So I finally got these headphones....

Sennheiser HD595s, and let me tell you, they are AMAZING.

$250 retail, I saved about $30 buying them off Ebay. However they are apparently in severely short supply after a fire at one of Sennheiser's warehouses. Anyway, they're about $100-$150 (depending on where you look) less than the 600s and 650s, the two top headphones in Sennheiser's line.

I've been listening to my entire music collection all over, because its like hearing it again for the first time. I'm hearing layers and tiny details I didn't even know existed before. These are highly recommended if anyone is looking to make a serious headphone purchase anytime soon. Their quality is argued to be as good if not preferred to the 600s. The only downside is their open-air design, which means if you're trying to listen to quiet/soft music in a noisy room, you'll hear whats going on outside the phones. Likewise, if you're blasting tunes in a public area, everyone within about 12 -15 feet of your position will hear what you're listening to.

Thanks much! I've been looking to pick up a high quality set of headphones and Sennheiser is good shit.

Lets Gekiga In said:

Thanks much! I've been looking to pick up a high quality set of headphones and Sennheiser is good shit.

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I also forgot to mention the cups are velour, so they're super soft on your ears and somehow given that their full-cup design, they're almost LIGHTER than the much cheaper HD497's I was using before. I've had them on for about 4 hours straight, and I've yet to notice I have them on my head. It was almost weird taking them off just now.

Those look pretty nice for the money ,I will be investing in a set of the Dolby 5.1 headphones soon I think..... bed time movie watching will be a whole new experience

Nice

See, I been praising Sennheiser's better headphones on this forum for ages now and finally folks are listening!

I have a pair of HD 580's that are about 2 or 3 years old now and I love them.

Like Buro mentioned, the type of material that the cups are made of is extremely soft and its easy to forget that they are on your head. For those of us that wear glasses, they are still comfortable to wear for long periods of time. I have used mine at several Lan Parties, and have wore them for 6 to 8 hours in a row at a time before taking a break.

I much prefer the sound of the better Sennheisers to the Grado 'cans, plus the Sennheisers don't squeeze your skull like the Grados. Unless you listen to metal or heavy, heavy rock music, JUST SAY NO TO GRADO!!

Ohh...for anyone interested, here is a pic of the HD580s:

very nice.
Sennheiser is sweeet.
I love my HD600s, but for these high end 'phones, you really need a good headphone amp to do 'em justice.
After listening to them off a good amp (Meier audio Prehead), they sounded like ass when plugged into my reciever (a pretty decent older top-end kenwood) or anything else.

Head-Fi is a great headphones resource.

Try to find some binaural music clips (of anything), they're special recordings designed for headphone listening. The sound is amazing...VERY realistic.

For 5.1 headphone sound, Dolby Headphone seems to get pretty good reviews. It can be used with any headphone, but unfortunately it's mostly limited to PC software DVD players like Power DVD. A few DVD movies have a pre-recorded DH track however, T2 Extreme is one. I haven't tried it out yet.

Buro Destruct said:

The only downside is their open-air design...
...if you're blasting tunes in a public area, everyone within about 12 -15 feet of your position will hear what you're listening to.

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Tell me about it. A couple years back I had also just purchased a set of headphones with an open-air design. My bedroom was adjacent to the living room, and one evening I picked an unfortunate time to enjoy some porn. There were a few family members right outside my room as I was watching a choice title... fifteen minutes later I take off the headphones only to realize lesbians can be heard in all of their glory as if they were on the TV right in front of me, moaning in a low volume. Needless to say, it could all easily be heard in the adjoining room. Very embarassing.

Lesson learned: it is not necessary to watch porn with the volume cranked - the music isn't all that important.

broken said:

See, I been praising Sennheiser's better headphones on this forum for ages now and finally folks are listening!

I have a pair of HD 580's that are about 2 or 3 years old now and I love them.

Like Buro mentioned, the type of material that the cups are made of is extremely soft and its easy to forget that they are on your head. For those of us that wear glasses, they are still comfortable to wear for long periods of time. I have used mine at several Lan Parties, and have wore them for 6 to 8 hours in a row at a time before taking a break.

I much prefer the sound of the better Sennheisers to the Grado 'cans, plus the Sennheisers don't squeeze your skull like the Grados. Unless you listen to metal or heavy, heavy rock music, JUST SAY NO TO GRADO!!

Ohh...for anyone interested, here is a pic of the HD580s:

Click to expand...

I wouldn't be so hasty to dismiss the Grados. With a good headphone amp these babies purrrrr.

Hecker said:

I wouldn't be so hasty to dismiss the Grados. With a good headphone amp these babies purrrrr.

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Well, maybe I am biased as far as the sound quality of their 'cans are concerned, but I doubt anyone would argue that Grados just typically aren't comfortable to wear (in comparison to Senn stuff).

broken said:

Well, maybe I am biased as far as the sound quality of their 'cans are concerned, but I doubt anyone would argue that Grados just typically aren't comfortable to wear (in comparison to Senn stuff).

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Yeah I had to make my ears bleed for atleast 2 months before the cushions started to break in and be comfortable to wear. Before that time, wearing them for more than 2 hours was a pain.

Even though the sound is there, the built quality isn't. These babies are fragile( I have the sr-80s) and over the 3 years I've owned them I had to resolder the cable for each chanel once.

I remember, years ago when I bought a pair of headphones, I checked out the (then) top-of-the-line Sennheiser products (also $200ish). What struck me was the comfort.

I was buying the headphones because I was using the USC Cinema library a lot, which means using headphones for hours on end (and in many cases 4-6 hours for epics/sequel-series) and the "okay" ones the library had just killed my ears (they were painful after an hour). Compared to those pieces of crap the Sennheiser model was like a velvet glove -most importantly it completely went around my ear (the friction with my ear is what led to most pain).

With some other "quality" brands, the weight of the headphones also got to me with the pain/stress it would cause on the top of my head (again, after several hours). I could tell instantly the Sennheiser models were light enough to not have that issue.

I didn't end up buying them (too expensive for my undergrad days), but I was forever impressed with the company.

Just a quick question.

Whats the point of having the headphones if A) you cant listen to anything soft when other noise is being made, and B) if youre listening to loud music, everyone can here it.

Doesnt that kind of defeat the purpose of headphones?

Nesagwa said:

Just a quick question.

Whats the point of having the headphones if A) you cant listen to anything soft when other noise is being made, and B) if youre listening to loud music, everyone can here it.

Doesnt that kind of defeat the purpose of headphones?

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If those are your criteria, get closed phones. Senn makes a few.

I got the HD600 for the great sound, comfort, and because they are open. I live alone, and even if im blasting the phones, the neighbors cant hear it. I wanted to be able to hear the phone/door etc while im listening to music/watching tv/movies.

I have some etymotic er4P for the noisy environments like the train.

Rassilon said:

If those are your criteria, get closed phones. Senn makes a few.

I got the HD600 for the great sound, comfort, and because they are open. I live alone, and even if im blasting the phones, the neighbors cant hear it. I wanted to be able to hear the phone/door etc while im listening to music/watching tv/movies.

I have some etymotic er4P for the noisy environments like the train.

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So then use speakers?

I seriously dont see the point of these things.

I've been looking at the Grados for some time, but I have never chosen to buy them because they are open air. I'm looking for some closed-air cans that cost less than $100 that sound great for "Heavy" techno, trance, etc. Right now I'm using the headphones that came with my cd player. What would you recommend?

Nesagwa said:

So then use speakers?

I seriously dont see the point of these things.

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for one, these ~$250 headphones sound better than most $1000 speakers.

And they arent that loud from the outside.. if someone in another room can hear your music, you're playing them way too loud and are probably damaging your hearing. At normal volumes, if i set them down, i can tell that they are on from about 1 meter away, but its not that loud.

Any speakers playing at a similar percieved volume will be loud enough to bother the neighbors if its late (i live in a tiny apartment). I can blast the headphones at night and noone else can hear it.

They were the best choice for me, for size, sound quality, cost, and not bothering anyone else.

Hildegarn326 said:

I've been looking at the Grados for some time, but I have never chosen to buy them because they are open air. I'm looking for some closed-air cans that cost less than $100 that sound great for "Heavy" techno, trance, etc. Right now I'm using the headphones that came with my cd player. What would you recommend?

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Check out the senn. HD280 pro.
http://www.headphone.com/layout.php?topicID=3&subTopicID=26&productID=0020080280
sealed, comfortable, good sound, under $100.

Nesagwa said:

So then use speakers?

I seriously dont see the point of these things.

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Then stop posting in the thread bearface.

I use them mainly at night when everyone else in the house is asleep upstairs, they aren't THAT loud unless you're really cranking the music, in which case your probably doing the cans and your ears more damage than good by owning nice headphones. There's no way I'll use these things outside of my room anyway. I don't even think my iPod can handle them.

Buro Destruct said:

Then stop posting in the thread bearface.

I use them mainly at night when everyone else in the house is asleep upstairs, they aren't THAT loud unless you're really cranking the music, in which case your probably doing the cans and your ears more damage than good by owning nice headphones. There's no way I'll use these things outside of my room anyway. I don't even think my iPod can handle them.

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Sorry, it just sounded like they were speakers with a head strap on them.

Anyway, they look better than the dollar store ear buds I use now.

Buro Destruct said:

Then stop posting in the thread bearface.

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lolz...bearface

I don't even think my iPod can handle them.

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Yeah, you would probably need a headphone amp as I doubt the headphone jack on the iPod has enough juice to drive these 'cans to a decent volume.

Thats the next purchase on my audio shopping list. I will either build it myself (maybe a PIMETA, CMOY or something similiar) or have one of the guys over at Head-Fi build it for me.

broken said:

Yeah, you would probably need a headphone amp as I doubt the headphone jack on the iPod has enough juice to drive these 'cans to a decent volume.

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Actually, they work pretty damn well. I just don't know what it'll do to the battery life sucking all this power.

Rassilon said:

for one, these ~$250 headphones sound better than most $1000 speakers.

And they arent that loud from the outside.. if someone in another room can hear your music, you're playing them way too loud and are probably damaging your hearing. At normal volumes, if i set them down, i can tell that they are on from about 1 meter away, but its not that loud.

Any speakers playing at a similar percieved volume will be loud enough to bother the neighbors if its late (i live in a tiny apartment). I can blast the headphones at night and noone else can hear it.

They were the best choice for me, for size, sound quality, cost, and not bothering anyone else.



Check out the senn. HD280 pro.
http://www.headphone.com/layout.php?topicID=3&subTopicID=26&productID=0020080280
sealed, comfortable, good sound, under $100.

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What would someone mean when they say, "The sound is heavy in such a closed headphones. The bass will drive you crazy unless you will keep the volume level
at moderate level." That's from a review of the HD280 pro. I only have a cheap $30 MP3 CD Player with the cheap headphones that it came with. Would this product really be for me? Or should I get a better cd player, too? Keep in mind that I don't feel like spending too much $ on another cd player. Also, people have been saying that they it's CRUCIAL that you "burn them in" if you want them to sound at least decent. What does this mean?

EDIT: I just read a review that turned me away from these headphones:

If you'll take a look at the box that these come in and their specs according to Sennheiser's own website, you'll see that these headphones are not for casual listening. In Sennheiser's own words, they "are closed-back, circumaural headphones designed for professional monitoring applications." Monitoring. Not listening to music with an MP3 player or a CD player. They are for monitoring. These are studio headphones designed to give a flat musical reproduction. Of course some people didn't like them when they listened to their MP3s - they don't color the music like consumer headphones do! The bass isn't designed to be booming and the mids and highs aren't supposed to be overpowering.

In other words, these are a great pair of monitoring/studio headphones. That's what they were designed for, so don't heed the flak that others give these headphones when they say they don't like the way their MP3s sound with them. If you aren't going to be using these for monitoring like they were built for, then go buy the HD 500s. They color the sound and you'll be much more pleased. But for those who do recording of any kind and need a good pair of cans, these are it.

What do you think?

Nesagwa said:

Sorry, it just sounded like they were speakers with a head strap on them.

Anyway, they look better than the dollar store ear buds I use now.

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you mean like these?
http://www.headphone.com/layout.php?topicID=3&subTopicID=26&productID=0020121000
crazy, but they are supposed to sound great, with proper amplification.

Buro Destruct said:

Actually, they work pretty damn well. I just don't know what it'll do to the battery life sucking all this power.

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It probably helps that the 595 only has a 120 ohm voice coil, the HD580/600/650 has a 300 ohm coil, making it much harder for a portable to drive (or many home stereos for that matter).

Hildegarn326 said:

What would someone mean when they say, "The sound is heavy in such a closed headphones. The bass will drive you crazy unless you will keep the volume level
at moderate level." That's from a review of the HD280 pro. I only have a cheap $30 MP3 CD Player with the cheap headphones that it came with. Would this product really be for me? Or should I get a better cd player, too? Keep in mind that I don't feel like spending too much $ on another cd player. Also, people have been saying that they sound better when you "burn them in." What does this mean?

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The best thing is to listen to them to see if you like the sound, but sealed phones tend to sound a bit worse than open ones, for the most part.

It certainly wouldnt hurt the sound quality to get better phones, plus you can use them with other things (computer, etc), but then you end up saying "hmm, this sounds nice.. i wonder what they will sound like with that expensive CD player.. hmm, i wonder what this expensive amp will do for me.." etc, and you spend too much money
or at least, thats what happened to me...

As for "burn in," supposedly most phones sound a bit better after a while, as the drivers loosen up or some such thing.

edit in responce to your edit:
I wouldnt worry about the box calling them "monitors." Just because most people are used to cheap headphones coloring the sound doesnt mean its a good thing.
Many people are happy with the 280 for general listening.
Poke around www.head-fi.com for some reviews if you like.

Unless you really want full sized cans, you might want to check out the etymotic er-6 and the shure e2c. They are in-ear phones, that seal out more outside noise than over the ear enclosed type. The sound is also great, and they are both around $100 i think.

Someone said something like this in one of the reviews:
"When I get the headphones I immediately wanted to listen to them, but I knew I had to burn them in for them to sound good."

That gave me the impression that to Burn in headphones, you just plug them and put the volume at full blast and leave it like that for a while.

BTW, I edited my previous post with another question.