SennheiserHD 560 S Over-The-Ear Audiophile Headphones - Neutral Frequency Response, E.A.R. Technology for Wide Sound Field, Open-Back Earcups, Detachable Cable, (Black) (HD 560S)

I was skeptical because studio style headphones are a bit too bright and tinny in the high frequencies and NO bass. These are not that. These are much more friendly and natural sounding. And, oh my goodness! the well balanced clarity in every frequency range. These also have a huge sound stage and instrumentation. It feels like you are sitting in with the band (play Miles Davis "Kind of Blue"). I purchased other headphones like Beyerdynamic headphones, they were not the sound profile for me. I bought these to replace the Beyerdynamic are returning them. I'd buy these again, it was worth it. Amazon is telling me to write more details. So, i will add that they are incredibly comfortable and fit very well. I don't really care for earcups that touch my ear for long listening sessions. These are incredibly comfortable. A little warm but not bad. I purchased additional earpads that were cooler, so shop around. I hope you take a leap of faith and try them. You can always return them (thank you Amazon!). Oh and they have a plastic feel, but that's because they are plastic. However, they are well designed for the material they used. But that's what makes them light as air and relatively inexpensive. Enjoy!

I'm not an audiophile or headphone expert. I played drums as a teenager and later took guitar lessons for 10 years, still play the guitar almost daily, and love music in general. Hard rock has always been my favorite genre. I use headphones with my PC while watching YouTube music videos and concerts and also while playing video games like Cyberpunk 2077, Skyrim, Diablo IV, etc. I also have a pretty big library of old and new music on a 7th gen iPod Touch (now discontinued) and do some critical listening with that. I had been using budget headphones like the Koss KTXPro1 and Logitech G333 gaming earbuds, but always wanted to try something considered as "audiophile" headphones.My son is somewhat of a headphone expert, so I reached out to him for buying guidance. His ideal headphones would be completely neutral, with no emphasis on either highs or lows. To start, he gave me a FiiO K3, which is a DAC/headphone amplifier. I didn't know I needed one, but he insisted. He also convinced me to download and install the open-source Equalizer APO application and its companion Peace UI component. It's a bit daunting for a newbie to get started with the headphone amp and equalizer software, but there are plenty of YouTube tutorial walkthroughs available.In a few hours I had the headphone amp and the Peace interface working, and had separate configurations saved for the Koss and Logitech headphones. I downloaded pre-configured settings for each pair of headphones, which are set with the preferred "Harman Curve". I had no idea about any of this stuff previously. By the end of that day, I had learned how to tweak and save additional configurations, and now could choose between multiple pre-sets for each pair of headphones. For example, I created a pre-set that boosted the bass, another that boosted the highs, and one that boosted both bass and highs while leaving the middle frequencies at the standard Harman curve settings. That allowed me to experiment and decide my own personal preferences for music listening.Just a primer - the headphone amp connects to the PC by USB, and it disables the built-in PC audio chip with a more powerful and clean signal. Then you plug your headphones into the headphone amp instead of the PC headphone input jack. Windows audio and volume is bypassed, so now the volume is controlled by the volume knob on the headphone amp. (You can turn off the headphone amp to listen through PC speakers or with the standard PC headphone jack.)With the headphone amp and equalizer software, both my Koss and Logitech headphones sounded better than ever and I was hearing details that I wasn't hearing before. I had heard of headphone amps before, but never thought they were necessary. I couldn't imagine not using one now.Then my son lent me his AKG K702 open back headphones to try. He likes them because they are pretty neutral. As he puts it, "you hear the music as the producer and engineer intended it to sound." The AKGs were the best headphones I had ever tried, hands down. I downloaded the pre-configured parametric EQ file for them and listened for a few days. I learned that I preferred a more bass-heavy sound, especially with the hard rock I usually listened to. (I am currently obsessed with a band named The Warning, but like many other artists including Spiritbox, Breaking Benjamin, Band-Maid, Evanescence, Muse, and older classic rock like Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, Zeppelin, Hendrix, and Van Halen.) Given that I liked a bit more bass emphasis, my son suggested the Sennheiser HD 560S.I love them. With the standard EQ configuration, the low bass is a little lacking for my taste. I want the bass drum emphasized. So I created a pre-set with the bass boosted at 52 Hz and left the rest of frequencies alone. Perfect! I created another pre-set with the same 52 Hz boost and an additional boost at 5K Hz. I have some high frequency hearing loss, so this compensates for that, and allows me to hear the cymbals a little better. Normally I listen with the bass boost pre-set only and can hear everything fine.The only minor gripe I have with the Sennheiser HD 5600S phones is the comfort level. The ear pads are soft and comfortable, and the clamping force isn't too much. But the headphones are somewhat bulky, especially compared to the Koss which are feather light and have almost zero clamping force. The Logitech earbuds are another story since they weigh virtually nothing and there's no clamping force. That said, I have used the Sennheisers for hours at a time and they're fine. You do forget they're on once you're immersed in the music or the game. I'll definitely choose the Sennheisers every time for critical listening. Occasionally I will use the Logitechs or Koss when watching non-music videos like interviews or product reviews, for the improved comfort level.Here's a good website for scientifically tested objective headphone ratings: https://www.rtings.com/headphonesDefinitely recommend the HD 560S as an entry level audiophile headphone. They're a tier above sub-$100 headphones for sure.

These are the best headphones I have ever owned and I have tried multiple, multiple brands over the years. These are fantastic for music (don't have too bassy of a sound like gaming headphones) and even better for gaming. I can hear every little detail of each game I play. They are also plug and play, no setup necessary. I have a friend who have had these for several years and they have never experienced an issue. Would give it 10 stars if I could!

These are outstanding headphones at any price, and an unbelievable value at their typical ~$150 street price. I'm a recovering headphone addict and these have been good enough to help me stay sober. I think if your budget is up to $300 and you don't want to fuss around with amps and DACs and other gear considerations, these are probably the best "plug 'em into anything" headphones I've ever owned. They're light, they're comfortable for average-sized heads (though see more below), and they sound great playing any content from any source.Highlights:- Value: I've owned a lot of headphones (including perennial darlings like the HD600+650 and Audio-Technica ATX-M50 and higher-end stuff like the Audeze LCD-X and Focal Clear) and honestly, the headphone world is a perfect case study for the Law of Diminishing Returns. In other words, you can spend $150 on the 560S and get 75% of the sound quality that's even possible, or spend $1500 to get to like 85%. For most people, this is the sane stopping point.- Weight: the all-plastic build lets these float on your head at 280g (9.9 oz). For comparison, the Hifiman Sundara (another highly regarded pair of <$300 headphones) weighs 379g (13.4 oz). Three ounces may not sound like much, but over the course of hours, you really feel every ounce that's sitting on your head.- Easy to drive: I use these plugged directly into a PS5 controller and they get plenty loud at roughly 50-60% volume. I've tried them with different combinations of amps and DACs as well, but such gadgets are totally unnecessary to get the most out of the 560S.- Perfect audio for gaming: the wide soundstage is great, as is the sharp treble for picking out things like voices, footsteps, and gunfire. These are very popular with FPS players, and I can see why. I don't play PvP games, but they've saved me from many a cheap off-camera attack with their amazing positional audio cues. The nicest surprise on these is the bass, which is meatier than you'd expect for open-backed headphones. Unfortunately, because of the proprietary cable jack, I had to buy a kooky adapter (ASIN: B07Z2MPW61) so I could use the V-Moda BoomPro mic I had lying around for voice chat. The overall setup is a bit klunky but almost certainly outperforms popular gaming headsets.- Surprising noise isolation: these are by no means going to block out the outside world like a pair of closed-back headphones, but there are enough layers of stuff inside them between the grille and your ear that you're not going to hear everything around you with them on.Lowlights:- Oddball connector: I despise proprietary connectors, and Sennheiser's 2.5mm recessed jack with a twist lock is one of the most obnoxious on the market. What they lose in compatibility with other cables is by no means gained in security—who cares if your headphones unplug at the earcup when subjected to intense force?- Not very comfortable for big heads and big ears: although the design of these is generally compared to the HD500 line, having owned the absurdly comfortable HD598SE, I can say these don't come close. They clamp kind of hard and worse, the earpad foam is thin and when it flattens out (immediately), it presses the driver units against the cartilage of my ears. Fortunately, I was able to modify these with some third-party 3d-printed adapter rings so I could use bigger, cushier pads from Brainwavz. Now I can use them for 4+ hours without major discomfort. This may not be an issue if you don't have big ears like I do. Also worth noting is that some styles of glasses will be agony with these.- Not as nice for music: the things that make them perfect for games (accentuated high frequencies) make them a riskier proposition for music. Your mileage may vary, of course, but these can be pretty spicy for certain instruments and effects.All in all, despite the added hassles and costs to make these comfortable for my anatomy, I'm still very happy with them and don't think I could do better for my use case (plugged directly into PS5 controller with an inline mic) at any price. For their usual price of $150-180, I can't see what anyone could complain about. Thanks for reading!