Sennheiser Hd555 Professional Headphones With Sound Channeling (Old Model)

sennheiser hd555 professional headphones with sound channeling old model

Sennheiser HD555 Professional Headphones with Sound Channeling (Old Model)

A comfortable, high-quality headphone system
Extended spatial field surrounds you with sound; ergonomic Acoustic Refinement enables ideal sound channeling for a new kind of listening experience
Features State of the Art Duolfol diaphragms
Velour ear pads let you keep glasses on while listening
Comes with manufacturer's 2-year warranty

Buy Now : Sennheiser HD555 Professional Headphones with Sound Channeling (Old Model)

Brand : Sennheiser
Category : Electronics,Headphones, Earbuds & Accessories,Headphones & Earbuds,Over-Ear Headphones
Rating : 4.3
Review Count : 723
SalesRank : 0

Sennheiser HD555 Professional Headphones with Sound Channeling (Old Model)

Even though these headphones have been out for seven years, I feel it\'s time to write in-depth about their technical performance and give a few examples of how that plays out into the music realm.EXTERIOR DESIGN: These are large open headphones that let sound in with only a slight attenuation in the high frequencies and virtually no attenuation in midrange or low frequencies. The grilles on these are quite large and fairly substantial (for headphones) back waves from the drivers will emanate out of them. And it\'s not the tinny trebly sound from small open headphones like the PX100 that others in the room can hear; but the mids and highs in songs can easily be discerned. At higher volumes, it\'s similar to the volume level a laptop can put out. If these characteristics do not fit your listening environment, then these particular headphones are not for you.I\'ve had them for nearly nine months and have used them every day. The comfort is great and the velour earpads never feel itchy either. The contact pressure of the HD555 is hardly noticeable and I can wear them for a few hours without discomfort. I would not advise expanding them too much outward as this may cause the cracks at the upper arm. Mine have no cracks on them since I expand them only slightly wider than my head when taking them on and off. I don\'t want to take any chances flexing these like what can be done to the headbands of the HD202 and its variants.EXTERIOR UPDATE 4/26/11: About a couple of months ago, I was shocked to see a hairline crack on the headband\'s lower plastic right arm that is currently just past the second \'N\'. The crack actually starts at the narrow top part next to the black groove. The left side is fine. It seems like the plastic used there is too stiff and rigid, barely having any kind of flex or torsional resistance. Apparently, Sennheiser is quietly changing this material in the new HD598 to be more durable starting this spring.ACOUSTICS: The baffle is angled at 45 degrees from the front with respect to the earpads. This is the angle that sound waves arrive at the outer ear from room speakers positioned at 60 degrees to the listener (the equilateral triangle setup). Thus when listening to the HD555s, I perceive the sound occurring outside my head not just in width, but also depth. The depth extension is like being in the sweet spot of a high-quality speaker set at near-field distance! The listening experience is pleasantly natural with spacious, airy highs and mids. Crossfeed isn\'t really needed on these cans, since the angled sound waves strike the outer ear before entering the inner ear creating a slight time delay, which is how we perceive spatial sound. The HD800 also has an angled baffle. But the superior wave produced by the new 56mm ring driver coupled with larger earpads and housings will obviously produce an even bigger sound field than the 555.It\'s worth noting that the HD555 and 595 use the same drivers (part #5218**). A clue can also be seen in that both have a max SPL of 112dB, while the 515 uses an inferior sounding driver and is rated at 108dB. The 555 and 595 also have the same inner grilles (large circular holes with a fine mesh on the other side) and outer grilles. The new 558 now has a honeycomb inner grille and a fine fabric covering the outer grille with the Sennheiser logo riveted to it. This cloth may slightly attenuate the treble, making the lows and mids seem more apparent. Perhaps that\'s why the box for the 558 states \"outstanding bass and vocal projection\" and the 598 states \"natural spatial sound experience.\" The 598 retains the outer grille from the 555/595 and now has a frame/bracing type of design for its inner grille.I carefully did the foam mod about a month after I bought the 555s. The biggest difference came in a fuller midrange and improved imaging/soundstage where I heard sound pieces occurring in new locations in the sound space where they weren\'t before. The stage also got wider and more realistic, and was easily noticed when an audience cheered and clapped after a performance. This make sense since the foam pads previously blocked much of the back waves from exiting the grilles, giving a somewhat closed sound. The treble got a little cleaner and the bass tightened as well.SOUND QUALITY: These headphones have a remarkably smooth frequency response, running nearly flat (in terms of acoustic perception of loudness) from about 60Hz all the way to about 12kHz! I did half-octave sine wave testing by ear and the -3dB point is at 60Hz compared to 90Hz where then the volume level remains the same all the way to about 2kHz where there is just the slightest dip; then there\'s a slight rise only around the 3 to 4kHz region (could be my ears are more sensitive at these frequencies, but it\'s never noticed during music playback) and back to being level all the way to 12kHz. After 12kHz, the response starts to slowly drop until the auditory limit of 20kHz is reached.The HD555 lacks a bit in the deeper bass extension (30 to 45Hz is another 3dB lower than 60Hz) compared to the HD650 and HD800. The frequency response chart for the HD598 at Headroom is spot on with my experience and confirms that bass and low mids should be at about a +3 or +4dB plateau and start to drop around 500Hz until 1kHz (at 0dB) is approached. In other words, from 90Hz to almost 2kHz, I can\'t hear a difference in volume, and so the response is very smooth and accurate! We start to hear things louder than their actual measured levels in the upper mid/lower treble 2-4kHz region so the response should be reduced a few decibels. These headphones take into account the Fletcher-Munson effect and really do have a nice signature. With a frequency response this smooth, I can enjoy music at higher volume for longer periods without any peaks promoting ear fatigue.The bass quality is great. It has tight impact, is fast, punchy, and devoid of boominess. Perhaps this lack of boom in the bass prompts some owners to perceive the bass as weak. But boomy bass, thick-sounding muddy mids, and grainy highs indicate a good deal of diaphragm distortion is happening. And distortion makes music sound louder than it\'s supposed to be.These headphones synergize wonderfully with the Xonar Essense STX on the high-gain setting. Superb dynamics, transients, detail, a deep & wide soundstage, and precise imaging are revealed with this combo. Please don\'t think that since these are 50 ohms, they sound fine without an amp. An amp is mandatory for unleashing its true capabilities. I plugged them into my other computer that has a Xonar DX and was shocked at the downgrade. They became dark-sounding (since the highs were veiled) with absolutely no micro/macro dynamics, resulting in flat and boring music. The soundstage was unconvincing and overall volume was quite low.The burn-in period is very long. The proper way to run these in is with pink noise (I use the extra-high gain only for that) and sine wave sweeps at very high volume (around 100dB). They can be downloaded at audiocheck.net. Out of the box they sounded thin and bright with a sizzle at the top-end, as the pink noise test confirmed. But they\'ll settle in and pink noise will then sound warmer, fuller and balanced. The driver is somewhat limited in its excursion ability when it hasn\'t had many hours of exercise.UPDATE: I\'ve also had success with playing a 1kHz sine wave at near max levels stated in the specs. Download a .wav file or use a tone generator. I played it only for a few minutes for a few days with maxed-out player, Windows control panel, and sound card\'s amp gain settings. Do not do this while wearing the headphones as 1kHz at that high an SPL becomes intolerable after only a few seconds!!! Afterwards I noticed a fuller and smoother overall sound in the mids and highs with a little more detail brought forward along with better imaging. To extract the most low-frequency performance, I used a 1 Hz sine wave so the driver can do the most excursion (plus it\'s cool to see the dome going back and forth). When a low frequency signal from about 60Hz and below is too much to handle, you\'ll hear a low pop/tick sound the same rate as the frequency it\'s playing. A lower midrange frequency of 250Hz instead puts out very noticeable harmonic distortion when the volume is too high I use that sound as a sort of \"redline\" indicator to not go much louder in the bass. This rather alarming low popping/ticking sound does not mean the drivers are getting damaged, though certainly too high may cause damage! Mine exhibit no abnormalities like buzzing or rattling.MUSIC PERFORMANCE: The HD555s handle various genres very well with clean sound and smooth frequency response. With this type of quality I can also easily critique how well albums were mastered. For example, Rammstein\'s first studio album, Herzeleid, has the best sound quality out of all their subsequent albums (figures, since it came out in 1995). This metal album has actually has great dynamics with drum attacks, clear cymbals, and fine articulation of the riffs. Crank it up on \"Asche Zu Asche\" and these cans display a lively and energetic performance of the epic riffs right in front of me with clear and dynamic slaps of the sticks hitting the drums. Bass guitar, prominent in \"Du Riechst So Gut\" and \"Laichzeit\" is nicely textured and controlled with no boominess in the upper bass and mid-bass. Sehnsucht had its clarity and dynamics reduced a bit, and I consider it to be the minimum of acceptable quality for this genre. Unfortunately, all their post-millennium albums, particularly their latest one, are victims of the loudness wars-- a thick and heavy overall sound with muddy riffs, indistinct cymbals, no dynamics. But find some well recorded metal music, and you\'ll have a head-banging, foot-stamping good time with these phones.The HD555s outstandingly render Daft Punk\'s \"Voyager\"-- great resolution and tight bassline. And at 2:40 when the bass comes in again with the harp, they immerse me in a full-bodied mid-range ambience from the front and sides. The timing of the quick and deep bass in \"Too Long\" at the 5:08 mark is cohesive with the mid and high frequencies, with the tearing/ripping sound effects playing about a foot in front of me.Finally, these cans shine with live recordings. A fine example is Yanni\'s Live at the Acropolis. The dynamic fanfare in \"Santorini\" is simply theatrical, and the huge crescendo of the horns and cymbal crash at 1:19 swallows me up like a big wave. There is excellent separation of the orchestral parts, and the finale that starts at 5:00 becomes a pure emotional event. The piano performance in \"Until the Last Moment\" is intimate and buttery smooth, with the string arrangements extended out to the desk in front of me. Violin performance is wonderfully expressive in \"Within Attraction\", showcasing excellent reverberation width inside the theater and very impressive transient response during the dueling violins section.That all being said, the HD555 is a superb partner for a wide variety of genres and allows you to rediscover your music collection.
I have owned a pair of Sennheiser HD-280 PRO headphones for just about 4 years now, they still work flawlessly and still sound phenomenal. I have used them pretty much every day for the past 4 years with between 3-7 hours of use per night, to say the least I have used my HD 280\'s a LOT. And have grown accustomed to the excellent audiophile quality they gave me for my gaming, movies and making music on my Korg keyboard workstation. Aside from the ear pads wearing out (which I just replaced) they are just as they were the day I bought them. I was going to buy another pair, but I figured I would try something different, and that is when I came across the HD555\'s.Everywhere around the net praises these headphones for having excellent sound quality for their price, and when you do a simple mod, you can essentially turn the HD555\'s into HD595\'s. So with all the glowing reviews and possibility of having sound quality of the 595\'s for about half the price, I was sold on these headphones.My expectations for these was this, to have the same crystal clear and crisp audiophile sound my HD280\'s have, except with the added bonus of better imaging and better soundstaging, since the HD555\'s are open while the HD280\'s are closed. However what I experienced when I first put these on was a bit disappointing.I listened to several songs with both my HD555\'s and my HD280\'s, making side-by-side comparisons of them. Right off the bat I noticed my 280\'s were significantly cleaner sounding and less \'muddy\', however the 555\'s beat the 280\'s in terms of imaging and soundstaging. With the 280\'s the sound is right on top of you, directly in your head, while the 555\'s are more open sounding with a broader range of sound from left to right. At this point I figured I might as well do the mod to get better sound quality.After successfully doing the mod, I tried them again the same songs. This definitely helped them out, the lows sounded cleaner, the mids were not as overpowering and the highs were a tad bit better. However there was still a indirect \'boxy\' midrange sound to them, which was coloring the sound. After testing on music I decided to try them out with a movie to see how peoples vocals sounded when they talked, which is typically the hardest thing for speakers to replicate accurately, the human voice.Right away it is very obvious that human voices do not sound accurate, the 555\'s color the sound so voices sound boxed in with way too much midrange and not enough highs, even a woman\'s voice had \'bass\' to it, which was not right at all. And when I switch back to my 280\'s the voices sound perfectly natural as if the people are standing right next to me with crisp highs which blend perfectly with the mids and lows. Whereas listening to somebody speak through he 555\'s is like listening to somebody speak through a speaker with a blanket in front of it. Not very good. Plus when people talk they sound almost \'distant\'. I was able to get the midrange to be less overpowering with some EQing on my Onkyo receiver, but doing this also messes up the EQ for my main speakers when I am not using the headphones. Which is not convenient at all.However, aside from the over-barring midrange and lack of highs, the lows are quite good. They are just about equal if not better than my 280\'s, they are clean, punchy, responsive can drop very low and you can feel the headphones moving during heavy bass scenes in a movie or music.All negatives aside, the imaging and soundstage of the 555\'s is superb. Absolutely blows away my 280\'s, and this is where the 555\'s really shine. Sound effects can be heard with precise detail and really sound like they are coming from all directions. You can easily locate a precise sound when you hear something to the left or right, it\'s almost as if the sound is coming from the room you are in. Weirdly enough the sounds coming from specific directions sound cleaner than those which are imaged in the center of the soundstage, it\'s the strangest effect. Cause anything which is centered in the soundstage has the over-barring boxy midrange and lack of highs, but as soon as it reaches out from the center of the stage, you can hear it as it is supposed to be heardNevertheless, I plan on keeping these headphones cause they are still decent phones for the price, but I am disappointed in the overall performance of them. I am hoping that perhaps once I break them in they will start to sound better and better, as maybe this is why my 280\'s sound so good because I have broken them in over the past 4 years with thousands of hours of music, movies and gaming into them.So here is a simple pro/con of the 555\'s.Pros:- Amazing soundstage and imaging quality- Solid, responsive and clean lows- The comfort of these is mind bogglingly good- Can be modded into 595\'s- Cord is plenty long (although I would have preferred the \'coiled\' style cord like the 280\'s have)- Seems like they are built to lastCons:- Midrange is too powerful and inaccurately colors the sound, which makes certain sounds seem \'boxed in\' and unrealistic- Highs need a boost- Some sounds are too distant, and when mixed with boxy mids and weak highs it invariably creates a \'blanket\' effect (muffled)- Mixed with the above negatives, too much EQ adjustments are needed to make these phones sound realistic. If you have a stand alone audio system just for headphones this may be acceptable, but mixed with headphones and regular speakers can present various problems (IE constant adjustments when going from headphones to speakers)- Cord is not coiled, which can often result in knots and tangles and tends to get in the way where a coiled cord would notI will update this review if breaking in my phones helps reduce the boxy midrange and strengthen the highs.EDIT: Just so I am clear, when I say the midrange is overpowering, I am referring the the lower midrange, basically the spectrum which intersects between the lowrange and midrange. In fact the upper midrange of these headphones is very weak, it is the lower midrange that is over-barring, which colors the sound. The lack of upper midrange is what keeps these from being as clear and precise as the 280\'s.Also take note that these are pretty weak as far as Db sensitivity is concerned. With my 280\'s I can hold a typical 42 volume level on my Onkyo which is normally a perfect volume for me when I am wearing my headphones, however with the 555\'s I have to crank up my receiver to 50 just to get the same SPL as I do with my 280\'s at volume 42. It may not seem like much, but 42 to 50 is a pretty large jump, may be almost 2x\'s as much compared to 42.UPDATE 4/23/11 - Ok, after spending some more time listening to the 555\'s with my games and movies plus doing some more comparison tests with my 280\'s, I think I have a better idea why these don\'t sound exactly the way I would like them to and why they do not sound quite as good as the 280\'s in certain areas.Lower mids and upper lows - The 555\'s are very strong in the upper low frequency and lower mid range freqs, which is why they tend to add a lot of unnecessary \'bass\' to peoples voices in movies and games, it\'s kind of like turning the crossover way up on a subwoofer in a home theater system (past 150Hz), it will pick up and amplify things like people speaking in a movie, which offsets the balance and blend between the main speakers and sub. I believe this is what the 555\'s are doing, they have such strong upper lows and lower mids that it tends to overpower the upper mids and lower highs. The remedy for this is to turn down the bass on the receiver/amp, however turning down the bass to compensate for the over-barring upper lows and lower mids also means less overall bass.HD280 comparison - The 280\'s actually have a far superior lower bass range (I would say 60Hz and below). So when I have my 280s on when I see an explosion in a movie or reach a heavy bass part in a song, it will really dish out that low bass to make more of a impact. The 555\'s are lacking in the lower bass range, and the impact that I can feel with my 280\'s is much less prominent and dynamic with the 555\'s.Upper highs - After doing some more comparisons, I believe the 555\'s actually have a brighter top end than the 280\'s, there is definitely more \'sparkle\' in the upper highs than with the 280\'s. However the 280\'s have an almost flawless blend between the upper highs, lower highs, upper mids and lower mids, so while there is less sparkle in the top end on the 280\'s, the overall clarity makes up for that. And is something the 555\'s cannot do.So basically this is what I have noticed with the 555\'s:Upper Highs - ExcellentLower Highs - Above AverageUpper Mids - LackingLower Mids - StrongUpper Lows - Very strongLower Lows - LackingAnd the 280\'sUpper Highs - Above AverageLower Highs - ExcellentUpper Mids - ExcellentLower Mids - Above AverageUpper Lows - Above AverageLower lows - ExcellentNow keep in mind this is just the overall clarity of the sound, far as a open soundstage is concerned, the 555\'s take the cake. Not quite as open as I originally hoped they would be, but they are much more \'wide\' sounding than my 280\'s are. My 280\'s have a in-your-face condensed type of sound which makes them powerful with a lot of impact. Whereas the 555\'s are more mellow and warm, the different instruments and sounds seem further apart and more distant. I suppose you could say it is easier on the ears.Just to further illustrate the amazing open nature of the sound from the 555\'s, I was playing Portal 2 last night and there was certain ambient sound effects going on in the background. Well there was this one sound that actually scared me a bit, cause it sounded like it came from outside my apartment (my window was open). I actually had to take off my headphones to see if something was going on outside, cause it was a very strange sound. After resuming the game the sound occurred again several minuets later and it still took me by surprise, as it REALLY sounded like it came from outside. To be honest I am still not sure if it came from outside or if it was actually from the game, although based on the properties of the sound it would have made sense if it came from the game. To say the least it was an amazing 3D sound effect, something I have NEVER experienced with my 280\'s.Anyway, once I burn these in more I will update if necessary.UPDATE 5/23/11 - Alright, it\'s been about a month since I purchased these headphones and I can conclude a few things.I will keep this short, these headphones excel with music, and video games. But they are lacking with movies and TV shows. If I want to listen to a song, the HD555\'s are the first thing I grab. If I am playing a video game on my PlayStation 3, the HD555\'s are what I use. But when it comes to movies and TV shows, I choose the HD280\'s over the HD555\'s in a heartbeat.Why? Mainly because the HD555\'s are wonderful when it comes to sound effects (video games) and music. They are probably the most comfortable and easy listening headphones I have ever heard when it comes to music, and they have amazing spacial surround-sound effects in video games. But they are HORRIBLE when it comes to movie and TV show dialog. Voices sound boxy, have far too much mid-bass and dialog sounds way too distant for my liking.Overall if you plan to get the HD555\'s, they are great for music and video games, but are lackluster in movies and TV shows.