Sigmaaa
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2017
- Posts
- 171
- Likes
- 76
Nothing can make the dip and peak disappear. You can mitigate the problem a little with a very colored tube amp that further destroys the neutrality to mask the peak a little by weakening all the treble section and boosting the mids, but the problem remains.
Also, I wouldn't have bought the hd800 either, pretty flawed headphone too.
The hd650, beside an overly smooth and little dark presentation and a slight midbaass bloat, were much easier to live with and nothing could do anything but mitigate the flaws to a very small extent.
The hd660s doesn't have the dips and peaks, it isn't overly smooth and lifeless, it's not dark but it's not bright either, except for some of the hd650 fans. It cannot be too bright, it's darker than all Beyers, AKGs, ATHs, Grados, Focals and most Sennheisers, so if the hd660s is too bright, it means that 99% of headphones are much brighter than this and everything must be redefined in terms of neutrality.
The goldenear site, which I consider legendary, positions the HD650 at -1 brightness, the HD800 at +5 and HD700 at +2. It's only +2 because the hd700 isn't bright all over but has a huge peak and with some of the music this cannot be easily noticed. Only when strong sounds fall into that peak you get the ear ache.
So, if the hd660s is just a little brighter than hd650 (-1) and fairly darker than the hd700 (+2), guess what, there's 0 right in that spot.
And, when a headphone is perfectly balanced among all the hundreds of unbalanced models on the market and is also very detailed, what can you say bad about it? Oh, a misterious "grain" that only 1 in 10 people can hear or "an edge", which is called dynamic and lively for people that can see the hd650 flaws and understand the solution.
Strange how nobody detected the grain in the hd700 using the same drivers. The hd700 had real flaws so nobody had the need to come up with imaginary ones. They praised it as clean, detailed, but peaky and hollow sounding. Now all of a sudden there's the grain. I'm very skeptic of this, honestly.
Yes, the hd650 can be said to sound very "natural" by smoothing out textures, making sounds pleasant and polite, masking artifacts in recordings, but I wouldn't call that a correct sound. I too reach for them sometimes, despite having the hd660s, especially when I'm tired, looking for a smooth relaxing presentation, but I know this is not a good quality in absolute terms but merely a particular characteristic. The hd660s is good in an absolute way, directly conveying the correct information from the CD, without much manipulation.
Also, I wouldn't have bought the hd800 either, pretty flawed headphone too.
The hd650, beside an overly smooth and little dark presentation and a slight midbaass bloat, were much easier to live with and nothing could do anything but mitigate the flaws to a very small extent.
The hd660s doesn't have the dips and peaks, it isn't overly smooth and lifeless, it's not dark but it's not bright either, except for some of the hd650 fans. It cannot be too bright, it's darker than all Beyers, AKGs, ATHs, Grados, Focals and most Sennheisers, so if the hd660s is too bright, it means that 99% of headphones are much brighter than this and everything must be redefined in terms of neutrality.
The goldenear site, which I consider legendary, positions the HD650 at -1 brightness, the HD800 at +5 and HD700 at +2. It's only +2 because the hd700 isn't bright all over but has a huge peak and with some of the music this cannot be easily noticed. Only when strong sounds fall into that peak you get the ear ache.
So, if the hd660s is just a little brighter than hd650 (-1) and fairly darker than the hd700 (+2), guess what, there's 0 right in that spot.
And, when a headphone is perfectly balanced among all the hundreds of unbalanced models on the market and is also very detailed, what can you say bad about it? Oh, a misterious "grain" that only 1 in 10 people can hear or "an edge", which is called dynamic and lively for people that can see the hd650 flaws and understand the solution.
Strange how nobody detected the grain in the hd700 using the same drivers. The hd700 had real flaws so nobody had the need to come up with imaginary ones. They praised it as clean, detailed, but peaky and hollow sounding. Now all of a sudden there's the grain. I'm very skeptic of this, honestly.
Yes, the hd650 can be said to sound very "natural" by smoothing out textures, making sounds pleasant and polite, masking artifacts in recordings, but I wouldn't call that a correct sound. I too reach for them sometimes, despite having the hd660s, especially when I'm tired, looking for a smooth relaxing presentation, but I know this is not a good quality in absolute terms but merely a particular characteristic. The hd660s is good in an absolute way, directly conveying the correct information from the CD, without much manipulation.
Last edited: