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slooploop2 OP t1_iu4qroq wrote

Reply to comment by LucasRunner in Hifiman HE400SE Versus HD560S - Modestly Priced Madness by slooploop2

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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