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Sennheiser HD560S Review (Headphone)

Rate this headphone:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 4 0.9%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 25 5.9%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 169 39.9%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 226 53.3%

  • Total voters
    424

don'ttrustauthority

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Am I seeing these graphs wrong, or is the 800s showing higher distortion than the 650, which is higher than the 560s??
 

Jimbob54

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Am I seeing these graphs wrong, or is the 800s showing higher distortion than the 650, which is higher than the 560s??
You are correct- especially below 100hz- how much that matters to a listener is a different question
 

GaryH

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Am I seeing these graphs wrong, or is the 800s showing higher distortion than the 650, which is higher than the 560s??
It's almost as if measured distortion has little correlation with true blinded preference unless it's pretty high, and sighted judgements of headphone sound quality are influenced by subconscious cognitive bias dependent on (among other things) price and reputation. :eek:
 

Jimbob54

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It's almost as if measured distortion has little correlation with true blinded preference unless it's pretty high, and sighted judgements of headphone sound quality are influenced by subconscious cognitive bias dependent on (among other things) price and reputation. :eek:
A question for you, which headphones do you own and of those, which would you recommend (or not)?
 

fastfreddy666

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Why are you advocating throwing away headphones? Do you want plastic and metal to end up in landfill?
Okay. Recycle it properly. It will not matter in many cases because the US does not have federal or intergovernmental e-waste policies. 50-70% of e-waste collected in the US for recycling is exported to developing countries, which commonly ends up in the informal recycling sectors of Asia and West Africa. Electronics producers manufacture products with hazardous materials, e-waste is oftentimes dismantled without strict regulations or compliance so substances like heavy metals, flame retardants, and plastics produce public health risks. Due to the unregulated nature of the informal recycling sector in developing countries, US e-waste handlers are exporting resources which could have detrimental effects on not only humans handling the e-waste, but also the environment in areas where the e-waste is exported. It's a shame.

The EU is doing better in this regard. The EU currently recycles about 80% of the e-waste it collects. However, e-waste collection, recycling, and reuse are not equally effective in all EU member States.
 

Theriverlethe

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I use these headphones with slightly modified oratory1990 EQ settings and have no problem with bass distortion or rattling at moderately loud levels. Granted, I'm only using a +4dB bass shelf instead of +7dB, so half the power requirements of amirm's settings. (I find that the full +5.5dB starts to create artificial resonance in male voices.) Combined with a qudelix5k, these offer a pretty top-notch audio experience even from iOS devices.
 

FeddyLost

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Bought these after reading review to compare with and possibly substitute Shure 1840.
Very decent "control sound" even on youtube through laptop soundcard.
Grey, dull and non-involving "as is", so I'd call it "strong all-rounder".
Maybe extreme metal lacks some groove without bass boost, but otherwise they play everything I need at 95% of required performance.
Long live ASR.
 

ishouldbeking

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Anyone tried these for gaming? They seem like a natural fit given the default sound signature that follows Harman pretty closely but with a touch of extra treble, good spatial qualities and perceived width, and low power requirements. Could imagine these being a great choice for running out of a PS4 or PS5 controller, where it's otherwise not convenient to EQ and you don't have much power available... which might be justification enough to pick up a pair.
 

Robbo99999

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Anyone tried these for gaming? They seem like a natural fit given the default sound signature that follows Harman pretty closely but with a touch of extra treble, good spatial qualities and perceived width, and low power requirements. Could imagine these being a great choice for running out of a PS4 or PS5 controller, where it's otherwise not convenient to EQ and you don't have much power available... which might be justification enough to pick up a pair.
Yep, definitely, the stock tuning without EQ is pretty much ideal frequency response for virtual surround sound fps gaming, in terms of accurately locating enemy player positions. You don't want bloated bass when optimising virtual surround sound and I think the HD560s nails the level required in that area (keeping it at the upper limit of that variable in terms of gaming), also the frequency response of the HD560s north of 1kHz is a natural solid base on which to build virtual surround sound because it is close to Harman and probably because it is just slightly brighter than Harman north of 1kHz. I've found Diffuse Field EQ's to be the best for virtual surround sound gaming, which is again a tad brighter than Harman north of 1kHz.
Anybody wanting to try a Diffuse Field EQ for their HD560s for virtual surround gaming purposes (not for music listening) then they could try this EQ of mine for the HD560s if they like, it's based on a mixture of Oratory/Resolve/Crinacle measurements that have been averaged, and then EQ'd to the Diffuse Field Target (EqualiserAPO config file attached at end of post):
HD560s Diffuse Field EQ.jpg


Though as I said before, HD560s stock tuning is very good itself for virtual surround sound gaming, so a really good option for you connecting to your console as you mentioned. HD560s is the best gaming headphone out of all the headphones I own, and probably also the best for music listening to be honest. To me the gaming ability of a headphone is not just it's frequency response though, I've found that successful gaming headphones are baked into the overall physical design of the headphone, as it relates to the soundstage variable - spacious earcups that don't touch your ear and angled drivers and/or angled pads - so the HD560s ticks those boxes too.
 

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MKreroo

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is there any foldable alternative to this?
 

staticV3

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is there any foldable alternative to this?
Foldable, open-backed, over-ear headphones are very hard to come by.
The Audeze LCD-1 comes to mind and iirc, Dan Clark has some foldable stuff as well.
graph (3) (1).png
Screenshot_20220116-160347.jpg
 
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Jimbob54

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Foldable, open-backed, over-ear headphones are very hard to come by.
The Audeze LCD-1 comes to mind and iirc, Dan Clark has some foldable stuff as well.
View attachment 179409
Yes, the Aeon 2 range from DCA collapse up somewhat- but several orders of price higher than these - and also not necessarily ideal with portable devices due to low impedance/ low sensitivity high current requirement.
 

staticV3

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@mrkc if you don't care about open-backed or closed-back and just want something that's foldable, neutral(-ish), and doesn't break the bank, then you could look into the:
Screenshot_20220116-163124.jpg
graph (3) (2).png
Screenshot_20220116-163059.jpg
graph (3) (3).png
graph (3) (4).pngScreenshot_20220116-163150.jpg
 

ManuCV

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Anyone tried these for gaming? They seem like a natural fit given the default sound signature that follows Harman pretty closely but with a touch of extra treble, good spatial qualities and perceived width, and low power requirements. Could imagine these being a great choice for running out of a PS4 or PS5 controller, where it's otherwise not convenient to EQ and you don't have much power available... which might be justification enough to pick up a pair.
I use them connected directly to the PS5 controller and they get loud enough (to the point of not needing to set the volume to max). As Robbo99999 said, they are fantastic for gaming and they surely don't need any EQ for this purpose.
 

Griffod

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I'm new here.... very new, and have little understanding of what I'm reading. I received these headphones as a gift to pair with my iphone. I always listen at home and would like some help in improving my listening experience with a budget of £300.
Please be gentle.
 

staticV3

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I'm new here.... very new, and have little understanding of what I'm reading. I received these headphones as a gift to pair with my iphone. I always listen at home and would like some help in improving my listening experience with a budget of £300.
Please be gentle.
Which aspect of your current listening experience do you feel is lacking?
 

solderdude

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I'm new here.... very new, and have little understanding of what I'm reading. I received these headphones as a gift to pair with my iphone. I always listen at home and would like some help in improving my listening experience with a budget of £300.
Please be gentle.

iphone as the music source ?
 
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