[Aerocraft67]

First post. Just took the $399.99 + tax - $50 gift card deal on Amazon for the HD 650. Basically, $350 + tax, free shipping. Came in just under my target outlay of $380. Of course tomorrow they'll go lower just to spite me, but I figure that the Amazon price has only dipped below $350 a few times according to camelcamelcamel.com, so this is close enough. If the 650s are a top value at $500 according to the "battle of the flagships" superpost, then they're only better at $350, right? And only $10 more than the HD 600. Actually, the 600 comes with a $40 giftcard at $390 today, so the net price of both the 600 and 650 before tax and after giftcards is $350.
 
I own a set of HD 239s. Love them. They're the optimal portable headphones—conveying the best sound out of portable sources, unamped, without performance overkill, even if they're not as truly portable as earbuds. Some guys like an isolating design for portable use, but I prefer the open design both for sound quality and remaining aware of surroundings. But they don't sound as good as full-sized cans. Hence my new purchase of the HD 650s, to step up my home listening. On paper, they seem like what I'm looking for, even with the veil and treble rolloff and whatnot.
 
I'm curious to hear how the 650s sound with a Denon AVR-1712 home theater receiver, which is my primary home unit, fed by a MacBook running iTunes and Bitperfect (among other things). My HD 239s sound great through the AVR, substantially better than through portable sources, including my MacBook itself, so I figure the HD 650s will deliver a big upgrade, without overwhelmingly outclassing the AVR, even if the AVR is not the ideal match for the 650. 
 
There's not much commentary out there about driving headphones with AVRs, other than a few vaguely ominous allusions to afterthought design and parts allocated to the AVR heaphone section. I figure if the headphone section can apprehend a decent fraction of the AVR budget, then that's equivalent to a cheap dedicated headphone DAC/amp combo. Probably a bit short of a Dragonfly or Magni/Modi combo, but better than plugging directly into the MacBook. And of course I also use the AVR to drive my home theater, so a quite reasonable trade-off.
 
Whatever limitations arise will provide me with an upgrade target soon enough. I've owned the 239s less than two months, and I'm already tripling my investment in headphones. In any event, I look forward to dedicating the 650s to home use and 239s to portable duty, and to joining the 650 party.

 

[Spiderman]

I really didn't feel any clamping pressure with the 650's out of the box they feel extremely comfortable quite the opposite of the he-400's which I felt were extremely heavy and had a lot of clamping pressure.

 

[Spiderman]

Quote:

First post. Just took the $399.99 + tax - $50 gift card deal on Amazon for the HD 650. Basically, $350 + tax, free shipping. Came in just under my target outlay of $380. Of course tomorrow they'll go lower just to spite me, but I figure that the Amazon price has only dipped below $350 a few times according to camelcamelcamel.com, so this is close enough. If the 650s are a top value at $500 according to the "battle of the flagships" superpost, then they're only better at $350, right? And only $10 more than the HD 600. Actually, the 600 comes with a $40 giftcard at $390 today, so the net price of both the 600 and 650 before tax and after giftcards is $350.
 
I own a set of HD 239s. Love them. They're the optimal portable headphones—conveying the best sound out of portable sources, unamped, without performance overkill, even if they're not as truly portable as earbuds. Some guys like an isolating design for portable use, but I prefer the open design both for sound quality and remaining aware of surroundings. But they don't sound as good as full-sized cans. Hence my new purchase of the HD 650s, to step up my home listening. On paper, they seem like what I'm looking for, even with the veil and treble rolloff and whatnot.
 
I'm curious to hear how the 650s sound with a Denon AVR-1712 home theater receiver, which is my primary home unit, fed by a MacBook running iTunes and Bitperfect (among other things). My HD 239s sound great through the AVR, substantially better than through portable sources, including my MacBook itself, so I figure the HD 650s will deliver a big upgrade, without overwhelmingly outclassing the AVR, even if the AVR is not the ideal match for the 650. 
 
There's not much commentary out there about driving headphones with AVRs, other than a few vaguely ominous allusions to afterthought design and parts allocated to the AVR heaphone section. I figure if the headphone section can apprehend a decent fraction of the AVR budget, then that's equivalent to a cheap dedicated headphone DAC/amp combo. Probably a bit short of a Dragonfly or Magni/Modi combo, but better than plugging directly into the MacBook. And of course I also use the AVR to drive my home theater, so a quite reasonable trade-off.
 
Whatever limitations arise will provide me with an upgrade target soon enough. I've owned the 239s less than two months, and I'm already tripling my investment in headphones. In any event, I look forward to dedicating the 650s to home use and 239s to portable duty, and to joining the 650 party.

I ran them out of my denon 1612 receiver and wasn't really impressed it sounded the same to me as if I was running them through my laptop.

 

[wazzupi]

Quote:

Sometimes it's Sennheiser themselves

When I got mine for $340 plus $50 iTunes card that's an effective $290, that has to be the lowest of anybody's price to date for brand new with a US warranty. Maybe there's a loophole for cross-promotions.

lol grokit that was a best buy employee pricing  

 

[the fool]

Quote:

I really didn't feel any clamping pressure with the 650's out of the box they feel extremely comfortable quite the opposite of the he-400's which I felt were extremely heavy and had a lot of clamping pressure.

 
really, I guess you have small head, I could not wear it more than 30 min. Once I go home, I will try to bend the headband and put something between the earpad.

 

[CDewey]

Sometimes it's Sennheiser themselves :blink:
When I got mine for $340 plus $50 iTunes card that's an effective $290, that has to be the lowest of anybody's price to date for brand new with a US warranty. Maybe there's a loophole for cross-promotions.

I'm fairly sure it is NOT sennheiser themselves. If dealers found out they'd have no more dealers.

Your price was stupid good. I couldn't buy them from my own store for that. I'd have to go dealer accomodation to do better.

 

[wazzupi]

anyone know how well the b & w cm series match the hd650's ? 

 

[CDewey]

anyone know how well the b & w cm series match the hd650's ? 

I use discontinued B&W CDM9NTs. The current CM9 would be pretty close. I like them a lot. Worth taking a listen.

 

[wazzupi]

Quote:

I use discontinued B&W CDM9NTs. The current CM9 would be pretty close. I like them a lot. Worth taking a listen.

have you heard the cm5's ? 

 

[wazzupi]

I work at best buy and I own no speakers or even an amp or receiver worth noting... but I was definitely interested in just having a set of book shelf speakers that would sound really amazing in the mids/vocals and with a good sound stage(hd650's come to my mind LOL). I was interested in the cm5/1/685's but we also sell mk sound lc750's and martinlogan's MOFXBL2/MO15 which I get good discounts on all speakers. 

 

[CDewey]

have you heard the cm5's ? 

Absolutely! I first fell in love with the cm1 when it was the only bookshelf in the CM line. The CM5 is a great speaker considering what you'll pay.

I'm thinking of new bookshelves myself. CM5s are definitely in the running(those new PM1s are really nice too) I've paired them with a JL fathom 10 sub several times. Killer 2.1setup.

 

[wazzupi]

Quote:

Absolutely! I first fell in love with the cm1 when it was the only bookshelf in the CM line. The CM5 is a great speaker considering what you'll pay.
I'm thinking of new bookshelves myself. CM5s are definitely in the running(those new PM1s are really nice too) I've paired them with a JL fathom 10 sub several times. Killer 2.1setup.

damn I'd really like to hear the pm1's but we don't sell them, how would you compare the cm1 to cm5's ? worth the price? for me its only 300 dollar difference.

 

[Keevs]

I have the HD650 as well as the B&W CM5.

I think they are both different in the sense that a good 2 channel speaker setup soundstage is so nice and big, yet have the vocal intimacy on some songs.

 

[CDewey]

The PM1s are amazing. The imaging is better than the CM series. You'll prob want the matching stands though so factor that into the budget.

 

[ac500]

I personally was never impressed with any B&W speaker for the price. They sound vastly better than Bose, but that's not saying much.
 
If you're as interested as speakers as you are in headphones, please do the research. Almost everywhere I read, people say B&W is a pretty bad deal for the price, and my experience confirms this. We make fun of people buying Beats around here - please don't make a similar mistake and buy B&W unless you are REALLY sure that's what you want. Try to audition first.
 
For example, I auditioned a Totem tower next to a B&W speaker costing much more. The Totem blew it away by such an insanely wide margin, it literally is like the difference between a Sennheiser HD 650 and Beats Solos. In fact a Paradigm speaker costing 1/5th the price even sounded better than B&W. 
 
Sorry, but I had to say it. Obviously, trust your ears and listen for yourself at a local shop - and if you really like it, then buy it. But make SURE you try the alternates first - otherwise you'd be making the mistake naive headphone buyers do when they buy Beats or Bose.