Sennheiser HD650

Amazing, longlife headphones – These open-back headphones incredible. The open-back design feels amazing and the sound quality is superb. One thing to remember when purchasing these is that it is recommended to grab a decent amp/dac as well. These will run you about $100-150 at least. Another thing to remember are that these are not necessarily designed to be portable. They cannot be folded up and the cables are not removable.  Show details

Amazing headphones for long music sessions – These are a very hard to beat pair of open back headphones for long fatigue free music listening. Keep on mind they have zero isolation and need a decent dedicated headphone amp to get the best out of them. I'm using a JDS labs objective 2 and it has plenty of power. Sound quality detail for music these are better than my Fidelio x2 and MSR7NCs. They're not as good for movies or games however.  Show details

Hi fidelity – Arguably the best headphone on the market before you jump up into the $1000+ "uber-audiophile" price range, and I can see why. I barely notice I have them on - they fit so snug and don't fatigue the ear either. The 'space' (sound stage) is the best I've ever experienced (Ive owned previous Sennheiser products plus BeyerDynamic, high-end Sony and… Read more

Audio Technica). For some people however the 'clamp' might be a little tight, but this will soften over time.

Before buying these I did test them vs. other brands like Audio Tech, B&W, Beyer and HiFiMan. These brands had sets as good as the HD650 but for twice the price!

Please don't pay full retail ($599RRP) by the way. Low-mid 4s, possibly less is the 'asking price'.

I was a little underwhelmed 'out of the box', but was aware these phones needed time. So please be patient. I've just clicked over 50hrs of intentional 'burning in' (running a variety of music at varying volumes - and NOT wearing it), and the headphones are now giving the sound I was hoping for. The concept of 'burn in' is a contentious one, but for large open back headphones with high impedance like the HD650, it really makes a difference, and agreement on this is almost universal. The mids take several hours to come to life, and the bass seems to be more accurate after burn in. My only gripe is actually in the mids, and I'm hoping another 20-30 hours might help there a bit more. The mids (~1000-2500Hz) probably could be just a little brighter. The bass is there - not booming or overpowering (so common these days), but tight and true. The highs are superb.

About to grab hold of a nice dedicated headphone amp to run these (my Yamaha receiver works fine, but for headphones like this a separate amp will add the cherry on top). Bear this in mind as some receivers (and especially hand held devices (iPod, phone etc.) may struggle to power these.

Sennheiser again have come through with the goods. When I upgrade (eventually) again, they'll be my first 'go to'.