Sennheiser HD650 Love (Appreciation Thread)

Probably best to remove the driver when you do it. That way you can't even accidentally bump it with your angled pliers.

Speaking of removing the drivers, I didn't even realize that was a thing until last night when I watched that YouTube video of tyll doing so. Would it not improve sound quality to more permanently attach the driver to the baffle plate? It just being pressed there by those four tabs couldn't be as good as say cementing them together to have an actual bond, though then you wouldn't be able to remove the driver again haha

 

Did the quarter mod only and immediately liked the sound. A little bit more air and a very slight reduction in warmth without losing the oomph. Now could you please let me know how to pry the back to reach the foam? Thanks.

 

Ash, you are a life saver. Thanks mate.

 

Thanks to Ash412, it took me less than 2 minutes to open up the cups, remove the back foam and reassemble them. This, my God, is a very different HP from the one I was used to. Bass has tightened up and this has definitely become better than the Fostex TH X00.

 

Sphinx, like you I would like to see the various places where Hands applied the dynamat. That FR curve is very very nice.

 

Has anyone in EU done this mod ? If so I'd be interested if there's an alternative to dynamat, it seems to be really hard to find. Also it seems some spare foams are easy to spot on ebay, also cheap, but would you guys only recommend Sennheiser's official ear pads ? Do you think grabbing some cheaper ones off amazon or something like that might affect the sound noticeably if they're still made out of velour ? I've seen a few used ones in EU and was thinking I might just grab a used one and change the pads, since Sennheiser sell a lot of spare parts for them in case something is worn out.

Edit: I found some clarification on another thread about avoiding chinese ones. However, I've seen these which seem to be pretty good quality.

http://www.amazon.de/WEWOM-Hochwertige-Ohrpolster-Sennheiser-Kopfhörer/dp/B00DX65K8K/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1454274273&sr=8-2&keywords=sennheiser+hd650+ohrpolster

 

On the ear pad subject, anyone have a source for some leather or lamb skin pads for the 650? I'd like to hear the difference vs. velour.

 

I think the type of foam used affects the sound signature as much (if not more) than the material. My experience with aftermarket slanted velour pads for AKG-K7XXs taught me that it's a big gamble whether they'll sound good or not (in my case, not = money wasted).

If these are authentic Sennheiser pads, I'd spring for the difference.
http://www.amazon.de/Sennheiser-Ohr...-1&keywords=sennheiser+hd650+Kopfhörer+Velour

 

That's the best HD650 I've seen yet. your sub bass is in line with the mid range and while rolled off like all dynamic open headphones actually look very good!

 

X2, love to see more details on the whole thing

 

Man, the lack of sleep is catching up . You are right. The need to experiment is important
.

 

So I came up with something similar to Hands mods taking a cue from Stratocaster's mods on Changster.

This is the mod description:

Stratocaster HD600 mod by Chris Riley, on Flickr

and a close up of the mods:

Stratocaster HD600 close up by Chris Riley, on Flickr

Stock HD650 w quarter mod and back foam removal for reference:

R HD650 quarter mod and back foam removal by Chris Riley, on Flickr

I used a cotton nail polish removal pad and some open cell foam that's used to make cutouts.

Left side:

L HD650 quarter mod back foam removal cotton and foam in back felt ring and felt cover in back by Chris Riley, on Flickr

and freakish Right side:

R HD650 quarter mod back foam removal cotton and foam in back felt ring and felt cover in back by Chris Riley, on Flickr

I also used some 1mm creatology felt and made an oblong ring around the backside driver. This didn't change the frequency response much but improved distortion. I tried Stratocaster's felt covering the grill, which didn't show much change in frequency response, but subjectively it was overdamped and lost the impact and extension on both ends.

This is a great mod that takes away the bass boost around 100Hz and shifts it to 80Hz with less emphasis. The midrange is smoother and the treble stays extended without peaks.

 

Can we get a pic of this oblong felt ring over the driver?

 

Here you go.

1mm felt ring by Chris Riley, on Flickr

 

@cskippy, thanks. Just to be clear, you are not using the cotton + foam disc that @stratocaster uses right?

 

Pic for peeps like me who can't understand shit without pics...also measurement rig in background.

2016-02-07_11-26-17 by Chris Riley, on Flickr