I would not bet too fast or too much money on the discountinuation of the HD650 or even of the HD600. It would make sense for Sennheiser to keep all three models if the demand from customers justifies it. This new HD660 seems like a lower impedance version of the HD650. Some will happen to prefer it, some will continue to prefer the HD650 or the HD600, which each having distinct sound tuning, although sharing close similarities. The are a few HD500 series headphones... in the same way if demand justifies it there is room for three HD600 series models (and i’m not even counting the closed back HD630 which is a totally different concept, sharing none of the caracteristics of the HD600/650/6xx/660 models).
I would not bet too fast or too much money on the discountinuation of the HD650 or even of the HD600. It would make sense for Sennheiser to keep all three models if the demand from customers justifies it. This new HD660 seems like a lower impedance version of the HD650. Some will happen to prefer it, some will continue to prefer the HD650 or the HD600, which each having distinct sound tuning, although sharing close similarities. The are a few HD500 series headphones... in the same way if demand justifies it there is room for three HD600 series models (and i’m not even counting the closed back HD630 which is a totally different concept, sharing none of the caracteristics of the HD600/650/6xx/660 models).
Lets hope they keep it for a very long time - they kept the HD800 after the HD800S, so I was baffled when I didn't find it on the site anymore. Didn't make sense, for the very reasons you point out. The amping requirements will be quite different on that 150 ohm version - though you never know a good match until you've heard it
It worries me that I cannot find the HD650 in the normal listing on the website anymore (except the Groove-bundle) It's on the site by direct search, but not in the list.
Anyone got info about HD650 being discontinued?? That would be a headfi tragedy!
I personally feel the HD700 to be much clearer than 650, but according to some, the driver technology is pretty much the same. Discussion on the HD700 driver and its similarities to the HD650 /600 /580 series here:
This is awesome, HD650 with an improvement in clarity and bass extension would awesome, without really changing what made them great.
Have to agree on that one....although besides the driver a lot more goes into what the final sonic signature will be be like, even the recently manufactured pair of 650s I picked this summer sound quite different from my earlier releases. But the the 700 was such a radically designed departure from the 600 series that even if they used identical drivers I'm quite certain all similarities would end there, but a 650 signature from a 700 driver would IMHO be a nice improvement over even the current 650.
I would not bet too fast or too much money on the discountinuation of the HD650 or even of the HD600. It would make sense for Sennheiser to keep all three models if the demand from customers justifies it. This new HD660 seems like a lower impedance version of the HD650. Some will happen to prefer it, some will continue to prefer the HD650 or the HD600, which each having distinct sound tuning, although sharing close similarities. The are a few HD500 series headphones... in the same way if demand justifies it there is room for three HD600 series models (and i’m not even counting the closed back HD630 which is a totally different concept, sharing none of the caracteristics of the HD600/650/6xx/660 models).
This didn't stop them from discontinuing the much beloved HD598 and it's relatives for newer models. I'm sure some would have preferred one over the other, but it didn't stop them from updating the entire line up of HD500 series. I'm not saying I want this, but this is a business we are talking about. It may not make monetary sense to keep them all in production. Either way there are a lot of HD650s floating around out there and the used market for them will be around for a long time for whoever wants to get one.
(And if fans keep making a ruckus, we may be able to keep them around longer in production! )
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