Sennheiser HD650 Love (Appreciation Thread)

OUTSTANDING!

 

No dynamat on the sides near the upper bezel connection? To each their own I guess.

 

Welcome to the D.Pro club! You're too hard on yourself. Looks great (and you spared yourself the most annoying part: the donut). I assume the side "goop" is extra Damplifier Pro play-dohed in place?

Would love to hear your subjective impressions of them before and after applying the dampener.

 

Yep, the goop is the excess from trapezoid cuts. I didn't listen to HD650 before Dynamat-ed, so I can't make comparison. Plus, the unit is fairly new (under 10 hours). However, I'm comparing it with HD800X right now.

 

How do you guys feel that the modded 650 stands as a "fun" or emotionally stimulating 'phone at the end of this process?

I've had my HD600's for a couple of weeks and while being very impressive they are also very emotionally uninvolving. I'm on the lookout for a used valve amp (very few Cracks in the UK) to help with this and have been bidding on 650's as I read that they are a little more fun in their tuning.

 

My prior experience with open headphones is limited to HD555's which had significantly less treble than the HD600's (maybe there was a spike hidden in there, I'dont know) so I'm inclined to put their greater emotional effect down to the larger (but less clear) soundstage and greater quantity of bass (even if it was a bit disorganised and prone to spilling into the mids).

I also listen to CKR9 iems which (thanks to push-pull drivers) have absurdly fast and tight bass. They also have slightly peaky lower treble but I find it irritating as often as stimulating as it has a tin can effect.

Edit: I suspect that the missing bass/sub-bass is part of my problem with the HD600's. The CKR9's bass always brings a tune to life whenever it plumbs those depths despite them not being high in quantity of bass.

 

Ok thanks for letting me know. I may end up doing the experiment anyway as HD650's are relatively cheap here in the UK and of course easy to sell on but this way I can choose to get into it without false expectations. I did read your X00 impressions with interest, I've never thought of myself as a basshead or a closed cans guy but they sound pretty versatile. They do cost twice as much as 650's here (used) so I may or may not roll that die. Probably still cheaper than 650 plus nice tube amp I guess.

 

So after nearly a decade of loving the HD600 I finally decided to give the HD650 a chance. I had never actually heard one, but based on measurements and countless accounts of the HD650 being the HD600's warmer/darker cousin I always assumed it wouldn't be as much to my liking. Well, after mine arrived today I was a bit bummed to find out my assumptions were right: there were the lower mids and bass of the HD600 I enjoyed, but upper mids and treble just struck me as... kinda dull. ENTER THE REAR FOAM/SPIDER CAGE REMOVAL (yes I know it's still morning, I'm a man of action). SO much better. The upper mids had leveled out to my ears (though without the characteristic midrange "shoutyness" of the HD600) and the treble has come through in spades, beautifully so. The treble also doesn't strike me as being as grainy as the HD600 (I'm not sure if grainy is the right word, maybe it's more of a crispyness or texture that I tend to enjoy).

It's almost like I took my favorite headphone (the HD600), leveled out the midrange bite and extended the treble, making for a more neutral experience all around (more akin to listening to good reference monitors). As much as the rear foam/spider cage mod has worked wonders for my new HD650 I don't think I'll be doing it on the HD600 however, since I think the added treble extension in conjunction with their mid-forward nature would probably be too much for my ears.

So thank you Marv for your informative opening post... a quick 10 minutes completely improved (and saved) the HD650 for me.

 

It just warms my heart every time I see someone put on the HD650 and fall in love with them. Shoutout to all you guys that came up with these mods and to everyone else that loves these cans.

 

I felt the same way when I first got my hd650s. After an hour of listening to stock, I immediately modded my pair. Glad you're enjoying it.

 

How does the mod affect the 650's performance at low levels? Is it still subdued below 65db or more clear like the HD800? I posted in the general advice thread looking more generally for low volume guidance but just realised that 650M may provide a lower cost alternative to getting the 800 for its low volume performance.

 

I caved in after following this thread and removed the foam behind the driver - easier than I expected. Quick impressions - the HD650 have never been more lively! Thanks for the tips guys!

 

I didn't see any real improvement in low volume performance after the mods (I was looking). They still prefer higher volumes. Tubes helped a fair bit though.

 

This guy is 13 years old and of course uses HD650s

https://goo.gl/Sxw8dw

 

Not pretty, but should get the job done. It took me about 45 minutes with poor fine motor coordination. The toughest part is removing the paper backing. Apart from that, it's quite easy.

 

Could I be a pain in the arse, and ask for a better image? Hard to see what's going on there.

(Also, poor co-ordination solidarity!)

 

@Kattefjaes , deleted the old image, hope it helps.
Most importantly, a huge thanks to the SBAF folks especially to Zonto and his post on page 39 of this thread.

 

That's loads better, cheers!

(Also, I wasn't making fun of you- I have total cattle hands, so if other clumsy folk can not destroy their 650s, there might be hope for me too. I just realised that I might have sounded a bit sarcastic there.)