But what about the Apple dong?

/s

Does your girlfriend have a boyfriend already?

People are saying parametric EQs and i wouldn't mind that but my wants and wishes include some other stuff.

There are a bunch of amp/dac manufacturers today making exactly the same products over and over again at different prices, shapes and sizes. These products are getting a little redundant imo since they all perform the same.

1- Real sound signature presets:

iFi does that in 100 dollar dacs, why can't Topping's 600 dollar dacs have these functions? Would be incredible if these devices had presets like some powered monitors do "Vocal, Dynamic, Monitor..." modes. I have powered monitors from Edifier and i am constantly playing with these modes, Vocal mode really puts voices forwards in the soundstage making it sound warmer and its great not only for music but for movie dialogues as well.

Those filters "apodizing, fast cut out, slow etc" are utterly useless.

Functions such as crosstalk levels, reverb, bass shelf, or even some coloring configurations that mimic tubes or increase artificially soundstage would be great.

2- physical knobs to interact with the signature:

Remember your dad's Pioneer integrated amp with those cool Bass and Treble knobs? That would be cool in these high end dacs on top of on-board presets too. Alot to mess around with on discrete functions.

This is the only way I see this drove of high end devices to be any appealing to me since there's no difference in sound quality from a 100 dollar dac to 1000 dollar dac anymore. All of these ess/akm/burr brown based devices sound the same.

I don't get why I should spend that much on any of these new dacs nowadays honestly.

Thats expensive as hell, holy crap

Try getting a black friday deal on either of these:

Any Sennhseiser like: 58X, 6XX, 650, 660S, 600...

Or a Hifiman Sundara.

And get a Fiio K5 pro or the K7.

These pairs aren't going to cost thousands and you'll probably hear music in a different than you ever did.

I itching so hard to do the same here but I'm about to spend my holidays in another country, I'm really scared of spending any money right now but I'm dying to try a Sennheiser and an amp

This is interesting.

Could high end multidriver/hybrids benefit from a built in dsp?

Because you could connect each driver to its own exact output, just like a powered monitor for example, but I have no idea how this works

Thank you for the write up and impressions, it really helps.

In my case, i listen alot to soundtracks, vocal heavy like Enya, Sarah Brightman, indie, some melancholic ambient stuff.

For this reason I believe having a headphone that pushes vocals forwards like the 650, for that intimate presentation, and another headphone like the 800s for the soundstage and "ethereal" feeling it would give my darker indie and ambient stuff would be nice.

However, the bass presentation on the X could be absolutely welcome for the drumming present in metal such as Tool.

I noticed l that, for my tastes, imaging actually helps metal as much as bass extension because it makes the drums feel "right over there".

You see... this is why I lean at having the 650 and the 800s later, with the X being that wildcard that could be extremely good for metal.

Anyways, thank you so much for the talk, I enjoy talking about this stuff.

What do you listen to?

Oh, thats nice

So, the standard SE pin simply doesn't use the dual neutrals inside the headphone's female plug right?

Okay, I'm bamboozled.

The 2.5mm balanced connection isn't going to provide a true balanced (independent polarity connection) to the drivers given the nature of the plugs, right?

Or is this simply to make use of the more powerful balanced output from your amp? The drivers are going to be fed with both neutrals at the same time right? Like, the plug is simply jumping both of them together?

I don't understand much about this it seems

Fantastic write up.

The LCD-X is definitely on my future acquisition plans after an HD650.

I'm still trying to figure if I get myself either an HD800S and an LCD-X as my higher end headphone after the 650.

How's Audeze's warranty and durability, know anything about it? Definitely curious and excited as I like characteristics such as this "enveloping" feeling some headphones have.

Thank you so much my friend!

Im traveling to Amsterdam next month and i saw that too as i was checking random prices at Amazon.nl

That made me chuckle

By the way, are there any good audio stores worth visiting in Amsterdam? Probably going to check some sennies and perhaps grab a Fidelio X2hr there

That much energy at 10hz? 20? Increasing exponentially as it reaches lower?

That bass wouldn't even be perceived as sound, these frequencies are perceived as a pressure on the ear canals, such aggressive response that gets more and more pressure the lower it goes would be waaay too uncomfortable.

This response is hardly any sound, its simply a pressure build up.

The headphones I liked the most all have some kind of roll off. Heapdhones can be bassy and fun and still have a down slope on sub bass, I find the best bass tohve a boost up in the upper bass instead of more sub bass than upper bass.

Well, I've never seen them. Discovered them quite recently to be honest.

But yeah... I get the idea.

From their songs they seem to be quite interested in recording quality, the way their songs are mixed makes the drums feel so holographic, crisp... there's an excellent sense of imaging in their stuff.

And yeah, a pair of high end speakers might do the trick

Same here. Currently on very entry level stuff but I can't wait to put my hands on something higher end to listen to tool. The drumming is addictive.

Oh, i didn't know that. I read somewhere it was after the acquisition, will change my comment, thanks

This is concerning.

I always had Sennheiser held at the highest quality possible.

I'm still surprised they cheaped out on the HD600's design and box too, that change was so unnecessary. Sennheiser HD6x0 lineup is already quite plasticky for the price in my opinion.

I guess everything for a nickel with their management nowadays, but they are starting to degrade the company's reputation this way.

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!

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 : )

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

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

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!

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?

You know when a silicon cable starts getting stiff or a white plastic part gets yellow with time or when a coated plastic part starts getting sticky as you handle?

I suppose these would be examples of "chemical resistance".

It just means they are trying to use some more acceptable quality materials in it.

Some of their latest iems for example, are apparently flaking off their finish very early according to some owners around here.

I don't like these auto eq presets to harman.

I use eq to fill up some holes in the frequency response of my headphones and tame down some overly boosted areas they have and thats it. Preety much some fine tuning of the mids.

The results are normally the same headphones but with less "nasal" or shouty voices and they become way more full and tonality correct. Voices become way more lifelike.

But the whole harman curve doesn't really work for me