Sennheiser HD650 Love (Appreciation Thread)

Discussion in 'Headphone Measurements' started by purr1n, Sep 27, 2015.

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  1. Ray

    Ray Friend

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    I removed the front spider yesterday & to have made the sound more transparent. I really do need another pair unmodded so can compare.
     
  2. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

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    Front spider makes almost zero difference subjectively and objectively. IMO not worth the risk of leaving the driver so open.
     
  3. TwoEars

    TwoEars Friend

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    I've done some more listening with my HD650's with the angled modded velor brainwavz pads. And I have to say... I kind of like these things. Measurements be damned.

    To re-itterate from my original post, these have:

    1. Plastic spider + foam removal
    2. Damplifier pro dampening mod (now covering 2/4 venting holes)
    3. Angled Velor Brainwavz Pads (removed stock felt material. Important!)
    4. Sennheiser stock foam pieces in front of driver (no coin mod)

    Are they neutral? Hell no. These are now bass-head cans. But what bass-head cans they are. They're like the love child of HD650 midrange and Fostex TH-900 bass. I'm normally a neutral kind of guy but damn... these are fun with electronica. The magic HD650 midrange is intact, they just add more oomph down low.

    I'm not saying these are going to be suitable for all types of music but if you want to build a kick-ass pair of bass-head cans on the cheap this might be your ticket right here.

    Also - you can adjust the amount of bass boost you get by adding back foam dampening around the rear driver port. More foam = less bass. You should be able to dial it in just the way you like and to what suits your rig.

    I wonder how the HD600 would respond to this treatment.

    [​IMG]

     
    Last edited: Nov 7, 2016
  4. ultrabike

    ultrabike Measurbator - Admin

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    Here are some measurements of @Ryu HD650, modified. I really wanted to hear these, but for some reason his setup when down. By the time it was up again, and I ready to listen, the Bottlehead he was using picked up, and walked to another table. Could have listened through my POS computer, but unfortunately I brought the hand-me down laptop that nobody wants at home, and which has not much music content on it either.

    So here they are @Ryu!

    Frequency Response

    HD650_Ryu_fr.png

    CSD Right

    HD650_Ryu_csd_right.png

    CSD Left

    HD650_Ryu_csd_left.png

    Comparo with stock HD650s

    VS_HD650_stock.png

    Though I didn't get a chance to hear them, possibly a warmer sound signature vs stock.
     
  5. Garns

    Garns Friend

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    ^^ Your stock HD650s look unusually flat below 500hz! EDIT: different coupling setup from how you measured Ryu's?
     
    Last edited: Nov 8, 2016
  6. ultrabike

    ultrabike Measurbator - Admin

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    Yes. Different coupling setup. But I think @Ryu might have also tuned his a little warmer.
     
  7. Rianoris

    Rianoris New

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  8. zonto

    zonto Friend

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    Reference point for the above measurements. @Ryu's mod post. Is this still current @Ryu?

    Reason I ask is because I'm pretty sure I'm hearing subjectively what yours measured like objectively here. I have preferred the HD600 for some time simply due to the increased midbass of the HD650M. Not sure whether this increase is caused by dampening the magnet, rear foam removal, or both.
     
    Last edited: Nov 8, 2016
  9. Ryu

    Ryu Friend

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    This is still the same as my mod post. I use a nickle size coin mod on the AKG foam. I removed spider and foam from the back and did that dynamat mod in my post. The only difference is that I colored the dynamat with sharpie..
     
  10. Dino

    Dino Friend

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    Interesting comparing listening impressions on our HD650M.

    I have a stock HD650 (purchased new 11/15) and a modded HD650M (purchased new 9/16). So there shouldn't be any difference in these, pre-mod.

    My HD650M - Removed spider cage and rear foam, used Damplifier Pro in the "standard configuration"+ gaffer tape on the magnet donut, dime sized hole in stock front foam.
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    HD650M
    Midbass hump is gone. The bass sounds flat as far as I can tell. At least much more flat than the HD650 sounds to me.
    Mids and highs sound more open and detailed, yet it does not sound brighter.

    HD650
    Has a midbass hump (which I enjoy sometimes).
    Mids and highs smoother/more forgiving (which I enjoy sometimes).

    I have been using my PonoMusic Player with balanced cables (with both headphones) since doing the HD650M.
     
    Last edited: Nov 10, 2016
  11. James Whiting

    James Whiting Facebook Friend

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    Just wanted to share a couple of refinments. I modded the plastic part of tje grille frames to fit over my diy grilles and in the process made dynamatt pro gaskets and put a foam difraction ring between the space between metal and plastic. Differences are slight but not subtle. If you want more info PM me![​IMG]

    Proof of concept ...cleaned up foam a bit more since picture taken but you get the idea.

    Happy Listening
     
    Last edited: Nov 11, 2016
  12. TwoEars

    TwoEars Friend

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    Not to be an a-hole but your post is a perfect example of "waxing lyrically". It may be the norm in other places around the web but it's not the sbaf way. Keep it short, keep it simple. Say instead "A does this better than B, but B is better at this etc".
     
  13. James Whiting

    James Whiting Facebook Friend

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    Your point is made and post has been edited!
     
  14. songmic

    songmic Gear cycler East Asia edition

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    I have a question in regard to Dynamat placement on the HD650.
    I borrowed one of the earlier images from this thread as a reference.

    [​IMG]

    I've seen people apply Dynamat on area A (which is equivalent to B+C), as shown in the picture above. However, I've also seen many folks avoid covering area C and only apply Dynamat to B.

    What is this gray-colored area C exactly, is it some sort of vent that is better left uncovered? How is it different from the adjacent white areas? And is it recommended to apply Dynamat to the entire area A (thus covering both B and C), or only area B?
     
  15. Dino

    Dino Friend

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    Interesting question @songmic. This is not an answer, just some observations.

    I took a look at all of the images, pertaining to your question, in this thread. (About a fifth of the images do not show up for me.) Outside of @cskippy who totally took his own path and @SoupRKnowva who took his own path as far as placement of dampening (Dynamat) everyone else covered "Section A" when doing the mods. Maybe people did that for the same reason I did - because everyone else was doing that.

    I have not worked with Dynamat. I chose Second Skin Damplifier Pro. I repositioned a piece of Damplifier Pro and found it easy to take off and put back on. But, it had only been in place for a few seconds. I don't have any idea how easy it would be if left on for a longer period of time. I mention this in case you felt like experimenting with covering "Section B" only and maybe comparing that with covering "Section B + C" or "Section A".

    Maybe someone has something closer to an answer than I do.
     
    Last edited: Nov 15, 2016
  16. AUTIGER

    AUTIGER New

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    Someone had mentioned that they were not able to order more than 1 sample pack from Second Skin. I ordered and just received 2 of the sample packs from Second Skin, so if you need or want more, you may want to try again. Now waiting for my 650's to arrive.
     
  17. joeq70

    joeq70 New

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    On this topic, I'd like to note that I actually tried a couple dynamat placement configurations. It was time consuming, but worth it. The first I tried was posted in the tutorial by @zonto, which seems to be a very common placement pattern. Today, I tried to re-do it and apply the dynamat exactly how @SoupRKnowva did.

    IMO @SoupRKnowva's application pattern sounds better. Bass seems to distort less and reaches a bit deeper than the first configuration. Could be other differences, too, but I'm hesitant to overstate the differences when it takes about 2 hours to A/B. Very pleased with the sound all around now.

    Here is a link the @SoupRKnowva 's post, for those of you who wish to try it out without searching: Click Here
     
  18. crazychile

    crazychile Eastern Iowa's Spiciest Pepper

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    I just starting doing some research on these mods so I went to check out the Second Skin products. They now sell a 3x5 sheet of damplifier pro for $4+$7.50 shipping. The sample pack is $5 plus shipping. Is there something else in the sample pack that you guys are using that makes it a better choice than just ordering the 3x5 damplifier pro sheet?

    It looks like the 3x5 sheet is a new option so maybe this was created so stop all the sample requests for headphone mods, plus save a whole $1.
     
  19. Dino

    Dino Friend

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    I have not read any posts of people using products in the sample packs other than damplifier pro.
     
  20. msommers

    msommers High on Epipens

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    So I went through this whole thread as I'm looking at going balanced and figured maybe upgrade the cable (that isn't ludicrously expensive) and from here I found out about Impact Audio Cables. He does Copper and Silver and even fancy Furutech connectors (pretty expensive but I think they just are at cost anyways).

    The other is over at Headphile. He seems reasonably priced as well and seems to have pretty good reviews.

    Problem is I don't know if I believe that there is going to be any difference between the stock cable and me putting a Neutrik XX gold pin on the end to go balanced. ~$150 is really the only thing I can think of spending on this kinda stuff and give it a try for myself.

    So much snakeoil bullsh!t out there in the cable business, I just don't have the budget to attempt and try a bunch of stuff if it's not worthwhile.
     

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