Sennheiser HD650 Love (Appreciation Thread)

As much as I don't think yet another post praising the HD650 will increase the SNR here, I'd like to report that having upgraded from an O2 to a G1217 Polaris I am currently having the time of my life listening to every album I own.

Mods so far have been foam and spider cage removal, and pad spacers. Dynamat is on its way.

The thing that's really stood out to me post-modding has been dynamics. Everything hits just that much harder and it's rather addictive.

I'm a little bothered by the (very slight) midbass bloom though. It's only present on certain albums, but it's quite distracting when it shows up. If I'm still having problems once dynamat is installed I'm toying with the idea of placing some open cell foam just inside the grills - to try and damp the backwave, but to a lesser extent than the stock foam over the magnet does. Has anyone tried this?

 

Dynamat reduces bleed of bass into the mids. It doesn't change the actual quantity of midbass though (which goes up a bit once stock foam is removed). Perhaps this might be the sort of thing you're asking after:

http://www.superbestaudiofriends.or...ove-appreciation-thread.44/page-21#post-33253

 

Yeah I did all the mods, minus the creatology felt - have the same issues. Midbass around 100-125hz is elevated too high from the mods. It can stick out like a sore thumb. Everything else is better, as explained throughout this thread.

I'm gonna give it a try.

 

I've been using the 650's for a good 5 years... I bought a used pair (silver, newer baffle version), and usually listened around 1-3 hours/day. I bought a new pair in 2014, and found that to my ears, the treble area sounded better/more revealing. This was probably because the old pads were fairly worn, and I never thought to try putting new pads onto my 650's. I gifted my first pair over to @Griffon, who got new pads (and repaired the yoke I managed to snap by stepping on them).

After modding the newer pair, my ears were fairly sensitive to the slight increase in treble. It isn't like the modded 650's are bright, or sibilant... I find the treble is less grainy/chunky, not that the stock ones were obviously grainy. After two weeks of use, my ears didn't fatigue at all, and the mod improvements just turn the stock 650's into a magical headphone. TLDR - if you're especially sensitive, you may have a touch of fatigue for a bit while your ears adjust. IMO, I wouldn't go back to stock ever.

edit: someone posted on HF that they were upset that dust/hair got into their drivers after the mod... so that could be one reason, if you're unwilling to take five seconds to keep your headphones in a clean area.

 

Lightly blowing on it with a can of compressed air or one of those fancy air blower vacuum things would remedy this, no?

 

I wouldn't use compressed air to blow near the exposed drivers. I blew lightly on mine to remove some dust, and to my dismay the driver I ended up crinkled and slightly collapsed. I blew on the other side and it popped back to the original state, with no detriment to the sound (phew, thank goodness I thought).

 

I did the exact same upgrade with the same headphones, deeply regret wasting time with the O2 in the first place. What is your DAC? I found the bass bloom was more likely coming from the 4490 Modi2U I had than the Polaris, even though the Polaris is jerry-rigged to mimic tube distortions.

 

I did about 1/8 inch just around grille frame...smoothed sound and improved space and detail a bit...but didnt really change midbass that I could tell !

 

I reterminated my HD650 cable. Here's what it looks like in case someone finds this useful:



Edit: the 'exposed' wire is 1.5cm, and the tinned portion before soldering (to remove enamel) is 5-6mm. I removed the plastic hair core from the exposed wire before tinning.

 

Yeah, the regret is strong.

I have one of Beezar's pupDACs, which is doing a fine job as a USB powered solution until I actually have a desktop to put a desktop system on. Even if the DAC is causing a bit of the bloom, it's definitely increased since foam/spider cage removal. It could be the Polaris, but I hear the distortion as increased soundstage rather than extra bass.

Of course this is not to say that I regret the mods in any way - I far prefer the sound as it is currently.

 

So I managed to get my HD650 cable modded today, and made a balanced to single ended adapter as well. Only took me an hour in total

Only took one pic, and even that is of the adapter portion, but i put heatshrink around the leads on the xlr connectors, i was all paranoid about the solder breaking loose i guess?



Overall wasnt too bad, specially once i realized the female connector came out and i didnt have to try to solder down in the connector itself.

Anyways, back to listening to the Jotunheim, balanced now!

Oh and thanks to @batriq , your picture helped and conjunction with this website https://robrobinette.com/BalancedCable.htm#Make_a_Four_Wire_Balanced_Line_Headphone_Cable_

 

Any impressions on the HD650 and the Jotunheim? Friend of mine is getting one and I want to know what to expect.

 

@Ryu

That pairing comes up a lot in this thread: http://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/schiit-jotunheim-impressions.2700/

All positive, IIRC.

[Edit] I just did a search on HD650 in that thread and it came back with 54 posts.

 

Seriously these are what I consider my endgame cans. I get more enjoyment from the 650's than anything I've had in the past. I still have the hd800 & he-6 but the 650's get 85-90 percent of my listening time. I feel any other headphone purchases would just be fruitless. It's taken a considerable amount of time & money, but I feel I'm finally there. The grass usually isn't greener on the other side of the fence. This gives me more time to concentrate on my amp & Dac therapy

 

I can't wait to go to the international meet to really compare the HD650M to all of the fancy headphones available on the market. I am hoping to come away from it with the knowledge that I don't have to spend anymore money on headphones and can do what you said, spend more time on the rest of the chain. I've heard great things about the Zana Deux for the 650 and I hope someone has one there. What I am most afraid of is this strange USB avoidance and this insanely expensive part of the hobby. I guess my ears aren't trained well enough to hear this difference (not that I have heard any of these fandangled devices).

 

I hav seen some general comments of approval toward Dyson Cables on SBAF, but no real description of why they are a good option (other than price).

I am thinking about getting some like this for my HD650: (https://www.dysonaudio.com/collecti...ennheiser-hd-650-hd-600-headphone-cable-1-83m)

Can anyone confirm that the cable is nice and flexible/non-microphonic? I had a bad run in with some terrible cables one time... stock 1st gen hifiman.... *shudder*

I just sold my Valhalla 2 and am looking to pick up a Joti in the very near future, so I want a quality balanced cable.

 

^^^ I have this cable. The main cable is both nice and flexible. The twisted pairs past the Y splitter are stiffer. If you place them wrong you can get some microphonics, but the ergonomics are good enough that in a practical listening situation it's never been a problem to place them right.

EDIT: after a bit of experimentation - it's microphonic only if the L and R cables are plugged in tangled around each other. So unplug the cables and untwist them, hey presto, no microphonics (unless maybe if you have a massive gold chain for them to rub against)

 

The current Hifiman cables are still pretty stiff and unwieldy, as it goes. I sympathise. I ended up getting beautiful audiobling-grade balanced and SE cables for my HE400i, which made them much more pleasant to use.

Another cheap-ish option for the HD650 is this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Entry-lev...or-Sennheiser-HD650-HD600-HD580-/131938924730

It's just the stock Sennheiser HD650 3m cable reterminated. It's not microphonic, and it works- though it's not glamorous. Note that you could buy the cable and reterminate it yourself for half that, if you're handy with a soldering iron, too. (Some people dislike that cable, others are fine with it.. I'm.. ambivalent.)

 

Finally, joined HD650 club after long affair with HD800X

Messy attempt; so meh handcrafting skill.