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And yet you do them yourself... I spent half day comparing my anniversaries against HD650 and I wouldn't say that either one is way better. There are definitely similarities and differences between these two, but in the end I found them to complete each other pretty well. For me the can of choice was determined by the music I listened. HD650 was more engaging and less fatiguing with rock (especially with garage rock) and anniversaries were superior with pop, soul etc. I think it comes down to what music you like to listen. Vocals (especially female vocals) sound absolutely awesome with anniversaries. In my comparisons I found annies to have more air in the sound (or transparency if you will).
Btw I ordered K702 pads and will share my take on the pad comparisons after careful consideration.
Well, "way better" is a bit overdoing it, but for my music preferences that's pretty accurate. I figure that most people might prefer the Anniversary to the 650, but who knows. I've found that my HD-650 has less mid-bass but a little better low bass extension. Not by much though. I think for gaming the extra bass on the Anniversary is what I prefer though lately. For music it's the Q701 or HD-650.
Also, there could be slight variations of the HD-650. Mine seems to be off the general consensus. It's the latest version but seems pretty dang flat with some slightly reduced treble. I know it sounds like nonsense, but the Anniversary has less treble than my HD-650!!
I haven't done a day of A/B comparing the HD-650 to the Anniversary yet, but maybe I will sometime. It kind of ruins the fun of listening to headphones for me though.
Out of all 3 of my main open headphones, I prefer the Q701 to all of them for female vocals. The HD-650 would probably be next. This pair also doesn't seem to have any major drop in the upper mids at all.
I would say the main thing I don't like about the Anniversary is that it has less upper mids than what I prefer. I bet once they get measured this will show up on graphs. I'm addicted to my upper mids I guess.
So it all comes down to preferences really. If I listened to a lot of bassy music I'd probably be raving about the Anniversary. Not much of my music really benefits that much from it over the Q701.
I guess i'm warming up to the Anniversary a little. I think my problem is that I find the Q701 and HD-650 a little more engaging for my music. It's weird saying that since for most it'd probably be the Anniversary.
BTW the K400 with Anniversary pads is pretty nice though