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Sennheiser HD560s Owner's Thread.

nyxnyxnyx

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I'm thinking of joining the hd560s club this year.
Having come from hd800 (early series), hd600/650 and some other dynamic cans... What am I in for?
Of course certain measurements are thoroughly provided by now I just want to hear impressions and overall thoughts from someone who owns/owned any of the headphones I mentioned above.
 
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_thelaughingman

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I'm thinking of joining the hd560s club this year.
Having come from hd800 (early series), hd600/650 and some other dynamic cans... What am I in for?
Of course certain measurements are thoroughly provided by now I just want to hear impressions and overall thoughts from someone who owns/owned any of the headphones I mentioned above.
They are neutral as they can be conforming to the Harman curve. They have a good decent bass unlike most Sennheiser headphones that are mid and treble happy. Furthermore, they have a good sound stage but are not as wide as planar headphones.
I sent my pair to @amirm back in late October, just waiting on the measurements due to the backlog that he has of devices to be measured.
 

Robbo99999

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What does diffuse field EQ actually do? I found my ability to tell directions without eq and sbx surround on 33 to already be quite good (comparable or better than my old G35 headset, which was already surprisingly good and better than razer thx/atmos/sonic). Oratory eq made a tiny difference that I would need effort to regocnize in a blind test, and even that is mostly due to spotting the slight bass differences. For directions I used some Arma 3 scripting to generate some effective blind tests.

Compared to speakers it seems by far the biggest difference is the bass, ehile the bass on the HD560S is nice, it doesn't come close to 6.5" woofers of my HT speakers, not to mention the 12" subwoofer. IMO this greatly shadows any other difference. However my HT system is just 4.1, and while the fronts are placed "by the book", the rears aren't, so it can't really match virtual surround direction-wise. Plus I prefer to game in front of a desk on an ergonomic chair usibg a keyboard and mouse, which again makes headphones preferable.
Diffuse Field EQ. From what I remember, it's a target curve that is created by placing the GRAS dummy head in an "infinitely" echoey room, as in the sound source comes from all around the dummy head at the same time, so it's placed in sound field that is radiating towards it from all directions (not just the 30 degree two speaker placement of say the Harman Target Curve). So I suppose it's an average of all possible HRTF's for that dummy head, an average of multiple speaker placements/measurements all around the head. So in this respect I envisage it removing the "room aspect" of the sound and just including the HRTF aspect.....which in my mind makes it ideal for 3D virtual surround gaming because you don't want a room influence put on top of the game effects - as the game establishes the "room" or outside environment you find yourself in, so you don't want an added room effect from the EQ, as that would be like applying two room effects....that's how I see it, I've not read that anywhere, it's just an extension of my understanding of various aspects of how the Harman Target was created along with some theories of of how I think 3D sound environments are created for game worlds, and then finally based on my practical experience that Diffuse Field EQ's offer the most accurate/realistic representation of 3D virtual surround in game environments. This is all my interpretation for better or worse.
 

Robbo99999

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They are neutral as they can be conforming to the Harman curve. They have a good decent bass unlike most Sennheiser headphones that are mid and treble happy. Furthermore, they have a good sound stage but are not as wide as planar headphones.
I sent my pair to @amirm back in late October, just waiting on the measurements due to the backlog that he has of devices to be measured.
That's good, I hope he measures it soon! How much use have you had on your pads on the headphone you sent in? I think on the plus side, that the HD560s pads feel quite firm & sturdy, so I don't expect them to change much over time - did you notice the pads changing much over time? I've only had probably in the region of a hundred or so hours on my two HD560s headphones, so I'm not in a position to notice visible pad change.

I'm not sure you can always say that planar headphones have a wider soundstage than the HD560s, as that's not my experience when comparing them to the planar HE4XX I have....I would think soundstage is more a function of the frequency response combined with the physical design/dimensions of the earcups & pads rather than just the driver type (be it dynamic or planar driver).
 
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_thelaughingman

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That's good, I hope he measures it soon! How much use have you had on your pads on the headphone you sent in? I think on the plus side, that the HD560s feel quite firm & sturdy, so I don't expect them to change much over time - did you notice the pads changing much over time? I've only had probably in the region of a hundred or so hours on my two HD560s headphones, so I'm not in a position to notice visible pad change.

I'm not sure you can always say that planar headphones have a wider soundstage than the HD560s, as that's not my experience when comparing them to the planar HE4XX I have....I would think soundstage is more a function of the frequency response combined with the physical dimensions of the earcups & pads rather than just the driver type (be it dynamic or planar driver).
I had two weeks of solid use on the pads before they were shipped out, they were sturdy and observed no real change to their suppleness. I definitely think the angled drivers on the 560s help the sound stage be wider.
Clarification about the planar' having better sound stage based on my listening of modified HE40se that have had their metal outer ring removed and sound deadening foam added to the outside edge of the earcups.
 
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Robbo99999

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I had two weeks of solid use on the pads before they were shipped out, they were sturdy and observed no real change to their suppleness. I definitely think the angled drivers on the 560s help the sound stage be wider.
Clarification about the planar' having better sound stage based on my listening of modified HE40se that have had their metal out ring removed and sound deadening foam added to the outside edge of the earcups.
Nice! Sounds like an ideal pair of HD560s for Amir to measure!

I mentioned I bought a second HD560s, there is some channel imbalance between left & right as you get into the 7kHz+ range (determined from listening to slow sine sweeps) but less than my first unit of HD560s. Actually, to clarify, my first unit of HD560s was initially pretty much "perfect" in channel balance until I received it back from Oratory, but that's another story that I'll soon be trying to work out with Oratory, there was also visible physical damage to one of the pads when I got it back from him.....will be trying to work it out with him over the coming weeks/months. (It's why I bought a second HD560s actually)
 

usern

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I'm thinking of joining the hd560s club this year.
Having come from hd800 (early series), hd600/650 and some other dynamic cans... What am I in for?
Of course certain measurements are thoroughly provided by now I just want to hear impressions and overall thoughts from someone who owns/owned any of the headphones I mentioned above.
I have 560S and 660S currently.
  • 560S can go louder with less distortion and bass boosted equalization.
  • 560S have become creaky when handling after year of use. Haven't owned 660S a long time, but they seem like they will not get as creaky.
  • 560S sound is a lot more variable to position than 660S. Tiny adjustments can muffle or clear the sound. Effect of the angled drivers probably.
  • Hair can get through 560S inner walls and start making scratchy noise in bass region. Haven't had this problem with 660S. 660S drivers seem to be positioned deeper and have thicker foam protecting them.
  • To me both are allright for gaming when equalized to Harman target.
  • 560S are more comfortable and get less hot for me.
 

sweetchaos

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Amir’s review is out:
 

Robbo99999

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Amir’s review is out:
Nice, I noticed a few differences vs my HD560s that Oratory measured, slight differences in frequency response above 4kHz, and better measured distortion on my unit, outlined in a bit more detail in my post in that thread here:
Probably unit to unit variation and some variance in measurement protocol.
 
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_thelaughingman

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These are my headphones that he measured, I was surprised to that the measurements looked different to the plot on Oratory'. I was happy that my headphones don't have a huge channel imbalance.
 

Robbo99999

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These are my headphones that he measured, I was surprised to that the measurements looked different to the plot on Oratory'. I was happy that my headphones don't have a huge channel imbalance.
Yes, you have a good pair of HD560s there. When using EQ you might decide to use Amir's EQ or an EQ based off Amir's measurements of your headphones because yours looks quite different to the HD560s headphones that Oratory has measured (above 4kHz), so you'd probably get better results using Amir's measurement.
 

GalZohar

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I tried to check channel imbalance but it seems like I have noticeable ear variance (confirmed by inverting the headphones and also had similar issue when testing my home theater system). While the level doesn't seem too different, I also hear a somewhat different pitch in each ear (even though the signal is the same frequency). This happens with both pink noise and sine waves of specific frequencies. Are my ears messed up or is such an imbalance to be expected? Supposedly everyone have non-equal ears, but hard to say if mine are within normal or not. In any case I can only really notice this when moving the same signal between left and right speaker/headphone quickly. It sounds slightly different with each ear.
 

Robbo99999

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I tried to check channel imbalance but it seems like I have noticeable ear variance (confirmed by inverting the headphones and also had similar issue when testing my home theater system). While the level doesn't seem too different, I also hear a somewhat different pitch in each ear (even though the signal is the same frequency). This happens with both pink noise and sine waves of specific frequencies. Are my ears messed up or is such an imbalance to be expected? Supposedly everyone have non-equal ears, but hard to say if mine are within normal or not. In any case I can only really notice this when moving the same signal between left and right speaker/headphone quickly. It sounds slightly different with each ear.
I recently found out that my ears are not balanced perfectly either - if I listen to slow sine sweeps I have a natural swing to the right at 7kHz and then a natural swing to the left at 9kHz (not a permanent swing for the rest of the sine sweep, but "blips" at those points), some headphones emphasise this more than others, but there's enough of a correlation between the 4 different headphones I tried that I can conclude I have at least some amount of "natural" channel imbalance between my ears at 7 & 9kHz. So I probably wouldn't worry about your findings.
 

Robbo99999

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Nice! Sounds like an ideal pair of HD560s for Amir to measure!

I mentioned I bought a second HD560s, there is some channel imbalance between left & right as you get into the 7kHz+ range (determined from listening to slow sine sweeps) but less than my first unit of HD560s. Actually, to clarify, my first unit of HD560s was initially pretty much "perfect" in channel balance until I received it back from Oratory, but that's another story that I'll soon be trying to work out with Oratory, there was also visible physical damage to one of the pads when I got it back from him.....will be trying to work it out with him over the coming weeks/months. (It's why I bought a second HD560s actually)
Replying to my own post with a small update, in that post I said that my HD560s didn't sound right when I got it back from Oratory, well I managed to fix that, it was the cable. Now I'm not a cable mystic, and my understanding is that they either work or they don't, but I bought a replacement short cable just because I wanted a shorter cable, and it now unexpectedly sounds awesome now & I realise now why the HD560s had been my favourite headphone (and is again now). I don't know what the hell happened with that cable on it's journey overseas, but replacing it transformed the headphone back to how I remember it. Now there is still the small damage to the earpad that I had mentioned, but I don't believe that's affecting the sound....how the hell it was the cable I don't know! I would replace the old cable & do comparisons in the same listening session, but the aftermarket cable is an extremely tight fit on the twisting locking mechanism of the headphone attachment, so much so that I had to try many times to get it seated properly and thought I was gonna have to send it back....so I'm not gonna be removing this cable anymore. To be clear, I'm not a cable mystic, something up with the original cable though that happened during it's time away from me, or perhaps reseating the cable in the headphone is what fixed it rather than the cable itself. Happy to be enjoying the HD560s again anyway, regardless of what the hell is going on!

I was potentially wrong about my channel imbalance points I brought up though, because further testing with different headphones shows I do have natural brief swings in my hearing to the right at 7kHz and to the left at 9kHz, so ignore my channel imbalance comments in that post of mine that I'm quoting. But there was something wrong with the cable somehow that I mentioned in my previous paragraph, which was the reason for my general unhappiness with my HD560s upon receiving it back from Oratory.
 
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_thelaughingman

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I might end up selling my HD560s eventually after I compare them further with my HE400se. I think I'm starting to enjoy the HE400se' sound more and more, specifically that planar bass(not a bass head, but good to hear bass in something)
 

Robbo99999

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I might end up selling my HD560s eventually after I compare them further with my HE400se. I think I'm starting to enjoy the HE400se' sound more and more, specifically that planar bass(not a bass head, but good to hear bass in something)
Do you not EQ your headphones? Or are you talking about when both EQ'd to the Harman Curve (or different curve)?
 

Robbo99999

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An other update. Filed a claim at UPS. UPS has classified and admitted they have lost the package, and that I have to address Sennheiser myself.
So in other words "Shit happens, we don't care, you are on your own, deal with it". Contacted Sennheiser. Up to today not a single reaction from Sennheiser.

I wouldn't exactly recommend buying directly from Sennheiser iow..

eom

Finally yesterday I got a mail from Sennheiser (first reaction) that they will refund. All ends well.
Have you thought about trying to buy them again (from another outlet perhaps) so you can finally get your ears on a pair of HD560s? I think they're worth it.
 
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_thelaughingman

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Do you not EQ your headphones? Or are you talking about when both EQ'd to the Harman Curve (or different curve)?
I EQ all of them to Harman, but I somehow like the Hifiman more and I’ll judge it further once the HD560s are back.
 

Robbo99999

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I EQ all of them to Harman, but I somehow like the Hifiman more and I’ll judge it further once the HD560s are back.
Cool, yeah, you can't really judge fine differences without having both headphones side by side.

Additionally, you might wanna try @Maiky76 's EQ in the post at the following link, I like the look of it and it's exact to the Harman Curve, plus it's based on your measured unit, so you can afford to be aggressive with the EQ because you know it's actually the reality of your unit:
 
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