Sennheiser HD650 Love (Appreciation Thread)

Ah, I see. Cool. I was going off what others did so I just arrived there without realizing. Of course, I realized that the metal was part of the assembly.

 

Which tube amp do you guys use to drive your 650s? Also what kind of tubes do you guys use?

I am currently stuck between the Woo WA6, the Valhalla 2 and the Crack+Speedball. Do any of you have any experience with these?

 

I have only heard the 650m off solid state amps so far (magni and o2). I feel like the tube path is the way to go for my musical needs. I am craving a more fun sound a bit more than the precision of the solid state. It seems like I am leaning more towards the Crack. The only concern I have is that I don't have much electronic building experience. Do you have any recommendations on tubes in specific? I was looking at http://12ax7a.com/ and really like the sound of the "Clean and Compressed" tube. Do you know of any alternatives that fit this bill for the 12au7 and 6080?

 

I've finally managed to force the pads back on after coin holing my recently arrived 240 foams. I don't know whether it is because the pads are old or because I've removed them a few times, but it is harder to get them to fit back on each time. First impressions is that it definitely warms/darkens things up a bit. The regular coin mod brought more detail to the front for sure, and I listen to many crappy MP3 recordings so it actually made some stuff slightly more unbearable. The 240 foam is thicker, and I feel like it tones things down a bit since some of those same MP3 recordings were slightly more bearable.

Hopefully someone can back me up or disagree with what I'm saying since I feel like I'm talking out of my ass most of the times anyways.

 

I ordered them on Saturday. I will give you some backup when they come in.

 

A Trafomatic Experience Head One came for sale in my home town, same price as a new Valhalla 2....
Anyone heard this amplifier?

 

Did some focused listening with the HD650m+GOv2+ Infinity (balanced, FRM filter, 1000mW output) last night.. I'm sensing some slight harshness in the mid treble & upper treble.. I think it's time to try the rug liner under the stock foam. Does this impact the bass at all? I'd prefer to keep it as is there.. but low freq. tightness is always welcome.

 

I use rug liner under the stock front foam and haven't noticed any loss in bass quantity or impact. Haven't done any direct with/without liner comparisons tho.

 

Thanks philip.. @Hands , can we get a link to your mods? I've seen them somewhere in this thread (or elsewhere on SBAF)..

 

hello,

just a subjective, uninformed, old guy's take on the current HD650 loaners (big kudos to the folks that made this happen!):

stock: very nice, a bit "polite" seemed like the notes were a bit far away ("veiled?"). despite the tight clamp, quite comfortable on my pointy little head (my 14 year old daughter wears the same hat size.) pleasant, but not engaging, didn't really make me want to kick back for a long session. seem to be very well made and the aftermarket cables that were sent with them were very nice.

modded: I WANT ME SOME OF THESE!!! very engaging, music was present and alive, stayed (staying) up way too late for long listening sessions. there was not a single record that i didn't like. the clamp is present but i like the way they stay on my head when i'm boppin' in my chair. downside: these are expensive and i am totally paranoid that i will break them if i try to mod. (tone-deaf, all thumbs.)

this has been a revelation to me to hear both the stock and the modded. stock is berry, berry good, modded is awesome!

YMMV, i have damaged hearing, this may not be the mid-fi you're looking for, yada, yada, yada.

(i was afraid that the modded pair would completely sour me on my AKG/Massdrop K7XX, which, at least to my ears and gears, thankfully didn't happen! enjoy your tunes above all else!)

 

Glad you liked the 650m. If you do ever pick up a used pair for about $215, the modding is very simple. Even a 2 left handed caveman could do it assuming he can just watch a 20 second video.

 

did you notice a difference with the rug liner? I know @Hands seems to like it, just looking for a second opinion

 

The inner foam now brushes up against my ears, and the upper midrange and treble is a touch smoother. Pretty subtle sonic differences. I'd say the two biggest sonic differences in my experience came from Dynamat and the coin mod+rear foam removal mod. I made the classic modding mistake of doing several mods at once, which makes it hard to say anymore more specific or definitive about them.

 

Sorta did the same in terms of modding. Just went all out all at once.

Still say that I prefer the 240 foam coin modded over the stock coin modded foam even though it was a pain to get the pads back on.

I feel like it sort of imitates the liner mod since the 240 foam is thick and adds another layer underneath to smooth things out

 

That's why I've ordered a set of 240 foams and the Brainwavz pads. @Bill-P's modded 580s had some slammin' bass that I really liked along with some extra ear clearance due to the taller Brainwavz pads and I'd like to see what my 650s sound like with coin-modded 240 foams and the Brainwavz pads. Will report on that asap.

 

Had a bit of a cold the last week which fucked up my hearing unfortunately. But it's cleared up and i can do some proper listening again. I think i prefer the k240 foam for solid state amps or perhaps brightish tube amps(don't have one of those). Whereas the stock foam is maybe better with tubes, i find that the k240 foam is perhaps a bit too dark on the Crack+SB+mods but that could be tube related. Using a GEC 6AS7G brown base and a mullard CV4003. I also agree that AKG foam might work for the HD600 from what i can remember it's fr is like.

Anyways looking forward to more impressions

 

That makes a lot of sense. I listen balanced from a GOV2, which is definitely not tubey whatsoever, so the k240 foam is a better match in that regard.