Sennheiser HD 650 Audiophile Open-Back Dynamic Headphones-Grey

Great sounding headphones!. As we know HP are subjective to ones listening taste. Wanted a pair that were not too clinical and flat, last thing i wanted was to come home after a hard day and start an analytical listening session. Went through a lot of pairs before these ranging from Senny RS165 blutooth, a pair of Sony MDR1 and another Sony blutooth , Audio Technica MSR 7 which were good but occasionaly peaked the higher frequencies too much for me at my age 40+, set of grados (couldn't justify the price). All these fell short apart from the Sennheiser HD650's which gave the best return on cost comfort and my listening signature. I did end up comparing these to a set of Audio Technica M50x's and you may laugh but for me there were many similarities with the sound signature even though right off hand i will state these are in another league compared to the M50x's depending on your music and listening signature. You will find the review for the AT M50x's here aswell as ive posted this review for the M50x's also. Let me start by saying for me the M50x are an excellent set of cans that hold the frequencies with integrity. Tops never peaked and sounded harsh, mids were separated and slightly pronounced and never sounded muffled once, and the lows are tight and controlled but ever so slightly pronounced for a more warm sounding experience exactly what i was wanting. A run of Yanni Rainmaker and Estas Tonne The Song of the Golden Dragon shone on these with a good soundstage but not as expansive as the HD650's, one was able to distinguish the instruments and the vocals more on the HD650's especially from the senorita in the Rainmaker which was nothing short of sublime and more of an epic journey to the heavens and back on the 650's. A few further tracks of Coldplay, George Benson, Randy Crawford, Qawalli Folk Music. Clannad Irish Folk, and finally some classic hip hop from the likes of Cool Herk, Afrika Bambata, Melle Mel, Grandmaster Flash etc and modern hip hop likes of Mobb Deep, CNN, Fat Joe, Big Pun etc let me say the M50's brought a smile to the face and made me listen more attentively to the HD650's. Please note i was running both headphones through a headphone amp/32 bit dac with 2 HP ports capable of running both pairs at the same time. Both sets of cans did an excellent job at lots of different genres. Very rarely do you come across a pair that can handle the above genres with authority, never once sounding uncontrolled or overwhelmed. Where the M50x's were like satin the HD650's were like silk, both handled speed with finesse but at times the M50x could get lost especially with a bit of rock whereas the HD650's had a vice like grip with excellent separation. Please do bear in mind the cost of the M50x's. "I also tried the headphones with my Nexus 6P through a quality HP amp and 32 bit DAC the M50x sound was further enhanced and now the smile had turned to a grin with a few audible affirming compliments, totally sublime and these were testing the waters of my HD650's which were more than twice the price of these." However let me state for the record these M50x are very good for the person who wants to disappear into the audio and doesn't want a totally flat response as monitors can provide but they are not as good as the HD650's which has hand picked drivers on the assembly line for uniformity. However after much consideration on the point of diminishing returns and the power hungry 'open back' HD650's i went with the M50x as they were also easier to drive and did not need a lengthy set up when you wanted a quick portable listen, but these are 'NOT' as good as the reference standard HD650's which are definitely a couple of notches above the M50x's. The reason the HD650's were better for me were 1) The comfort level of the velour pads. 2)The open back design also let your ears breath. The tops mids and bottoms never lost integrity once 'no matter how hard they were pushed' 3) You could hear the breath intake of vocalists and individual strike of the music instruments on the HD650's especially when listening to Estes Tonne the legendary guitarist. That's not to say these expressions were not noticeable on the M50x but their was a great soundstage on the HD650 which the M50x could not compete with, bear in mind the HD650s cost over twice the price of the M50x. Now youll be wondering why did i sell the HD650's, the choice was one of diminishing returns of how much one has to pay for the little improvement in sound in the world of hi-fi audio and the fact that i have kids that constantly disturb me and the HD650's being OB design became unsuitable. I may have possible kept them had it not have also been the set up procedure of the DAC and headphone amp being anchored to the listening room. This was one of the more difficult decisions i have ever made on a set of cans so ill finish by saying where the Audio Technica's were like Satin the Sennheiser HD650's were like silk. The choice is yours!

These headphones are absolutely astonishing! I've had the HD650s since just before mid March 2011, they've been used for at least an hour every night (I have sat listening to a variety of music for 3 hours, maybe more) since I got them, so will have had plenty of time to burn in (if you believe in the effect like I do). I'll get the least important things out of the way first. Packaging is top notch, coming in a gorgeous box, with a perfectly cut insert to place the phones in. I tend to leave these on top of my cd receiver (a Denon DM31), build quality is rock solid, the plastic is solidly made, cables are too and these haven't suffered any ill effects being left out as I do all of the time, which you should expect to be able to do for the money, but it's worth noting in my opinion. These are incredibly comfortable and can be worn for very long periods of time without any discomfort, the pads that cover your ears are the right level of softness and firmness, so you know the phones are there, but not in a bad way, same goes for the bit that sits on top of your head. Now onto the sound quality, I've been happy with them since day one. I listen to these mainly through my Laptop (a HP Pavilion dv6), which IMO has a fairly decent soundcard, so I am happy some of the time listening directly through the headphone out, but most of the time use my Fiio E9, connecting the HD650s into that unit and DAC conversion is done through a Fiio E7 (which for those who don't know plugs directly into the top of the E9), the usb line out cable provided with the E9/E7 combo connects everything and this is the best audio set-up I possess for headphone listening. Through the E9/E7/Laptop combo the HD650s sound very good, bass is well defined, mids sound perfect and treble is truly lovely, with nothing mixing together or sounding distorted in any way. Every piece of music I've thrown at these has come off sounding brilliant. I listen to most things, have a taste for Pendulum, Tinie Tempah, Paramore (the hard and soft stuff), have listened to the odd bit of classical and I haven't found a single missing link in the HD650's abillities. I have no other over ear, open or closed back cans of equal value or quality to compare, but I do have a pair of Sennheiser IE8s (owned for more than 2 years) and recently purchased the Klipsch Image X10i's, for me the HD650s come out top of the bunch, X10s are next which an excellent overall presentation, with the IE8s lagging somewhere behind due to having a bit more corse sounding tone (not sure what it is) the overall experience of the IE8s isn't as convincing as when I just had them and nothing else to compare with. For me the Klipsch would be best on the move (despite their less solid build quality), their sound is truly a wonderful thing for such a small unit and even without taking their size into consideration I think they clearly beat the IE8s in every regard when it comes to sound quality (I'll do a review soon, but want to wait to see if any issues crop up with their build quality, I've had them for just over two weeks and nothing's happened so far with their cables). Sorry to turn this review into a comparison of IEM VS OEM, hopefully it will help. Overall the HD650s are a wonderful Jack of all trades, master of all, if you want club sound then they easily put you there, if you want to be in a stadium or a studio (at least what I imagine a studio sounds like, I'm not an audiophile, producer or musician) then they really do sound like the artist is there, in front of you. Basslines are real, perfectly defined to my ears. Treble shows no sibilance, just sparkly in a good way. Mids are just where I believe they should be. Voices sound perfect. Instruments sound solid, placed perfectly in the soundstage. The soundstage is vast to my ears, but not artificially made larger than it should be. I may not be an audiophile, I'm sure there must be phones out there that are better at certain things and people who've tried many of them, but for an amature into the headphone hobby game, who wants a great sounding pair of headphones, who's happy to remain ignorant of things that cost more than they can afford these will make you happy. These would be a far better purchase for someone wanting to listen at home than say the Beats (I've reviewed a set, please feel free to check out my write up). I love the HD650s and will be happy with them for many years to come.

En primer lugar aclaro que soy entusiasta de la música y trato de disfrutarla con la mayor calidad posible pero no me considero audiófilo, por lo que mi comentario es muy simple. He estado utilizando los sennheiser hd 599 SE y es la referencia que tengo. La diferencia es bastante notable al actualizar a los HD 650, desde que me los puse y escuche algunos de los disco de referencia que utilizo se nota la mejora del sonido en general, agudos y medios bien definidos y graves controlados. hice pruebas conectados a un DAC CAMBRIDGE AUDIO modelo DAC MAGICPLUS, 24 bits 192 kHz, con trasmisión de TIDAL y archivos propios en HI-RES. Próximamente haré pruebas con un DAC- amplificador dedicado de mayor resolución.

This is one of the best headphones, but don't buy it if you don't know what this is for. 1. This is an open-back headphone. Meaning that, this headphone doesn't have Noise cancellation (active or passive). You can hear everything that's happening around you (you can even hear the fan or AC sounds) and everyone can hear what song you are playing. You need a quite place to perfectly enjoy this headphone. But what you get is awesome soundstage, crystal clear vocals and exact reproduction of the studio recording. 2. You don't get wireless/Bluetooth (because we know that wireless tech is not yet at par with the bitrate that a simple cable can transfer, in fact, Wireless is too far behind). And you get a very long, very wide and very heavy cable with this headphone. But don't take this the wrong way, the cable is strong and quite sturdy. 3. You don't get mic to use for calls. This headphone is not meant for that. 4. You can't use this directly with your mobile/PC/laptop (3.5mm jack or even the usb-to-3.5mm adapter). You can surely attach it, but without a proper AMP/DAC, the sound volume will be so feeble, low and lifeless that you would regret buying this 'expensive' headphone. You need something like a iFi AMP/DAC stack, or a Schiit Magni/Modi stack or something similar (I am suggesting budget options, of course you can opt for more expensive setup). This headphone NEEDS an AMP, and believe me when I say this, you need some powerful AMP to drive this headphone (meaning, utilize to it's full potential). 5. This headphone is not portable (of course you can take this anywhere, but that's not what I mean). You need a setup (desktop/laptop with a AMP/DAC setup, good Hi-Resolution files or Hi-Res streaming service like Apple lossless or Tidal and a quite place to enjoy this). This is not a headphone you take on the bus/train/flight/playground/to sleep/class etc. So, final words, if you don't know what the words "Studio monitors/Reference Class" on this headphone mean then it's not for you. Studio professionals/music producers/good youtubers will appreciate this headphone. And I am none, but I am enjoying this headphone so much that I wouldn't want to go back to anything else. I use this with an AudioQuest Dragonfly Red and the sound is simply out of this world.

Struttura solida, leggera molto comoda da indossare per svariate ore, materiali plastici che non vogliono essere di particolare pregio ma comunque molto affidabili e che hanno dimostrato di poter resistere a svarati anni di utilizzo intenso. La riproduzione resta concentrata sulla perfetta riproduzione delle frequenze medie ed alte, i bassi risultano tuttavia adeguati e soprattutto articolati ma senza occultare la scena sonora. _______________ » COSTRUZIONE Nessuna parte metallica se non l'anima dell'archetto che permette la regolazione, il resto dei materiali è costituito da plastica di ottima fattura trattata e verniciata in maniera gradevole. Probabilmente il trattamento superficiale rischia di essere delicato ma una minima cura nell'uso dovrebbe garantire durabilità negli anni. I padiglioni morbidi e vellutati risultano molto comodi e solidamente applicati. Molto semplice la rimozione e l' installazione, operazione che ci si troverà a considerare almeno una volta l'anno data la facilità con la quale i padiglioni si consumano andando a variare leggermente la magnifica firma sonora. Buona la regolazione dell'archetto che si adatta perfettamente, risulta inizialmente molto serrato ma sono sufficienti poche ore perchè si lasci andare andando quasi a "scomparire". » PRESTAZIONI L'impedenza, come per le HD600 e HD660S2, è di 300 ohm, di conseguenza per godere appieno delle prestazioni della cuffia è bene utilizzare un buon amplificatore cuffie, possibilmente dotato di uscite bilanciate. Le frequenze medie ed alte sono riprodotte in maniera perfetta e non risultano mai affaticanti neppure dopo svariate ore di ascolto. Frequenze basse sono precisione, presenti ma non eccessive per garantire un ascolto piacevole ma fedele e non colorato diversamente da come previsto dall'autore. La scena sonora è discretamente ampia e dettagliata, l'ascolto resta tuttavia intimo come per le HD660S2 cosa che non è necessariamente un difetto, garantisce infatti una buona rappresentazione dell'immagine sonora, ogni strumento e voce sono perfettamente individuabili nello spazio dall'ascoltatore. » CONCLUSIONI Ottimo dispositivo, solido concreto e resistente. Concentrato sulla riproduzione sonora della fascia medio alta delle frequenze con assoluta fedeltà, ma che allo stesso tempo non priva l'ascoltatore del divertimento derivante da una gestione colorata delle frequenze basse riprodotte in maniera articolata ma non enfatizzata. Sono garantite ore di ascolto soddisfacenti ed appaganti senza alcun tipo di affaticamento.

I think these headphones give you a pretty accurate sound, so there is no hype in them. You seem to get the straight studio sound to a large degree. You don't get boomy basses or sparkling highs.

Inimaginável a qualidade sonora. Você ouve as músicas que ouviu durante a vida inteira e as redescobre através deste fone. 5 estrelas!