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500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jun 26, 2001
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First of all I should say this is not one of the new phones in the Philips line recently discussed. HP550s are about 2 years old closed, foldable phones Philips designed for portable use. I bought them almost out of impulse. Well, almost. I auditioned them a year ago and liked them. Now, when I saw them for almost half of their initial retail price the impulse kicked in and… I’m a proud owner of these babies. I paid less than 30$ for these (about 28 exactly), so keep this in mind throughout the review. I mean, these are supposed to be cheap portable phones, nothing more. We’ll see if that’s the case. Also, I believe they’re not fully broken in yet. They’ve had about 7-8 hours in total, playing time. Well, enough intros, here’s the review.
Build etc.
HP550 are closed back cans Philips clearly intended for portable use. The earcups fold inside to give a rather small package. The earcups themselves are quite large for portable cans, an obvious circum aural design. The comfort is very good. The polyester-covered earpads are soft and surround my ears fully, with some space to spare. Mind that I have rather small ears. The isolation is about average for closed back phones, i.e. comfortable for downtown listening without being dangerous (car horns etc.). Build quality is good for the price, but not exceptional. Most of the phones are made of (not very cheap) plastic. The only metal parts actually are the shafts that earcups attach to. They are not fiddly, but don’t expect them to take a lot of irresponsible handling. In my backpack they’re gonna last (I hope) long enough.
Some specs:
Imedance: 32 Ohms
Sensitivity: 102 dB@1mV (they’re easy to drive indeed even for a 5 mW portable)
Cord: 1.5 m OFC terminated to mini plug (not gold plated) 6.3mm adapter provided. Attached to both earpieces.
Driver: 40 mm diaphragm with neodymium magnet.
Sound
This is where the HP550 blew me away. Let’s face it, there are not that many closed phones out there suitable for portable use that sound good, let alone for 30 bucks. I stress the word CLOSED. If you live in a big noisy city closed cans are the way to go for portable use. I sold my Grados SR60 after a year of frustration, not being able to hear their good sound in the downtown traffic. You get the point.
For the purpose of this review I drove the Philies out of a large variety of sources starting from my 5mW MD portable through the phone jacks of several CD and MD portables and decks and finally out of an X-CanV2 connected to a Marantz CD6000 OSE (my primary headphone system). I compared them to some all time portable favourites like Koss PortaPro, Sony MDR888 and Pro2 PH1000. If I have to describe HP550 in one word, I’d be balanced. Actually, I need at least two words, balanced and detailed. First of all, nothing is sticking out. The bass is tight and well controlled. This is where the Philips wins over Koss. PortPros sound bloated in comparison. Portas bass just jumps over the lower mids and the overall effect is a lack of resolution. Here’s the place to say, if you like overblown bass, look elsewhere. HP550 have tight and well controlled bass, not at all boomy. It goes deep, but without the typical midbass coloration , which gives the impression of a strong and impactful bass. The midrange is an a word excellent. Both present and articulate. There are tons of details to be enjoyed there. I was amazed how natural some male vocals sounded out of the X-CanV2. This is yet another strange thing. I mean, you wouldn’t expect 30 bucks portable phones to respond so well to improved amplification, but these do, much better than any other portable phone I tested tonight. The treble is crisp without being harsh. I could hear details from my MDs I never heard before (out of the portable that is) The sounstage is also impressively large for a closed cans at this price. The overall sound is highly detailed articulate and at the same time well balanced from top to bottom. Think of something like Beyer DT831 in a portable format. Speaking of what, I even dared to compare the HD550 the DT831. Well, they do not have the same soundtage and detail, but they’re not irritatingly bad in an A/B test, go figure.
Conclusions
CHECK THEM OUT. I saw Amazon has them for a good price. These are my new favourite portable cans. They have almost everything, good sound practical design. I wish they were a bit sturdier, but c’mon…30 bucks.
Build etc.
HP550 are closed back cans Philips clearly intended for portable use. The earcups fold inside to give a rather small package. The earcups themselves are quite large for portable cans, an obvious circum aural design. The comfort is very good. The polyester-covered earpads are soft and surround my ears fully, with some space to spare. Mind that I have rather small ears. The isolation is about average for closed back phones, i.e. comfortable for downtown listening without being dangerous (car horns etc.). Build quality is good for the price, but not exceptional. Most of the phones are made of (not very cheap) plastic. The only metal parts actually are the shafts that earcups attach to. They are not fiddly, but don’t expect them to take a lot of irresponsible handling. In my backpack they’re gonna last (I hope) long enough.
Some specs:
Imedance: 32 Ohms
Sensitivity: 102 dB@1mV (they’re easy to drive indeed even for a 5 mW portable)
Cord: 1.5 m OFC terminated to mini plug (not gold plated) 6.3mm adapter provided. Attached to both earpieces.
Driver: 40 mm diaphragm with neodymium magnet.
Sound
This is where the HP550 blew me away. Let’s face it, there are not that many closed phones out there suitable for portable use that sound good, let alone for 30 bucks. I stress the word CLOSED. If you live in a big noisy city closed cans are the way to go for portable use. I sold my Grados SR60 after a year of frustration, not being able to hear their good sound in the downtown traffic. You get the point.
For the purpose of this review I drove the Philies out of a large variety of sources starting from my 5mW MD portable through the phone jacks of several CD and MD portables and decks and finally out of an X-CanV2 connected to a Marantz CD6000 OSE (my primary headphone system). I compared them to some all time portable favourites like Koss PortaPro, Sony MDR888 and Pro2 PH1000. If I have to describe HP550 in one word, I’d be balanced. Actually, I need at least two words, balanced and detailed. First of all, nothing is sticking out. The bass is tight and well controlled. This is where the Philips wins over Koss. PortPros sound bloated in comparison. Portas bass just jumps over the lower mids and the overall effect is a lack of resolution. Here’s the place to say, if you like overblown bass, look elsewhere. HP550 have tight and well controlled bass, not at all boomy. It goes deep, but without the typical midbass coloration , which gives the impression of a strong and impactful bass. The midrange is an a word excellent. Both present and articulate. There are tons of details to be enjoyed there. I was amazed how natural some male vocals sounded out of the X-CanV2. This is yet another strange thing. I mean, you wouldn’t expect 30 bucks portable phones to respond so well to improved amplification, but these do, much better than any other portable phone I tested tonight. The treble is crisp without being harsh. I could hear details from my MDs I never heard before (out of the portable that is) The sounstage is also impressively large for a closed cans at this price. The overall sound is highly detailed articulate and at the same time well balanced from top to bottom. Think of something like Beyer DT831 in a portable format. Speaking of what, I even dared to compare the HD550 the DT831. Well, they do not have the same soundtage and detail, but they’re not irritatingly bad in an A/B test, go figure.
Conclusions
CHECK THEM OUT. I saw Amazon has them for a good price. These are my new favourite portable cans. They have almost everything, good sound practical design. I wish they were a bit sturdier, but c’mon…30 bucks.
