my new Headphones: Sennheiser HD555.. with pics & first impression.

I do Gaming + Music + Movies.

I used to have these HD205...my first taste of sennheiser..

now i wanted something more for Movies as Closed headphones can get heaty & sweaty.

btw

Right now i am too excited to say much...so will go ahead with first impressions.

I got them at a great offer which i couldnt refuse to myself.

I had originally planned to buy Shure E102 for portable use..but screw portability.

With HD555 they gave me Free MX400 in-ears..so i ll use them for trains.


Plugged straight into my iPod 5.5G ...they sound loud enough ..i thot 50 Ohm mite be too much for my iPod.

Soundstage & Acoustics:The Soundstage is Huge....i feel like i am in a studio room .last week i was in a recording studio in singapore...learning about Pro Tools....and the Acoustics are similar to that of a Studio room.

Gamers! ..u ll love the huge Soundstage of HD555..i was playing De_dust2 in CS ..and man.. i gave a headshot to a Terrorist while he was sneaking behind to attack me.

The Bomb explosion sounded so larger than life..haha..i deliberately didnt defuse the bomb.


Bass:
Me coming from Punchy & detailed HD205...i do miss the Tight bass...but the Bass is enough for Ambient feel. I dont have an Amp at home maybe thats why bass is weak.

Midrange:

This is the forte of these headphones i guess. The Vocals were so clear..i felt as if the singer was standing next to my ears....i can feel Voice.

The Guitar strums sound Great but not as good as i heard HD555 at the showroom.

High:

There is a little roll off in the highs...i had to switch on the X-fi at lowest setting to hear the highs.. anyway..i am gonna put more precise information tomorrow..right now i have lot of stuff going on.



Burn-in: ZERO burn in right now....i ll be playing pink noise for 2 days through them to burn in... i am sure burn in will help with the guitar strums.


------------- More to come--------------



I am uploading pics for now...












Enjoy! and let me know if have any questions.


.

 

Good review.Hw much did it cost and is it noise cancelling?

I am not into this area.

 

What is the ambient noise attenuation?

 

Open headphones dont have much Ambient noise attenuation.


It basically is a property of headphones to block out outside noise... my HD205 block lot of outside noise.

 

Actually it is an important parameter strategically used by vendor as a competitive differential.

 

Nice headphones, I was looking at them as well, but I did not like the styling as much as the HD280's. Open cups tend to sound better in quiet areas because they do not block out as much noise. I know my 280's block out a lot of noise, but the bass levels are rather low, which is a bit disappointing.
Are yours made in Ireland, Germany, or China?

I was very surprised when i saw that mine were made in Ireland

K-TRON

 

Hey, So this was the excitement! Sweet!

Very nice *mini review and pics*


Cin

 

They look pretty good. I just made the opposite conversion though, I went from open phones to closed ones. I had some HD580's and now I've got some S2 recabled Ultrasone HFI-780's. Theres definately a different sound than what Sennheiser does. The highs on theses 780's are there for SURE. For me they're almost to much, but the bass.. ohhh the bass is soooo good. Tight, punchy, accurate and theres plenty of it. Over all these are very fun headphones but they're closed, and thats a much different experience for me. I wish I had some HD555's and some HD595's but I don't think I'll be buying either of those anytime soon.

 

ther is no microphone?

must be hard to game without a mic lawl

 

dude, i have a studio grade Microphone used for interviews hooked on to my soundcard...so dont worry.

and i hardly talk much during gaming.. i just Pwn the enemies.

 

Good luck getting decent sound on your s00per 1337 Fatal1ty ed1tion headset. If his name is on them, they must be good!

These are some of the nicest headphones you can buy. Sound wise, there is no comparison to any headsets equipped with mics.

 

They're nice headphones, but I don't know if you can go so far as to say they're among the nicest. Sennheiser has a couple models that are better, and then theres all the other brands out there with their models which are better. Not that these are bad phones. But it is true, these will crush anything that has a mic on it.

 

HD555 give u a great taste of what Audiophile level headphones are...from here u climb higher n higher into HD595, H600, & ultimate HD650.

other brands like AKG also have great stuff like K501, & their flagship K701... but a person used to Bassy loud headphones wont EVER enjoy the laid back & detailed sound of such headphones..not to mention the lack of Fatality stickers & cheap shiny plastic looks



i am quite an audiophile and next year i ll buy HD595 most likely with a Hornet amp.

There's no going down from here.

 

Audiophile is such a bad word. Most people that call themselves that refuse to realize that each person has different ears and like different sounds. I'm not saying that the fatal1ty are good headphones, just saying that some people like the laid back, bass heavy sound. Personally I think Sennheiser has a great sound signature, but theres other types of headphones out there too.

 

Of course there are still other nicer and just as nice headphones out there. Of course the Sennheiser sound isn't going to be for everyone. That doesn't change the fact that these are some extremely nice headphones.

You don't need to buy crappy Fatal1ty headphones for bass. I have a set of Beyerdynamic DT-770 Pros, which are known to be bass monsters while still being solid headphones in general.

 

I have also one of those I 100% agree on OP.

 

only scrub gamers use headsets with mics LAWL

Welcome to audio addiction. I started with SR60s... then DT770s... now K701s. It gets expensive

 

Ah DT 770's I just about got those, couldn't decide between those and the ultrasone hfi-780's. Some one I know online who has both said that the 780's are better so I got those. I wish somewhere around here actually had some nice 'phones.

 

DT770s are probably the best for gaming but the only problem is that they need an amp to get the full potential out of them.

Currently i am using HD280Pro for gaming because it has the highest Ambient noise attenuation out of all the headphones i tried.

 

The 80ohm DT-770s are known for working extremely well without an amp. Any high end headphone is going to need an amp for full potential, but the 80ohm version is one that doesn't need an amp for basic operation. They still sound great without an amp.

 

Yeah, the 80 ohm version should work without an amp, but an amp will still improve its sound. In my opinion; around 80 ohms is the highest you would want to go without an amp but at that high a amp would help. Although my on board sound card on my laptop would power some 300 ohm headphones(HD580) but you have to turn the volume way up, and it certainly isn't a good sound, but it would do it if needed.

 

Hey Syndrome..i realized the Speaker jack on XMOD has some Amping properties.... compared to Headphone jack it is much more powerful in powering my HD555's.

U have used XMOD rite?

how is it with all the X-fi crap OFF ??

 

I would send a note of appreciation on my recent dealings with Headroom.I haven't had a decent set of headphones for over 30 years and when I decided to look into getting a set I was really disappointed while researching info to make my decision.Things have changes so much since the 70's.When I stumbled upon your site,I was amazed by the wealth of information,real information,and advice that you have put together.


sam



WideCircles

 

Yeah, the rear 'speaker' out put by the USB is more powerful than the front headphone out. I only use it with the 'enhancements' turned off. Even then though. I'd go with the M-audio Transit for the same price.

 

Cheap headphones don't necessary have "good bass". Their bass tend to be loud. but also very muddy. Higher-end headphones tend to have much tighter, detailed bass, even if they are not particularly loud.

But if you are bass-head, Denon AD-1000/2000, Audio-Technica ATH-A900 are another good "audiophile" closed headphones, and they all work without amps.