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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
shiva
181 posts
 
I was watching a movie at home, The Bourne Identity some time ago. For my main fronts I was using Audio physic tempos,( no loss of fine detail) as it is stamped on the front. I put on my Senn. 580 for fun during an office scene, and the amount of inner detail they picked up was incredible. I heard little chair scrapings on the floor, printers that were in the back of the room quietly printing, people in the back talking to each other. things that had nothing to do with the shot, which was focused on two people talking in an office. If I put my ear to the speakers, I could just hear some of them but not many. It wasn't important to hear all these tiny little details in the movie. I just found it interesting that the headphones picked them up. Of course there is no replacement for dynamics and I will continue to crank my latest speakers whenever possible.
denf OP
241 posts
 
Hey, thanks for all the replies guys!

I know what a few of you mean about the "imaging in the head" with the cans, and the lack of the sound having viseral, physical impact like you get with speakers in a room.

I have occasionally augmented the headphone listening experience by having my subwoofer on, at the same time, which is placed right behind my listening chair. Just like the old "Sensa-round" EARTHQUAKE movie of the seventies, (but obviously a LOT tighter and cleaner bass!). When properly balanced and level adjusted, it really adds to the overall listening experience. Course again, this is only during the weekend daytime and early evening hours through the week...

Those of you who ARE headphone junkies should give this set-up a try.

MEGASAM -- the jury is still not out on the Reality Check CD process. I literally just rc'vd (2) discs a few days ago, and while initial impressions seem to be pretty impressive, I plan to conduct a non-scientific "double blind" test, with a friend switching between the treated vs. non-treated discs, to make sure I'm not having a placebo effect -- and hearing simply what I WANT to hear.

The treated CD's do seem to sound smoother and more cohesive overall, without any seemingly loss of detail, BUT, I wonder if I detect a slight compression effect on sharp transients???

Still, for $12.00 a pop for the Reality Check process, again, I recommend everyone at least experiment with one of their favorite (& well known) CD's to judge for themselves.

I'll keep you posted.
howie
230 posts
 
Interesting thread. I haven't listened to my HD600s in a long time. But since my system is without amps right now I listened to some music on my headphones today. I think what makes a headphone system enjoyable is that it delivers the essense of the music. The song and melody is still there! But I really miss my main system. You don't get the enveloping sound of an orchestra, the interplay of instruments from their various positions, you don't get the sense that the whole drum kit is in your room, and the kickdrum and timpani whacks lose a bit of authority.

As for detail retrieval. You might hear more detail with headphones but you also lose the feeling of a low noise floor with instruments emerging out of the darkness.
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.
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