Upgrade Sennheiser HD595

[Barnaby]

As my heading. I'm looking to upgrade these and wonder if there's any recommended up to the £500 mark? ( that's about $700 but I don't know how prices translate to the US or elsewhere )

 

I listen to mainly classical and find headphones I have are all right but a tad boxy sounding. I'm looking for ones that avoid harshness and sound open. I don't care about looks or whether they leak sound or not.

 

Thanks for any advice

[jabbr]

Senn HD600/650 , AKG 701/712

 

You should see substantial improvement with any of above

[Barnaby]

Thank you for your suggestions. I will follow them up.

[ecwl]

What are you driving the HD595 with? For example AKG K701/712 would be easier to drive than Sennheiser HD600/650...

[maelob]

Check the Akg 7xx limited editionon Massdrop-

 

https://www.massdrop.com/buy/akg-k7xx-massdrop-first-edition-headphones

[Barnaby]

Hi folks. I'm using a Hegel 160 amplifier which has a headphone output and is a 150W per channel amp so quite powerful enough to drive anything.

[Barnaby]

Bizarrely, I'm finding it impossible to find dealers neat to me who stock all these. It's incredible because they're far from obscure products but the dealers carry such a small stock now they need to order in what they sell. It's a sign of the times I guess

[ecwl]

You may want to give Hifiman HE400S a try too. Since it's a planar headphone, it'll sound quite different from the Sennheiser or AKG. But you might like it better. The challenge is finding dealers with demos to try. Many worry that you'll demo at their store and then buy at somebody else's or online at a discount. I think that's why not too many dealers stock these more expensive headphones because they don't want to tie up their money on products that don't move. Of course, the irony is that if people can't demo them, they are not going to buy them.

[maelob]

You can always buy from places with good return policy.

[Barnaby]

Yes. I decided I liked the Sennheiser sound and I've ordered a pair of HD650s from Amazon. I am fairly optimistic

[maelob]

Enjoy!

[ecwl]

Yes. I decided I liked the Sennheiser sound and I've ordered a pair of HD650s from Amazon. I am fairly optimistic

 

Your purchase has inspired me to look into replacing the ear pads of my 7-year-old HD650. I think you'll be very pleased with the upgrade.

[Barnaby]

Thank you maelob and ecwl. I listen to mainly classical and I'm expecting these to do the job nicely

 

I was undecided between the HD600 and HD650 but in the end was attracted to the prospect of listening to choral music etc with some warm sounding gear

[wwaldmanfan]

Thank you maelob and ecwl. I listen to mainly classical and I'm expecting these to do the job nicely

 

I was undecided between the HD600 and HD650 but in the end was attracted to the prospect of listening to choral music etc with some warm sounding gear

 

I'm sure you will enjoy your headphones. Users are evenly split on which is better, the HD 600 or the HD 650. I have the HD 600 myself, but I also use the GoodHertz CanOpener Studio plug-in with Audirvana to adjust crossover and EQ when necessary.

 

[jabbr]

I'm sure you will enjoy your headphones. Users are evenly split on which is better, the HD 600 or the HD 650. I have the HD 600 myself, but I also use the GoodHertz CanOpener Studio plug-in with Audirvana to adjust crossover and EQ when necessary.

 

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Yeah 'cause they are both great -- you'd also likely like the AKG 701/712 because they are terrific for strings -- some recordings/pieces respond better to Senn and some to AKG -- classical, I tend to prefer the 650s for Jazz (for example) but a lot of this really is individual preference, really:)

 

I think if you or anyone is stretching budget then you can find the AKGs for shy of $300 ... and at that price they are the best value. That said the HD650s aren't really much more -- these are collectively probably the best values in all of audio if you think about it.