Sennheiser HD25 SE – not exactly closed back endgame, except maybe for me

Thanks @Cspirou @Armaegis , I will go for 600Ohms, with Kann Cube I could even use it outdoor as long as I am moving much.

 

I think the HD25 are probably the best value in headphones right now. Not only do they sound good, but they are virtually indestructible, and if you manage to break them easily repairable with parts readily available.

They do have a bit of that closed-back boominess/closed-in sound, but not as bad as many others in the price range.

Have been using these daily for a long time with LG v40, gonna start rotating in Grado Hemp as well to mix it up a bit - though the latter seems a lot less durable so wont be a full replacement.

 

I noticed that, EQ can help a lot but I wonder if 600 Ohm drivers would help

 

It's pretty hard to combat in a closed back. You can see what Sennheiser did in their HD820 flagship closed back to eliminate the boominess - getting rid of it resulted it in other audible tradeoffs. The HD25 probably would just sound muddy/bad if a similar EQ was applied as it doesn't have the extended highs of the HD820 to make up for the mids dip.

 

anyone had a chance to hear Sennheiser HD 25 Plus?
How they compare to HD25

 

The only difference is accessories. HD 25 Plus has a split headband, rotating ear cup, single sided cable and extra pads. There should be no difference with the capsule itself.

 

Since I hadn't even heard of them until now, this is what they show on the website:

https://en-ca.sennheiser.com/hd-25-plus



Looks like just extra accessories.

edit: ninja'd by @Cspirou

 

The dumping kit from Custom Cans and the velour pads reduced the bass boomines a lot. Now I use HD25 with no IQ and it got even better.

 

I've been using HD25-13 (what i'm going to call the 600Ω drivers from now on) for awhile now and they really open up. It just sound more clear to me.

Are these the Sennheiser velour replacement pads or Yaxi?

 

I am happy that the HD25 is finally getting some love here!

It was my go to mobile can for many years and I just digged out my HD25 Aluminium with Sennheiser velour pads.

I did not know that the default cable is steel and a cable upgrade is basically mandatory to get the best out of these cans. That's what I read, I just ordered a new cable.

These are the things to do for sound quality:

• get the alu cups or do some serious damping
  
• get a copper cable (mind the one sided cable routing on the HD25)
  
• experiment with pads

This is the cable I ordered: http://www.oyaide.com/ENGLISH/AUDIO...ne_earphone_cbl/hpc-hd25.html?printstate=true

Video on pad rolling and sound:

 

Custom Can's HD25 Uber mod:

https://jfunk.org/wpc/product/customcans-uber-hd25-v2/

You can get the damping mod, pads and cables separately at their shop.

Jason (custom cans shop owner) seems to be the expert on HD25 modding and his youtube channel has a lot of interesting content on the HD25: https://www.youtube.com/user/thpeed


I am still wondering if additional damping of the HD25 Alu earcups makes sense.

 

Yes, I did it for mine. Not fully sure if it's strictly the damping of the cup or filling of the cup that changes the sound, or a combination of both.

 

Thanks. So you did first and and second phase as mentioned here? Not sure if I dare to do the second phase myself. And how does the sound of the Alus change in particular?

https://jfunk.org/wpc/product/hd25-damping-mass-loading-uber-mods-mods-uber-damping-kits/

 

I didn't use the mod kits, though I did collaborate with jfunk years ago before the kit was commercialized. I have vibration damping material around the driver and in the cups, and some felt in the cups as well. Oh, I believe I also have a felt or foam disk behind the driver, and another disk in front of the driver. Overall though, I was also going for isolation rather than purely sound quality.

 

Just found this. Great comparison of stock pads and Yaxi pads, also with graphs. They also sell 3D printed earcups in the most weird shapes:

https://loco-noise.com/pads-sound-sennheiser-hd25/

 

After applying the Custom Cans dumping kit and velour pads I used HD25 without EQ but I found bass still too much and not very well articulated. So I started various EQ options but I am probably not good at it.
Then I found that the update to the Neutron player included all AutoEQ EQ presets. Tried the number of them but only @Crinacle EQ improved HD25 to the level I never expected. The change is obvious: bass is lowered, still very punchy but well controlled, wider sound stage, very crisp stereo image, and tonality works perfectly for string instruments which is most of my listening.
Now I can say that the combo DX220 on high gain, @Crinacle EQ, velour pads+dumping kit is pretty much the closed back HPs endgame for me. Well I am still going to try 600Ohm drivers but weirdly Thomann cannot ship them to the US.

 

I've been on the lookout for the Amperior for a bit. If you don't already know it's basically the HD-25 with aluminum cups. Even though they were very well regarded and were at the top of Innerfidelity's list of on-ear closed cans, Sennheiser stopped making them to focus on a single model of the HD-25.

Recently though I saw that Custom Cans offers HD-25 aluminum metal earcups which means you might be able to get close to the Amperior again

 

I checked it out. The price for shells is higher than the price for 600Ohm complete cups on Thomann, and the colors are weird. The dumping kit with some EQ works well enough. I just bought Audeze Maxwell which is the most I need is closed cans.
I added KannCube DAC, and Maxwell Dongle as two zones to Roon and was comparing HD25 with Maxwell. With slight EQ they are deifficult to distinguish in the bass area, and Maxwell sounds more "open" in upper mids and treble. Passive NC on both is more than adequate for a laptop fan, which is where I am using them mostly with DX220 or kanCube as a DAC/AMP.

 

colors choices might not be great but for custom machined and anodized aluminum the price is very fair. Whenever the Amperior was available it was priced near the HD600 which would make a Custom Cans equivalent a little under that price.

It’s a mod I’ll probably consider at some point

 

Amperior pair up for offers: $CAD 150:

https://www.canuckaudiomart.com/details/650051624-sennheiser-amperior/