Sennheiser HD 650
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"Truly outstanding headphones" on by gangadude
Pros: Incredible sound reproduction, simply arresting.
Cons: If you have them on, you'll find it hard to do anything other than listen to the music
Summary: The HD650s are an incredible value for their cost (I got mine from www.headphone.com for about $400) - every other year or so I exchange iPods and sound cards and every few years your amp but these headphones are here to stay. They really make listening to music a completely different experience. You should probably get a headphone amp if you buy these (although my iPod does a surpringly good job driving them without one) and be patient - it takes anything up to 50 hours to "open" them up (you can just leave them with a variety of sound piping through them - your ears don't actually have to be there
). The only point deducted from them is for comfort - you do feel them on your head and even after a year, I've never really gotten used to that feeling and after a couple of hours I have to take them off for a bit. -
"Fantastic headphones with or without headphone amp!" on by rfairley
Pros: Great response across entire dynamic range. Beautiful clean power = high volume with no discomfort = Rockin'
Cons: They cost more than my last Benz payment. Can pinch your melon if they're not on properly (this can happen when mixed with alcohol - audiophiles: don't pretend you haven't rocked out after a few)
Summary: These are fantastic headphones and, contrary to what the audiophile snoots say, they rock without a headphone amp. They're better with, but not everybody can afford to buy their whole setup in one shot, so don't be afraid of buying these headphones without an amp.
I'm particular about sound, and work with pro audio every day in my professional and personal life.
I nearly didn't buy these because of the audio nerds bashing every pair of headphones on the planet in the pro audio forums. These guys and gals are worse than Apple people, Volkswagen people, vegans, and female magazine publishers put together. Ok, well, maybe not the she-publishers.
They're the worst.
Anyways, you'll love these headphones.
Do what makes you happy:
- Be picky about sound without becoming a snob.
- Set up a studio with $1000 headphones, no headphone amp, and record with Garageband if it makes you happy.
- Buy Benzes because they're fun to drive, not cool to show off. Or don't buy one. I just think they're the neatest.
- Use an Apple because they're easy, or a PC because they're cheap.
- Eat meat or don't.
Just be happy. Life's hard enough without the snoots.
Rock on!
Russ -
"One of the very best can designs EVER, at ANY price." on by make_or_break
Pros: Superb detail and imaging, superior bass response when compared to Senn's prior flagship HD600, which itself is no slouch of a design.
Cons: Deserves better-sounding cables; as with all open-air designs, plenty of noise leaking, both in and outbound.
Summary: (CNET: ill-suited for an iPod? That goes without saying. These are not designed for use with portable devices, at least not without a seriously powered headphone amp. The HD650's impedance is totally wrong for such an application. I swear with too many of you tech-trend types it's as if music and high fidelity never existed prior to the iPod and/or compressed digital audio. You really DO NEED to reexamine your viewpoints and perspectives.)
The Senn HD650 is perfectly suited for any stereo hi-fi setup that has a high impedance headphone jack (which is most units). As mentioned above, if a headphone amp is in your inventory, it'll work fine with an iPod or Zen as well. For full-sized cans, the HD650 is comfortable beyond reproach; I encounter little or no fatigue when using my set during extended listening sessions. They work extremely well with all musical types I've used them with, providing precise and delicate detail coupled with an expansive soundstage. Whether alt-country, grunge rock or baroque classical, and pretty much everything else in between, these cans are so sweet-sounding and oh-so-flexible that by a large margin I'd say these are as good as they come, ESPECIALLY for the money.
CNET is correct in saying that the HD650 do like power; even with most normal home audio gear they still benefit from a proper headphone amplifier that can provide the sort of power that really make the HD650 drivers sing (few home components provide the sort of amplification to the built-in headphone jack that cans like the HD650 craves).
If there's one glaring weakness with the HD650, it's with the standard cable the unit comes with. Sennheiser in the past has claimed that the provided cable is precisely matched to the HD650. If that's the case, then there obviously differences in what they and I consider 'precise'. Aftermarket cables abound for the Senn HD580/600/650; excellent alternative examples are available from companies like Cardas and Moon Audio. The one cable set I personally prefer is the Equinox from Stefan Audio Art. It adds around $200 to the price of the HD650, but when connected to the flagship Senns...oh how it blows the standard HD650 away, even straight out the box (or zip-lock bag, as it were). And after about 100 hrs of burn-in...pure headphone heaven.
I can think of one or two two alternatives to the Sennheiser HD650 that I'd prefer purely from a sonic performance standpoint. But since this loudspeaker fan can't justify the price of admission for a pair of Stax SR-007 Omega II Earspeakers for those moments when I have to resort to using cans ($5750 retail list price with the matching 717 amp, last time I checked), the $320+$200 HD650/Equinox combo does the job very nicely indeed. -
"HD650, my favoite dynamic headphone, worthy of a look" on by granodemostasa
Pros: comfortable, smooth, lush and thick sound
Cons: a bit slow on non balenced amplifiers, not as clean as K701
Summary: I purchased this headphone (new) in late November of 2005 at a cost of 290 dollars...these days it could be found for around 310 to 400 on the internet and i've owned it for 5 months now and have put in about 2000 hours on it (or more).
At first, my reaction wasn't that good...i did make the mistake of plugging it into my ipod where i listened and found little new; my PX100s gave me nearly identical sound. Two things happened here: first was the fact that these headphones were not burned in-they open up after about 150 hours of "burn in" time, and secondly my ipod's DA converter and internal headphone amplifier wern't good enought to show me what this headphone really had to offer.
I went out, turned my tunes into lossless, got KSIO drivers and a new sound card in addition to an amplifier for them (Meier Corda HAI MKII, now a Cordafive). there are reasons to do this: first of all these headphones are highly revealing of any mistakes in the music...if you could't hear the difference between 128kbps ACC and CD quality on the ipod's ibuds you will on these...the sound difference is striking. Secondly, the DA converter has the capacity to either make the sound harsh, soft, wide, impactful depending on how good it is and how it is converting music (for example a Non oversampling dac may increase the frequency range and give you better bass while an oversampling da converter may give you a better soundstage), and with the HD650 any little change is noted. Thirdly, the amplifier has to do with the dynamics, even though my ipod could power it up to as loud as i wanted it, the ipod simply does not have the speed or power to give me a realistic volume increase from a piano to triple forte, the ipods' dynamics are simply limited.
I guess as you have probably noticed these headphones are for serious listening...yes the ipod will sound as good as it possibly can but that left me wanting more and more; thus i got "upgraditis" and tried to fix all of the limitations in my music chain (from CD to headphone) that might degrade the sound in my quest for ever better music: and the HD650 improves with every single upgrade.
The cable: the included cable on the HD650 is 9 feet long, is two sided, and makes no noise. included is a 1/4th to 1/8th connector that's pretty good. One of the things about the HD650 is that because the cable is so easily replaceable and switchable in less than a minute a number of third party manufacturers have started making upgraded, higher quality cables. these are meant for the serious listener who wants even more...and at 90 to 250 dollars, these cables only give one a marginal increase in performance/resolution and alone arn't worth the money you pay. nevertheless, in my quest i did buy a new upgraded cable, the Blue Dragon V2 from moon audio which tends to refine the bass and flatten the frequency response a bit; but there are others that perform just as well: the Cardas headphone cable, the Zu Mobis and the Equinox Sennheiser cable.
The confort: at first there is quite a squeeze on one's head, but as it adjusted over the months it came to fit my head perfectly, also the pads soften up over time to make the fit feel like one is wearing a pillow on one's head.
Portability: now this is interesting; normally one would think these headphones are too big to go around...but they can if one is willing; there are a number of portable amplifiers that can be connected to an ipod from a pocketdock and a mini-mini cable that would make this an excellent portable combination.
Sound (finally): The sound on this thing is rather bassy, if one was to think of it as a piano then the lowest notes would be the loudest, followed by the middle and the highest notes would be crystal clear but not as loud as any of the other notes. The sound is very smooth, warm, and extreemly lush...not completely neutral but not distorted either, just perfect for music enjoyment but not neutral enough for studio monitoring. Compared to normal headphones it's superfast and thrilling, yet when compared to say a Grado RS1 then one realizes that it's not as fast and rock music doesn't sound as good as it could. The way the music is presented to someone it's as if one was sitting in the middle of a concert hall-in the perfect seat; your not in the band, upfront like in a grado but that certainly doesn't make it boring. The soundstage is rather wide, and can be precise depending on the gear down the chain; those of you who havn't listened to open cans of this type could think of it as the ability to listen to music and point to where a particular insturment is seated and how far away someone is singing from you. If one were to listen and think of it as music "in your head" then the 3blob affect comes in and one would notice that there is music comming from right, left and in the middle but not left-miffle and not right-middle; there are exceptions, every so often i get a piece of music that defies this but this is what occurs 80 percent of the time-a good cross feed though can dampen the effects of this. Overall the music listening experience is very enjoyable and capable of entertaining one for long periods of time.
Problems: First, the volume, as iv'e mentioned, of the treble is sometimes sited as a weakness while others say that it helps one not become fatigued by the sound. with my new cable i've found this volume dip at the bottom to have disappeared, but that has also revealed the harshness of my soundcard. Secondly, there is the "veil" this is characterized by a lack of clarity in the midrange, which is smooth and beutiful sounding but maybe not as loud and beautiful as is found on other headphones....this actually tends to go away with higher levels of amplification...but it takes maybe a bit too much money to make this problem go away. thirdly we have the open design; because of the way these headphones are engineered ambient noise isn't blocked out, so one has to seek a quiet location in order to maximize their listening experience.
finishing thoughts: overall, these headphones are actually responsible for introducing me to higher levels of listening. five months ago i was content with just the ipod+PX100 combo, thinking that sound simply couldn't be reproduced to realistic levels, now i realize that it can.Updated
In a way, it's hard to review the HD650 for this site. simply put when someone told me cnet had reviewed the HD650 someone commented that Cnet called the sennheiser: "The bad: They're heavy and very pricey, not to mention ill suited for use with the iPod." and joked that if an audiophile reviewed the ipod they would say: "The bad: They're very pricey, not to mention ill suited for use with the Senn650's. " -
"Truly remarkable." on by xyeLz
Pros: Comfort. Sound Quality. Style. Durable. Warranty.
Cons: Cost. That's All.
Summary: A 10 rating you might say? My response, "Yup". I give the product a rating it has earned and deserves.
Now I'm not DJ, nor a professional radio host, or even an amateur music enthusiast. I am a computer gamer. That's right, a computer gamer. If you're willing to fish the $600 out of your wallet for this headset, you won't be sorry. The first thing I noticed when I opened up my package and took out my headphones was the unique styling and dark colors. Not only did it look cool, but I knew that it would sound even better. So I put the headphones on. I don't know how they managed to make the ear area large enough to fit over my big ears, but somehow they managed. As I put the headset on, the comfort I felt was too good for words. The soft microfiberish ear rests cradled to my head beautifully, not to mention the tempurpedic-like foam under the piece that rests on your head. Now it's time for the sound! I loaded up Call of Duty 2 and started to play. What a difference! I use my laptop to play video games (a Dell XPS M1710) so my sound card is integrated and really isn't that great. But with these headphones, there is a noticeable difference. You can actually hear people on the other side of the wall. Now it's teamed up with my Creative X-Fi Notebook and it couldn't be better. My headphones also came with a one year warranty which was perfect for me since I have a tendency to break things soon after purchase. I've had my headphones for over a year now and they're yet to break (and yes, I have dropped them quite a few times, BY ACCIDENT!).
This really is a great product. As long as you're willing to pay the money, you will get headphones you have never owned before.
