Hi, been trying to find the headphones for me.
Tried edxs and really liked them, but had to turn them up to loud to be safe. I tried Sennheiser hd 560s and didn’t like them ,very boring and lifeless. So would I like hd650? are they to close in sound and would I have to turn up the volume to get a good sound? Have to be careful with my hearing (my age)
Can you recommend any thing at around £400 that sound good at lower volume.
Using mojo 2 and android phone.
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If you can find an E-MU Teak I’m confident it will be far from boring, even driven off less powerful sources.
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This is interesting… Might be worth checking out for me as well with a neutral, non-sibilant presentation and decent bit of soundstage by the looks of it on that review… Thanks for sharing!
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Thanks for the tip on this. It was Resolve’s review that ultimately backed me away from the edge on the organic. It seems that the stealth might be the better option, but I’m still looking around a little before I commit, because it looks like they’re both a little bright, but the organic is the brighter of the two… I just saw that it had bass slam and was thinking it might be worth it, but if I hear sibilance, I will never be able to relax with them, and I’ll end up selling them at a big loss on EBay 
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I have found a shop selling hd650 for a very good price in the uk. A year or so ago I tried the hd560s and didn’t like them ,dull, flat and boring. So do the hd 560s have a similar sound to hd650? Unfortunately I would not be able to send the hd650 back if I don’t like them. I have tried edxs and Sandra and returned them both. I found to get the sound I liked I had to drive them to unsafe volumes. I have a mojo 2 and sorce is a android device. I can not get hd 6xx in the uk near the price of the hd650.
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They aren’t that different. The best way to make the 560 or 650 more lively is replace the foam with something less dense. The cheapo pads on Aliexpress come with thinner foam which will lift the “Sennheiser veil” which is on many models the thick foam which makes them sound too warm/bland. Some people use other material like fish tank foam filter sheets or women’s tights cut the same shape.
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The 650 is warm and may well sound dull to you. The HD 600 is neutral and has a lot more energy in the upper mids (aka “glare”). Be aware that the Sennheiser 6 series has rolled-off highs and lows in general.
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My question is if I dont like the sound of the hd 560s does it mean I won’t like the hd 650,are they to similar in sound?
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They are not that similar.
The HD 560s is very neutral, with a small treble peak. I didn’t like them, as they were so flat as to be clinical/sterile and boring, and the treble peak hit me at just the wrong spot.
The HD 650/HD 6XX has luscious mids – absolute reference mids – with rolled-off sub-bass and treble. I can listen to the smoother, warmer sound of the HD 6XX all day.
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Thanks, I have had a lot of trouble trying to get a simple answer lol.I have a mojo 2 and hopefully this will be ok to drive the hd650. Can you get a decent sound out of the 650 with out driving them as I need to listen at lower volumes. Tried edxs and a few more which I only liked there sound at high volume which was to high to be safe.
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More than enough to make them sing.
You’ll probably need to use the Mojo 2’s EQ capability to get the best out of them at low volumes. This is not a failing of the HD650 … but just the reality that our hearing has non-linear sensitivity to bass and treble … and at lower volumes these are disproportionately, perceptually, muted.
Read about “Equal Loudness Contours” … and consider a “loudness” type EQ profile.
WTF are “edxs”?
How do you know what level they were at? Did you measure? Or just going by them being louder than you’re comfortable with (always better safe than sorry).
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I don’t measure them just know it was way to loud to be safe. I am in my 60s and lost some upper frequency and have tinnitus . To many rock concerts when I was young, working in Noisy Environments and riding motorbikes with out hearing protection have not helped.
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You and I are brothers from a different mother. 58 here, terrible tinnitus and upper frequency hearing loss. I have worked in motorsports for 35 years, attended far too many rock shows without proper hearing protection and still am a lead singer in a local rock band.
I only got serious about hearing protection eight or nine years ago. Too late.
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Why to late.
Thing is am I going to to make it worse by going down this rabbit hole of headphones.Not sure what to do? May be time to sell up and say good bye.
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With anything to do with sound and protecting your hearing, I’m pretty sure it comes down to 2 simple variables, volume and time. If can determine how loud you are listening and keep it to 85 dB or less, then you will be in the clear for long listening sessions. If you need to listen louder to enjoy the sound of your headphones, then you should monitor your listening time carefully, and you can greatly reduce your risk of damage. If you hit 88 dB, you have about 4 hours, 91 dB 2 hours, 94 dB 1 hour. From there, for every 3 dB you add, you need to cut listening time in half. 94 is probably going to feel quite loud for most people, and I would strongly suspect that you will be able to find some headphones that are enjoyable at lower volumes. Keep in mind too that the decibel scale is logarithmic, so for every 10 dB you add, it’s actually 10 times louder, so difference of 3 dB is actually quite a bit.
My suggestion would be to check out some dynamic headphones that are known for their “slam” like something from Focal. Most of theirs really have the feel of hitting hard, and this is present even when it is not ear-splittingly loud. Hope this is helpful, and hope you enjoy the music!
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I’m looking for inexpensive ($20-$30) earphones for side-sleeping. I’ve bought the Audio Technica ATH-CKM50A (https://www.audio-technica.com/en-ca/ath-ckm50a) more than 10 years ago on sale and loved them – they fit just fine in my ears and didn’t bother me when I was sleeping, they had the J-type cord (not Y-type), no microphone and the cord was short and came with the extender. Sadly, AT doesn’t make the CKM-50A nor the CKM-500 which followed it, so if anyone knows of the similar shape/cord earphones, I’d love to hear back from the community!
PS. If there are these style of earphones with replaceable cords, that would be the best option for me, as the cords go first.
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There’s a whole thread on this topic
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True, there are 3 or 4 suggestions in that whole thread. They all are either:
- not in-ears
- not inexpensive
- have behind an ear loops
So keep the suggestions coming please.
You could take a look at the Moondrop Quarks or the Tanchjim Tanya, both are inexpensive and have a small form factor similar to the ATH you mentioned.
(Edit: There are also the KBEAR Little Q)
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