Audiophile and gears

Hey guys,

I bought the Sennheiser HD 650 on Amazon yesterday and I wanted your help in fitting it into my situation. First and foremost, I'm not an audiophile and I don't listen to music much (maybe this will change after I set up the HD 650). My primary use is going to be gaming and movies on my LG OLED (upcoming purchase in 20 days). Now, the reason I jumped on the HD 650 purchase was a few friends told me that it's "legendary" and "one of the best Sennheiser has ever made". Another friend told me that the HD 650s can do Dolby Atmos. Another friend told me these usually go for 40k and that this is an "insane deal" and it's "bonkers" at this price. This was the last nail in the purchase decision. I simply jumped and bought it.

Now, here's the thing. I can't have a standard surround sound system at home because it'll disturb my family. It's all going to be headphones/earphones. Now, I came to know that to really make the HD 650 "open up and spread its wings" is I need a dac/amp. And also, to actually get Dolby Atmos from my LG OLED is via Optical Out from the TV. This means that I need to get a kickass dac/amp with an optical in.

Can you guys help me get the perfect setup? Since I've already splurged 20k on the HD 650, I don't mind spending another 20k on the dac/amp, just to get the "best setup" feeling :D

BTW, once I have this setup, I'm sure I can connect it to my PC and enjoy some music there too :)

Again, I'm not an audiophile. I don't really understand the terms "mid" or "high" or "impedance" or "ohms" or "subbass" or "transients". My god, my head was spinning when I checked out a few reviews of this headphone. All in all, please treat me as an utter noob in all this and just help me set up a good sound setup for my OLED and PC gaming needs.

Thanks a lot in advance :)

Edit: Tagging @Nitendra Singh @red dragon for help :)
 
Last edited:
ravihpa said:
And also, to actually get Dolby Atmos from my LG OLED is via Optical Out from the TV. This means that I need to get a kickass dac/amp with an optical in.
Click to expand...

To my basic understanding, this is not possible, you can't carry Dolby Atmos signal/format to Headphone Amp/DAC combo unless that particular unit has these features which in my limited knowledge - there is none exists till now...Any Headphone Amp/Dac will convert any signal received from the optical port into two-channel high-quality stereo stream as per their capability.

Also, I doubt any Dolby Atmos-certified headphone exits in the market - And certainly, HD650 is not a Dolby Atmos headphone for sure which release nearly 20 years ago.

What you benefit from these is 'Soundstage' which may help in the gaming to exactly pinpoint the source of the sound.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: HHS and ravihpa
To all the new HD650 owners, congratulations on your new purchase!!
Though I don't have one myself ( but have 3 very close relatives HD600, 6XX, 660S) In familiar with the sound.
And it's a great headphone, but for the non audiophile friends here, please don't expect to get blown away within 5 minutes.
Many things will happen and after going back to your former headphones/ IEMs(10 days or so later) you will be able to appreciate what it is actually doing differently.
Don't buy a DAC right now, if you have a newer laptop / phone, just buy a cheap amp like NX1S or something similar.
It is definitely not a multi channel friendly headphone.
Now please ask your questions, we ( the audio fools will try to clear any doubt...dissel, Nitendra, Nalin and others please contribute)
 
  • Like
Reactions: HHS, ravihpa and Stronk
red dragon said:
To all the new HD650 owners, congratulations on your new purchase!!
Though I don't have one myself ( but have 3 very close relatives HD600, 6XX, 660S) In familiar with the sound.
And it's a great headphone, but for the non audiophile friends here, please don't expect to get blown away within 5 minutes.
Many things will happen and after going back to your former headphones/ IEMs(10 days or so later) you will be able to appreciate what it is actually doing differently.
Don't buy a DAC right now, if you have a newer laptop / phone, just buy a cheap amp like NX1S or something similar.
It is definitely not a multi channel friendly headphone.
Now please ask your questions, we ( the audio fools will try to clear any doubt...dissel, Nitendra, Nalin and others please contribute)
Click to expand...
I will keep this in mind. I will show my patience and just have fun with it.

My whole idea was to get a kickass headphone for gaming and movies on TV. Can you please help me on how is the best way to connect it to the TV? One of the friends was saying, wait for the 650s to come and simply try plugging them into the TV directly. Another thought process was Dolby or Surround Sound (or some semblance of it) will only come via optical connection.

I also want to connect it to my PC. I have a Ryzen 5 5600x with ASUS ROG STRIX B-550 Gaming-F motherboard. From what I know, it has a pretty good built-in sound chip (or whatever it's called).

One friend was recommending a Schiit Modi 3+ from headphonezone since it also has optical.

All in all, I just wanna have a good time watching movies and playing games on my OLED TV. Please guide me.
 
Just realised that I have never used headphones with television with direct Wired Connection.
If your TV has a 3.5mm headphone jack, just plug your wired headphones into it. If your TV doesn't have a 3.5mm jack, but has RCA stereo outputs ( possibly every tv has), get an RCA-to-3.5mm adapter and use your headphones that way.
I don't really watch tv, others may be aware of more practical and elegant solution.
Is it too late to audition and decide between k720 and hd650 for your usage?
I've zero experience in gaming, but 720 is more popular among gamers.
But HD650 is fantastic for music and some gamers I know use it too.
 
  • Like
Reactions: HHS and MrdK
ravihpa said:
My whole idea was to get a kickass headphone for gaming and movies on TV. Can you please help me on how is the best way to connect it to the TV? One of the friends was saying, wait for the 650s to come and simply try plugging them into the TV directly. Another thought process was Dolby or Surround Sound (or some semblance of it) will only come via optical connection.

I also want to connect it to my PC. I have a Ryzen 5 5600x with ASUS ROG STRIX B-550 Gaming-F motherboard. From what I know, it has a pretty good built-in sound chip (or whatever it's called).

One friend was recommending a Schiit Modi 3+ from headphonezone since it also has optical.

All in all, I just wanna have a good time watching movies and playing games on my OLED TV. Please guide me.
Click to expand...

(1) As suggested by the member Red Dragon - Please don't buy any headphone-related audio products before your headphones are delivered to you and you test your existing audio ports/outlets. As you said you are not into much audio you may not need much to enjoy HD650, It is possible that your TV's Headphone output may satisfy desired Movie and Gaming experience.

Make sure you use the Headphone Out port of the TV if you directly going to connect the HD650 to your TV.

(2) The best way to connect Headphone with TV's is Optical Port --> DAC / Optical - Coax Converter Box --> Headphone Amp --> HP.
(Example; I consume (NF/ Prime/ HotS/ Apple+) = Mi Box 4K -->Optical Out -->Topping DX3 Pro --> iFi Zen CAN)

(3) For Headphone Like HD650 which offers a Dark / Laid Back Detailed Signature - The ideal paring will be a Bright DAC+AMP source. <---These formulas are for those who are neck-deep into audio.

red dragon said:
If your TV has a 3.5mm headphone jack, just plug your wired headphones into it. If your TV doesn't have a 3.5mm jack, but has RCA stereo outputs ( possibly every tv has), get an RCA-to-3.5mm adapter and use your headphones that way.
Click to expand...

Better to connect with 3.5 Headphone Jack which got volume controlled by the TV's Remote. RCA output at the back of the TV is generally 'Direct Line Out' (unless documented otherwise in the TV Manual)....at least this is used to be in Pre Smart TV era.
So Male RCA to Female 3.5mm Y cable may damage the driver of headphones.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Synth-Pop, red dragon and ravihpa
dissel said:
(2) The best way to connect Headphone with TV's is Optical Port --> DAC / Optical - Coax Converter Box --> Headphone Amp --> HP.
Click to expand...
Yes, I'd prefer to use this setup. TV's optical out to dac/amp. And in the future, if required, Mi Box 4K, just like you. This also opens up the possibility of connecting the same setup to my PC.

BTW, Can you tell me from where you got your Topping DX3 Pro and for how much?

dissel said:
(3) For Headphone Like HD650 which offers a Dark / Laid Back Detailed Signature - The ideal paring will be a Bright DAC+AMP source. <---These formulas are for those who are neck-deep into audio.
Click to expand...
Please suggest me the dac+amp brand/model number. If it's within my budget, I'd definitely go for it.

I have a friend who's relatives are coming from US at the end of this month, which opens up the possibility of getting a good dac/amp at a decent price.

Another friend of mine suggested the Schiit stack -- Schiit Modi 3+ (for the dac) and Schiit Magni Heresy (for the amp). Both are $99 each. Are these worth getting? Or is there something better I can try to get from the US?
 
ravihpa said:
Yes, I'd prefer to use this setup. TV's optical out to dac/amp. And in the future, if required, Mi Box 4K, just like you. This also opens up the possibility of connecting the same setup to my PC.
Click to expand...
Technically an hdmi audio splitter can also help in getting an output to dac. This is assuming that the tv doesn’t have any suitable interface available
 
jiith77 said:
Technically an hdmi audio splitter can also help in getting an output to dac. This is assuming that the tv doesn’t have any suitable interface available
Click to expand...
It's an LG OLED C1. The available outputs are Optical Out and headphone out. There's also HDMI Audio Return Channel - eARC.

Not sure if I see RCA somewhere in the specs.
 
Last edited:
ravihpa said:
It's an LG OLED C1. The available outputs are Optical Out, 3.5 mm audio jack and RCA.
Click to expand...
Technically you do have hdmi eARC too, if you use an a/v receiver. Maybe with an av receiver you can do multi output/switching to headphones and speakers. Not sure if you can use dac/amp with hdmi arc.
 
ravihpa said:
Another friend of mine suggested the Schiit stack -- Schiit Modi 3+ (for the dac) and Schiit Magni Heresy (for the amp). Both are $99 each. Are these worth getting? Or is there something better I can try to get from the US?
Click to expand...

Wait for others to properly answer this query, not much knowledge of US pricing and deals

- Never used any Schiit Products but I like to add if you are into design aesthetics then Combo STACK always looks good of the same manufacturer but Modi 3+ still use 4490 chip. Most Chi Fi manufacturers switched to 4493 for the basic.

- Anyhow Magni Spec sheet looks good.
 
  • Like
Reactions: HHS
Top Bottom