I didn't like a lot the sound of my WH-1000XM3, so I always used an EQ reducing low, midd and high bass about 5 db on average. I'm currently using the 599 and I find it an excellent set of headphones because it's less fatiguing than closed backs to me. But having a pair that is light, very comfortable and has spacious sound due to open-back design to use with vintage devices was an interesting idea to me. Well anyway, I recently decided I wanted to use closed headphones to watch movies at night as to not disturb my girlfriend or downstairs neighbor. This headphone is overly ‘bassy’ but not as in deep impressive bass but in bloated/fat/hollow/warm bass with subdued highs and a bit coarse mids and no ‘sparkle’.

For the money, it's definetely worth getting this pair if you never had an open-back before, it's a very good starting point in this regard.Below 40Hz and 440Hz square-waves and 100μs impulse response of the modified HD559, stimulus (and target) and measured response. This is about what I expected from the entry-level model, though the overall dynamic sound probably lends some improvement to this modest impression.

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If you prefer a rich, dynamic sound that offers a strong low end while keeping the high end in line, this headphone may be for you. Said to myself to give it some time to break-in and see if there was a difference after a couple of days. We use cookies to personalise content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic. Alas, when doing this modification the coarse mids/treble is no longer masked and the dip around 1kHz that now came to be makes the mids/lower treble over accentuated and is a bit ‘nasty’ and ‘hard’ sounding. New to the HD 500 series product line is the HD 559, a headphone for those seeking exceptional value.

This allows for the optimal experience, blending comfort with high quality audio playback, for the best all-round home entertainment experience, the HD559 will allow you to unleash your home entertainment system's full potential. Compared to my expectations anyway, in practice it's not really that bad but neither is it as good as other more expensive Senheiser 5xx. This prompted me to pull out my other good cans because once the itch started, it required scratching. Being made of velour, the pads are way more comfortable than leather and they will also last much longer.However the Sennheiser can easily be driven by small portable devices (I have tried with my mobile phone) without undue battery drain due to their sensitivity. Aside from a small correction of the microphone itself also some correction in the lowest frequencies is applied to the plots to compensate for the perceived loss of bass when using headphones. The 10 ft (3 m) headphone cable is thick and durable, but the connection is a 1/4’’ stereo plug – and there is no adapter to be found in the box. Don't attempt to use these on an OTL tube amp or a home AV receiver with a stop down resister on the main amplifier. The bass is distinct too with each thump not mashing or messing with the treble, however, I will note that on some songs that bass sounds less distinct then I would like it to be still very distinct just not as distinct as it could be.

Nevertheless, I noticed a slight overemphasis in the form of a surge, which limited the delineation of the elements involved in a mix compared to more expensive designs. Through the craft and precision of German Engineering we create innovative products to reinvent the future of audio with remarkable audio experiences that you don’t just hear – but feel. However the biggest problem is the mids, there's no separation, everything is mashed together in to a woolly mess with vocals being impossible to pick out clearly.Ergonomic Acoustic Refinement' design channels audio directly into your ears producing a more 'in room' like listening experience. I've read that sound leak/disturbing others can be an issue for open back but as long as it's not as loud as the onboard speakers I suppose it's fine?