[TheChairGuy]

......and your impressions of it are?  They are under $400.00 pretty regularly, that's almost $200 more than HD-600 (which I have heard and was very impressed several years ago), is it worth it?

 

[orthobiz]

I have the 650's. Got them from headphone.com.
Replaced my Sennheiser 424's; my daughter lost them
and my wife said, "so get a new pair."
So I did.

I like them. Heard them v. the Grado 225's. The Grado's
have way more bass, way less comfortable but at 179 dollars
they are way less expensive. I prefer the Sennheiser's.
But as a die-hard Dahlquist owner, bass has never been
super important to me.

biz

[Figo]

this topic has been beaten to death over at head-fi.org


most people seem to find slight inprovements in HD650, some prefer HD600 and some think HD650 trounces HD600.

[TheChairGuy]

this topic has been beaten to death over at head-fi.org


most people seem to find slight inprovements in HD650, some prefer HD600 and some think HD650 trounces HD600.

Thanks for the input fella's...I think I'll head over to head-fi.org and check out the reviews.  The savings on the 600's seems to alluring to go to the 650's...I don't suspect I'll use them a lot.  I use SR60's on the road, tho.

Maybe 600 with the upgrade cords (Blue/Silver Dragon, Cardas, others) is better than 650 with stock cord anyhow...at same cost as 650 when I want to upgrade. Give or take a bit.....

[ekovalsky]

I used the HD-650's for a few months while without speakers.  They were driven by a Sonic Frontiers Line3 which utilized a Headroom amp module.  I thought they were excellent -- very comfortable and superb sound from top to bottom.

Previously I had Grado HP-1000 phones (specifically HP-2) which I decided to sell because of their value.  In mint used (8 yrs old) condition they sold for 4x what I paid for them !!!   With the scratch from them, I got the HD-650's new (about $400 at Todd's) and pocketed some decent cash.

The HD-650's definitely had a more laid back sound than the Grado's.  Hard to say which was the winner in sound quality, it really depended on the program content.  As far as comfort, there was no contest -- the Grado's became painful after 20-30 minutes, the HD-650's were fine for hours at a time.

You will need a very good source, interconnect, and amp to get the most of the HD-650.  The Emmeline and Corda amps are excellent, so are the top Headroom units with the Reference module.

Like Figo says, this has been beaten to death on Head-Fi.  You can spend hours researching there and come away with more questions than answers  

[ooheadsoo]

head-fi will give you no solutions, just upgrade paths!

[Jon L]

I used the HD-650's for a few months while without speakers.  They were driven by a Sonic Frontiers Line3 which utilized a Headroom amp module.  I thought they were excellent -- very comfortable and superb sound from top to bottom.

Previously I had Grado HP-1000 phones (specifically HP-2) which I decided to sell because of their value.  In mint used (8 yrs old) condition they sold for 4x what I paid for them !!!   With the scratch from them, I got the HD-650's new (about $400 at Todd's) and pocketed some ...

Man, you lucky.  I should have held on to my HP-2's and sell them later!  When I sold mine, they were still in production and didn't go for that kind of money

I'll just have to be happy playing with my K1000

[TheChairGuy]

I have as my headphone outs my Empirical Audio modded Sony DVP-S7700 Transport as my 'amp' for either...I had Steve Nugent do some quality upgrade mods specifically on the headphone outs (I know not all he did, but I know it is hooked up with some perfect crystal silver wire and played around with the entire headphone outs), additonally to the TurboMod on the transport itself (including Jensen 4 pole caps) which helps it to begin with.

I wanted to keep it simpler - reduce the 'box' count, overall.  

It should be pretty sweet with either 'phone.  I'm leaning towards the 600, the value is there.  5 years from now, the 650 will probably be $250.00 anyhow (just a guess)

[DenonLover]

http://www.gspaudio.co.uk/preamps/headphone.htm

I have not heard them but the reviews look good. I like the idea that Sennheiser chose this amp in the UK to show off their headphones at future Hi-F shows this year.

Trent

[ekovalsky]

These are awesome too and a good alternative to the HD-650, if you want something a little less plasticky and of equal or perhaps better sound quality

Audio-Technica ATH-W1000

At $459 just a bit more expensive than the Senns.  The single cord is nice too, a lot harder to strangle yourself if you fall asleep and roll over  

[mcrespo71]

I used the HD-650's for a few months while without speakers.  They were driven by a Sonic Frontiers Line3 which utilized a Headroom amp module.  I thought they were excellent -- very comfortable and superb sound from top to bottom.

Do you think the HD650's supplied headphone cable is high quality?  Or are most people using the super expensive Cardas cable to kick this can up a notch?  

All I know is that since I've bought a headphone amp and parntered it with my HD-580's, my jaw is continually dropping at how good the sound quality is for not too much $.  However, I was discnoncerted to find out I could NOT use a cheapo interconnect to hook it into the tape loop of my CJ preamp- you really can't chintz out or your ears will PAY!

Michael

[Bill-99]

mcrespo71,

Can you share with us (or pm me) the headphone amp you use?

-Bill

[mcrespo71]

I use a Rega EAR headphone amp I picked up for $200.  It sounds very, very good with the HD 580's.  Many head-fi 580 users are using the Rega and since I've had good luck with their electronics, I figured it would be a no-brainer.  It was.

[Bill-99]

mcrespo71,

Thanks for the quick reply. Headphone amps are new for me, so this isn't easy to sort out. I have some 580s now, but I could return them for the 600s or even the 650s. But if getting decent performance from any of these headphones requires an amp, that affects the budget and potentially what strategy I should pursue.

I've tried the 580s plugged into my B&K AVR507 and they sound clean, but sort of dry and lifeless. I've also tried them with my PC sound card with worse results. Can you think of any way to describe what kind of improvements / differences you heard by using your headphone amp with your 580s?

-Bill

[ampgalore]

I have owned the HD600, HD650, various headphone amps including Grace 901, Ray Sammuels HR-2, XP-7.

To my ears, I prefer the HD600 over the HD650. HD650 doesn't have the air of the HD650, everything is on the warm side.

As to headphone amps, I have since sold all my dedicated headphones amps. Again to my ears, the headphone out on my Accuphase integrated amp is superb, and is more than sufficient to drive the Senns.

[jimmyp58]

I use the Rega EAR paired with the Senn 600 with awesome results from my tape out on my Bryston SP 1.7

Jim

[Jon L]

I have owned the HD600, HD650, various headphone amps including Grace 901, Ray Sammuels HR-2, XP-7.

To my ears, I prefer the HD600 over the HD650. HD650 doesn't have the air of the HD650, everything is on the warm side.

As to headphone amps, I have since sold all my dedicated headphones amps. Again to my ears, the headphone out on my Accuphase integrated amp is superb, and is more than sufficient to drive the Senns.

Is that even with a good aftermarket cable for HD650, something with good silver wire, maybe?  How about with HD600?

You are, no doubt, benefitting from the humongous and well-executed power supply of the Accuphase integrated, which is how it should be given their price

[ampgalore]

Given the high price of dedicated headphone amps, it just makes more economic sense to get an integrated amp that can provide both excellent power amplication and excellent headphone out.