My pair from the Buysonic deal arrived yesterday.  First impression.... damn these pads reek!      Guess they need to do a little off gassing or whatever lol

Anyhow, they are burning in right but even in the first few hours it's obvious why these things are the price/performance benchmark against which everything gets compared.  Completely competent everywhere with no obvious faults.

I need to get a balanced cable so I can get the best out of them with Ragnarok.  Anyone see anything wrong with this one?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/6-SENNHEISER-HEADPHONE-CABLE-HD600-HD650-MOGAMI-CARDAS-NEUTRIK-1-4-or-BALANCED/171649354489?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D32936%26meid%3D70f63b6472254d53ac849be255b7ae0b%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D121687078286

I could of course re-terminate a stock cable but for the $20 difference I don't think it's worth my time to order a bunch of parts and learn to solder.  (and no doubt fuck up a few times)

My buysonic Senn 650 arrived too - supper dupper thanks for the tip on the deal Pfillion! While the Mj2 is all the rage these days, I am happy to have received the Vali - cracked down and got it now to go with the 650' instead of waiting for the pumped up Vali uber that the faithful are praying and waiting for. (Jason, our Shiit father, hear our prayers!). Using this out of a Mac desktop, Mostly ALACS => Fidelia => Wyrd => Modi 1.0.

Love the 650 combo with vocal/opera where it seems to edge my other headphones (humble Fidelio X2 and HD 558). The difference is small but huge - strange, the extra drop of honey on the vocals makes the magic happen. For other types of music X2 seems to take the edge - big symphonic stuff, neotango, 60's rock. Surprisingly to my uneducated ears the HD 558 hold their own very well and are not too far behind (dumb dumb n00b! - but I guess blessed the weak of ears as this is the way to financial solvency in this rabitthole).

Comfort wise I think HD 558>/= HD 650 >> Fidelio X2, go figure. Fidelio X2 is heavier and way to big with a lax headband. While I have a largish skull (just measured for kiks at 59 cm frontal to occipital perimeter and mostly have to buy XL head gears) this is saggy and requires readjustment. Makes me feel like



I guess after the X1 was reported to be too tight in some corners, Phillips decided to make X2 fit all the buffalo heads out there and block this type of moaning.

To end the tangent diatribe and return to the 650', I am glad I got them and happily for my headphone hobby career, hope they will be my best game, like ever.  These days with more headphones in the house I realized I am actually not a huge fan of headphone listening - feels too isolating, if anything prefer listening to so-so audio engine speakers and be able to roam around and share the music with the rest of the tribe if given the choice. The 650 may get a place in the future family museum next to my grandfather's HD 414 that have been resident in the house since the late '70 and still work without coughing although nobody listens to them now. To go back and qualify my wows for headphone abstention, maybe, if they ever release the lost HD 658 - with improved comfort, angled drivers etc, maybe, maybe... or maybe they will just have the new ear cups that can be swapped in the old frame, Lego style.

I am waiting for the LH labs pulse infinity - yeah, yeah, I know not optimal compared to GMB/MJ2, but for less than a kilo-buck at initial campaign offering, I think I would be difficult to do better for this type of money. Besides I already payed for it, so not much choice at all. The whole kaboozle is balanced and will like to try this fad too with the 650, hell it's there, so why not? The ebay cable seems interesting. As an alternative, does anybody have any experience with Charleston Cable Company?- their cables got an ecstatic nod at Headphonia and appear to be reasonably priced, but I am not even sure they are balanced or just have a 4 pin connector:
http://www.c3audio.com/store/p26/Sennheiser_HD_650%2F600_Headphone_Cable_--_CANARE.html

I actually carefully bent the metal part of the bands out slightly to reduce the clamp after I decided to keep them.

Thanks for the advices! While I find the 650 are squeezing my brains a tad, I think it's preferable to sagging and they are quite comfy, better than X2 and close to the 558, so no issues there, they will only get better

I am curious about the Charleston cables, if any pirates have used, but is not urgent. Waiting for the LH Infinity delivery goes at the glacial pace of waiting for Godot. I literally started to get some white hair since I subscribed to their campaign - to play a broken record: what a diabolical and addictive marketing strategy, going up the ladder and getting to pay a price I would have not agreed to presented as a whole, but was broken down in small tasty bits and made palatable. Had I known about the waiting saga, would not have gotten it even with the tasty bits, but with a retrospectoscope, it's always 20/20. I find the Shiity approach of delivering before talking about products preferable, but, hei! it's a free country, so nothing to object. If it happens during my lifetime, will be interesting to see how it sounds, when it's finally arriving. The lack of chatter, and the very few and bipolar reviews, somewhat subservient but with double entendre conclusions are not very encouraging. It is still likely to be an improvement to my current modi.

Anyone have a recommendation for the least expensive balanced cable for the HD650 worth purchasing? I pre-ordered the Liquid Carbon, so I need something balanced, and these are really my only headphones that can easily get there (I do have a Nighthawk on loan that I'll probably grab a cable for as well, but I might not have them anymore by the time I get the Cavalli).