Sennheiser HD650 Love (Appreciation Thread)

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

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  1. chakku

    chakku Friend

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    Curious to see if anyone has measure these pads with the HD650 vs stock, would love to get some Alcantara pads for mine if it doesn't completely f**k the sound up. The pads are thinner too so more opening to accommodate bigger ears

    [​IMG]

    https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B06ZYGTR7T
     
  2. Mdkaler

    Mdkaler Friend

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    Looks effing amazing! My stock pads are already getting flatter/changing shape and they are not even 1 year old.
     
  3. gixxerwimp

    gixxerwimp Professional tricycle rider

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    Couldn't find any reviews other than the two on the amazon.co.jp page, but it looks like as with most other 3rd party pads the sound sig and stage are significantly changed for better or more likely worse. The second guy says the YAXIs are cool as a "refreshing penguin" :cool:

    3 out of 5: Sound quality changes towards bass
    Posted by SH PaPa April 26, 2017


    I tried installing on the HD 650 being attracted by the feeling of fitting and looking luxury of Alcantara. The feeling of wearing and the look of luxury are said to be as expected, but likes and dislikes about tone quality change seems to separate.

    Originally, the HD 650 is a headphone that has a person who expresses "stuffy" high frequencies at bass, but balanced the treble to the bass with re-cable or headphone amp. If you attach this earpad, the bass will resonate at the height, or the bass enhancement feeling and closing will be better. As a contrary, the high frequency range is retracted, the space narrows, the resolution of the high frequency range sounds relatively low, and in some cases it becomes close to the expression "stuffy". I tried it with the original filter and this ear pad depending on the enclosed filter, but the effect of the ear pad is great. If you are satisfied with the current sound quality, please thoroughly consider changes to this product.


    5 out of 5: Suffering from suffering
    Posted by G29 on June 29, 2017


    The sound changes as compared to a genuine pad. Whether you like it or not, individual differences will be great.

    The place to worry about is another. Items that you can listen to music comfortably with headphones are here without feeling discomfort in the hot season. For sweaty, Muremure with genuine pad. As time for music appreciation grows, I think that it is hard to stick around the pad.
    If the indoor temperature exceeds the actual measurement of 28 degrees, it becomes even more prominent. It is a challenge to a sweaty human, is not it? Even in an environment wrapped in hot air with a genuine pad, it is comfortable if the pad of YAXI.

    Imagine the difference, it became like this.
    Genuine pad = Shozo Matsuoka looking at Fabree's propaganda
    YAXI's pad = refreshing penguin
     
  4. e.schell

    e.schell Friend

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    After spending a little more time with the Dekoni Elite Hybrid pads on my hd650K's then putting brand new stock pads on (had a few year old really smooshed down pair of stock pads on before the elite hybrids)... i agree with what Luckbad had to say about the elite velours on all accounts. Most Notable Cons:They really screwed up the soundstage and added wayyyyyy too much bass/sub bass. Pros: Brightened them up in pleasant way a tad bit and were comfortable. But in the end I am back with a new pair of stock pads. If the price i have to pay is a new set of stock pads every year or two so be it!

    I have never heard hd600's but i think from what i have read about their sound that these could be much more suited to improving their sound signature than they did with the hd650.
     
  5. James Whiting

    James Whiting Facebook Friend

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    On another note I decided to remove front protection spiders on my Frankenheisers!
    I decided after communicating with Cskippy on the ZMF Auteur thread that it was necessary ! He had removed them. I also noted in earlier posts a few others had also.
    Others have suggested not to. Well depending on how far you have pushed your 650M's it can certainly be worthwhile. Everything is smoother and more liquid by a bit more than a smidgeon. What I first noticed however was that images are more solid and slightly more proportionate. I hear upper frequency detail and air a touch more.
    Its a refinement. Icing on my 650 cake. That light creamy fluffy whip cream...home made on a perfect strawberry shortcake...home grown strawberry's. Just think what that creamy topping adds to all that flavor. It's like that.

    I can wait a bit longer on the Auteur. Going for jcat usb femto and another DAC mod!

    Hot Damn do the Sennies scale? Oh yeah!

    Happy Listening
     
  6. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

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    Just be careful with your fingers! And consider putting a very light material over it...
     
  7. James Whiting

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    I will be careful... I promise. I feel like the difference was a bit more than subtle. Imaging was the biggest difference.

    I am thinking of some slight port retunning. The 4 ports around the magnet is what I refer to. As I remember all open gave better transient response and pace but add a bit extra mid bass bloom. Two ports seemed a good compromise. My rear foam donut and more open grill frame mods have pretty close to eliminated that. I'm thinking of going 3 ports open just to see if I can get a bit more bass and transient drive without creating to much midbass.

    Happy listening
     
  8. James Whiting

    James Whiting Facebook Friend

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    I removed the front spidref as mentioned. I had some odd resonances...which I have since realized are oversaturated recordings...perhaps clipping. Anyway after looking at costs of new capsules and earpads, felt I should get a new pair, I bought a new used pair in nearly brand new condition. For only a bit more money. I have spent the last week rebuilding and fine-tuning my mods. A bit less damplifier pro on the backplane. A good bit more on the front in recesses under the pads. Those of you who know me know I'm a bit extreme about my mods. Frankenheisers...complete with headboard, mpingo ebony disks, Shun Mooks, on the headband sides above the cups.

    New rear port tunning I like better. 1/8 " foam mini pads over two diagonally opposed. The other two open. Still use paint brush foam doughnuts over capsules rear magnet hole. Made the hole a bit larger!
    Bass is faster, slightly deeper while minimising mid bass bloat.

    I cut my rear backplane felt down to half the width. Garns suggested extending width to the edge creates a 1khz suckout.

    I increassd the amount of edge foam..cheap paint brush. I had previously attached it to the edge of my DIY grilles. The new approach is much cleaner.

    All the other mods are done a bit more cleanly and precisely.

    Sounded great but forgot to do my hairband clamped
    luxury liner, second skin mass loaded vinyl, around the cups.

    You may scoff and snicker but that goofy mod that came in wierd moment of serendipity adds a sweetness and focus to the sound that is not there without it.

    Photobucket wants money so we will see what's available as an alternative. If I find one then I will post some pictures with explanations.

    Loving my Jcat USB femto...my early Xmas present. I knew no one would gift me with it. So I did.

    Wonderful.


    Happy listening
     
  9. Dino

    Dino Friend

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    @James Whiting - imgur.com is a free and easy image hosting site.
     
  10. DigMe

    DigMe Friend

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    [​IMG]
     
  11. James Whiting

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    Hilarious!

    Indeed they have...they are alive!!!! Will have to post pictures of the creature. But no pitchforks or torches please!

    Happy Listening
     
  12. James Whiting

    James Whiting Facebook Friend

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    [​IMG]
     
  13. Arun Kumar

    Arun Kumar Friend

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    Summary: HD650 is awesome and people here are awesome-er

    @Koth Ganesh lives within walking distance from my office so we catch up regularly and exchange gear (asymmetric, as I borrow mostly). This time I had borrowed an Asgard 2 from him and he said he will come to my office and get that back.

    He brought an andromeda/sony zx2 with him, which of course sounded great (even though most IEMs/earbuds don't fit my ear properly).
    We were chatting for about half an hour about various gears/things and we Koth asked me to come over to his place if I was interested in checking out the stax / BW etc and we went back to his house.

    Over at his place, I saw the following
    * whole bunch of headphones (600, 650, HE-6, Stax sr-007, LCD 2.2 some vintage Yamaha planar and I few I don't remember)
    * Black Widow, BHC, ZDS, magni2?, KGSShv to name a few
    * The Yggdrasil controlling everything.
    I am sure he must have tucked away a dozen other gear in a cupboard and had forgotten about them.

    Though I could try anything out and I was spoiled for choices I thought I should start with the 650 and a SS amp, given I have a 6XX (Dynamat mod + back foam & spider cage removed ) + SS amp (Matrix m-stage) and was familiar with the sound. So we connected the following
    Audirvana in Mac -> [USB -> AES] -> Yggdrasil -> Black Widow -> HD650.
    I played Mark Knopfler's *Live In Milwaukee* as I was familiar with the album. The first few seconds was pretty confusing to me. This wasn't the sound I was familiar with. Not one bit. My 6XX rig sounded slow, sleepy, has poor detail and a tubby bass. In contrast the Koth's rig sounded detailed yet not bright, spacious (for the 650), had much fast transient, live and was authoritative. I was just shocked when I heard the 650 sing the way it did.

    Then we powered on his ZDS and switched from BW to ZDS. It sounded deep and clear but din't have the sheer punch of the BW. The amp definitely hadn't settled down as we had just given it a couple of mins; it could be a factor. I tried hard to come out of the BW/650 shock and try to understand the ZDS for what it is but I just couldn't.
    I also tried out the 600; it definitely gave a more realistic sound than the 650, but somehow I loved the BW/650 better esp since I seem to prefer a slightly darker/warmer sound.

    We also fired up the Stax SR-007 rig, which sounded more like 600 and Koth said it was extremely neutral; I don't have enough experience to identify what neutral is. My HE560's bass/sub-bass is similar to the stax, i think.

    Finally it was running late for the both of us and decided to call it a day.

    Koth, thank you for inviting you to your place. You are lucky you found your passion, can play around with gear and are inching closer and closer to the sound you seek. I am extremely happy for you!

    I am also happy there are so many amazing people here to lead the community, without any hidden agenda, just trying to help others find their music bliss. I'm looking forward to my ZDT jr to check how well 650 works with it. Thanks esp. to @Hands for passionately expressing his love for the gear.

    My takeaways were
    1. The 650s are amazing. I know it's common knowledge, but I just discovered it for myself.
    2. The difference b/w a mid tier system like mine and a high end system can be measured in terms of OMGs, WTFs and the likes.
    3. Koth as a friend and SBAF as a community are amazing (esp since there's no marketing BS)
     
  14. jexby

    jexby Posole Prince

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    Exit stage left....
    dammit I like that post, even if a HD650 pairing never grabbed me.
    yet next time can you and @Koth Ganesh please include either food, drink or CDs of sitars and post photos?!
     
  15. Arun Kumar

    Arun Kumar Friend

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    He he he! Next time for sure :)
     
  16. Koth Ganesh

    Koth Ganesh Friend

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    Jex,

    we are planning a mini-meet in Arun's office a couple of weeks from now. This will be followed by FOOD, and more listening. You will be our SBAF Friend-in-spirit to attend this ! ...unless of course, you actually get out of snowy CO to sunny Chennai.
     
  17. DigMe

    DigMe Friend

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    I LOVE the black widow/Yggdrasil combo.
     
  18. Arun Kumar

    Arun Kumar Friend

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    Took a pic of the ZDS yesterday. Unfortunately that was the only one I took. Next time I will remember to take more pictures
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  19. Arun Kumar

    Arun Kumar Friend

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    Not sure why pics don't appear in my previous post. Here it is
    [​IMG]
     
  20. Dino

    Dino Friend

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    Maybe you didn't use the Direct Link URL in the first post?
     

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