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LucasRunner t1_iu4pjsc wrote

I liked the read and i understand why it might bring some disagreements.

But anyways, a certain portion of the writting caught my eye here:

"detailed headphone should not reduce dynamics and make the whispers in a jazz club easier to hear, it should allow for the listener to pick out discrete conversations and remove the vagueness between each person in the crowd, for example. The HD560S is an example of elevated treble making detail seem evident, but ultimately lacking in resolution of the actual recording"

This is of great interest to me. Is there any easy recommendation for people looking for this kind of detail in this price range at all?

If not, what are the first (price wise) headphones that have these kinds of qualities? At what price tags do these qualities first appear?

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slooploop2 OP t1_iu4qroq wrote

I get a lot of with with my HD580 and HD650! It’s another $100 or so but I think it’s worth saving up a little for it. I actually realized how spoiled I was when I switched from the 560 to the 580 and it felt like removing a veil over my music. The DT880 resolves some of this too but I’ve never felt like it’s quite up there.

I wish the Focal Elex were more reliable, as I felt that was solid there too and not that hard to find for around $400-450…but their questionable reliability may be why they’ve gotten to that price. On the planar side, the Hifiman HE500, on the occasion they’re available used, weren’t too bad at that but do have a rather annoying mid treble peak.

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LucasRunner t1_iu4sbl8 wrote

I see, thank you very much for your inputs in this!

Have you ever compared the HD600 to your 650s?

I think they are both an option for me and some people say there's little to no difference between them, others claim the 600's have a little more upper trebble making the 650s sound less "detailed" than them. Also, the 600s are somewhat more affordable over here but im whilling to go either way.

How would you compare them both?

And would you say they differentiate gear like the type of amp, class or other specific models you would reccomend? Some people claim there's no difference as long as they measure well, others claim some amps sound better than others; that they "scale" with higher end gear.

Anyways, happy that im being pointed towards my targets and i will certainly follow you.

Thanks again!

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slooploop2 OP t1_iu4uw6n wrote

I have! I wrote a tiny bit here: https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/nfewef/sennheiser_hd660s_impressions_versus_older_hd600/

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In general I've found every HD600 variant I've heard to have a little too much 1kHz elevation which makes them sound just at the threshold of shouty to me, so I found I never wanted to use it so I've gotten rid of it every time I've owned one because I already have way too many headphones for someone that uses speakers 95% of the time. The HD650 usually has a little bit more elevation in the mid bass and less elevation at 1kHz so it sounds more relaxing. The exceptions are ones with paper baffles, which are rare enough that you really have to look for one to end up with one of those so you can assume that if you buy an HD650, you'll get a more relaxing sound than the HD600. They have a little more damping behind the driver than the HD600 so they do suffer a little in dynamic contrast though.

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I'm in the "scale" team, as you probably could guess by the fact that I actually took time to list out my chain used for this review lol. But I certainly can't recommend most people buy a mid-priced headphone and also buy a mid-priced chain unless they have heard plenty of other headphones and find that they still like that same headphone more than the others. After over a decade into this hobby and having experience with most modern flagships, I still can't get over just how well the Senns do midrange and I'm willing to give up some resolution for that midrange, since most flagships can't live up to them in that one particular area. A lot of the music I listen to focuses on vocals though, so the things I index for may not match yours.

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The best recommendation I can give though is to try everything you can off a cheap source to figure out your preferences. Then if you want to get into the nervosa of gear scaling, buy something that has good resale so if you find you don't hear a difference after a couple weeks, you won't be stuck with it. I've certainly sold a lot of gear because I found it either didn't make a difference or it sounded worse to me.

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LucasRunner t1_iu53kjw wrote

Dude, thank you for the time typing it all, it sure helped me alot!

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nokkynuk t1_iu73urz wrote

I moved to the dekoni fenestrated sheepskin ear pads with my HD650 as I already went through 4 pears of sennheiser velour and can’t stand how long they last. Are you using the stock pads?

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slooploop2 OP t1_iu9xr22 wrote

I am using stock pads. I’ve used a few Dekoni versions and I felt they ruined them for me so I just pay the pad tax every year or so. Way cheaper than buying another >$1000 pair of headphones that doesn’t even outperform it in the things it does best.

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nokkynuk t1_iu9xuie wrote

True. I still have a pair new but I really don’t want to use them lol.

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Wellhellob t1_iu5j9k3 wrote

He is describing Ananda perfectly there. Lacking dynamics and quiet sounds are elevated.

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LucasRunner t1_iu5opzl wrote

Which planars would you say are your most dynamic ones? i see you have a bunch of them

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slooploop2 OP t1_iu5v9te wrote

Not the person you responded to but the Hifiman HE6 (not HE6SE) and Audeze LCD4 are the only planars I’ve heard that I’d describe as dynamic. I remember the first time I heard the Susvara my first thought was, “Why the hell is this so limp?” I even used it off a speaker amp and I’ve used it in other systems since that first time and I still haven’t ever heard any sense of dynamics from them.

The Abyss 1266 TC was a huge disappointment to me from that perspective too—I realized from that a lot of people’s definition of dynamics was just elevated bass.

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LucasRunner t1_iu62fqd wrote

Oh I see, you input is very welcome

You're not the first one ive heard saying the 1266 weren't dynamic.

Audeze LCD4's, ive read wonders about them but people always seem to bash them for not being "technical" enough, hence the LCD5 taking such hard left turn.

Too bad it weights as much as a small vehicle because it sure looks like a piece of jewelry.

Now about the HE6... ill dig more about them : )

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slooploop2 OP t1_iu64gra wrote

I was able to compare the LCD4 and LCD5 back to back and was actually disappointed that the LCD5 sounded less technically capable to me. It traded some (much needed) pinna gain in exchange for losing the dynamics and resolution that Audeze finally got right with the LCD4. I’d been waiting for the LCD5 to come out for a while and…there’s a reason I see them selling for half their MSRP a year after their release. It has the exact issue I have with a lot of planars: they compress dynamics to make quiet sounds more apparent, but they really do sound like a step down in technical ability. Definitely a step up in comfort though.

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Wellhellob t1_iu7df5t wrote

Did you heard the hd800s ? How is that one in dynamics department compared to planars ?

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slooploop2 OP t1_iu9xkaw wrote

I’ve owned four different HD800 and used a few pairs of HD800S. The later serial number (>10,000) HD800 and HD800S sounded a little thicker and less dynamic than the early SN HD800 to me but all of them were more dynamic than the outlier planars I’ve heard.

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Wellhellob t1_iu7d2zj wrote

Arya Stealth is the most dynamic i've heard but people say he6se, lcd x very dynamic.

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wagninger t1_iu7vzfv wrote

There are 2 complicating factors I think…

  1. it’s a sliding scale, not something where you would say, headphone x doesn’t have that yet, but headphone y definitely.

I have headphones that seem to have that quality more than others, but this is also dependent on how a headphone stages - sometimes it feels like I noticed certain elements mostly because they appear somewhere else than where I was expecting them

  1. the ear is a funny thing… once you get used to higher quality gear and hearing things that you didn’t hear before, you train your ears and will also hear those things on lesser gear, to a degree.

I know this doesn’t answer your question, but hopefully inspires a bit to do you own experiments with the type of music you want to listen to 😊

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LucasRunner t1_iuao0aj wrote

Thanks for the tips mate

BTW, someone is downvoting us all here, no idea why since you where incredibly helpful and eloquent in your answers. Thanks!

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