Sennheiser HD650 Love (Appreciation Thread)

Just got in the Dekoni elite velour pads for my HD650.

• Very comfortable
• More bass than stock
• More closed in sounding
• More woolly sounding
• Damnit

Like all other pads I've tried on the HD650, they shit up the sound signature too much. They take the weaknesses of the HD650 (slightly soft, slightly woolly, slightly boring) and accentuate them without doing anything for the overall sound to make up for it.

If someone wants to buy them from me at whatever Massdrop's price was to try them out, let me know. $35 or something? They'd do better with the HD600 than the HD650. Unless you find your 650s too bright.

 

Have you tried the Brainwavz Sheepskin pads? I've had them on my 650s for about 6 months and I like them much more than the stock pads. They bring up the treble and the bass a little bit and with the Modi Multibit/Jot combo I'm not hearing any wooly bass.

 

At this point I’m staunchly skeptical of any pad suggestions for the 650.

 

I don't blame you, and I'm not necessarily recommending them, I picked them up because the stock velour squeaks on the arms of my glasses when I move my head and I can't stand it. I was willing to accept any sonic changes, good or bad.

 

I just did the kiss mod too. Initially, I heard some strange vibrations in kick drums with a bass note. Took another look at the mod and pulled the foam out of the center hole and then pressed it back in just the tiniest smidge. Made my cans a lot brighter. I think the veil is all gone now

 

Thanks, I will try that.

 

I noticed that in my left side driver on certain notes as well. I found, believe it or not, that blowing into the grille briskly; realize I have the back of the driver port completely open with a ring of foam around it to create damping, but allow the backwave to flow otherwise unimpeded, temporarily ameliorated the issue.

I theorized that this was somehow altering driver shape on the surface. This lead me to trying to manually even out the suface of the diaphragm or so I thought. Anyway took of grilles and lightly ran a cotton tip around the backsurface on the left side.

That resonance is substantially reduced but not eliminated on everything. I then noticed it on the right side although at a lower level then the original left side isssue. Did the same thing and now both are better but not completely eliminated.

I would like to try some antistatic surface spray to see if that would help. I think Nordost makes something like that albeit expensive. May try to see if there is something else of that nature available at a lower price!

Happy Listening

 

Here is the alternative to Nordost Eco at a far lower price. Their is a smaller size on Amazon for about $7.00. 4oz. Just spend another $5.00 plus shipping and perhaps never order again. For around $12.00 plus shipping you get a quart!. Hot Damn... go crazy treating everything! Staticide is what its called.

https://www.amazon.com/ACL-Staticid...D=31iFbfrC7nL&preST=_SY445_QL70_&dpSrc=detail

Happy Listening

 

Sounds interesting. I will try this one out too.

 

Just got the Dekoni Elite Hybrids a few minutes ago and popped them on, based on super early impressions they sound better than what luckbad has to say about the Elite Velour pads. Will see once i have some more time with them over the weekend.

 

650's were my first pair of decent HP's years ago. I sold them after a few months and moved on to various high end cans. I have recently got another pair of HD650's and am shocked how good they actually are. Can't believe I didn't appreciate them more at the time.

 

So what is the next headphone, after the HD650. That is, what headphones are better. Serious question. Do all the higher end cans involve a bunch of trade offs? Is there a consensus on any HP being overall better? I know this question has been asked before in one form or another, but I have never heard a solid answer.

 

I don't think there is a soild answer, as I think the answer is there is nothing but trade offs out there. I hit a point with headphones a long long time ago, where I was asking myself the same question. I think the answer still is a good pair of speakers. The physics of producing great sound from headphones is a lot more complex than speakers. Short answer. I don't think the headphone we are looking for exists yet. For a lot of reasons.

Edit: All sound reproduction equipment involves tradeoffs. The tradeoff in the last few years has been money for a lot of cans that aren't better than the HD650's. And they involve trade offs.

 

The fact that even Sennheiser themselves cannot get it right with HD660S really tells us something.

That said, I still think LCD-2 is the closest we will get... though I admit I have not heard ZMF headphones in good outside condition. How's Eikon and Atticus do against HD650?

I figured, the pads were just too thick in the first place.

 

This is the same burning question that I look for an answer to as well. My HD650s are my constant companion through my evolution of gear. I occasionally see off-hand remarks about these headphones lacking resolution, but with every upgrade or change in gear, I can easily hear it on the HD650. I think I need to change my thinking and figure out then go after the best amp I can afford for the HD650 and call it a day. Right now I have Mjo2 and I am eyeballing the Torpedo 3 as a potential upgrade.

 

Hp-3 is very good. I can see it getting more head time.

 

The Torpedo 3 is very good. It didn't quite synergize with my DAC and preferences as much as the Eddie Current Super 7, but it's amazing, especially for under $1000.

 

Put the Elite Velour on and the first thing I noticed was the lack of soft contact from the foam covering the drivers on my ears. I guess the old pads had collapsed a little. Lobes and edges still touch.
Both sets of pads surround my ears and the previous old set put the driver so close to my ear it would be hard to imagine the pad materials could have any effect on the sound at all. The new pads having several more mm's clearance probably allows for an effect. The space forward of my ears would have to be a bit larger.
A little more bass. The kiss mod made the phones brighter. This does ameliorate that a bit. I am happy with them. My test track, Harvest Moon by Cassandra Wilson, has a bowed bass for much of the song that I am more aware of. It's more distinct, placed a bit more forward. I suspect the larger space or chamber is responsible.
I also noticed it's possible to install the pads securely but not fully. It took a little extra care to get them fully seated, maybe a little fine tuning is possible.
I am waiting for the Crack to get the most out of the cans before I play around with more dynamat , cup depth, or front foam

 

So the elite velour came today and it changes the sound.... to worse. It is simply less open-sounding, and the last thing HD650 needs is less open-sounding.

If anyone thinks elite velour is better than stock pads, then it is the stock pads have been worn out (with form crushed inside) and has to be replaced with new one.

Now I am trying leather stuffs for HD600, which I found a bit bright and a bit lacking in bass.

 

Holy.... elite sheepskin for HD600 is a huge success. Bass indeed got stronger, treble got tamed a little bit, and for most part overall transparency is almost unchanged.

Bass is quite clean compared to HD650. I think HD600 + Dekoni Elite sheepskin is better than HD650/6xx if you want a bit warmer sounding.