New version of Sennheiser HD 560S (!)

[Robbo99999]

Oratory's new settings look a little different from his 2024 settings. This must be down to the units he's measured. The pre-amp is now -10.0 instead of -5.4 due to the extra sub-bass boost.

The final shape of the EQ curve is a bit different so he's made some changes but mostly it looks so different because he's decided to align the measurement on Target Curve differently (which doesn't really matter). It might be down to measuring new units. I'm not certain that the measurement is exactly the same, I'd either have to eyeball it really hard or trace it to compare, but I can't be bothered, lol!

(Yes he has given it a bit more subbass even though they're aligned differently on the target so the difference isn't as stark as the preamp difference suggests, so it's not that crazily different from that point of view).

 

[b73i57dc3f]

I'm not certain that the measurement is exactly the same, I'd either have to eyeball it really hard or trace it to compare, but I can't be bothered, lol!

It basically is:

 

[b73i57dc3f]

And with EQ:

 

[mrmg64]

I just purchased a new pair of HD 560s and am quite happy with Oratory's EQ, although I made some slight adjustments to add some depth to the high frequencies. I paired the headphones with a Douk U3 amplifier, which had previously given me satisfactory results with AKG K702s.
I was wondering if I should upgrade the amplifier with the new headphones, and if it's worth it.
If so, what would you recommend?

 

[roladyzator]

I just purchased a new pair of HD 560s and am quite happy with Oratory's EQ, although I made some slight adjustments to add some depth to the high frequencies. I paired the headphones with a Douk U3 amplifier, which had previously given me satisfactory results with AKG K702s.
I was wondering if I should upgrade the amplifier with the new headphones, and if it's worth it.
If so, what would you recommend?

I suppose whatever money you set aside for something meaningfully better than the Douk could be spent on different headphones or IEMs for a more impactful change.
Yes, it has more noise and distortion than SOTA products but that's not a deal-breaker I think.
Maybe if you get built-in parametric EQ, a virtual surround solution or something else you like.

 

[Robbo99999]

I just purchased a new pair of HD 560s and am quite happy with Oratory's EQ, although I made some slight adjustments to add some depth to the high frequencies. I paired the headphones with a Douk U3 amplifier, which had previously given me satisfactory results with AKG K702s.
I was wondering if I should upgrade the amplifier with the new headphones, and if it's worth it.
If so, what would you recommend?

HD560s isn't hard to drive so you could get any amp that measures well here on ASR and it should be fine. Looks like Amir hasn't measured your Douk U3, so I don't know how it performs to inform you if I think it should be changed out for something better. If you wanted to be sure you could just get a cheap but well measuring amp (or DAC/amp) that's been measured here on ASR - see what you can find, it shouldn't really matter as long as it measures ok.

 

[solderdude]

Douk U3 is perfectly fine for HD560S.
It can supply around 300mW (6V in 120ohm) = 123dB peak with very low distortion (< 0.003%).
Gain is on the high side (10x = 20dB) and the bottom part of the volume control is not the best.
Works fine when fed from something like a phone but would not recommend to use it with a DAC with 2V out unless you dial the volume back quite a bit.

 

[mrmg64]

Thanks for the tips. My listening system includes my PC as the music source, connected to a Universal Audio Volt2 DAC via a TS-RCA cable. Besides listening to music, I need a DAC to play with my DAW.
My question was whether it would be a good initial setup. In any case, I'll take the forum reviews into account if I need to change.

 

[mrmg64]

@Robbo99999
I’ve been using your EQ settings lately, and I actually prefer them to Oratory’s. In my opinion, they make the rhythm section sound punchier and fuller. However, there’s a specific frequency (or range of frequencies) in the mids that feels a bit too forward to my ears. I’d like to make some adjustments without messing up the overall sound signature. Do you have any advice?

 

[Robbo99999]

@Robbo99999
I’ve been using your EQ settings lately, and I actually prefer them to Oratory’s. In my opinion, they make the rhythm section sound punchier and fuller. However, there’s a specific frequency (or range of frequencies) in the mids that feels a bit too forward to my ears. I’d like to make some adjustments without messing up the overall sound signature. Do you have any advice?

Ok, so following is the EQ you're probably using, and I'd say it's Filter #4 that's the one to target when you're talking about it sounding a bit too forward for you. You could just try decreasing that 1813kHz filter by 1dB at a time until it feels right. If you wanted a broader effect you could keep the current EQ as it is but instead add one more filter at 1800Hz with Q1.0, and then decrease that -0.5dB at a time until it feels right - with it being a lower Q it will have a wider effect. It's probably easier to start off with my first suggestion though, and less likely to change the overall sound signature (which you mentioned).

 

[mrmg64]

Thanks! I tried the solution you suggested yesterday, but in the end, I decided to leave the frequencies as they were because it sounded great to me. I still need to get my ears used to the new EQ curve; I think I’m testing too many of them, and jumping from one to another isn't ideal. You inevitably notice differences that end up sounding like flaws.

edit: As I probably mentioned before, these headphones are as 'surgical' as the K702; some mixes and masters expose all their flaws. In the end, you only need small corrections to fine tune the listening experience.

 

[Robbo99999]

Thanks! I tried the solution you suggested yesterday, but in the end, I decided to leave the frequencies as they were because it sounded great to me. I still need to get my ears used to the new EQ curve; I think I’m testing too many of them, and jumping from one to another isn't ideal. You inevitably notice differences that end up sounding like flaws.

edit: As I probably mentioned before, these headphones are as 'surgical' as the K702; some mixes and masters expose all their flaws. In the end, you only need small corrections to fine tune the listening experience.

It's true that a person can often find themselves flipping back & forth between different EQ's over a period of weeks & days and changing your mind on what you think you like the best. For me it's always been the EQ's I most go back to that are my favourite EQ's for my various headphones. At this point I've stabalised on those ones because I don't experiment with new EQ's on my different headphones anymore - at some point you've got the most you can get out of them!