Sennheiser HD555 headphones

it’s not exactly that you forget how good a company is, but once in a while they do a good job of reminding you anyway.

yesterday through a best friend Jack who works at a tech-gear wholesaler, i acquired Sennheiser’s HD555 headphones. i must say, i’m very impressed.

i’ve used Sennheiser gear before, and owned several of their cheaper and yet still good quality cans and used them for a wide variety of applications – reference while writing music and mixing in Cubase, reference while editing in Sound Forge, general listening to music from the PC, stereo systems and portable devices, home theatre, and just raw out of my keyboard when i don’t want to power up the PC. while the performance of the previous Sennheisers were great, they were nothing outstanding by any measure, that is unless of-course you’ve been using sony fontopia ear-buds for reference.

the quality of the HD555s is amazing. there really is a difference when the frequency response is 15Hz to 28k. not only are the diaphrams amazingly responsive, but the translation is startlingly uncoloured. these are one of the rare sets of cans i’ve listened to that i would say produce comparable sound to decent reference monitors. as Jack said last night as we referenced these headphones against music we know, sometimes we get so accustomed to listening to greatly exaggerated smiley-curve EQs, either inherent in the mix, set in the EQ of amplifiers or gear, or simply the gear or reference speakers/cans being biased toward the typical heavier top and bottom ends, weaker low-mids, and horrendous mid-range performance. the HD555 were very flat, with such good response that every element of the well-mixed music we referenced could be heard clearly, down to the most subtle of sounds which most often disappear through poor amplifier or speaker response.

of-course there are obvious differences between referencing off monitors to cans, but the best headphones will always translate a solid sense of the centre mix, while poorer headphones tend to exaggerate the left and right channels, simply because of the nature of the diaphrams being so close to the ears. it’s something that cheaper headphones aren’t designed to combat at all, however as you spend more cash on your cans, that money does actually go into good technology. the HD555s perform magnificently, with a clear centre presence, as-well as balanced left and right channels.

lastly but equally as important, the HD555s are extremely comfortable. anyone who uses cans for an extended amount of time will know how grating uncomfortable models can be. the HD555 earcups are large enough to encompass the entire ear, so there is no pressure on your ears at all – and the cups are (out)lined with thick cushions that are covered with fabric rather than vinyl. a similar fabric cushion can be found on the tension-bar of the headphones to which the earcups are affixed, ensuring that the bar never presses uncomfortably on the top of your head.

again – anyone who’s used even slightly higher end cans will know that decent headphones with good designs eventually make you forget that you’re wearing them – of-course no magical spell is cast on you to make you totally oblivious to their presence, but if they’re comfortable enough, eventually the sensation of having something clamped on your head lessens quite significantly. i must say that last night when i got home from Jack’s, having a good listen to some music for an hour, there was absolutely no discomfort whatsoever, and of all the cans i’ve used, they ‘disappeared’ the soonest.

these are by far the most comfortable, and best performing home-reference cans i’ve ever used. i haven’t given them a good run with Cubase and Sound Forge yet, but the impending editing and mastering of my Sensual 2005 compilation should give me a good idea. they’re certainly the most comfortable i’ve ever used, including those i’ve used in studios, and the quality is easily comparable. there are several models Senheisser produce that are above the HD555, but of-course the price will be relevant to their improvements and features. typically, even in the lower price-ranges, i’ve always found Sennheisers to easily out-perform even the highest-end Sony and AKG headphones, both in sound translation and in comfort.

for the price i’d have to say that the HD555s, and indeed all of Sennheiser’s products, are well worth the cost.