[olor1n]

Here we go with the unannounced driver update conspiracies. I like the HD650's bass. I don't find it muddy, or that it smears the midrange. It can also surprise with low bass at times. However... you guys clearly don't have much of a reference if it's perfect to your ears.

Fwiw, the one I have now was purchased brand new less than 4 months ago. This is my second. The first one I owned (which is now my cousin's) was not an older black screened HD650. Other than having better gear now and the HD650 sounding a tad more refined as a result, it sounds identical to that other one. Any variance would have been accounted for by the age of the pads on his headphone and less than perfect volume matching when we compared the two.

 

[tdockweiler]

Quote:

Here we go with the unannounced driver update conspiracies. I like the HD650's bass. I don't find it muddy, or that it smears the midrange. It can also surprise with low bass at times. However... you guys clearly don't have much of a reference if it's perfect to your ears.

Fwiw, the one I have now was purchased brand new less than 4 months ago. This is my second. The first one I owned (which is now my cousin's) was not an older black screened HD650. Other than having better gear now and the HD650 sounding a tad more refined as a result, it sounds identical to that other one. Any variance would have been accounted for by the age of the pads on his headphone and less than perfect volume matching when we compared the two.

There you go..always talking down at people. You did that before when I had the SRH-940 and told me I probably wasn't hearing it the way it's "supposed to sound". Yet it was with all transparent gear. Nobody is saying there was a driver revision, but it's possible. They can do this whenever they want and don't have to announce it. The differences i've heard between pairs are not that large but this HD-650 sounds flatter than the HD-600. It is warmer though, which makes no sense.
 
Then this comment about not having a reference if we think it's perfect. Do you have the same ears, setup and sound signature preferences? For us it could very well be perfect based on preferences. What's the big deal? You obviously think every headphone will sound the same for everyone. Nobody is saying it's any sort of dead neutral studio monitor. It sounds like you have a pair with a mid-bass emphasis which you've mentioned before. I don't even consider the HD-650 a bassy headphone.
 
Just because you had two HD-650s that sounded the same doesn't mean anything. You could have gotten a pair that was from an older batch that sounded identical to your old one. You should listen to a few more if you can.
 
So nobody really knows much about any real variation between pairs until you test and measure a dozen or so of them.
 
Have you seen the graphs yet on Purrin's website of the two HD-650s? If there was a difference in pad use it would be hard to imagine the difference would be enough to be measurable. I could be wrong though. Mine sounds exactly like the one with better extended low bass.

 

[olor1n]

Huh? When did I ever discuss the SRH-940 with you? You must have me confused with someone else dude. I try not to have any interaction with you. Your posts are incoherent and pointless at the best of times. I wasn't even responding to your post directly.

And lol at the claim your HD650 sounds exactly like the one measured by purrin. How did you determine that? By looking at the graph?

 

[tdockweiler]

Quote:

Huh? When did I ever discuss the SRH-940 with you? You must have me confused with someone else dude. I try not to have any interaction with you. Your posts are incoherent and pointless at the best of times. I wasn't even responding to your post directly.

And lol at the claim your HD650 sounds exactly like the one measured by purrin. How did you determine that? By looking at the graph?

 
Oh someones butt-hurt. That's too bad. Now we get troll comments from you.
I'd much rather post "incoherent and pointless" posts than talk down at people and tell them how much better my gear is and how it's "the way it's supposed to sound". I try to be helpful when I can.
 
I'm not going to go out of my way to have perfect posts just to please people like you. I do ramble on a lot and if you actually read them slowly they're not too hard to understand. Maybe you have poor reading comprehension. LOL at them being "pointless". I'm not sure if you knew this, but this is a message forum. Maybe you can go read a book instead.
 
Yeah my SRH-940 comments were posted in the SRH-940 thread when I had it. The comments were definitely from you and I know how condescending you can be with people.
 
You obviously haven't seen those graphs since there is quite a bit of variation between them. Doesn't look subtle to me. If I were to guess, the HD-650 I have is the one with the more extended (and distorted) low bass. Graphs don't mean much to me.

 

[olor1n]

Dude you have me confused with someone else. I've never owned a Shure headphone or had an interest in one. I generally don't comment on gear I've not heard. Why would I butt heads with you about something I have no experience with? I suppose in your head you may think it's to troll and derive some enjoyment. Sorry bud, like I said I avoid interacting with you and this exchange illustrates why.

 

[jazzerdave]

Quote:

Have you seen the graphs yet on Purrin's website of the two HD-650s? If there was a difference in pad use it would be hard to imagine the difference would be enough to be measurable. I could be wrong though. Mine sounds exactly like the one with better extended low bass.

 
Difference in pad wear would most certainly be measurable.  Realize that with worn pads, the drivers will actually be closer to the microphones with a smaller acoustic chamber.  When I received my pair of 650's, the pads were extremely worn.  Replacing them with new pads made for a rather significant improvement.

 

[yokken]

I have also experienced quite a difference in the way I remember the HD650 sounding when I got it and the way it sounds now. I don't remember them seeming detailed but they did have some awesome bass punch to them. Now I think they have a little bit less (but more controlled) bass, though still more than the HD600 -- and they are a lot more detailed than I remember. I'm listening to my DT880s right now and I'm hearing new stuff in music I've heard 100, 200 times. I always say that with the DT880s because it always happens! The HD650s don't do that nearly as much, but after spending time with the DT880s, which I consider to be detail monsters (for their price, of course) I can easily appreciate how much clearer the HD650s sound now. The detail just isn't in your face like it is with the DT880s.
 
Call it burn in, call it psychological adaptation (getting used to the sound), call it whatever you like -- but I definitely can hear a difference between when they were brand new, 6 months ago, and now. They are quite wonderful.
 
Guys, please stop fighting. 

 

[tdockweiler]

Quote:

 
Difference in pad wear would most certainly be measurable.  Realize that with worn pads, the drivers will actually be closer to the microphones with a smaller acoustic chamber.  When I received my pair of 650's, the pads were extremely worn.  Replacing them with new pads made for a rather significant improvement.

That's good to know. I just figured it would be not all that noticeable in graphs.
Now that I think of it, I swear I saw a Japanese site where they measured new and old pads of the HD-600 and there was no measurable difference. I'll have to dig up this up and edit this post when I find it. Doesn't really mean they won't sound different when you actually listen to them.
 
It does make sense why you could hear a difference since the drivers are obviously closer to your ears. I have some old K701 pads I got for free with a K400 and they're so flat that I can't even tell which side is angled!
 
The ultimate test will be to see if the K702 65th Anniversary memory foam pads give a measurable difference. My guess was NO despite it sounding like there is. Of course this has nothing to do with pad wear but it's still interesting. I want to send my 65th Anniversary pads into someone that has a Q701 and see if there is any difference in measurements. I think Tyll has a pair still. The Q701 is supposed to sound exactly like the Anniversary edition if you use the 65th pads.
 
I always saw those nice flat HD-650 graphs on Inner Fidelity and wondered why the heck my old pairs never sounded like that. My source and amp were totally flat too and I've tried quite a few different combinations. At least now I'm finally loving the HD-650. Sometimes I'm not always in the mood for it though and prefer the Q701.

 

[brymuse]

Muxamed, I was merely agreeing with a previous poster that they have seemed to have opened up.
No headphones were used during those 2 weeks. I was away. However I stand by my observation. I don't need to be glued to my 650s to chart a difference in how I perceive them. If anything I think you end up trying too hard to hear 'burn in' (or 'acclimatisation' or whatever it is that makes things sound better). 2 weeks away has pretty much done that for me - like a sorbet for the ears. I now hear them with a bit of perspective and the sound I remember to the sound I have now feels different. Its not a difference based on the sound two weeks ago but on a memory of the previous 6 months. Maybe they havent really miraculously improved over those 2 weeks. That would on the face of it, be daft. But i think that maybe a rest does make you appreciate things more.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

I was reading the old vs new discussion on Purrin's site when post from Solderdude piqued my interest as he was talking about pads differences and linked to that Japanese blog comparing two
http://sonove.angry.jp/HD650_Pad_effect.html

I had a pair of new HD650 pads that I purchased recently but was holding on installing them as my original pads were not so worn out. So after the reading I checked the pads and wow, the foam inside new pads is much stiffer comparing to my old (black drivers) original HD650 pads, even that they don't have a lot of mileage on them. They are also deeper as picture above shows.
So I went ahead and installed new pads. And bam, instant gratification, bass got super tight and top end gained extra sparkle, the instrument positioning is more precise with more cohesive soundstage and better imaging.

 

[Lorspeaker]

anyone managed to angle the drivers on the hd650?

 

[Loquah]

Quote:

I was reading the old vs new discussion on Purrin's site when post from Solderdude piqued my interest as he was talking about pads differences and linked to that Japanese blog comparing two
http://sonove.angry.jp/HD650_Pad_effect.html

I had a pair of new HD650 pads that I purchased recently but was holding on installing them as my original pads were not so worn out. So after the reading I checked the pads and wow, the foam inside new pads is much stiffer comparing to my old (black drivers) original HD650 pads, even that they don't have a lot of mileage on them. They are also deeper as picture above shows.
So I went ahead and installed new pads. And bam, instant gratification, bass got super tight and top end gained extra sparkle, the instrument positioning is more precise with more cohesive soundstage and better imaging.

 
How long do you think before pads need replacing? MY HD650s aren't that old, but get lots of mileage as I wear them 5-6 hours per day when working from home. Looking at them, I think they're looking a little flatter than when they were new, but not sure if I'm just being (mildly) paranoid.
 
EDIT: I guess I could just measure them and compare with the figures shown above.... duh! 

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Quote:

 
How long do you think before pads need replacing? MY HD650s aren't that old, but get lots of mileage as I wear them 5-6 hours per day when working from home. Looking at them, I think they're looking a little flatter than when they were new, but not sure if I'm just being (mildly) paranoid.
 
EDIT: I guess I could just measure them and compare with the figures shown above.... duh! 

I was just trying to reiterate what other posts on Purrin's site were saying that the pad design (material) got changed sometime along the lines and old/new drivers saga is just old/new style pads as it seems. I have no idea how long the new pads with stiffer foam will last.

 

[EraserXIV]

Quote:

So I went ahead and installed new pads. And bam, instant gratification, bass got super tight and top end gained extra sparkle, the instrument positioning is more precise with more cohesive soundstage and better imaging.

 
Interesting find on the pads. Mine are pretty (read: very) worn out but I've been holding off on buying new one. Half because I figured I could squeak a few more months out of them, half on the sheer principle of not paying $60 for $2 worth of materials. I had a hunch though that it was affecting the sound a pretty good amount though.
 
I have noticed that imaging especially has taken a big hit from what I remembered when I first got them. In the past few months I have progressively been getting dissatisfied by my HD650, to the point that I was considering moving on and upgrading to the HD800. All the issues that I have been having with them are exactly what you mentioned being improved after the new pads. Maybe I'll take the $60 hit before I commit to the $1000 hit.

 

[joebobbilly]

LOL $1000?  If you can find brand new HD800s for $1000 please let me know!!