need tips for new headphones, comming from HD650's

[tony tony chopper]

So you think the output from your soundcard will be the same as the output from something like an SPL Auditor, a Lehmann Black Cube Linear or a Graham Slee Solo Ultra-Linear?

I don't know any of these, but probably yes, and I believe that the "audiophiles" business is as scammy as profitable.
Also, if it made me hear anything that I'm not hearing right now, I wouldn't accept it, since I'm hearing everything I should. It's not like there was any audible noise or any kind of distortion.
It just has its own freq response, the one I got used to.

[tony tony chopper]

Well i wasn't thinking of Australia a the time, i think TTC lives a bit closer! Laughing

I totally do.. but I'm not looking for replacement pads
(cable at best, but I'd rather buy a new headset)

I washed my pads a few days ago

I wash mine regularly, it works pretty well, but again they're too hard to replace without breaking the metal grid

[meldavid]

It's hard to find them in stock anywhere in OZ and usually they are $90 + shipping. Syntec is the main stocker of Sennheiser replacement parts here.

But yeah, pads will survive a few wash cycles but it's really the stress of trying to pull them off that damages the velour.

[twisted-space]

As far as I could see they all take analog input - meaning the D/A in soundcard are used, or digital out and then a highend D/A-converter in between.

I wasn't suggesting that any of those would be suitable for the op, just mentioned them as a counter to the "I don't believe in preamps" comment.

Any half decent soundcard should be capale of producing a reasonable line level signal, so the fact that they all use an analog input isn't a big deal.
Not to say they wouldn't show the improvment available from using a better quality DAC though.

My Xin amp makes an amazing improvement to the output from my babyface when I'm using my HD600s, not so much with my HD25s but they're just 70 Ohms instead of 300.

I believe that the "audiophiles" business is as scammy as profitable.

And yet you bought "audiophile" headphones.
Oh well, never mind.

[lfm]

I wasn't suggesting that any of those would be suitable for the op, just mentioned them as a counter to the "I don't believe in preamps" comment.

Any half decent soundcard should be capale of producing a reasonable line level signal, so the fact that they all use an analog input isn't a big deal.
Not to say they wouldn't show the improvment available from using a better quality DAC though.

My Xin amp makes an amazing improvement to the output from my babyface when I'm using my HD600s, not so much with my HD25s but they're just 70 Ohms instead of 300.

OK, I see.

It seems that these boutique kind of hardware are very little for the money.
But they are better suited for 300-600 ohm headphones.

I'm skipping the idea to do more than rough mixes in headphones and put that money into studio monitors instead. The HD280 Pro will do for this purpose.

Since you mention decent DAC, I did modify standard HongKong $100 DAC according to this guys experiments:
http://www.lampizator.eu/LAMPIZATOR/LAM ... zator.html

He bought 5 of these, and tried different component swaps.

So for total cost of <$250 I got a real good one. I did a hybrid of what he did and went for OSCONS as well as Tantal over these.

[Shy]

I believe that the "audiophiles" business is as scammy as profitable.

And yet you bought "audiophile" headphones.
Oh well, never mind.

You know what he meant by "audiophile" business, he meant the very common bullshitting scammers who make things up in the audio hardware (and sometimes even software) business.

If you think his audio interface (you don't even know which one it is) can't properly drive his HD 650 and he must get an external headphone amp for that, you may well be wrong since there are more than enough which are able to do it perfectly. I've tested all this nonsense myself with various headphones and amps and I can say that good old science works. I don't use an external headphone amp with my (awesome and far more expensive than what the thread's poster would like to pay) headphones not because I don't have the means, but because there's no use for that, not to mention most of those amps ruin the sound with their stupid, pointless and less than balanced (especially compared to a good audio interface's) signal path. May be nice for perceivably "nicer" sound for some people, but not for me since I'm interested in accuracy.

"Audiophiles'" last resort is to tell people that their hearing is not good enough, that they are not well trained, or various bs like that (of course, without knowing a thing about the person either), and they don't like it when someone says that the objectively better results are also subjectively better.

[musikmachine]

Well i wasn't thinking of Australia a the time, i think TTC lives a bit closer! Laughing

I totally do.. but I'm not looking for replacement pads
(cable at best, but I'd rather buy a new headset)

I washed my pads a few days ago

I wash mine regularly, it works pretty well, but again they're too hard to replace without breaking the metal grid

Oh ok i thought by old you meant worn out. What do you mean by metal grid, the grill/mesh on the outside? On the hd600 everything comes apart easily, the pads just pop out with a little pressure.

Anyway, sounds like you've made your mind up; new cans ftw! I've read good things about the Beyerdynamic DT1350 also the newer Shure headphones are probably worth a look.

[tony tony chopper]

On the hd600 everything comes apart easily, the pads just pop out with a little pressure.

yes they pop out very easily.. but are hard to stick back, they require a lot of pressure, and there's nothing else but the grid to grip on.
Bad design IMHO, as I had no problem with the HD570.

[twisted-space]

Blah, blah, blah, blah.....

Muted.

[twisted-space]

double post

[musikmachine]

On the hd600 everything comes apart easily, the pads just pop out with a little pressure.

yes they pop out very easily.. but are hard to stick back, they require a lot of pressure, and there's nothing else but the grid to grip on.
Bad design IMHO, as I had no problem with the HD570.

Weird, they snap back in really easily on the hd600s, i hold the headband arms firmly, don't touch the grills and push them back in with my index finger. Not what you want with 300€ headphones!

I thought i was gonna have to send mine into sennheiserspares and that was when i found out about the £35 service but it's gone up now. But they will totally overhaul and test them, even replace them if necessary for less than it would have cost to replace the pads alone.

[mbncp]

At the OP: Have you found something, as I'm a bit on the same boat as I need to replace one of my hd650 and not too crazy to get a third one.