[erted]

So i don't have the HD6XX (yet, got last drop waiting on arrival) But i do have the K712 Pro. Rock & Metal its nothing but overpowering cymbals. I have years of studio training to listen through music for certain things & even I stuggle to stay focused through those cymbals, Its the perfect headset for a drummer!! Would of loved to have when i did drumming! but not when was doing bass guitar e.t.c. But honestly it gives me a headache everytime if i listen for an hour+. Electronic music is Great on them!. Even though its clear, very clear & detailed that brightness is always an issue with ride,crash & hi-hat drummer cymbals. Soundstage is good. Imaging is.... Ok, has some, not accurate (only an issue for games).
One factor is i didnt have a good headphone amp when i used them, so that might make a difference? someone else might be able to inform of how much that changes things.
Now the reason why i got the HD6XX is because i cant listen to rock/metal on it due to the overpowering cymbals & everyone said with the hd6XX I will be able to.
Hope that helps in some way.

Well that's interesting, thank you for the information. Seems like another nudge towards the HD650.

Still not gonna be straightforward though. HD650 isn't really boomy, but some people feel it is; never was for me save for when I used worn out earpads on the HD650 and HD600, or that time I used a Little Dot MkII, so either other people used the wrong amps or put them on too tight. Some also feel the treble is a little weak, but considering most headphones some people consider "detailed" if not even "neutral" actually have relative tall if not somewhat wide treble peaks, I'm one to just go with the very lightly rolled off treble on the HD650.

Without a reference though it's hard to tell which one you'd be in. In some cases, even those who already have speaker systems as a reference will still have problems getting the right headphone even when describing "neutral," mostly because their reference are speakers which sound completely different. Most common problem is these people (and others) perceive headphone bass too weak, even if it's the HD650 with a wide bass plateau (which is helped by the rolled off treble) or the HE400i that stays flat from 1000hz down to 10hz, and in the case of the speaker people, they tend to assume that loud enough bass should still have that bass kick that large speakers and subwoofers (or standing in front near the stage) have.

Bottom line, just be aware that while we can make the best guess we can and narrow down choices, it will still not be as accurate for your preferences as actually listening to them yourself.

Funny, compared to my current headphones (SoundMagic HP151) I would say the JBLs have a touch thinner sound, especially in the lows and mids, unless I put my ear right up to the speaker. I'd imagine that makes sense, with the headphones being closer to my ears and of closed design? Regardless, the JBL LRS 305 I own are studio monitors, having a very flat / neutral sound and I would not consider them booming or bass heavy (bear in mind I only have 2 monitors and no subwoofer) and I use neither the low nor the high frequency boost that the speakers offer. I really do enjoy the sound they put out. However, if I take my cheaper Logitech 2.1 system into consideration, I can see what you mean. That thing, even with the subwoofer turned almost completely off (set to say, 10%) delivers a lot of rumble.

All plastics can crack eventually. The difference between those two is that on the AKG the plastic is the frame itself, and being a self-adjusting headband, is inherently flexible, while on the Sennheisers the plastic part is just an aesthetic cover over the metal frame. The Sennheiser's paint tends to crack easily since, well, it's paint on the surface, not colors mixed into the molded plastic, so while the plastic can flex, the hardened paint can't and it cracks over time. Other than the aesthetic concern, under normal use there's no real reason to suspect the the plastics on either to crack, but again, normal use. Dropping, sitting on, or stretching too far (the plastic anyway; the metal on the Sennheisers actually need to be flexed the opposite direction to loosen the clamp), etc will obviously crack the plastic.

As to whether you can get replacements when they do break, you can order them through the manufacturers. Sennheiser tends to have a list of spare parts numbers somewhere, and used to be the spare parts can be ordered directly on the website, but on the flipside, that depends on your region and country dealer. Which in my case means Sennheiser USA nor EU would sell me anything because they defer to the regional and local distributor, Sennheiser in SG tells me to do it through Sennheiser's distributor in Manila, and that distributor basically reacted with a "huh?" as if the thought of replacing earpads instead of just tossing out the headphone when they get grimy or deflated was so astoundingly counter to Apple's "wisdom" of replacing the entire motherboard instead of figuring out which chip is effed up. I just gave up and ordered from Sennheiser USA using PayPal and sent it to our US address, then my brother shipped me the earpads and headband pad. No need to worry about inane distributors if you're in North America or Europe though.

Also if the paint cracks and you just can't take it aesthetically you can always just blast it with plastidip or spray paint, maybe even take the gimbals and trim pieces and paint all of them until you can get the new part.

Thank you for the explanation regarding the cracking of the headband and the availability of spares. I've done a bit of browsing and could not find many spares for the K712 Pro, where I was able to find spares for the HD 650 in minutes, though as you said, I imagine AKG could get you some spares if you asked them. The thing that impresses me about the HD 650 is just how easy the entire headband is to replace. Just unclip the old, clip on the new and you're done. I've found a video of someone replacing the rubber bands on some AKG headphones and it seems a fair bit more complicated that Sennheiser's clip on system. Heck, even the people on AKG's website seem to complain about that. Then again, I am aware that replacing the headband or even the earpads isn't exactly something you expect to do on a daily basis, but it's still nice to know that it can be done and easily at that (in the case of the HD 650, at least).

Well I actually would sooner trust the UDH-100 to drive a 600ohm, 97dB/1mW headphone than an OTL amp like the Valhalla (OTLs drop output at low impedance and have high output impedance, even the Valhalla) to drive a 62ohm, 93dB/1mW headphone. But like I said, if the only thing the manual says is "500mW," I'd assume that's easier to deliver at 62ohms but I can't be certain if it's getting around 250mW at 300ohms. I just mentioned the HDP since by default, just going by the figures, 300ohms means lower distoriton, but with that one it wasn't the case so there might be a slight edge to the AKG there.

I wish I could comment, but you're going to have to excuse my ignorance in these matters. I got the UDH-100 used at a very good price (roughly $280, where a barebones Schiit stack (Magni 2 and Modi 2) would set me back $320) and from what I read and asked around, people seemed to like and recommend it. If it's any help, the HP151, which is a 32 ohm headphone, sits at a comfy 50% volume of the UDH-100. Crank it to 75% and I risk going deaf

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Funny, compared to my current headphones (SoundMagic HP151) I would say the JBLs have a touch thinner sound, especially in the lows and mids, unless I put my ear right up to the speaker. I'd imagine that makes sense, with the headphones being closer to my ears and of closed design? Regardless, the JBL LRS 305 I own are studio monitors, having a very flat / neutral sound and I would not consider them booming or bass heavy (bear in mind I only have 2 monitors and no subwoofer) and I use neither the low nor the high frequency boost that the speakers offer. I really do enjoy the sound they put out. However, if I take my cheaper Logitech 2.1 system into consideration, I can see what you mean. That thing, even with the subwoofer turned almost completely off (set to say, 10%) delivers a lot of rumble.

Speakers are dependent on a lot of factors, ie, room acoustics. he kind of people I'm referring to tend to have acoustic treatment all around the room, speakers with larger drivers or multiple drivers with dedicated bass drivers (if not subwoofers), plus the toe-in angle also affects the imaging and how strong the treble is at the listener's seat. Even the height of the speaker placement relative to the listener's ears as seated can affect that (ie the ears have to be level somewhere within the midpoint of the center of the tweeter and the center of the midwoofer).

If you don't have room treatments or not experimenting with toe in angles, or they're not at the proper height and you don't angle them up/down to minimize path length variance, then you're likely to hear more of the treble. This is the speaker equivalent of how some people think that "detailed" headphones are just detailed as opposed to "look at that borderline ear piercing treble peak on the response curve."

Also, there's are relative gain or other settings on active monitors to try to get around some room issues. You can set the "HF Trim" to -2dB to trim the treble and even without setting the "LF Trim" to +2dB you can hear more of the bass.

What that can't do but is what I already mentioned about the perception difference between speakers and headphones is have that sensation of getting kicked in the chest. If you're not getting that even on, say, AC/DC bass drum hits, just doing HF Trim = -2dB isn't going to add to that, but going with LF Trim = +2dB might.
(Note: this might work the other way around since it says "trim," unlike other monitors that just state "HF Gain" then there's a knob from -xdB to 0 to +xdB; check the manual to make sure.)

I had a Wharfedale Diamond 8.4 towers before as well as the Pacific Pi10 and even the latter with just a single 6.5in driver driven by a NAD 304 (35wpc) bass drum hits deliver a strong enough kick to the chest almost on par with the 8.4 (but with cleaner midrange once you get the toe-in on the midwoofers and the tweeters right), and it doesn't have to be AC/DC and such.

I wish I could comment, but you're going to have to excuse my ignorance in these matters. I got the UDH-100 used at a very good price (roughly $280, where a barebones Schiit stack (Magni 2 and Modi 2) would set me back $320) and from what I read and asked around, people seemed to like and recommend it. If it's any help, the HP151, which is a 32 ohm headphone, sits at a comfy 50% volume of the UDH-100. Crank it to 75% and I risk going deaf

Just getting loud isn't always the only indicator, it's going loud without piling on noise and distortion. For example my Meier Cantate.2 can go loud enough on my HD600 that, when I used to primarily base "too loud" on either bad sound or ear pain, my brother made me put it on the table and apparently it can be heard from across the room. Clearly. That's how clean the sound is on an amp like that.

I was at a meet some time after that and I hooked up an LCD-3 and it can work as a desktop ambient speaker like the HD600, but not with the T1 though with 600ohms (despite its high sensitivity, this amp's power delivery trails off at that impedance range).

 

[erted]

Great, thank you for clearing that up for me. I guess I can try adjusting the trim on the monitors, although I do like the sound as it is. Regarding the amp, I guess I'll try it out when I get the headphones (most likely the HD 650) and hope for the best