I found the quietest place I know of, the back of my turned off car to do some listening with the HD-650s via XLR-4. While it's actually true, I dropped my daughter off somewhere for an hour appointment and this was a great opportunity to really test it out.
Super-early Feedback
It sounds incredible! I don't pretend to have magic ears and will let everyone make their own conclusions. I do however find that the noise floor seems
silent and everything just sounds fantastic. I tried lots of different music from binaural classical to hard rock and very much enjoyed the experience.
I loaded up Bit Perfect on my Big Sur MacBook Pro and played some tracks from Music. I started with Bluetooth, and BitPerfect shows my 24/192 R.E.M. tracks from "Out of Time" as 32/48. When I switch to USB-C, it shows 32/192. It's the same deal with some Seal discs that are 24/88. Regular CDs show fittingly 32/44.1. I'm using the lower gain level on the unit, and that still works well. I might switch to the higher gain setting, as I have come close to maxing it, but this suggests to me that there's plenty of power. The build quality seems excellent, and I enjoyed using it very much. Great experience!
The only things I noticed I didn't love are:
- I had to bring the paper clip thing if I wanted to make changes.
- The audio sources both say CEntrance, so if I were to turn on Bluetooth I might see the both that and the USB outputs. I don't know that this is a big problem, as you should be switching to just the one you want and the computer will forget the others quickly
I thought you might like to see a video of the LEDs operating, so here's a video via a Dropbox link:
LEDs In Motion To shoot this, I held my iPhone up to my HD-650s so you hear some of the
great tracks. Honestly, I thought they were hokey and thought I'd turn them off, but it's pretty cool.
I a thought you might like to see accessories in addition to the pouch and USB-C cable. I didn’t pay enough attention to notice that buttons are recessed so you need to use a tool to flip them, but one is included. Also, a compact USB-A to USB-C adapter is there and some rubber feet.
I'll try it out tonight with a HD-650 using XLR-4. For what it's worth, I'm a regular customer who just set an alarm and ordered online when it came available.
