A vintage Sennheiser journey
I've been researching, buying, and very much enjoying vintage / classic headphones in recent months and am fortunate to now own the
HD 560 Ovation II, the HD 540 Reference 600ohm and the HD530 II
Thought is might be interesting to put my initial thoughts on the differences between these 3 headphones
They are all quite different from each other having different qualities which makes having them all worth while to invest in / keep
Its been really interesting seeng the evolution of how the engineers have re-tuned each headphone in turn
I think Im right in the order - I hope so because it makes sense!
These are just some initial thoughts that I wanted to pen to help me gather my thoughts and to add to this thread
(DX 80 DAP / Necolabs Audiophile burr brown Headphone amp / NAD 3020 Amp)
1, Sennheiser Ovation HD 560 II
The first one I bought. It has the original beautifully soft dark grey pads -
The sound is balanced with a warm, lush yet delightfully restrained presentation. They have this quality of almost warmly whispering the music into your ears with a warm breath
At time quite enchanting. Certainly the warmest and softest of the three. The soundstage is normal although sometimes they do surprise you by throwing out elements of the music
to the left and right. Very much a sit down and relax with headphone. The music is held together is a fairly tight manner, quite linear in that no frequencies are given prominence.
They strike me as a high end Hi-Fi to Audiophile level headphone. certainly more geared towards a general audience
2, Sennheiser Reference HD 540 600 ohm
The 2nd 5xx headphone I bought. Luckily, I found the 600 ohm version. Now THIS headphone is [for my budget!] an end game headphone
I recently tried the HD800S at a Head-fi show - For £1500 I was expecting a lot - what I found was clarity, soundstage . . . all that BUT it just sounded like
it was really trying to hard to impress - I just felt like 'all right mate - whatever' - It sounded like it was really just showing off - like some rich dude in an expensive car
who knows it!
Almost like it is SO good it has lost the essence of the emotive content of the music itself
Im saying all this because given the choice between a new HD800 S and a new HD 540 I would take the 540 . . . easily
What they have done with the 540 is capture that magic something - PRAT - that only happens rarely and is almost impossible to pin down as to how or what they
did to achieve it
The music just sounds so 'real' though the 540's - If you have ever played an instrument you will know what I mean when I say you can find moments when you manage to
express perfectly the inexpressible plethora of emotions through your instrument - Magic happens
Anyway, the sound of the 540
Everything is crystal clear, the vocals always have prominence in the mix where vocals are important. The rendering of both female and male is so natural
Every instrument in the mix has its own space and unusually sounds like it should - drums sound like drums, symbols sound brassy, lead guitar has the sound
you would expect if you were sitting in Studio B of Abbey Road Studios.... The main point is that it seems every instrument has a rare naturalness within its own space
Compared to the HD 560 the soundstage is like going from flat to 3D - there can be incredible height from lead guitar bouncing of the ceiling to stuff happening almost behind you
Even though the 3D soundstage is phenomenal it always remains natural and the centre stage never suffers
Im not sure what they mean by 'reference' but they 100% Audiophile.
Unfortunately its quite difficult to actually listen to music as you tend to become engrossed the realism of single instruments in the mix !!!
They do need some power - with my portable headphone amp (a very powerful amp) they absolutely shine. A lucky perfect marriage!
I could go on but I think these are one of the finest headphones every made
How do they compare to the AKG 240DF (also considered one of the finest headphones made) - They share many similar attributes although I find the 540 to more
accessible musically, I think because they have an almost tube like warmth. The 240DF are a bit more reference like in their sound
I think what makes these Headphones 'reference' is what some people may see as a fault - the bass is not exaggerated! I have yet to find myself wishing for more bass
I find the balance of frequencies to be of the order of genius in terms of tuning but if I really wanted to rock out deep to, for example, Band of Gypsies by Hendrix there are admittedly other headphones that would give a deeper low end but then, 995% I listen to audio not music !
3, Sennheiser HD 530 II 600ohm
I was really looking forward to hearing this headphone as it was supposed to be improvement of the 540. How could that be possible ?!
They have original pads but the foam is missing so I can't be 100% of the sound But the different tuning is fascinating to hear as they are quite different
To summarise the 530 II's are a whole lot more 'reference' than the so called 540 Reference. They are a lot more neutral, colder with a more realed in
soundstage. Unlike the 540's that make anything shine I find with more acoustic / vocal based music the 530 sound their best, with other genres
not so much - maybe not surprising in that they were tuned specifically for Jazz & Classical.
They are not as natural or warm sounding as the 540 and so are not as much fun to listen to and yet they come across as a lot more natural !!
Im currently mastering some audio and did some work using the 530's - They strike as perhaps the best headphones I have yet to hear for accurate
reproduction of sound in that whatever work is done on the sound during the mastering would be reliable. This is quite a feat for a headphone
Over all they come across as Very neutral, natural all be it leaning towards coldness - In other words, a very useful tool for the audio professional
but with a sound that may be enjoyed by some who like that sound / have a sound system that has a good synergy
I would love to hear these phones with vinyl through a warm tube amp.
Extraordinary headphones - I wish Sennheiser would make them like this again!!
EDIT: Update - I found a pair of medium soft velour pads under some furniture o_0 which I put on the 530's - They have certainly sorted out the 'cold' presentation
The low end has a much more prominent place now although the combination of added warmth & low end can on occasion take them away from a more reference
type of sound and have made them a more enjoyable listen although due to some slight muddying there is a trade off which has pushed them away from being unique
and moved their sound closer to the 560 Ovation's! - Very nice now though for classical
EDIT 2 : UPDATE
A pair of replacement pads arrived today from China - the oval ones designed / sold specifically for this headphone. They are not as thick the original although seem to be of a similar material.
Interestingly, coupled with 2x foam disks that I also added I seem to have found a perfect middle ground between the cold, clinical analytical sound of the original pads and the warm but slightly uncontrolled low end of the velour pads
These new pads seem to offer the detail, clarity and balance with just enough warmth to make them pretty much perfect in their delivery and to actually now make sense as an upgrade to the 540 in terms of tuning from the Sennheiser engineers.
They now sound incredibly 'mature' Maybe one of the most 'grown up' sounds I have heard in a headphone. The balance of all the elements that come together to present a sound from a headphone in this case are breathtaking in their NON-wow-able sound -!! Like a fine vintage Bordeaux, for those who have a deep and knowledgable pallet the 530's will provide one of the finest dining experiences available today
