I'm going to invest in a serious pair of headphones and an audiophile buddy of mine recommended the HD 650s to me. The price tag however is a bit on the heavy side, the cheapest i've seen is £240 ($450). Is it worth this amount?

The review I have read in the german HiFi magazine 'Stereoplay' (07/2004) stated that buying these would still be some sort of fair deal - the HD-650 scored 48 points there (max. is 55 for the $9000+ Sennheiser Orpheus which states their reference and 53 points for the Stax SR-404 Signature, followed by Grado RS1 & RS2 for $1000 and $700) and it is the cheapest in its class followed by Grado SR-325 (48 points as well and suited for portable devices, but some $25 more expensive).

The HD-600 scored 46 points and is available at decent prices well under $200 ... and I am totally happy with these.

I doubt that I would hear a difference between the HD-650 and the HD-600 model, though ...

Edit:Typo

You can get the HD600 from Superfi for £150 whilst the HD650's are £227. I'd probably go for the HD600's myself (the HD650s were developed from the HD600s).

It would be worth popping into Superfi to try them both out if you have one near you.

I have a HD 650 and personally I don't use it often. I have etymotic 4S and I use them intensively. For me, HD 650 has too much coloration in the low frequencies. The etymotic is flatter but go lower.
I prefer to hear all the details, that’s why I prefer the ety rather than the HD 650.
Anyway, the HD 650 is very comfortable and musical but they are not accurate for me.
Maybe you could tell us what kind of utilisation you would like to do with your new headphones?

The hd580 is almost the same as hd600, they share the same driver. And its much cheaper.

The out-of-production HD580 is definitely the best value. I used to own the HD580s and now I own the HD600s. To my ears the two sound so similar that I probably couldn't tell them apart in a blind listening test. Of course I don't have 16-year old bat ears anymore, but still.

If you can tell the difference between the 600 and 650 you will have my undying respect, they are very similar. It's almost certainly not worth the extra £100 or so.

Incidentally I got the HD-600s for £120 from Richer Sounds 3 years back. Beat that one .

I use ER-20 earplugs extensively and I find my ears itching inside after an hour or two wearing them, which is why I'm kind of retiscent to get the ER-4s. I'll probably end up getting HD-25s for when I need closed cans...

I have HD600s and have used them on and off for 4 years or more now.. I really love these headphones.. they fit me really nicely and the padding is nicely non sweat.. your head doesn't get hot at all and i've happily warn them for many hours on end..

I too got them at a good price ~£140 .. and in light of HD650s being quite expensive still i think the HD600s are the better choice..

I've never listened at length to the 580s but a friend of mine had them for a while.. i really didn't like the look of them.. asthetics wise i think the 600s look much more like the kind of headphone you'd want to spend some money on. Of course this doesn't have any effect on the sound and i bet the 580 - 600 difference in this area is very small.

I've yet to hear the 650s and have only read about them on headfi etc... been a while since i've read them but i believe the bass is supposed to be bigger on the hd650s to the 600s..

As far as sound goes i'm more than happy with the HD600s ... they suit nearly all music on my setup, though they can be fussy as they are very high impedence headphopnes (300 ohms?) and want a good amplifier.. as such driving them off my jukebox3 or direct out of my soundblaster live and you can tell that bass sounds a bit weak and overal volume is reduced.. never ABX-ed so take that non-HA statement as ever you want to.

I really love the HD600s with dolby headphone and watching movies though.. its a partnership that just works really nicely.. i've watched 100s of movies this way on my projector and have loved everyone as far as audio/visuals go (even if the film was a bit crap) ..

The soundstage of the HD600s just feels like its presented different to any headphone i've ever heard.. I'm going off feelings i had nearly 5 years ago when i first listened to them, as i'm so used to it now.. but at the time i felt like the soundstage wrapped round further than with my other headphones.. the drivers open back and sitting far off the ear seems to help with this..

Binaural recordings are much like the dolby headphone type sound but much better.. and again i find this works very pleasingly with the HD600s ..

Finally i do have a pair of Etymotic ER-4P/S cans.. they cost twice my HD600s and i use them rarely.. I really do dig the sound of them but the effort of ear insertion and hygiene is a big one.. i've not listened to them in nearly a year (i must stick them on and see what i think) ... they are a superb sounding headphone.. really does give a lot of details... more than the HD600s and in a way it just sounds much more flatter... not that i find the HD600s overly coloured (whatever that means there is just something about the ety sound that is very different... its soundstage too is wierd.. real in your head stuff... the biggest problem with the etys is their bass is different to other cans... i'm sure it is all their, proportional and nice and accurate but you can't help feeling like its a bit underwhelming... I get used to it and its fine.. but when on the rare occasion i have tried to demo them to other people (followed by much cleaning!!) i think this is the thing that most people hear first and are like.. "That's a bit tinny.. how much were these again!!?" Their isolation tho is stunning and in a world where noise seems to permanently sit against any music i listen to with my open back HD600s its great to be able to have full on room fans and be able to listen to a quiet piano solo against an almost totally silent inky black background.. as i said.. must give these another listen soon.. The final issue with the etys tho is the cable which exhibits a lot of cable noise and the shortness of it.. i'm able to walk around the entire room with the generous (no cable noise) HD600 cable ... the etys are typical walkman length affair meaning i either have to go off my jukebox3 or lie next to my amp on the floor..

Either the HD600 or HD650s would be good headphones... closed back ones.. i have Beyer DT250-80 headphones which are great as work cans, sturdy as hell.. but for home i'll always use my HD600s (and i use it for 99% of my home listening of everything, games, video, music, tv etc) till they dont work no more..

Good luck

Oh, I was going to mention that the HD600s have a fairly large problem in the form of their cables: The headphone end of the cable uses a custom moulded two-prong plug. After a year or two of (my) usage, the cables tend to break inside these plugs, rendering the cables useless. And they're not inexpensive to replace as well (about £25). I've been through two cables and a set of earpads on mine in 3 years - nearly £100 in replacements all up.

I have however found a solution to the plug breaking issue - you can loop the cable around the edge of the earpad, tucking it between the pad and the plastic thingy, and forming a rudimentary but effective strain-relief device .

I notice that Sennheiser have recognised this problem: the HD650s have a different design.

The 580/600/650 needs a lot of power to get the most out of it. If you don't get a headphone amp, then you may as well save some money and get the 580, since you probably won't notice a difference without one.

Though, I'd recommend the Audio-Technica A900 for unamped use, like most phones, they'll get better with an amp. However, their unamped performance is better than just about anything else unamped IMO.

The most important of headphones is how comfortable they are to wear!
Go to your preferred dealer and try your favoured headphones (>30min. each), that also fits your budget.
You will waste money if the headphones sounds brilliant but they are uncomfortable.

Strictly speaking, high impedance headphones (HD580/600/650) don't need a lot of power. They just need a high enough output (=voltage) level, because they tend to sound softer with the same output level. In fact, they require less output current than low impedance cans (but more voltage, or simply more "level").

Edit: typo.