A Great Headphone, Even for the Audiophiles

I've had a fair share of decent headphones--I've listened to the Bose offerings and own a Shure E2C and Sennheiser's own HD 497 (a portable-use headphone, roughly a little bit fuller than the better-known PX 100). That said, I'm simply amazed by these headphones...

Price, Comfort, and Looks

These headphones are the middle range of Sennheiser's newer 500 series (as compared to the venerable 580/600/650, described below), designed for home use, with a younger brother of HD 515 and a flagship of HD 595 ($109 and 289 MSRP). I bought these headphones for $139 at a local hi-fi store while they were on sale; they list for $169, but are often found for much less if you search online. A quite shocking price, yes, but really not that bad...about the same price as the lower Bose model (the Triports, which are designed for portable use), which sells very well, and a pair of "budget" (read: junky) speakers. They look quite tasteful, with solid gray and black plastics and distinct metal grills. The headphones look and feel quite sturdy, too. The only problem is their sheer hugeness, but they weren't really meant to be taken outside.

Their comfort, though, is exemplary. Most people have had experience with two types of headphones: earbuds, which stretch the ears, and small headphones that press upon the ears, irritating them. These headphones' large earcups completely surround the ears, leaving them free to enjoy the music; they're made of comfortable, padded velour, with an equally soft and luxurious headband pad to match. One can almost certainly wear them for hours, and I've forgotten that I was wearing them quite a few times.

The Sound

Ah, the real aspect of headphones. After all, you're not looking for a wearable piece of furniture, right? Anyway, these headphones are just incredible, especially for my non-audiophile standards and files of 128-256 BR MP3's (most MP3's are encoded at 128, mine mostly at 192+). Audiophiles will often scoff at MP3's, saying that CD's uncompressed sound is the way to go; they're right, but they also have much better (and more expensive) equipment than the rest of us. The 555s are pretty much a cutoff point for MP3 listening; based on my experience with high-end 'phones, the 555s will enrich the sound, but more hi-fi equipment will only expose MP3 flaws.

A comment I must make is that these headphones are easy to drive, despite their large size. They'll sound great out of an MP3 player alone, but they'll be better extended and have more soundstage if you plug them into a receiver or a dedicated headphone amp. These headphones also have noticeable burn-in; some believe burn-in is a placebo effect, but I personally noticed an increase in richness and smoothness from out of the box to with 100+ hours of listening. If you'd like, plug these into a radio and let them play nonstop for a few nights before trying them out. Finally, these headphones are open; this helps the soundstage (described below), but provides nearly no isolation--don't use the 555 in noisy environments--and leaks sound to the environment if you crank the volume up.

Anyway, let's start with the bass. Many headphones will either have nonexistent bass or a sloppy, overshadowing muck of low sound, but these are quite different. Their lows are very evident and punchy, but they balance with the sound spectrum and are very detailed, something evident with a good symphony piece or a bass guitar recording.

Just as good (or perhaps better) is the lush midrange. Vocals are just amazing with these; they sound lifelike and full, and are very detailed (you can hear things like the last warble of a singer's voice, the plucking of an acoustic guitar, or the full brightness of a jazz trumpet). Matching them are the highs, which have the same great, detailed (am I getting repetitive?) sound, but are not too harsh to fatigue the ears.

One of Sennheiser's major selling points on this model is its "excellent spatial sound". Once again, on most of the headphones you've heard, there are three blobs of sound: stuff on the left, on the right, and in the center of your head. It gets quite fatiguing after a while, and isn't exactly realistic. Sennheiser has put technologies like spatial reflectors to help create a more speakerlike feeling, and I feel that these work great. The headphones lay out the sounds all around your head (and outside of it), so that you perceive a soundstage almost like a surround speaker system. It's still precise, though, and you can tell (to an extent) the placement of a given instrument or voice. Overall, I'd describe these headphones like an approximation of a good theater speaker system: rich, balanced sound that surrounds the ears.

Comparisons and Conclusion

This is the best pair of headphones I've heard. The Shure E2C doesn't have the same soundstage or extension as these, although they're just earbuds and are intended for portable use. In a more fair comparison, these provide a less fatiguing, smoother sound than the HD 497's and more detail than either the Bose Triports or QuietComfort 2, although the Boses have a more bass-heavy sound (good for hip hop or on-the-go, but it muddies up the music, if compared to the 555). If you have a real, hi-fi sound system, you might want to move up to the high-end Sennheiser offerings like the 595 or the 580/600/650 (the 580 is the same price as the 555, but the others are much pricier); these all require a dedicated headphone amp (not a regular receiver amp) to trounce the 555, though. If you listen to mostly rock, look into a pair of Grados (SR-60 is a great bargain at $70, and SR-125 is the 555's equivalent at $150); they have punchier bass and more upfront treble than the Sennheisers, but are less comfortable and have less soundstage.

Just get these; your ears will appreciate you all the more for it, and they're really a bargain in the hi-fi headphone world. For more information, you can visit Headroom (www.headphone.com) or Head-Fi Forums (www.head-fi.org); there are many audiophiles on these sites, though, and they'll often tell you that this is only an "entry level" or "midrange" quality headphone. Which, in all truth, it is...but unless you have golden ears or are willing to pay $500-1000+ on headphones or speakers, you won't notice a big difference. You probably won't anyway, as you'll be too happy listening to music...