying maybe 30 different headphones, i settled happily on the hd650 and im done for full sized. I have a mad Dog also but it rarely gets head time. Now to find my iem that i stick with.

 

[jsmooth67]

Ac500, have you tried any orthodynamic headphones?

 

[ac500]

I've tried the LCD-2, and while I really liked the sound, I actually didn't find a huge sound quality difference from my HD650 -- now granted, this was again at a noisy headfi meet so it's not the best conditions to compare. Some day I'd like to give it a really good comparison.
 
The reason I haven't though is an unfortunate reality: The LCD-2 is incredibly uncomfortable to me, with a horrible crude leather strap headband like it's out of the 1940s -- let alone it wouldn't extend far enough to seat well on my head. I also tend to dislike heavy headphones in general in terms of comfort, even if they manage to have a good headband.

 

[wazzupi]

so I'm looking for speakers that have the similar sound signature to my hd650's anyone like to help me out on such a venture lol. 

 

[ac500]

I'd look into Ascend Sierra-1. Though speakers are so different from headphones its hard to compare at all to headphones. Keep in mind you'll probably have to get a sub if you want to get low bass that you get from headphones, since most speakers don't go much below 60 or 70 hz, but it's well worth it and massively better than headphone bass obviously (though perhaps not as fast). I highly recommend the subwoofer in my signature as an excellently priced high quality sub (and the speakers too for that matter, though they sound totally neutral - between an HD650 and HD800, perfect for speakers IMO, but you're looking for HD650-sounding speakers).