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Sennheiser HD650 & Massdrop HD6XX Impressions Thread
Aug 7, 2016 at 9:08 AM Post #34,906 of 46,554
faezfarhan said:
Asked this in the HD600 thread, but I wanna hear to your opinions as well if you don't mind.

If you had the chance to choose between the Hd600 & HD650, new unit & same price, which would you choose and why? Sorry to ask this here, but I'm stuck on the decision & I have to decide quickly.

I currently have the Grace M9XX, Aune T1se, AKG K7XX & TH-X00 Purpleheart arriving soon. Looking for something a bit different to complement those headphones. I love bass, but I love vocal clarity as well. I mostly listen to mainstream music though.
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I've spent a lot of time with both headphones. And if you like bass then its the HD650 all the way. The HD600 are more about balance and neutrality. Also, vocals sound amazing on both. Clear, resolving and natural. I also give the nod the HD650 as being the slightly better headphone overall. The treble is a little smoother and the bass helps to add a bit more depth. Love both though and you can't go wrong with either. 
 
Aug 7, 2016 at 10:50 AM Post #34,907 of 46,554
Got the hd650 few days ago. Even though I'm getting through 50 hours burn in mark they sound amazing. The soundstage got wider, amount of detail is truly breath taking. No comparison to 598 and momentums. Unfortunately at the moment have to use these with portable amp, will get something proper soon.
Tom.
 
Aug 7, 2016 at 3:57 PM Post #34,909 of 46,554
I've been burning in my new 650s with this:






It's the only solid-state HPA I have and in Florida it's much cooler of course. Sells for $700 direct.

At 150 hours, the 650s started to sound almost listenable with most of the mass congestion and distortion reduced significantly. I can now hear some ambience and reverb trails. So, I switched to this:




This is a speaker amp with 4 W per channel at the headphone output. It sells for $1800. I left that combination cook for couple of hours before critical listening.

Now, I am a tube guy, so I was surprised that the little solid-state Teddy Pardo sounded cleaner, more powerful with better dynamics and overall just more musical. Don't ask me what the specs are for it because there are none; Teddy told me he just built it "by ear" and never measured it. He must have pretty good ears because it sounds more like good tubes than the Coincident. It has no traces of a solid-state signature at all.

The next step is to plug the 650s and to the MicrZotl2 with the upgraded linear power supply. That should be very interesting!
 
Aug 7, 2016 at 4:13 PM Post #34,910 of 46,554
^^ Solid state typically sound cleaner and more dynamic than a tube amp, for the most part. Tube amps usually have a sweeter tone and sound more organic. So I'm not all that surprised. Lots of bling though with that tube amp. 
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Aug 7, 2016 at 4:16 PM Post #34,911 of 46,554
 
ubs28 said:
 
The HD 650 is usable on the iPhone 6S plus. Will it sound as good as the Chord Hugo + Taurus MKII? Ofcourse not. But it's still listenable.
 
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painted klown said:
  Ok, so I feel that I have to chime in here regarding the HD 650 being driven with an iphone, as I can certainly relate to this.
 
The first few times I heard, and when I fell in love with the 650, was with a 5.5 gen 30gb ipod. Yes, you read that right...and ipod with no amp. Simply the 650 straight off the built in amp. This was at a store that was local to me at the time (it is no longer in business) and the only portable source I had at the time was that old ipod. The clerks at the store always wanted me to play with it through their Headroom amps, and I am sure i tried them, but really, I did most of my listening from the old ipod.
 
I knew the ipod didn't have the proper power for the 650's, but I honestly didn't care. I was in love and wanted those headphones so much I could taste it. Unfortunately, they were far out of my price range.
 
Fast forward several years to last Christmas. I was finally able to make my HD 650 dream come true.
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When I got them in, I still had that old ipod, but also had the iPhone 6, and an Emotiva DC-1 (combo DAC and headamp). I, of course, tried the 650 on all of these...just to see how they sounded. The Emotiva was the clear winner.
 
A VERY short while later, I added a Schiit Vali 2 amplifier, and my mind was blown!
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When you read that these 'phones scale well, it's no joke. Moving from the 5.5 gen ipod, to the iphone 6, to the DC-1, to the Vali 2 were all noticeable improvements. (However, I like the more laid back sound of the ipod over the iphone, but the iphone "seems" to get a bit louder IMO). 
 
If you have no other source except for an iphone 6 and you have heard the 650 and REALLY want it, then by all means, do it!
 
Having said that, I will add this as a disclaimer. It will work, but it will not (in my opinion) give you the best you can experience from this headphone. For me, the low end improves dramatically when moving from the iphone 6 to a proper amplifier. On the iphone, it is very loose (not well controlled as the amp is simply not powerful enough to properly "grip" the drivers). When amped with Schiit Vali 2 (very low cost amp), it REALLY tightens up, extends deeper, and sounds more musical in general.
 
Don't take it that as the iphone will make it sound bad, it just doesn't do it justice, IMO.
 
I hope all of this makes sense. No offense meant to anybody, and this post is not aimed at any poster. I just felt I could relate, and also know that the 650 is so great, that even a phone driving it can cause someone to fall in love with it. 
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Thanks for the input guys.
 
I will of course eventually upgrade to something more suitable (a Schiit stack, for example), but in the beginning I'll be pairing the HD650 with my iPhone 6S (when walking around the house, or when sitting in a room other than my living room) or with my Peachtree MusicBox (when sitting in my living room).
 
I appreciate that neither of these are an ideal dac/amp set-up to drive the HD650's, but I'm hoping that it's enough to get started. 
 
For reference, here more info on the Peachtree MusicBox:
  1. http://www.peachtreeaudio.com/musicbox-amplifier-with-dac.html
 
 
The specs of the Music Box are as follows:

 
Note:  I don't listen at very loud volumes, so getting a lot of volume isn't necessarily a concern for me here.  I just want to be able to get started with the 650's, and then will upgrade when I have the resources to do so.
 
Aug 7, 2016 at 5:32 PM Post #34,912 of 46,554
theeldestboy said:
What portable amp are you using?
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guys don't laugh but I'm using Soundblaster E1, very entry level portable amp which is actually unbelievable for its price. For 40 dollars You're able to have a volume levels unpleasant for the ear already. I know that you're sacrificing a lot with those cans but if I see huge difference comparing to other High sennheiser models then it's definitely worth it. I tested hd650 on its own plugged to ipad Air and with the soundblaster e1 and difference is huge. Clearance of signal comparing to Samsung galaxy s7 edge is amazing! Apple is doing a great job to be honest in terms of signal output. I will recommend those cans to everybody looking for a new music experience below 400 dollars.
 
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