Music To My Ears

For a very long time, I've wanted a good set of headphones. And I do have quite a few pairs of them, mostly of the earbud style which pretty much did their job, but I wasn't someone who saw themselves sitting for hours listening to music through headphones. It's strange though that I wouldn't have gotten around to delving into that part of audio till now.

I grew up in the 70's and those were the days of the Koss Pros. It seemed like any serious audiophile had a pair of them. And I'd been pretty serious about the hobby from the time I was in middle school and buying my own equipment. But there always seemed that there was something more important than spending the not inconsiderable amount it cost to own good headphones.

By the 80s and 90s, I was really immersed into audio and people were spending big money on premier headphones such as the Stax electrostatic models. Just not me.

In the early 2000s when I was working at a home audio store, I even bought a pair of Grado's SR60s. It was their low end model, but they were nice. However, I never used them much, so they were sold off. I was really into home theater at that time which certainly  wasn't a headphone thing! There was one pair that we sold in the store that almost got me.

The Sennheiser HD 600. They sounded awesome and felt that way too! However, at $450 (1998 dollars), they were just too expensive for me. Over the years, on and off, I've looked at them used on eBay, but there was never a good time.

Then last month I ran across a video on Youtube talking about a pair of headphones that Massdrop was selling. Apparently, the company had contracted with Sennheiser to produce the HD 650 (successor to the HD 600) specially for them and we're selling them for $200! I was floored! 

I checked with the wife first, but I ordered them right away! Essentially they are the HD 650s with a very few changes; shorter cord, 1/8" jack with 1/4" adapter, different finish, much less fancy box,....oh yeah, a different name..... HD 6xx vs. HD 650.... They are every bit as good as I remembered and mine aren't even broken in yet. So much so, that I'm considering buying a headphone amp and/or a high definition player to use with it. They have a 300 ohm impedance and aren't supposed to work well with regular players like phones, iPods, etc. I'm listening to mine right now on one of our iPods and it sounds pretty darned good, so I'm curious as to how much better it might be with better input!