Sennheiser HD 518

I was initially confused between HD 558 and HD 518 at the time of buying, but then some articles and forums on Head-fi helped me to decide for HD 518 as these were best bang for the buck and HD 558 did not justify their cost premium over these in terms of quality.

Design : Cord is detachable. Body is made up of plastic, so they are very light when you compare them with their looks. Plastic used for these is good quality plastic. Head band gives a little scare but It's not delicate, just not as strong as it should be. The grilled design is unique and looks good to me.

Comfort: Head Band cushion and ear pads are very soft and you won't feel sweaty or uncomfortable for listening sessions even more than 3-4 hours. So pretty much comfortable.

Audio Quality: 10/10 for the price. Sounds overall a tad bass heavy for audiophile standards but not much.

Value: 10/10 again without a doubt. Currently at 60 USD. so no brainer.

Bought refurbished and well worth the money

I saw an article that showed the sound output of the 518 vs the 558 and 598. I was amazed to see that the sound signature for each headphone was practically identical. So I decided to take a shot a but a pair. I have NOT been disappointed.
 
Comparing the three headphone for myself I can tell you they all share a very similar sound. The HD 518 have a slightly stronger bass, the 558 a bit more highs and the 598 a bit more neutral of the three. As a gamer the extra bass is welcome to my gaming experience and I find I personally prefer the sound of the 518.
 
The open back, teamed with solid bass results in an incredible PC Gaming experience. The reasonable pricing means these are easily within reach of any gamer. They are not the most comfortable of the three mentioned but they are still a very comfortable headphone, I easily can wear these and have for long gaming sessions. Connect these to a good gaming sound source and you have a great product at a great price for a great experience.

I will post a longer review when I have time but I just wanted to give some attention to these great headphones.
 
I really love them, these headphones have a HUGE enjoying factor. These are my first headphones and I really fell in love with music and headphones. I have heard ALOT of other headphones but there were very few that had the enjoyment factor of these. Cross off all the closed cans (lack of soundstage) and bright cans and there are very few headphones left.
 
-They sound like the hd650. Not quality like ofcourse, but if you like the hd650 you will like these. 
-They are easy to drive. They sound good out of a high end motherboard (sabertooth 990fx) but a cheaper motherboard or laptop won't work. (confirmed with one the newest apple laptops)
- If you like a warm sound and love soundstage these are the ultimate beginner headphones. The FiiO E10 is a great pair!
 
 

First off id like to say i am not an audiophile and this is the second time on this forum that ive wrote a review.
 
Now with that said these headphones are really great and well worth the money i paid for em.
The sound i bright and the highs and mids are clear and crisp and the bass is not at all overpowering which i personally love about them. They are quite an improvement from the HD 202s that i have.
 
When i first got these i put them on and at first it didnt seem all that different from my 202s till i went and put my 202s on and realized that i was very wrong. The highs and mids seemed to muddled due to the bass. So i put the 518s on and i could just hear how different they were then. They are amazing. Again though im not an audiophile.
 
Id recommend these to anyone looking for good entry level headphones.
 
Sorry if this review isnt all that helpful to anyone.

Very good product for the price !
 

 ​

 ​

 ​

​

 

 ​

I'm standing on the precipice of turning my in rotation headphone collection over and now seems like a good time to write a HD 518 review.  My HD 700's and 598's are in the mail and instead of listening to those I'm back on my back up pair the 518s.  These were the first open backed headphones I ever heard.  They are also the first headphones I ever did an ounce of research into and started my love of the Sennheiser sound.  I've owned them for several years and since then I've also listened to most of the rest of the HD line.
 
The amazing thing about these 518's is they truly are about 85% of anything else in the entire lineup.  After listening to the 700's precise imaging, detail and soundstage for the last month or so I'm shocked at how little is actually lost here.  These were initially bought as gaming headphone and they work excellent for that purpose.  A full wide soundstage that's not quite as good as the best in class options but certainly up there.  Bullets whizz by your head and footsteps are audible.  
 
With music mids are forward and very pleasent.  Treble is not harsh but the headphone seems to have a bit of sparkle to my ears at the same time.  Bass could be better but this is far from just being an HD 518 problem.  I find that all the way up the lineup Senn's open backed models lack bass punch.
 
Last piece I'll cover here is comfort.  I find these more comfortable then the 598's due to the difference in headband material.  I think the leather on the 598's can make the top of your head hot.  No complaints here.  Not as great as the HD 700's but very easy for long term listening.
 
I'm going to be trying different types of headphones going forward and getting away from the Sennheiser sound for awhile but I really appreciate where the 518's stand.  They are the first headphone that got me to care about audio quality and the now sub-75 dollar price tag makes them an excellent option for anyone in the same situation I was then.  A perfect way to dip your toe in the waters of high end audio.

First of all, I still didn't have the opportunity of using an HD 598, which is the 500 series flagship. So I can only compare what I know about the 518 with what people talk about the 598.
 
Many reviewers say the HD 598 has a great soundstage with beautifully fluid highs and mids, but lacks punch in bass. A lot of users say these same things about it, so I assume these characteristics are true. The 598 was my first option, but sincerely I think those body colors are ugly, and they still cost too much for my possibilities. So, when I saw the 518, with the same appearance but nice design/colors and promise of almost same sound quality without spending too much, I didn't think twice.
 
It's hard to explain how awesome these headphones are. It's hard to believe how well he behaves with ALL music styles (I'm a music lover, I listen to almost every genre), and boy, he really delivers the bass, opposing what people talk about the 598. I saw in another website that his sound signature was kind of "tuned" for bass, that makes him different from the 558 and 598. Probably lost a bit of soundstage in exchange of it.
 
Hip-hop and electronica? The beats will punch your face. Classical? Aerial soundstage, flawless separation of instruments. Rock/heavy metal? High volumes, no distortion. You can listen to the bass lines even in the most chaotic death metal. Jazz? I'll just say this: if you get the 518, listen to Dave Brubeck's "Take Five". You'll understand. And all this with default EQ settings and no amp. Make some EQ fine-tuning plugged in an headphone amplifier and these headphones will definitely blow your mind.
 
Extremely comfortable, thick wires that can be easily replaced, beautiful grilled design. All this for less than $150. This is really precious, Sennheiser impresses me more at each day. These headphones are the ultimate definition of "bang-for-the-buck".

Sound stage is average, but separation is awesome. Some people clam that bass is lacking, however, I think the sound signature is absolutely great.
 
Sounds good even when driven by laptop and phones. This headphone uses the same driver as 558 and 598 but the outer shell and ear pads aren’t as good, that is the only down side. But you can't expect too much for $80.
 
Edit: after 1 year of use i replaced the cushions with the 558 one (555/595), more confortable, and i have pop out the grill and replace it with a piece of very thin cloth.. so lightly modded, sounds bit more airy, if you still planning to get one of the 5 series should really jut buy the 598, pretty cheap now.. though now i prefer brighter headphones like grado 325. but I'd keep the 518 forever

I'll keep this review short, im a beginner, and this review are all my own opinions so please bear with me.  thank you!
 
This headphone sound so good for its price.
 
For me, its sq is almost excellent that every time i put this on, i always have a smile on my face.
Others may not appreciate this because the sound is warm or dark.
 
It really shines on its soundstage, bass and mids.
 
Soundstage- big or wide, lots of airiness, because of its open back design and the E.A.R., it makes you feel that you are in a live recording, or you are sitting in front of high end speakers.
 
Bass- Its not lacking neither overpowered. it's deep, controlled bass, also has a great mid bass, making the mids luscious.
 
Mids- It is very rich, or i would say very sexy.
 
 
Moving on,
 
the highs are slightly veiled, its there, but  for me it is lacking.
 
Overall, i think this is a great all arounder.  jazz, rock, classical etc... I would definitely recommend this headphone for all of us who loves music and cant afford high end gears thank you. Happy listening!

This is my second review on Head-Fi so it won't be the review you'll ever read.
I will try to use as much terms that are described in the "describing soung glossary".
Please note that English isn't my native tongue, so there will be a few grammar and spelling mistakes.
 
Build Quality:
 
These headphones are made out of plastic entirely (except the earpads of course), but they don't feel cheap. I think this is due to the fact that the plastic is high quality and has a nice finish on it.
The plastic doesn't make annoying sounds like on some headphones that are even cheaper.
 
Comfort:
 
All headphones in the 500 series are really light and the HD 518 is no exception, but unlike the HD 558 and the HD 598 the earpads aren't padded with velour. That doesn't mean that they're uncomfortable.
It just means that they aren't as comfortable as the higher end models. The HD 518 has a slightly stronger clamping force than the HD 598 and 558, but you can easily stretch them by putting them over a big pillow or just wearing them. The headband is padded with the same material as the earcushions but the foam inside seems slightly softer to me.
 
Bass:
 
The HD 518 has the best bass quantity out of any headphones in the 500 series according to the following graph:
 

I have listened to both the HD 518 and the HD 598 and while the 518 has more bass, the 598 has cleaner, more detailed bass.
But both headphones are not bassy or boomy at all.
 
Mids:
 
The mids on this headphone sound more forward and are more present than on most headphones that I've listened to. This is great for vocals, but it might get a little overwhelming when listening to more brutal/heavy genres of music. The mids are also very clean.
 
Highs:
 
Just like the mids, the highs are very clean. Not too bright, but I did notice some sibilance when listening to brighter records (can't remember which ones).
When listening to the beginning of "Ghost of Perdition" by Opeth, the lower highs and upper mids sounded slightly muffeled, but it is barely noticable.
 
 
Soundstage: 
 
The soundstage is not huge, but definitely noticable due to excellent seperation. When playing planetside 2 I could hear where enemies are coming from. Playing Skyrim with the HD 518 felt more immersive and just walking around the forests was awesome.
 
Pros:
 
These headphones are great for gaming and listening to classical music, jazz, metal that isn't too brutal (Opeth's latest albums, Porcupine Tree etc.) folk, and classical rock.
They are really comfortable, even so comfortable that when the music I was listening to stopped, I just forgot that I was wearing headphones.
You can also drive these headphone very easily even my old Ipod classic can drive them.
 
Cons:
 
The stock cable is the biggest problem with this headphone, because it ends in a 6.3mm. Luckily Sennheiser decided to include an adapter, but this makes the end of the cable very bulky.
Another small problem I had with these is that they're not really fit for faster and heavier genres of music like death metal and dubstep.
 
Picture:
 
 

They are a very good option. The sound is natural, they are comfortable to use. 
The only con I have with it is the included cable that is too long and bulky (if you want to listen them connected to a computer). I changed it with a nice cable mod from China, but you need to take this into consideration when considering these. They are marketed by Sennheiser as audiophile grade.

I bought my HD-518 after Christmas to use with my HTC Rezound Android phone at work. I spent hours researching headphones and finally concluded that the HD-518s were a good bet to meet my requirements for good sound, good comfort, good build quality, and reasonable cost.
 
The only thing I didn't like about the HD-518 was the 6.3mm (1/4") plug and long cable. Fortunately, Sennheiser is now selling a shorter replacement cable with a 3.5mm plug.

I have to say that the HD-518 and short cable work well together and sound great to my ears. I've spent lots of hours listening to a wide variety of music at work (mostly on Spotify), but some from ripped WMAs from my own CD collection.  The HD-518s have met my expectations so far.
 
For those who might be interested in the replacement cable, the Sennheiser item number is 5X8SHORTCABLE. See this head-fi article for more info on the cable.

-Al

I paid $65. for these, and thought they sounded as good or better than headphones I've heard that cost twice that.  Now, you can get them on Amazon for $50., which makes them a great deal.  One warning -- as these are over the ear headphones, glasses can become uncomfortable to wear with them for a long time.  When they start to bother me, I just pull them up above the earpads.  It doesn't seem to effect my ability to read, which is all I use glasses for.  Anyway, if you are looking for headphones with a lot of soundstage, that can thump on the bass, and that won't hurt your pocketbook,  you are looking for these.  When the price went down, I ordered another pair for my girlfriend.  At that price, it didn't hurt at all.  Sennheiser makes great headphones in general, and these are about the cheapest audiophile quality headphones you are going to find anywhere.  I do boost the midrange a little on my pc, to give them a little extra punch, and after I do, it's like aural candy listening to stuff that really tests them, like classical or modern electronic.  But I'm mostly a classic rock sort of guy.  Pink Floyd Echoes and CCR sound amazing.  Just listened to Big Brother & The Holding Co. live, and it sounded like you were there.  What more could you ask for in moderately priced headphones?

EDIT Jan 2020: The review below was written when I just got into the hobby. Needless to say after 4 years of listening to other, better phones I have to say that this headphones do leave a lot to desire. Fortunately, they respond very well to equalization and a little bit of skewed v-shape treatment pretty much close those gaps for me.

This cans are not that expensive, but I'd say the sound quality is already in or very close to the 'audiophile' range.

The first few hours will not impress you, but once you get used to it, you will understand what you've been missing all this time and you won't settle for less. You would also want to crank up the volume to actually enjoy them and to discern the differences.

The transient response is amazing. Music sounds detailed and reproduced with an agility I've never heard before on a sub-$100 set of cans.

Fleetwood Mac, Steely Dan, Dire Straits, Pink Floyd, and the likes sound stellar on these.

Bass is just about the right amount, but it's a little bit sloppy and this is not the strong point of these headphones.

Comfort is very good for its size. Soundstage and instrument separation are good.

If you're really budget-conscious, don't bother buying the more expensive HD 558 and 598 since all HD5*8 use the same drivers.

If you like the sound and feel of Sennheiser's most famous full-sized open-back headphones (HD600 upwards) but are constrained by budget, these babies are able to some extent replicate the experience with a fraction of the cost and without the need for additional amplification.

If you are new to headphones this is the one to get if you also don't want to spend too much!

These cans offer great multilayer-ed sound especially in comparison to entry level headphones. As I am upgrading my gear in a linear fashion, my last cans are HD448 just a step below these.I believe you already have a decent idea of how these cans sound if you frequent here often, for variety sake, I will try to base review in context to my prior experience ie what such an upgrade brings to the table.
 
When I put these for first time, I was disappointed. After plugging in amp, they sounded as muddy as my $10 earbuds. I had heard these cans needed short break in which was absolutely spot on. In less than 10 hrs, sound started taking its place.
 
These cans are clear upgrade over hd448. Sound is 3 dimensional, multilayered, which I believe brings biggest improvement. It enables much better instrument separation, does justice to each one of them and bring in a lot more detail. A higher end can like HD650 may do a better job at doing this, but thats why you pay more for those.  HD650 are described by many as dark cans having great bass, smooth mids and good sound stage when used with right amp.
 
I will use similar adjectives to describe these except these are much more lenient in amp requirement. Sound stage and open sound is a given no matter the source. Though a portable amp must be used. Bass is punchy and mids are well rounded. So I find these to be great all rounders suitable with all genres I tried. Sibilance is  not a problem as these are dark sounding cans.
 
I think I like this sound signature so upgrade path is clearly paved unless I venture around for variety sake.
 
All in all I did'nt gave it a 5 star cause I don't wanna come back and reduce rating after hearing a much better can. 
 
Edit 1: Some observations after extended listening:
 
Moderately diffused presentation: Instruments sound like in a mid sized room and a bit distant. They don't sound close or in your face at all.
 
Slow and laid back: Really good if you listen to them to relax.
 
Smooth, not utterly detailed: Micro details are a bit of mixed bad. Some time they come out note to note, sometime it doesn't. Overall smooth sounding.
 
Tend to hide some instruments when a lot is going on.
 
Black backgrounds on my amp. Good contrast between instruments.
 
Thick sounding and rather natural mid range. Bass is extended but texture varies from song to song.
 
So not an end game headphone but extremely enjoyable. You will love what you hear if you are just enjoying music instead of looking for technicalities.
 
Edit 2:
 
After owning these for 2 years, I have very clear cut use for these hps.
 
Best hps for relaxing. Period. Nothing is better.
 
Why I say that? A no of reasons:
 
1. Relaxed treble. These are some of the darkest hps I have heard. Treble is just enough to give a them a natural and relaxed presentation.
 
2. Diffused airy presentation. Not a focused presentation. Dissipates energy in songs gives a natural presentation.
 
3. No hyper resolution. Sound is grainy, does not have very high resolution. But instruments are well defined, according to price range. imo this contributes to their relaxing character.
 
Now all these aspects may read like negatives to you, it all depends on what you are looking for. I find all these make them ideal for non critical listening.

I purchased the HD518s for a good price lightly used, and have been very satisfied with them. They are darker Sennheisers, and have the signature Senn smooth sound. I have never owned Senns before, so these were my first pair. I am fairly used to how AKGs sound, so when I first listened to the HD518s, they initially wowed me with how smooth their mids and highs were, and how strong the bass was. There definitely is a "wow" factor when you first listen to them, especially if you listen to brighter, leaner sounding headphones. They are all plastic, but feel well made. They have that Sennheiser vice grip on the head, but you get accustomed to the grip, they do not present a comfort problem. The earpads are fairly stiff, but do not munch my ears whatsoever, and the cups absolutely deep enough that my ears have never touched the drivers and never will. The headband has some cloth padding, and hasn't given me any problems. They have a detachable 10 foot cable, so that is a plus. The standard plug is a 1/4 inch stereo plug, but they come with a 1/8 inch adapter. The problem is that with the adapter on, the jack becomes absurdly long, and presents a hazard of sheering off when connected to a laptop, iPod, iPhone, ETC which use 1/8 inch headphone jacks, and require use with the adaptor.


 


Sound wise, the HD518s are dark and smooth, so they are easy to listen to brighter music with for longer periods of time. Their bass impact and open back design also makes them excellent for watching movies with, as well as playing video games. Soundstage for music isn't very wide, however. The HD518s have a polished sound, but this may be problematic to some. The highs don't have the sparkle to them that I am used to with AKGs, for example. They have stronger bass, but the problem is that the bass is a little obese and loose, and tends to have its main impact in the lower mid-bass region. That makes the HD518s sound as if they have somewhat indecisive, slightly confused bass. The mids are a little too smooth and veiled, and tend to lack a lot of musicality. Vocals are fairly veiled, and tend to be a bit too thick and unemotional to my ears. They do every genre competently, but tend to excel at darker, downtempo music with a strong bass impact. RnB, Quiet Storm, Chillout, Liquid Funk (downtempo Drum n' Bass), and smooth jazz sound great on the HD518s. Genres that require a quicker, more transparent and leaner sound do not sound their best on the HD518s. 


 


Don't get me wrong. The HD518s are great headphones. They are just a little bit too veiled in the vocals and obese in the bass to be my everyday headphones for music listening. A bit too vanilla sounding for my tastes, but I can completely understand why people like the Sennheiser sound, and why Sennheiser has such a loyal customer base. I strongly recommend anyone looking for good starter open backs for a variety of genres, or want good headphones for video/computer games as well as movies, and do not have a higher end equipment to drive headphones with, check out the HD518s.  

So I was recently in the market for a pair of open back headphones, and after hearing praise of Sennheiser for their offerings, i decided to purchase the HD 518 with my budget of about 100 dollars. 
 
I think that the design is something you love or hate, and personally i love it. The louvered sides look quite nice to me, and the Sennheiser logo in the middle just looks elegant. The earpads are made of what i can only think are some sort of cotton material, and they're exceptionally soft. They aren't the largest however, so if you have ears that stick out they might touch the drivers, but i didn't find this to be an issue. The headband is made of the same soft cotton material, and is just as comfortable as the earpads. I didn't find these headphones hot in any way (longest listening session this far being about 3 hours).
 
The sound, again, is something i think some people would love, but others might dislike. It's a very rich sound, not a reference type sound in any way, but it still sounds outstanding. The bass isn't overpowering, and isn't at all floppy. The highs are clear and detailed, and don't leave much (to me) to be desired, especially at this price point.
 
The mids, however, are where these headphones shine. Compared to the other frequencies, the mids are slightly elevated, which makes for a rich, warm sound, and very natural sounding vocals. Acoustic instruments like guitar and piano sound great on the HD 518, and I found myself listening to songs with these instruments more and more, because they sounded so good. Overall, the soundstage was average, but the separation of different instruments and sounds in music was better than I expected, and overall i'm very pleased with the sound on the HD 518.
 
My only minor gripe is the included cable, which is incredibly long (about 10 feet) and has a goofy 3.5mm adaptor for using on devices with that size jack. However, since the cable is removable, you can simply replace it with either a shorter cable directly from Sennheiser, or any number of aftermarket cables available on Amazon. 
 
Overall, i don't think that you can go wrong with the Sennheiser HD 518, especially if you can get it for under 100 dollars. And if you're a fan of mids, like myself, than i really don't think there's a better option at this pricepoint.

Hello,
 
I would like to share my impressions of my first a bit more decent headphones - Sennheiser HD-518. I'm no audiophile, so this review will be more for a "normal" people, who want to use it not just for music, but for games and movies too.
 
Build quality and design
 
  Headphones is all plastic, so no suprises where. It have strange grills that could look a bit silly, but hey, you will not go out with them outside. You could and I did it few times, but cable is just too long, you end up in wire mess + headphones are open, so no isolation from outside noise, you just don't enjoy your music with these outside.
  Pads are made just for me. They just perfect, they are a bit stiff, but this is what i like, you can wear them for hours and just forgot you have headphones on your head. I usually listening for music while I'm laying in bed, no problem with these being on your head ( I fall a sleep few times with headphones still on my head, glad didn't brake them ). They fall few times from a table, still in one peace. They are ready for some brutal force.
  Cable. Cable is long, 3m to be exact. I can walk around in my room with no problems at all, and I live in not that small of a room. I can see having a problem using a laptop, but these are perfect for a stationary pc use.
 
Audio Quality
 
  I must say, then I first heard hd 518, I thougt I just wasted my money. They sounded dirty and kinda bad. I was disappointed. But I read about burn in thing, so I said I give them a chance. And my God they sound wonderful now. I had quite a journey these headphones, so read on if you wanna know that a life changing journey I had. I will talk about music, games and movies.
  Music. As they advertise, sennheisers have deep bass. And yes, yes they have. The bass is thigt and pretty bad ass. If you looking just for a bass, look elsewhere, at closed headphones, because the bass is there it should and is not overwhelming. After going to sens from closed headphones it was strange at first, but i'm loving it now, it is big then should be, like in electromusic, but then listening to AC/DC for example, it doesn't overwhelm other instruments. Lets say bass knows its place . The soundstage is big and wide, if you wanna know that people talking about, then they talking about soundstage, listen for these headphones . But it took headphones(or me to get use to the soundstage) to open up, because just recently I started to enjoy my music in all different way. It was quite an exiting journey too, to rediscover all the music for the third time. As good as these headphones sound in a music department, then we talking about instruments, but they have one big flaw for me, and it is vocals. To describe how vocals sound in hd 518, it will be if the band is all in one room with you and singer is behind the wall singing. It sounds a bit distant, a bit too quite, sometimes hard to understand. I guess you can fix it with a EQ, but I had no luck. Everything else changed in these headphones dramatically from a day I bough it, but vocals stayed the same way, distant, and a bit hard to listen to. I read few other reviews saying the same, so it is not just me.
  Games. Games sound wondifirus. You can hear everything around you. In skyrim I never got attacked from a back. With these your oponents don't have a chance to attack you from behind. Explosions in company of hereos sounds powerful(deep) and i will never getting tired to listen to machine guns shooting at enemies. So for games, I say YES to HD 518. But keep in my mind it is not a gaming headset, if you looking just for it, look at gaming companies like razor or such. Games sound good and open design helps a lot, but I imagine on dedicated headphones it will sound even better.
  Movies. Strangly enough, I don't have any problems with actors sounding bad, as singers sound in music. You can hear everything. I mean I watched scott pilgrim vs the world for the 5th time with these. I can say it was like I watching it for the first time. So many things I missed just because I watched it with cheap headphones. You can hear everything clearly, every little sound Edgar Wright placed in where. And now, with new XBMC Frodo realese and new audio-engine, that reproduce 5.1 surround in a way it should sound and opened soundstage of sens, I can hear everything so clearly it makes me cry .  While watching transformes I could pin point from that side every explosion coming from and it really makes you appreciate sound in movies. For movies these headphones gets a HELL YES from me.
 
Conclusions
 
It was a great jorney with sennheisers and now, then they reached the point of a maximum performance(if not, edit is coming), they are just amazingly amazing. Yes, these are my first mid-fi headphones, not even high-fi, but I'm guessing I will not change my headphones for a long long time. So if you are like me, want a great quality and don't wanna cancel your christmas, get these and don't look back. For a closer, I will say a quote that made me buy these: " If you wanna buy high-fi headphones just because they are high-fi and you really don't know that are you going to do with them, don't waste your money and just buy sennheiser hd 518". Quote might not me that accurate 
 
EDIT 2013-07-20
 
So I ended up the university and now I can delete my windows partition and use linux all time ( damn you ms office). So I had a time to play with sound of my sennheiser in linux and pulse audio is a bitch. But then you get it right, YOU GET IT RIGHT. And guest what? They sound even better than they sounded on windows. MUCH better. In  a bass department they now have a real "oouf" in their sound, you can feel it. It is pretty nice. While watching Dark knight rises I felt like in a cinema. For a moment I was afraid drivers might explode. As for my biggest complain with singers voices, it is finally fixed. Voices of singers doesn't sound behind and distant, they feel closer more intimate and smoother sounding it just flows now.. Finally i can enjoy my favorite female singers voices from metric to the cardigans. So i guess the conclusion is it wasn't headphone fault, but windows fault . And other conclusion would be, that these headphones is very sensetive to source and equalizing. You need to really play with them do get the best out of it. I'm planing on upgrading my creative card to asus ST, so another edit might be coming in maybe three-four month, depending on how my budget will be
 
EDIT 2014-03-04
 
So instead of asus ST I get  a fiio e10. First impressions - not a big difference from creative sound card. BUT when I think to myself, that I equalized my creative sound card to "perfection", so I should do the same for my fiio 10. So I did. Soundstage opened up and got even wider, vocals got a bit foward and sounds very clean, bass tightened up ( I use bass boost on fiio e10). Without mentioned changes, sound itself that e10 reproduce is very clean, probably because it is far from computer hardware which created a small hiz when listening to my creative card. Also, it is now powered properly.  Sound card really struggled to power 518, I had almost always to set volume to max. Now it is around 5 on e10 and 50 proc. on my volume in OS and it is very noticeable. It is hard to explain, but it gives a life to headphones and also to music. It sound more lively. If you feel your sound card struggles to power sens 518, you have your volume in windows, mac or linux set up high, I will recommend you to upgrade to e10. If not, well if you expect to be blown away by an dedicated amp vs your sound card, it is not going to happen. It will sound a bit better, but not "OMG AMAZING" better