Sennheiser HD650 Newb.

[crazyeyes]

Hey guys. I have a pair of HD650's with about 200 hours on them now. This is my first pair of Senns and I am liking them alot so far. My signal flow goes like this:

HD650<Apogee Duet<iMac

This is a good combo i think, but haven't heard them with much else, but the sound is very good. I know there are mods for the HD650 such as cables and such.

I was just wondering what you guys think to be some of the best bargain mods for the HD650's. I know balanced is the way everyone says they shine but I don't have the budget for that right now. I was wondering what cables are considered to be the best bargain.

I tried doing a search and didn't seem to come up with too much on this specific topic.

 

[1Time]

Try removing the foam inserts from the ear cups. Improved cables usually are relatively expensive upgrades and are usually deemed worth it. Hopefully someone will recommend an inexpensive cable upgrade for you.

 

[crazyeyes]

Thanks for the advice. I don't mind spending a bit of money I am just not going to invest the $1000's many do to go to a balanced setup. I don't mind spending a couple hundred on a cable upgrade.

Is there a tutorial on how to remove the foam inserts? What does this do to the sound?

 

[Cankin]

What's your budget? I'm sure you can get better sound by using a dedicated headphone amp.

 

[crazyeyes]

I don't want to spend much more than probably about $250-$350

 

[Cankin]

You can get a pre built M^3 from Rockhopper audio, this is an excellent amp and should get you better improvement than cable upgrade.

 

[1Time]

Since you're already using the duet, I think you'd be better off going balanced with a couple of less expensive amps. Maybe a single desktop amp would be better, but I'm not so sure it would. The ear cups come off easy enough, just pull on one side until it loosens and then pull on the other side. The foam is not attached and comes right out. It goes back together in reverse with pressure. Just something to try that you may like. If upgrading, I suggest trying it only after you upgrade. Going balanced or amping with a desktop should make a bigger difference than re-cabling.

 

[crazyeyes]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1Time /img/forum/go_quote.gif Since you're already using the duet, I think you'd be better off going balanced with a couple of less expensive amps. Maybe a single desktop amp would be better, but I'm not so sure it would. The ear cups come off easy enough, just pull on one side until it loosens and then pull on the other side. The foam is not attached and comes right out. It goes back together in reverse with pressure. Just something to try that you may like. If upgrading, I suggest trying it only after you upgrade. Going balanced or amping with a desktop should make a bigger difference than re-cabling.

So are you saying the Duet is a good enough amp, and that i may not notice a difference going to a different amp or cable upgrade? I would love to go balanced but it is expensive for the cables and amp.

 

[1Time]

Quote:

Originally Posted by crazyeyes /img/forum/go_quote.gif So are you saying the Duet is a good enough amp, and that i may not notice a difference going to a different amp or cable upgrade? I would love to go balanced but it is expensive for the cables and amp.

The question is what would be a worthy upgrade for you. I suggested that may be a balanced rig instead of the addition of a single $250 - $350 amp. If a balanced rig would be over budget, then you're left speculating on whether the purchase of an amp would do it for you. And I suggest that would best be determined by posting in and searching the amp forum. FWIR, I would want to hold out until I could manage a balanced system for the HD650.

 

[crazyeyes]

Hmm. I will have to think about it. I may look for a cable upgrade on the used market and try that out with the Duet and see what I think.

 

[1Time]

Quote:

Originally Posted by crazyeyes /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hmm. I will have to think about it. I may look for a cable upgrade on the used market and try that out with the Duet and see what I think.

That could be your best move. I don't know how well the duet drives the HD650, and don't know your level of satisfaction with that. Some are satisfied with less, others with more, and others never get there and move on to different headphones.

 

[crazyeyes]

I think they sound good on the Duet. The Duet is a MAJOR improvement over the built in soundcard. As far as the foam mod i tried that and it seemed to help a bit but i am worried about the drivers being exposed

 

[1Time]

Quote:

Originally Posted by crazyeyes /img/forum/go_quote.gif I think they sound good on the Duet. The Duet is a MAJOR improvement over the built in soundcard. As far as the foam mod i tried that and it seemed to help a bit but i am worried about the drivers being exposed

Right, a major improvement, but how well does that level of improvement do it for you, and what must you do to get to where you want to be? It's a fairly slippery slope when it comes to spending money in search of better sound. Seems to me you're fairly impressed and possibly satisfied with your current rig. Again, I wouldn't consider upgrading able to go balanced, but that's just me. I never had a problem with having the foam out of my HD580. I think some may have used ladies hosiery in place of the foam to protect the driver. Not too sure how well that would keep dust out of it though. You could always keep the dust away from it with a plastic bag. However you deem best. I eventually lost the foam inserts to my HD580 and never missed them.

 

[Rednamalas1]

leave the cable upgrade as the last chain of upgrades - it's not going to as much as improvement as dedicated amps could give you.
Sure, recable may seem very pretty and all, but it's not going to rival the SQ improvement compared to getting a good amp. Apogee duet is a wonderful source, but its headphone out doesn't have enough balls to power HD650 imo.

M^3 is a wonderful recommendation, as you would see an improvement over your current setup.

I'm personally holding back until I get a good amp for HD650 - namely, Zana Deux. As they are completely different beasts when they're amped properly

 

[monsieurguzel]

I actually have a very similar set up at you. Imac>duet>hd650. Recently i got a Silver Dragon cable, which made quite a bit of difference. However, the biggest difference was from getting a home amp (Woo 6 SE), which really brought out the HD650 headphones to another level. The duet makes a great DAC and a decent amp, but nowhere near as good as a good full sized tube amp. I would highly recomment a Woo amp...i think you can get a 3+ for $450 approx.