For more than half a century, Sennheiser has stamped its class in the headphone business and has always been busy creating top-of-the-line headphones. The German-made Sennheiser is renowned for its great design and excellent audio engineering that gives its celebrity-endorsed headphone rivals a run for their money. For instance, the HD650 reference range has been making quite a noise in the mainstream headphone landscape, proof of the brand’s strong marketing strategies and effective promotions. Here are some reviews to give you an idea:
Appearance
The Sennheiser HD 650s are intended for home rather than portable listening--they're too big and bulky for on-the-go use. The headphones are also rather power hungry, so puny iPods and MP3 players won't supply enough juice to produce much volume. With that in mind, we conducted all of our auditions on a home-theater system. We first popped on the Master and Commander DVD to explore the limits of the HD 650s' home-theater prowess. The naval battles' cannon fire exchanges never came close to fazing the Sennheisers. Bass was fuller than that of any other headphone we've ever used, and the sound appeared to come from the other side of the room.
Inside and out
The HD650s are understated and elegant with a glossy dark titanium finish. They aren’t flashy or particularly impressive in appearance and don’t give off a “look at my $500 headphones” kind of vibe. I quite like this as I don’t always want my tools to be shiny. They feature felt ear cups in line with the tradition of Sennheiser headphones, which were a little stiff when new. I realized, however, that I was used to my 6 or 7 year-old HD580s which have been ridden hard and put away wet. If these are a little tight on your head at first, keep in mind that they will soften up with wear.
Low distortion
Peering through the open-back of the HD650, there's a fine metal mesh, which is Sennheiser's way of damping the movement of the drivers and reducing resonance. Distortion is also claimed to be particularly low, thanks to improvements in the magnet structure, while high-frequency extension is aided by the use of aluminium voice-coil windings. Pair matching is claimed to be very good at ±1dB, a more plausible figure than some we've seen – bearing in mind that the smallest degree of misalignment on the head (or indeed on a test fixture) can easily contribute a few tenths of a dB of mismatch.
Awesome bass
I won't make any sweeping claims here, but the HD650 is a very good headphone for its current price. The first thing you'll notice is the darker, lush tone. This darker nature is interpreted by some as a veil, but I do not notice one with my current setup. However, if I substitute a less powerful amp (Matrix CUBE) in place of the Matrix m-stage, I do hear a veil of sorts, though it is not obtrusive. The bass on this headphones is awesome. Has great impact and PRAT, especially in comparison to the AKG K702. However, it does lack a little of the bass extension that the K702 has.
Summary
These headphones offer amazing treble and mid range sounds, but where the Sennheiser HD650s really score highly with reviewers is the awesome bass and accurate soundstage that surpasses most headphones in the high end market.
On the downside, being open backed these leak sound like a sieve. So it’s not advisable to take these on the train or bus, unless you want to get looks for all the wrong reasons. But that’s not what they’re for. The Sennheiser HD650 headphones are for enjoying music as though you are there in the studio, to be savoured and submerged in without background noise to disturb you.
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