2. misc-audio
  3. 1102391869

Listening to my HD650's, a sobering experience...

My fellow audiophiles, I'm a bit depressed. Please let me take a moment & jump up on my soap box and vent a little..

A couple months a go I picked up a pair of the excellent Sennheiser HD650's, to replace my venerable HD600's.

While I primarily listen to my "big rig", during the evening hours I am relegated to listening to the cans to keep the peace around the house.

So, I'm listening to a couple discs recently re-processed and re-transformed by the Reality Check CD-R process (more to come, see www.positivefeedback.com, Clark Johnson's report for details -- EVERYONE should check into this, but I digress...) when it dawns on me how much more detailed, relaxed, natural, musical, REAL -- well you pick your adjective, EVERYTHING sounds through the headphones.

It just really makes me realize that even as good as I think my big, honkin' EXPENSIVE main system is, there's STILL a helluva lot of information that's in those little pits that I'm just not hearing.

Just HOW friggin' high up on the scale do you have to go to get this "HD650" type of reproduction in your listening room anyway???

Is it even POSSIBLE????

Since I'm using my CD player as the same source for both the 'phones and the main speakers, I guess I can rule it out as the culprit. Must be in the speakers, amp, room acoustics, or a combination of all.

Not like my system is a "lightweight" by any means, and I'm generally happy listening to it, but...

I know, I know, SELL MY HD650's, right?!

My main system; MArtin Logan Prodigys, Halo JC-1 amps, Audio Aero Capitole 24/192, Analysis Plus cables, PS Audio P300, SoundString cables, Acoustic Zen AC cords, dedicated AC lines, dedicated soundroom, and one slightly depressed and frustrated audio-dude.

Headphone System: A. Aero Capitole, Wheatfield OTL tube headphone amp, Sennheiser HD650 (with STOCK cord, how good are they gonna sound when I get that Silver Moon replacement cord???).

Oh well, thanks for lending an ear (or eye, in this case) and Happy Holidays everyone. I've been pretty good this year, so maybe Santa will leave a set of Lamm's in my stocking and a pair of DALI Magelines under the tree.
denf
denf OP
241 posts
 
Well, just thought I would "update" my thread.

I purchased the Silver Dragon headphone replacement cable for my 650 cans a little while back. In-freakin-credible.

I guess I shouldn't be so astonished by this, as I've heard positive changes in all the other cables in my system, but again -- just didn't expect the jump-up in level that this after market cable provided.

I'm even more perplexed? depressed? disapointed? by the stark difference of the sound gap between my headphone set up vs. my "outer" rig...

Anyone in the market for a nice pair of Prodigys?
timf
237 posts
 
Sometimes I do make the comparison of my headphone system to my speaker system, and of course it leads to confusion. They arent the same thing, each having their own merits and complications. By fact, my headphone system is more immediate and resolute than my, er, big rig. It is a better system for that. However, lacking as my main system is, it is fun to annoy my neighbors, and it does take my friends and I all the way when the occation arrives that we can all gather together to listen to music. I am fortunate in that I tend to be the only one amongst my friends who are as neurotic as I tend to be. If the sound is really getting to me,someone will undoubtibly reach over and hold my hand. It occurs to me that when I finally did come around to attempting to put together a speaker system(I listened to headphones exclusively before this) it was because I had arrived at a point where I wanted to share the music I listened to with others.To annoy my nieghbors perhaps(there is this aspect to my personality), but to create a place to meet with friends that might pull us away from our peripherals as well. Whatever degree of sucess I have had with that I am more than satisfied with the results, and it is something my headphone system cannot do regardless of my esteem for it.
gesmer
4 posts
 
You might want to try deleting the PS Audio P300 from your main system. I owned one of those and initially thought it was great, but over time realized it limited dynamics, added colorations, and obscured detail. With a system as revealing as yours, you need power conditioning on the same level. Try the Audio Magic Stealth, the Shunyata Hydra, or the Walker Audio Velocitor...
mdhoover
695 posts
 
FWIW,

I'm having the OPPOSITE problem, just having purchased the Intuitive Design Summit PSL 624 loudspeakers, which have everything, except the very deepest of the deep bass, which is where the Rel Storm 3 kicks in anyway (crossover is set at 27 hertz, to give you an idea of how deep the Summits go, with a rolloff at about 40 hertz). I love to listen to these so much that several times my wife has told me to turn it down (after 9:30 pm, usually) or else use my "super" headphones (Sennheiser HD 600's that I insisted on several years ago).

The problem is that the Summits are BOTH smoother AND more detailed on the high end than the Sennheiser HD 600's which I currently own. Now the Sennheisers sound annoyingly bad to me (yes, really). The only weak link in the chain to them that's any different than the signal path to the loudspeakers is the Ramsey SHA 1 headphone amplifier.

I'm reluctantly considering purchasing Stax Lambda Pro headphones with a tube amp, used for a killer low price. If THOSE don't sound good enough, then I'll be really frustrated, probably being forced to get the Omega 2's. No, I'm not being sarcastic. I really do NOT want to spend upwards of 3000 to achieve sound quality on a par with the loudspeakers. If I have to do that, then it's going to be "wait time".

Does anyone know if the Lambda Pro's are a great headphone?

Are the 650's that much better than the 600's?
robm321
932 posts
 
MDhoover,

Definately listen to the AKG K1000 before you buy. They are my new reference phone and the only one I've heard that throws a soundstage out of the head. Blows my Senn HD600 and Grado RS-1 out of the water. Prior to listening to the K1000, I thought Grado and Senn were the top of the line. I still listen to Grado RS1 and ocassionally the Senns, but the K1000 is amazing and to me on another level entirely.
More to discover