Sennheiser HD 559 Open Back Around Ear Headphone - Black/Anthracite

Product Information

This means that the sound signature may not be perfectly balanced, but the performance is very good for the price. At 50Ω, the HD559 are at the boundary between low and high impedance. While they are not that hard to drive at 95dB/mW (don't be fooled by the 108dB/V given in specs, as the voltage sensitivity is always much higher), most low power devices won't be able to drive them hard, meaning you will only get a medium to reasonably loud volume. The SR80e is more high-mid-centric. As a result, vocals are beautifully detailed and crisp in addition to sitting a bit higher in the mix than they would otherwise. This high-mid emphasis combined with the warm and colorful high frequencies — a Grado signature in my opinion — makes vocal breath and cymbal sustain sparkle in a unique and warm way across genres and vibes. As a result, the high-mids have a nice sense of depth and contribute to the detail of its expansive sense of width.

Sennheiser HD 559 vs Sennheiser HD 560S - Versus Sennheiser HD 559 vs Sennheiser HD 560S - Versus

It's not really a big deal, but at this low price you will need to add ~20euros for a new cable if you need it. Next day, after cleaning the headband and pads a bit, I decided to give it a listen on one of my cassette walkmans. I would not use it much with a DAC/amp or a DAP, as for serious listening I have much better pairs. My initial impression was rather bad, in fact it was considering returning it at some point. It seemed to be hard to drive compared to what I was used to and would also distort bass pretty bad relatively early. 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.Single-entry cable. I've grown tired of the double entry. Ok, that wasn't a must, but it would be a bonus. I decided I needed to get some new headphones to use in my newly revived system. I'll eventually replace the pads in my HD 600, Shure 1540, DT990, and LCD-2F, but they're not a priority right now, especially if I don't end up using my headphone system as much as I did in the past.

Sennheiser HD 559 vs Sennheiser HD 599. Which is the Best Sennheiser HD 559 vs Sennheiser HD 599. Which is the Best

Said to myself to give it some time to break-in and see if there was a difference after a couple of days. The impedance seemed high at 50Ω, but I said to myself that I can use the power amplifier which I had connected to my computer as that has a 6.3mm headphone output. Recently, seeing that it was collecting dust I decided to give it another try. The headband was partly detached (a typical issue on many Senheiser 5xx series), so I glued it with gel type super glue and let it cure overnight on the headphone stand. The 559 comes in a standard Sennheiser box. Inside, you’ll find the headphones, a detachable headphone cable, and a warranty booklet. I also wanted to formally review them to test my own confirmation bias. Note: I think I overcame my bias as I found these to better than I was expected, and I'm very critical of headphones when I test them.Not necessarily bright or relaxed, the 559 skimps on the highest high notes while retaining plenty of detail and contrast in the rest of the high end. The sound is sharp and articulate, but without being piercing or unpleasant. Being made of velour, the pads are way more comfortable than leather and they will also last much longer.

HD 559 | Sennheiser HD 559 | Sennheiser

Well, my other cans all suffered the same fate as the 1540. Ear pads all disintegrated. Despite also being stored in their proper boxes, the ear pads on the HD 600, DT990, and LCD-2F both fell apart in my hands. Welp, this isn't good. Talk about a punch to the gut. 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. No problem, I'll use my Shure 1540. But, despite being properly stored in their box for years, they still managed to fall apart within a few hours of use. The ear pads disintegrated and the headband pad fell apart. Geez. That was discouraging. After listening to speakers and other headphones for years, something seemed off. They were a little too congested, veiled, and boring. They immediately felt like the 3-headed blob of sound. The sound stage wasn't very wide. They were also quite fatiguing after a while because they were too polite. It's as if they were too relaxing and safe that it felt like a huge weight was dragging them down. A few years ago, I could find no fault in these headphones, but tastes and experiences change, I guess.

Does the Sennheiser HD 599 have good isolation?

All of these criteria, through extensive searching on web, led me to the Sennheiser HD 559. There's not a lot out there, but I was able to find enough matches to my query that prompted me to pull the trigger on these.

Sennheiser HD 559 Open Back Around Ear Headphone - Black

Depth and placement are okay here, delivering a sense of soundstage that is present, but far from arresting. This is about what I expected from the entry-level model, though the overall dynamic sound probably lends some improvement to this modest impression. Another thing I immediately noticed was it sounded kind of muffled, like vocals were recessed from the rest of the spectrum. Suffering from the slight compression in the upper mids (a recurring theme we’re seeing with a lot of the new Sennheiser models), the HD 559 may not do some vocals justice, but the rest of the midrange remains largely intact, with adequate detail and good clarity.Initially it seemed like it got better, but in practice I got used to the sound signature, tending to ignore its flaws.