Sennheiser HD 650 - Too much impedance?

The 80 ohm models sound just fine through the FM3 to me. I've tried the 250 and 80 ohm models and they are pretty similar with obviously the 80 ohm being louder. The 770's generally measure pretty flat outside of the boost in the high treble. I consider them neutral leaning clear and bright, maybe a little less midrange than you'd want for listening to music, and of course the boost in the high end.

I'm listening to music on my Macbook right now with them, volume around 20%. I switched over to my 250 ohm DT 990's and I had to increase the volume up to about 40%. So it roughly seems like the 250 ohm models are about half the volume of the 80 ohms. And to round it out, my 300 ohm Sennheiser HD6xx are about just a bit louder than the 250 ohm Beyers.

For open backs I think the HD6xx are a great value as they are like HD650's at 60% of the cost. Everyone seems to like or love them. If you end up really liking the Beyer signature sound, the DT 880 are a really good open back alternative that is in the same ballpark tonally although with a roll off in the bass. The 990 are similar to the 770's but a little brighter which is over the top. In contrast, the Sennheiser 6xx has a much bigger focus on the midrange all the way from the low mids up to the high mids, with a rolled off high end.
Thanks for the info, will take your review of these cans into consideration when moving to the open backs. Will let you know how I like the 770s after I receive them. 👍
 
The 990 are similar to the 770's but a little brighter which is over the top. In contrast, the Sennheiser 6xx has a much bigger focus on the midrange all the way from the low mids up to the high mids, with a rolled off high end.
The HD6XX are actually much closer to a flat frequency response, with only some correction needed in the highs and lows. The DT990s require a lot more correction in both the mids and especially the highs to get closer to flat.

If you are used to the sound of the DTs the HD6XX may sound midrangy by comparison.
 
The HD6XX are actually much closer to a flat frequency response, with only some correction needed in the highs and lows. The DT990s require a lot more correction in both the mids and especially the highs to get closer to flat.

If you are used to the sound of the DTs the HD6XX may sound midrangy by comparison.

Well I think it depends on what target response you are measuring against.

Here's a comparison between the DT 770 Pro and HD6xx at RTings.com. Same measurement device and target. The 770 is really flat from 2k down to 20 Hz with a little dip at 200 Hz or so. The 6xx is fairly flat from 3k down to 200 Hz with a little bump around 200 and a quick roll off after that. The 770 has a little dip in the high mids followed by a big peak at about 9k. The 6xx has a little peak in the high mids followed by a big dip around 6k. Both are really good, fairly flat (in the scheme of things), and somewhat flawed headphones.

I won't say one is better than another for everything and I really like both. I've had the 6xx for a couple years now and it's the best pair of open ear headphones I've tried and won't ever sell it. For listening to music it's awesome, for general use it's great. I don't love playing guitar through them anymore even though I prefer their frequency response for guitar, but I just don't like hearing the strings of my guitar in my fairly lively room. The 770's block out that string attack and have a flat and fairly tight bass response. You just have to either get used to or work around the high end spike.

Speaking of that, I've tried a few 770's and the 80 ohm model I recently got are the smoothest I've found in the high end. They definitely have a little less overall mids compared to the 6xx though.
 
I finally got my HD650. I like them a lot. The level of detail as well as the soundscape is clearly superior to the AKG K240. The volume is fine. I keep it at 12 O'Clock without any issues.
 
Happy to say that I received the BeyerDynamics 770 Pro 250 Ohm headphones and I am very happy with them. The sound is very balanced and true compared to my AKG 240s. They seem balanced all the way across the spectrum, the bass is very good, mids balanced and the highs are not spiked or boosted like others have reported, at least on this pair of headphones. Listening to the FM3, volume is right where I always have it at 12 noon and even had to turn it down a bit, so not finding to have to boost anything due to 250 ohms. They are very comfortable and I am very happy with them.
 
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