Sennheiser HD650 Love (Appreciation Thread)

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

Tags:
  1. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

    Staff Member Pyrate MZR
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    12,285
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Colorado
    Home Page:
    I have the angled velour pads, have tried various configs, and I think they sound like crap on the HD650.

    I would imagine for front and back damping you will want some form of symmetry to get the best performance out of the driver. Just a guess.
     
  2. TwoEars

    TwoEars Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Feb 2, 2016
    Likes Received:
    2,006
    Trophy Points:
    113
    @Hands

    What problems with the sound did you encounter and did you try removing the stock felt material?

    I also thought about the symmetry thing... I might open up one more port.
     
  3. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

    Staff Member Pyrate MZR
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    12,285
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Colorado
    Home Page:
    I would personally leave all the "ports" open right behind the driver. Symmetrical both top to bottom and left to right.

    All the HM5 pads I tried, with and without front and/or back damping (I tried a lot of things) made the mid-bass too strong and wooly, lessened bass extension, scooped mids, gave treble more nulls and peaks...really just screwed up the smooth and near perfectly integrated response that you get from stock pads.
     
  4. TwoEars

    TwoEars Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Feb 2, 2016
    Likes Received:
    2,006
    Trophy Points:
    113
    That's interesting, I don't notice any midbass problems at all. If anything I think there's less midbass with the angled pads actually. I guess - perhaps - this is were headphones are tricky because everyone's ears are different. And the fact that the tips of my ears no longer are touching the HD650 drivers might have had a big effect for me. For me the difference is like this (going from stock pads to brainwavz):

    *Slightly more ethereal sound, more towards the HD800
    *Better soundstage
    *Actually slightly less midbass I believe, definitely not more
    *Bass is still as tight and deep as before

    For me the modded brainwavz pads moves the HD650 more towards the HD800, makes it perhaps what the HD700 should have been? This might not be for everyone but I very much like it.

    I did a quick listen again now and yupp... I prefer modded Brainwavz pads to stock pads. But then again - my reference is modded HD800. If you prefer a darkish Auduze-LCD2-type-sound you might prefer the original pads more.
     
  5. philipmorgan

    philipmorgan Member of the month

    Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 28, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,790
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    In the wind, so to speak
    Home Page:
    I tried the Brainwavz hybrid pads (not velour) on my HD650s and it's fun for the first few minutes but the bass boost is out of control:

    HD650 stock vs. BW pads.png
     
  6. BrettMatthews

    BrettMatthews Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Mar 29, 2016
    Likes Received:
    201
    Trophy Points:
    43
    Location:
    Canada
    Wow that's a big bass boost!
     
  7. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

    Staff Member Pyrate MZR
    Joined:
    Sep 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    12,285
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Colorado
    Home Page:
    For me, when listening subjectively and looking at measurements (unpublished) it was more like...noticeable but not absurd mid-bass boost, relatively less bass below that, scoop in mids, peakier treble, then a fall off in the upper treble. I think if you take @philipmorgan's measurements and match them around 500Hz or so, that would be akin to what most of the HM5 pads sound like on the HD650 to me. (Again, I tried various front and back damping configs. No luck.)
     
  8. philipmorgan

    philipmorgan Member of the month

    Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 28, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,790
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    In the wind, so to speak
    Home Page:
    It certainly is, and if anyone here is wondering what folks on SBAF mean when they say "wonky transition to the mids" or "the bass bleeds into the mids" they can buy a $25 pair of Brainwavz hybrid pads, use double-sided carpet tape to adhere them to a scrap pair of HD6xx mounting rings, and find out firsthand what those phrases mean. :->
     
  9. philipmorgan

    philipmorgan Member of the month

    Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 28, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,790
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    In the wind, so to speak
    Home Page:
    I should add that I used double-sided carpet tape to adhere the Brainwavz pads to a scrap pair of HD6xx pad mounting rings rather than just tucking the mounting rings inside the back flap of the BW pads. The less "lossy" method I used may account for the insane bass boost I observed.
     
  10. philipmorgan

    philipmorgan Member of the month

    Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 28, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,790
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    In the wind, so to speak
    Home Page:
    Looks like this:

    HD650 stock vs. BW pads 500Hz.png
     
  11. TwoEars

    TwoEars Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Feb 2, 2016
    Likes Received:
    2,006
    Trophy Points:
    113
    @philipmorgan

    I saw that measurement graph when you posted it earlier in the thread and that's what made me go for the velor pads and not the hybrid pads. Sadly I can't make any measurements myself but for me the sound of my HD650 as they are now is pretty balanced top to bottom. I certainly don't get the feeling of any bloated bass subjectively speaking. The subjective sound signature is actually pretty close to modded HD800 but with more midrange and bass. In all honestly these conflicting impressions from Hands confuse me a bit, because I certainly like the sound of my HD650's as they are now.
     
  12. philipmorgan

    philipmorgan Member of the month

    Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 28, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,790
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    In the wind, so to speak
    Home Page:
    I'm glad you tried it :) BTW, I'm not saying what you're hearing is different than what I did as I tried very different pads than you did. I was adding on to the general pad rolling convo.

    How did you attach the BW velour pads to your 650's? Did you use the flap behind the pads or some kind of adhesive?
     
  13. TwoEars

    TwoEars Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Feb 2, 2016
    Likes Received:
    2,006
    Trophy Points:
    113
    @philipmorgan

    Just some small pieces of doublesided foam tape. Nothing fancy but seems to get the job done. :)

    I'll do some more listening but I'm definitely liking what I'm hearing so far.
     
  14. James Whiting

    James Whiting Facebook Friend

    Joined:
    Apr 20, 2016
    Likes Received:
    109
    Trophy Points:
    43
    I can attest as has been mentioned on previous posts that a 3/8" to 1/2" inch. thickness foam life saver/small doughnut
    behind the magnet works. Punch or cut a hole and tack foam down in my case it is tacked down to the damplifier pro ring around the back. Extra butyl rubber stickum works nicely. This mod supplants my previous felt over damping...with or without small foam disc covering center hole. You could still try thin piece of foam on top of this to warm and smooth things a bit. But as it is this works wonders for calming down mid bass bloom.!
     
  15. Ray

    Ray Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Oct 27, 2015
    Likes Received:
    1,302
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    On the range
    Finally got around to modding the 650's last night. Rear foam removal, dynamite, & cut out dime size hole in front of driver. Definitely sounds clearer. Only listened for an hour so really need more time but sounds promising.
     
  16. JayC

    JayC Resident Crash Test Dummy

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Oct 26, 2015
    Likes Received:
    980
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Eindhoven
    Guess you could say it sounds explosive now, huh? ;)
     
  17. philipmorgan

    philipmorgan Member of the month

    Pyrate BWC
    Joined:
    Sep 28, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,790
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    In the wind, so to speak
    Home Page:
    Solves the lack of sub-bass on the 650s
     
  18. JayC

    JayC Resident Crash Test Dummy

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Oct 26, 2015
    Likes Received:
    980
    Trophy Points:
    93
    Location:
    Eindhoven
    haha! next step to modding the HD650: put in some samsung note 7's in there for more sizzle.
     
  19. bixby

    bixby Friend

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 26, 2015
    Likes Received:
    3,987
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Northern Colorado
    Finally did the dynamat mod thanks to the generosity of @Gaspasser.

    Will report on changes tomorrow after I get a chance to give it a listen. Too much good stuff found its way to my house today. A lost Gungnir Multibit and Jotunheim showed up, haha
     
  20. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

    Pyrate
    Joined:
    Sep 5, 2016
    Likes Received:
    4,521
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    London, UK
    OK, it's late here, and I'm tired, but Zonto's mega-post on page 39 claims the spider removal details are in the first post, and I am staring blankly, not seeing. While I have probably forgotten how to brain, I'd be grateful if someone could point me at the relevant bit.
     

Share This Page