Well anyway, I recently decided I wanted to use closed headphones to watch movies at night as to not disturb my girlfriend or downstairs neighbor. No problem, I'll use my Shure 1540. But, despite being properly stored in their box for years, they still managed to fall apart within a few hours of use. The ear pads disintegrated and the headband pad fell apart. Geez. That was discouraging. It should be noted that some instruments can seem a bit harsh in the upper register, especially with lower quality amps or digital music files. Its bass response was better than I remembered, but the muffled lower-treble was obvious. Something was missing in the music and although listenable as-is, once you know the correct tonality of music you wish for more. I used to be active on these forums for years, and I thought I did a decent job of building a mostly endgame system for myself within my budget: Teac HA-501 amp, Schiit Gumby mulitbit, HD 600, HD 650, Shure 1540, DT990/600, and LCD-2F. I even had a Trafomatic amp in rotation before it developed a static. Still never got that repaired, mainly because the Teac sounded so good to me.

Sennheiser HD 559 - Headphones Around Ear - Sennheiser Thailand Sennheiser HD 559 - Headphones Around Ear - Sennheiser Thailand

A 9.8 feet (3 meters) straight detachable cable is the only thing included with the Sennheiser HD 559 headphones. It's defintely wider than the HD 650, and most definitely wider than the HD 569. I'd say the sound stage is about on par with the LCD-2F. There's no 3-headed blob here. Sounds pan left and right very nicely. There's no congestion, either. The torture test I put them through is Brian Eno and David Byrne's "Home." The HD 559 passed with mostly flying colors. I also play Rush's Tom Sawyer to hear how the drums pan right to left. No issues here. In lesser headphones, they pan from your right ear, over your head, to your left ear. With the HD 559, they pan through your head. Impressive.Carroll is a headphone junkie residing in Brooklyn. He's a huge fan of Grado, UK hip hop, and the English Language in general. When not testing audio equipment or writing, you'll find him taking photographs or fiddling with circuit boards.

Sennheiser HD 558 vs Sennheiser HD 559 - Versus Sennheiser HD 558 vs Sennheiser HD 559 - Versus

These headphones definitely need to be run on an amp with extremely low output impedance. Don't attempt to use these on an OTL tube amp or a home AV receiver with a stop down resister on the main amplifier. These need a good dampening factor, otherwise I suspect these bass flaws will get worse as the amp loses even more control over the driver. EQ can make this headphone close to neutral sounding, apart from the sub-bass region. Elevate the sub-bass in EQ and distorsion will rise exponentially, allowing you to only listen at low to medium levels. The earpieces have a foam surround with a velvet feel to the material and the same stuff is used under the head band. I decided I needed to get some new headphones to use in my newly revived system. I'll eventually replace the pads in my HD 600, Shure 1540, DT990, and LCD-2F, but they're not a priority right now, especially if I don't end up using my headphone system as much as I did in the past. Initially it seemed like it got better, but in practice I got used to the sound signature, tending to ignore its flaws.While everything I said above about the HD 559 is true--the sound stage, the resolution, the scaling, the speed, punching way above their price point, etc., I need to make a correction.

Sennheiser HD 559 Open Back Headphone - Reviews

The first device I tried was a walkman with modest output power (2 x 5mW) and it was able to drive them nicely without feeling the need for more power. Volume wasn't super loud, but more than enough for casual listening. This sounded promising. Single-entry cable. I've grown tired of the double entry. Ok, that wasn't a must, but it would be a bonus. Holding the headphones up side-by-side, it is clear that they have vastly different designs. The Sennheiser HD 559’s headband is made mostly of plastic. It also has a super soft cushion on its underside that is coated with a light velvet material. Oh the other hand, the Grado SR80e’s headband is made of metal and is coated with leather. It doesn’t have any significant padding. However I found it to be more comfortable than the HD 559’s headband. Why, you ask? The HD 559 is heavier than the SR80e and hugs the head tighter. The SR80e is incredibly light and doesn’t squeeze my delicate head. Said to myself to give it some time to break-in and see if there was a difference after a couple of days. But since that can be fixed with EQ (it's already included in Equalizer APO AutoEQ), there's not really much I can complain about for this price range.The SR80e is more high-mid-centric. As a result, vocals are beautifully detailed and crisp in addition to sitting a bit higher in the mix than they would otherwise. This high-mid emphasis combined with the warm and colorful high frequencies — a Grado signature in my opinion — makes vocal breath and cymbal sustain sparkle in a unique and warm way across genres and vibes. As a result, the high-mids have a nice sense of depth and contribute to the detail of its expansive sense of width. The oval cups give plenty of room for the ear and the pads don't touch the ear at all, giving a really nice feeling of freedom. I think part of the reason I didn't notice this at first is because I was so used to speakers over the last few years. These are voiced similarly to mid-fi speakers in that the timber has a cardboard flavor to it. They do sound very fun, though. That hasn't changed, but I won't be using these for long sessions or critical ones, either. So in regard to comfort, for the money you're paying (as of 2023 these are available for ~70euros) you really get very good comfort. Well, my other cans all suffered the same fate as the 1540. Ear pads all disintegrated. Despite also being stored in their proper boxes, the ear pads on the HD 600, DT990, and LCD-2F both fell apart in my hands. Welp, this isn't good. Talk about a punch to the gut.