Sennheiser HD650 Love (Appreciation Thread)

Been comparing my HD650 w/ and w/o the shelf liner the last couple of nights.. conclusion? I prefer it w/o the liner... for now.

Comparatively speaking.. my (modded) HD650 w/ liner sounds crisper, faster, tighter, and more dynamic than my (modded) 650 w/o liner. It remains delicate, supremely resolving, and neutral-ish. I also sense slightly better micro & macro dynamics with the liner in place.

The thing is.. the liner also erases some of the things I love about the 650 w/o liner.. namely, the romantic, laid back, delicate "bloom." Do note that the SBAF mods (w/o shelf liner) scales some of the bloom back from a stock 650.. so the rug liner, IME, continues the 650's march toward the stereotypical "HD800" sound. Without the liner, it's still crisp, (relatively) fast, and dynamic.. but it's less incisive, somewhat more (dynamically) compressed (again, relative to the 650 w/ rug liner), and smoother. As with most things here, it's about personal preference and what the rest of your rig sounds like. For example, I'd have no problem pairing the 650 w/ liner with a "warmer" DAC (i.e. Bifrost Multibit or DAC-19).. I'd probably tread more carefully with these DACs if using an HD650 w/o the liner.

I'll rock it w/o the liner for a few days and see if I start to miss the "rug liner sound."

 

@FlySweep any chance you can send me the liner mod you are using? I am probably doing it wrong or the rug liners I am using might all be bad. Would really like to hear some of that liner magic.

 

That's interesting since I thought the liner would add another layer to smooth out and warm the sound instead of making it leaner like how the k240 foam did. I have both new pads and the liner coming in this week, so I might go back to just having the rear foam + spider removal + dampening and not mess with the coin hole or anything in the front

 

From what I can tell, it's the exact same as what @philipmorgan linked to a few posts above. If you can't source it, I can certainly mail you some.

Exactly what I expected, as well. As @philipmorgan noted, your ears will sit a little closer to the driver/baffle with the liner in place under the foam. My HD650 pads aren't so worn/compressed to the point they need to be replaced, but they've got *some wear*, and that very well could play a role in the sounds I'm hearing. As knowledgeable heads know, pad wear on the 6x0 & HD800 make an audible difference in sound. Perhaps I'll order some new pads to ensure that isn't a point of contention.

I'm getting an itch for the HD800.. again (third time's the charm.. right guys? ) cause my tricked out TIII should be ready soon (just waiting for Beezar to have the 2nd set of CCS boards ready) and I'm reasonably hopeful that I'll finally have something that'll take the HD800 in the sonic direction I want (w/o sacrificing the technicalities I cherish).

 

Pads/clamp make a big difference. @Serious measured my 650s and @thegunner100 650s which were both modded by@thegunner100 identically. There was a measureable and audible difference because @thegunner100's pads are more worn and clamp looser.

 

Thanks. After further listening I came to the conclusion that this tent configuration, although it does indeed improve the transient response, also introduces an unpleasant peak around 12-15khz - which seems to tally with what you say. Damping the spider in a way that doesn't impede the airflow seems not to cause any nasties, though.

 

Has anyone used the completely modded with a balanced cable? Does this make a difference? I just noticed that there is a mega meet in November and it seems like people will bring equipment that only supports Balanced connections?

 

A balanced cable is for people with balanced setup (balanced DAC & balanced amp). The balanced cable doesn't make the headphone sound any better, its the equipment beforehand.

I have a balanced cable on my hd650's as I switch between ragnarok and a BW. BW has a xlr output for convenience only, not a balanced amp. Raggy is a balanced amp, and sounds much better balanced than single ended (1/4 jack). There is not a significant sound difference to me.

Check out this thread by Marv - it will explain everything

 

Awesome. Seems like I should pick up one of these things then for the event so I can taste the Modded HD650 on the big and shiny setups.

 

You can always just mod your stock HD650 cable. Just cut it and grab a male and female xlr connector, put it inline then you are good to go.

 

I use both cables unfortunately. I have a short one for desktop use and another longer one for other uses.

 

The cable would still work in SE and Balanced this way.

Here is an example (not the stock cable, but can be done with the stock cable):



You can see that if you unplug the two XLR connectors you have a balanced connector, but if you plug the end back on you are back to SE. You would just reattach the stock 1/4 plug that you cut off to the female XLR plug (just make sure to leave some extra cable so you can reattach it). Then you have the best of both worlds! I am planning on doing this at some point, just haven't got around to it yet.

 

Hmm.. regarding my recent impressions of the rug liner.. please disregard them. It appears something may have been off with my rig/PC/phones.. but I reapplied the rug liner earlier tonight.. ensured carefully centered the foam, and firmly snapped the pads in place.. and it now sounds.. like what adding a layer of liner under the front baffle should sound like. HD650's charisma firmly in tact. In fact, the effect of the rug liner seems to be very subtle vs w/o the liner. The sound is cleaner, clearer, and tighter. In my initial impressions w/ the rug liner, I mentioned the HD650 sounded too bright, crisp..not the case. Perhaps it was a loose seal somewhere or a fold in the liner/foam under.. or something on my PC. Anyways.. I'm digging the liner now that it's essentially "cleaning" up the signature w/o introducing any deleterious effects or taking the 650 in a radically different direction.

 

So I've had these for a few weeks now.
Did all of the mods I encountered here(coin mod, dynamat, remove back foam and spider).
Since I have pretty much settled on these over the HE560 I now want to upgrade the rest of my rig to better suit these.

For amp I want to upgrade from the Asgard 2.I've had my eye on the Liquid Carbon for SS and Feliks Audio Elise for tubes. I am somewhat partial to using SS because I use them with my PC for alot more than just music and fear I would burn out tubes to fast.
DAC is currently Uberfrost but that is on the upgrade list aswell albeit probably at a later state.

Has anyone tried any or both of these amps alternatively have some other good considerations for an amp?

 

@moosecraft: the following background reading might help:

1. http://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/feliks-audio-elise-tube-amp-review-not.2260/
2. http://www.superbestaudiofriends.or...se-tube-amp-review-not.2260/page-9#post-59474
3. RE: tube life, halfway through this (http://www.superbestaudiofriends.or...-hot-amps-a-comparison.2456/page-3#post-64665) and this entire post (http://www.superbestaudiofriends.or...-hot-amps-a-comparison.2456/page-3#post-64695) are worth reading

 

Thanks for the tube life posts, I´ve read through the Elise thread for impressions and they seem very favorable. Starting to think tubes may be the only way.

 

I was heavily considering a modded Crack, but all the ones I can find are not 230V which makes me a bit uncomfortable using an adapter. I had not considered Mjolnir 2 before. I will have to do more research on that one.

How is the availability on the Black Widow? I thought they were all sold out ?