Just bought HD560's at yard sale for $1

So I took my 8 year old little sister and her friends to a yard sale on the block right behind my home today and saw these beauties just sitting on top a pile of rca and copper wire speaker cables. This nice lady offered to sell it to me for $1 but told me she didn't know whether or not they worked. Her husband later came out with an iPod and told me he had them in storage for a while and aside from pad and slight leather degradation they work perfect, and let me test them. I was sold

First thread by the way XD

They're pretty interesting. They don't sound at all like the HD595's, the only relatively high end Sennheiser's I’ve heard in person.

They're very dynamic and realistic sounding. Bass extends deep but is surprisingly fast. For Sennheiser's I suspect they wouldn't satisfy a basshead as their midbass isn't bloated in any way; just fast, beautiful, textured bass.

Their treble isn’t recessed or particularly forward, it’s just where I feel it realistically should be. It’s very dynamic and actually gets shimmery and sparkly when present in the recording, something sennheiser's don't typically do.

The mids aren't overly smooth like other Sennheiser's or dry/analytical like in my K271MKII's. They're both very detailed and crisp and have just a touch of the sweetness typical to Sennheiser. 

I believe the best term for these headphones is ACCURATE. Without comparing their sound staging/imaging to much higher end open end headphones from AKG/Sennheiser/Beyer or any of the electrostats, I can say these are the most accurate/realistic headphones I've ever heard, and they sound excellent on a 6G IPod classic 80 GB with ALAC files out of the headphone jack.

Edit: Though the HD560 may be the most accurate I've ever heard that doesn't exactly mean anything coming from me

Perhaps the word "realistic" isn't up to par here, as their imaging with music isn't pinpoint accurate enough to convey a real sense of space as far as I can tell. I feel that my K271's beat them in this area entirely. In Soundstage size/imaging/pinpoint accuracy and depth the HD560 really seem to fall behind. On the other hand however, I do not have a source or amp capable of properly powering either headphone. The HD560 has a neutral sound that is both very full yet not warm. The AKG's have a thin but seemingly large, rich detailed sound very reminiscent of Etymotic.

The only reason I mentioned the iPod was becuase it can power the HD560. At an impedance of 300Ohm and a sensitivity of 94dB my laptop can't power them, even with the signal piggybacked onto the Fiio E5. My laptop can barely power the K271 with the E5. Aside from that I'm well aware of the fact that the iPod doesn't have great sound quality; I know its amp is pretty bad.

At any rate until I get a source capable of doing these headphones justice, I'll be keeping them both

mulveling : If I remember reading Tyl's article correctly the HD580 is a good deal warmer, but still similar to it. HD560's vocal presentation tends to be just a touch sweet and very dynamic; whereas K271's vocals are dry yet massive, but don't change much in size during a recording.

As for an amp, truthfully speaking I'm interested in finding a dac/amp combo with a neutral (but it can be on the warm side) dac and and transparent amp section. Seems pretty impossible to find; the only one ive found seems to be the Yulong D100 and at $450+ its out of my price range. One can always dream...

Quote:

Originally Posted by mulveling 

I've got a friend using a set of HD560 for occasional nighttime listening; I've heard them briefly and liked them quite a bit. Probably more akin to the HD580 kind of sound, though my memory is fuzzy. Certainly a steal at $1! They're worth  throwing a decent amp at. He's using a basic PPA - it's not an exotic one; pretty ordinary op-amps and Elpac wall-wart. Great amps; a build like that one should be very affordable when it comes up for sale, and the more maxed out versions (627 opamps, dedicated PSU, discrete buffer outputs), which I'd recommend tracking down, sound much better yet.

 

From there, if you like the sound you could move to an HD580/HD600. The HD650 is better yet but it does have a darker sound; still it's a pretty excellent combination when combined with a maxed PPA, for not a whole lot 'a cash.

cifani090 : As I really like the organic texture of Sennheiser's and the highs of Etymotic/AKG, I've always wanted the K601 or HD598. There really isn't any point in spending $200+ on a soundstage increase that I wouldn't be able to power properly to get anyway.  Who knows, I might get pretty close with a usb-dac+amp source upgrade or simply a PPA amp+lod for home use like mulveling said.     

I'm keeping them, for me these are the poor man's K601/HD598's i've always wanted

They really don't sound like typical Sennheiser's at all XD

I'm still at a loss of words trying to explain to myself why treble actually sparkles on these...
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by cifani090 

I though the same, great deal for any pair of headphones besides iBudsAt least he can make 1000% profit ( and i didn't accidentally add a 0)

 

JamesMcProgger : Thanks, though I can't say I haven't tried; Ive returned as many items as ive bought becuase of one reason or another

Fiio E7 was too dark, Ety8's bluetooth adapter died on me and I had to learn that standard bluetooth sucks the hard way, you know how it goes...

As amazing of a tape player the DD9 Quartz Walkman is, ive been think about selling it. If I sold it and the 20 or so unopened Maxel X-LS II tapes my grandfather gave me -told me I was free to do what I want with them- I imagine I could make enough to buy a real DAP or usb-dac/amp. Then I guess i'd be a proper member of the forums here

Quote:

Originally Posted by JamesMcProgger 

math wise indeed 

 

and kudos to the OP, first time I saw a member gets in and doesnt murder his wallet 

Truthfully speaking this probably isn't true. I'm really into extreme sports, Ive probably spent over 1K purchasing and maintaining my aggressive inline skates, 5 wheel speed inline skates, and downhill race longboard over the years up until when I was in high school last year; never cared much for video games or overpriced street clothes. Now that I'm your typical poor student I kind of wish my passion for audio came first... =/
 

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by SiriuslyCold 

... hasn't. YET!

 

;)

 

If they were HD650's I'd be happy to lol 

As for these HD560's, they sound nothing like Sennheiser's. They have the organic texturing but any similarity ends there. As I said i've been looking for this sound in headphones for quite a few years at a price I can afford. I was about to drop $200+ on probably the HD598 -becuase I didn't beleive I could get away with using the K601 unamped- and ended up receiving the K271MKII as a christmas gift. 

Now I rather focus on my source and not bother

Quote:

Originally Posted by earerror 

lol i also thought you were talking about the 650's. What if i give you $10 bucks for them? 

eh, you bought ceramics for hockey deadhead12? Seriously?!? I couldn't imagine that kind of accelaration in Hockey

...You ever learn to control that? I bet your hockey skates are wonderful for cruising around though, I've got bones reds in my 5 wheel speed skates, I beleive they've hit their 3rd and final burn in and their great. I'd probably have a serious problem if I put ceramics in them, I live in a pretty hilly area and my speed skates hit 35-40mph no problem down most hills.

Quote:

Originally Posted by deadhead12 

Haha, I used to play inline hockey and spent nearly 1.5k on my skates at the time.  I remember felling sort of dumb when I bought my ceramic bearings cause they cost more than most skates at the time but they were/are quite nice.  I think comparatively my audio spending is a bit tamer than my hockey gear spending was.