The HD558 is one of those headphones that even when you're not specifically listening to music, some soundtrack might randomly come up in a show or whatever and you catch yourself thinking gosh that sounds so nice. And that is not something that goes without saying, even with expensive headphones. Sometimes audiophiles may get in a habit of setting up their circumstances for listening to music: it needs to be this or that track or otherwise my gear just shows the problems in the recordings etc. None of that with these. These simply sound really nice...

I'll start with a strong statement: these might be a candidate for best headphone ever made. They have so much to offer it's pretty wild, but keep in mind that I'm reviewing these entirely as an audiophile headphone. I'm not pulling any punches, there will be no "it's pretty good for a closed back", or comments about isolation. I'm looking at these the same as I have done the 58x, 560S and others. The first thing we have to talk about is the bass, because wow. The bass on these is awesome and frankly not comparable to what you get on open backs...

In this review I'll be mainly comparing the 560S to the DT770. I think it's a good comparison for two reasons, first being they both cost about the same and aim for an analytical, balanced sound. The HD560S seems designed from the start to compete with Beyerdynamic's offerings like the DT770 and DT990, which operate in the same price bracket with a similar purpose as the 560S. The second reason is that I think the DT770 remains one of the absolute best headphones out there period. Sennheiser has always had pretty good offerings in its 5xx series, but...

On my continuous quest to find a headphone that can finally dethrone the Fidelio X1 that I've mained for the last nine years, I've stumbled upon the Jubilee 58x. I've heard and owned a lot of Sennheiser headphones, including the HD650 and HD600. I think there are great things about them, but their lack of quality bass and soundstage has always been a big turnoff. The 58x on the other hand does better, so for the second time, first being the HD598, I have on my hands a Sennheiser that I actually like. But uh... I don't like them enough. The main...