Sennheiser HD 560S

Let's just come out and say it: I sadly don't enjoy this headphone. From the moment I took them out of the box, played Got The Life by Korn and the drums kicked in, I knew these weren't right for me. The snares and cymbals have far too much high frequency energy. These headphones attack my ears with shouty upper midrange and treble, even after I threw on an EQ at 4khz. The whole experience of the sound is nervy and uncomfortable. After a while I wondered if I could be fooling myself. Sometimes we convince ourselves of silly things that aren't true and we have to always consider that possibility. Maybe the recording is much worse than I remember, maybe my ears are fried today. So I went back to my trusty Fidelio X1's with the same music and sure enough: sounds epic. Put on the same section of Got The Life with the 58X Jubilees: yeah that's nice, exactly as I remember it. Vibrant and powerful sounding. Excellent midrange. The issue isn't with my ears, it's with the 560S. No matter how much I turn down the volume to look for some equilibrium, I'm not able to find it. Only after I equalize the 4k and 8k ranges even more do I finally arrive at something listenable.

Soundstaging is great. Timbre is decent, though definitely not as good as on the HD58X Jubilees or the 6x0 series. Bass is well extended and has impact, on that note I'm very much on board with the modern trend where we're getting great bass response from new releases. The 58X did this, the 660S2 is another example and the 560S is also more than a step up from what we used to get from headphones in this price range such as the HD598. As a little something of a basshead I do really appreciate Sennheiser being in tune with what's going on in the hifi world. However, the 560S suffers from not having enough lower midrange and too much reservation in its midbass response. There's no grunt to the sound, it doesn't move me at all. I'm listening to Angel by Massive Attack and a key difference between the 560S and some headphones I like is mainly that. Without it, the music is missing something critical. Yes there's more clarity, but at the heavy cost of what my ears think sounds right. I've tried a variety of genres with this headphone and I'm not being hyperbolic when I say nothing really worked for me with these. And there's also the marketing thing. Sennheiser has branded the HD560S as a detail monster, but honestly it really isn't. Some things will stand out more because you're most likely coming from a different tuning, but overall these are on the same level as a great number of headphones in this price class. You can say well, maybe those headphones are also great at retrieving detail? Well yeah! That's exactly right, at this price bracket a headphone should do well at giving us insight into the music. The 560S is on par, which is good, but not special. Its bright nature shouldn't be mistaken for a quality; it is a characteristic more than anything. And another thing I've read is where people say, yeah it's a bit bright, but it's not as bright as the DT990[or whatever headphone]! I mean, why does that matter. The DT990 is an entirely different animal. It doesn't make sense to compare in that way, the only thing that matters is that the 560S on its own is too bright. It isn't a valid defense of it to say that something else has issues.

These headphones have made me wonder... So you have a headphone that does really well in all technical areas. You have your bass extension, you have your soundstage and separation, lots of detail, a real attempt to make everything sound balanced. You listen to your music and you conclude that yes, this is in fact the flawless presentation you had dreamed about. Try as you might, you can't identify a flaw. On paper it's all there, but... Is it actually fun to listen to? Maybe the lesson with the Sennheiser HD560S is that the whole is not the same as all of its parts.


update 13 nov 2023: modified some of the wording a bit, because my initial disappointment made me come off more strongly than I intended. My opinion remains unchanged however. Also shortened the review.

TLDL:

If you want a slight bright neurtal tuning with good technicalities you can give it a try .
Again try to pair it up with warm sources or better amplification to get good result out of it .
Dont try compare it with sundara or other sennheiser6 seris they are on their own league.


PACKAGING AND ACCESSORIES

>>Sennheiser HD 560S headphones(ear pads are velourish material)
>>3 meter 6.35mm terminated cable
>>6.35mm to 3.5mm adapter cable




Technical Specifications


>>Form Factor: Open-backed, over-ear
>>Frequency Response (Hz): 6Hz ~38KHz
>>Drivers : Dynamic driver
>>Source Jack : 6.35mm /3.5mm
>>Sensitivity (dB) : 110 dB
>>Removable Cable : ✔
>>Impedance (Ohm) : 120 Ω
>>Headphone in Jack : 2.5mm
>>Removable Cable : ✔
>>Weight : 240 gram

Sound Impression :

source:
Dongle : >>xduoo link2 bal
desktop: >>(ifi zen dac v2+ ifi zen can ),
>>(smsl su-9 + cayin IHA-6)
Aftermarket cable : Faaeal balance cable






[BASS]

Not that much bass that will nod your head .
Good sub bass comparing mid bass but lacks slams and rumble .
If i need bass slams & rumble i just hit TRUEBASS on iFi Zen dac v2 and it just give me that deep thump with vibration .
Bass assault is muted, and decay is a little delayed.
There is hardly any audible middle bleed or masking of higher frequencies.
But with cayin IHA-6 i get a decent amount of bass, might be for that crazy amplification .


[MIDS]

Sennheiser is very famous for its mid centric tuning .
The upper mids can sound shrill.
This is partly because of the linear bass response, which completely exposes the upper mid yell.
However, the lower mids are quite well tuned.
Due to uncolored mid range it is very suitable for audio mixing .


[TREBLE]

Tuning is neutral brightish.
Lower treble is still harsh with warm ifi zen dac , it was very pleasant & enjoyable with IHA-6 though .
Upper treble is is natrural not overdone. But sometimes it felt sibilant even with zen stack but not on cayin .
Attack & decay of treble was good indeed .


Technicalities:

Stage , imaging was not that top of class but it is very good for open back & for its price .
separation is charming for its price , you might not find good separation within its price range .
I play CSGO competetive fps game , i can pick up every detail that is happening around me yet the footstep & directional sense was not top notch but it wasn't bad either.
Due to the absence of mid bass bulk and sub bass rumble, macrodynamic punch is weak. Although above average, microdynamics are not exceptional.


Comparisons

HD560s vs HD599se

I don't have many sennheiser headphone to compare with ,in future i'll try to gather other sennheiser to compare .
HD599se is very bass bloated where is it has bass quantity & on the other hand HD560s has less amount of bass .
HD599se has lush mid where HD560s has crisp sweet mid .
HD599se has its treble cut off where HD560s has little peek on treble.
Soundstage & imaging is slight better on HD599se (Nitpicking) where separation is better on HD560s .
For gaming and relaxing session HD599se is good if one dont want that much analytical sounding .




HD560s vs Edition xs

Sub bass rumble was seen on edition xs , mids might be little sweet on hd560s but that attack, resoulation and separation on edition xs was on another level .
Treble was very enjoying in edition xs . Technicalities was better on edition xs , dynamic speed cause it is a planar driver .
Edition is superior in every aspect , Edition xs swiping the floor with HD560s .
But despite being a dynamic driver hd560s wasn't that bad either but Edition xs win with ease .






Rating:

Bass: 3.8/5
Mids: 4.5/5
Treble: 3.8/5
Imaging/Separation: 4.0/5
Staging: 4.0/5
Dynamics/Speed: 3.9/5



Conclusion :

Good for monitoring & gaming .
Might feel boring , Needs time to grow on you .
Might need to eq to get more out off bass section.
Might be safe buy.

Introduction

The most popular headphone since 2020, has been reviewed a lot and has sold a a ton of units. Sennheiser released an amazing product but most people don't seem to understand to real purpose of these headphones. Still, is an amazing performer and possibly the best value around 200 dollars.

Packaging and accesories

• Is just a regular box, Sennheiser has been reducing packaging quality in the last couple of years including the HD 600 family.
• It includes a 3 meter 2.5 to 6.3 mm cable, good for studios
• 6.3 to 3.5 adapter for regular users

Comfort

• Traditional HD 500 line comfort (almost perfect)
• Great earpads, but they may need a replacement after 2-3 years though.
• Clamping force is a bit stronger than other HD 500 line headphones, but not as big as HD 600 family

Bass

• Very well extended, subass is present but has a noticeable roll off after 60 hertz
• A little dry to my taste, not very warm
• Control, speed and detail is amazing for the price
• Slam is pretty decent

Midrange

• Great detail
• High midrange is more prominent than HD 600s, can be to hot for some
• Transparency is top notch

Treble

• Low treble is accentuated to a point it becomes piercing with bad amplification/DAC performance
• Extension is awesome
• Low quality recording can sound terrible, possibly making you hate your music

Soundstage and imaging

• Better than HD 600 family
• Just perfect for the price, no complaints here

Final take
It's just the best headphone in the HD 500 line, outperforming every headphone in almost any categorie. Comfort is great, but pads may look weird after a few weeks. Matching is a bit difficult to have a decent experience with low quality recordings (iFi products are a perfect match). Technical performance is perfect for gaming. In the end, this are headphones for profesionals. My main concern is that the HD 560s doesn't provide a good experience with all my albums, so It's not a headphone for me in particular.