Sennheiser HD 569 Closed Back Headphone

Fruity Backstory:
This is a headphone that really took me by surprise. I was out looking around in Microcenter, like one does, and found they have an isle with gaming headsets, and studio/audiophile closed-back headphones available to try. I got the chance to try them all at free will, since they were not particularly busy at the moment.

I went down the line, Audio-Technica, some Blue (brand), and a few Sennheiser. The last one was the HD569. I had been somewhat disinterested by most of the headphones. Nothing stood out until the HD569. I was looking forward to each new song. Sold.



Actual Review:
Comfort:
One of the most important aspect of any headphone is the comfort. I can say that the HD569 fall right in line with the other Sennheisers from the 5xx series. I actually like them more because the earpads are a different material than the others. I do think that the headband could have been more like the HD579/HD599/HD598C The older style headband padding solution is objectively worse IMO. Clamp is a little lower out of the box compared to the HD558, it is probably comparable to the HD598. I still hold the little deflector inside the earcup with contempt. My dumbo ears touch them, as usual. I am sorta used to the feeling, as the whole 5xx line has this. I just with they had found a way around it since they are closed back. They do get hot after a while in hot conditions, but the pads do a pretty good job dissipating heat compared to leather pads.

Sound:
Yes. I approve. I am not usually a fan of closed back headphones, so I have a smaller comparison pool than open-back. The HD569 have a smaller soundstage than the Game Zero. They are a bit HD600 in soundstage. It exists, but isn't large. Imaging is fine for a closed back. Again, the Game Zero wins here.
The real strong suit of the HD569 is detail and smooth nature. The detail retrieval is great. Directly compared to my Vmoda CF2 Wireless, the HD569 immediately has better mids and detail.
The key here is smooth, but detailed. The Bass has much more punch than body. The Mids have a great balance of smoothness, natural timbre, and detail. The Highs are rolled off a little, but they do still have the kind of crunch that I like. They are not sibilant to me. There does seem to be a spike at the high-hat frequency. Really is just seems to add clarity (and said crunch) more than anything else.
The pads do seem to affect the tuning greatly. Just like my HD600/6XX, changing the pads in any way only makes them sound worse.

If Santaheiser could get me one of these with a little bass bloom, that would be great.

The Fun Stuff:
I found that the HD569 has a hidden talent: Gaming. I found that they seal out sound better than the HyperX cloud II. Even more exciting to me is the in-line microphone on the 4 pole mobile cable included in the box. All together now: "What????" I have found through raw frustration of annoying my fellow discordees that my boom-mounted Audio-Technica lets all the background noise in, including things like my mouse, keyboard, loud cars outside, shuffling in my seat, etc. The only soultion that solved all my complaints is the HD569 mic. The noise cancelling is next level. Almost nothing gets through. Not even mechanical keyboard clicks. The mic does sound worse than the Audio-Technica, the Game Zero/Game one, and the Vmoda boom-pro. I did find it to sound better than the HyperX cloud II mic, and better than the Vmoda in-line mic. The best part is that I don't have a mic arm hanging in front of me, or a headset mic blocking my ability to eat or drink. The only downside is that the cable is the proprietary Sennheiser 5xx locking connector. It also seems to work on the M50X (at least mine did) for what that is worth. I use the HyperX soundcard with this setup because it has a 4 pole in, and volume controls on it.

I realized I just gave my whole-hearted approval for a Sennheiser cable.... I never thought i would see the day.....

Conclusion:
I am Mr. Brightside when it comes to audio usually. I tend to find the best parts of headphones and equipment and do my best to enjoy them. With the HD569, I didn't have to look for the good. The good just showed up. I am quite the fan of the Sennheiser sound, and this enables me to have it on-the-go. The HD569 is really a keeper. I would have paid full retail if I had to. I highly recommend the HD569.

Song Recommendation:
Polaris - Deadmau5
(you thought it was gonna be "Mr. Brightside - The Killers" )

Comments are cool too. Questions are cool too.

This is a very nice headphone. Comfort is good and the sound quality is good and balanced.
 
I compared the Sennheiser HD569 with the Beyerdynamic DT770 pro and the Sennheiser won because it has the oval shaped earcups. The earcups are big and oval so they don't touch my ears anywhere which the DT770 do.
The material of the cushions is nice and soft. There is memoryfoam in the cushions which feels good on the skull. The clamping force is high enough that it doesn't fall of my head with movement. After hours of wearing them it doesn't irritate.
 
Both the DT770 pro and the DH569 are closed back headphones whose sound quality aren't much different. The emphasis is a bit on the low frequencies, like the DT770 pro. The sound of the HD569 is balanced. I like a sound on the laid back side of things and don't like irritating, harsh highs. The HD569 fits that category nicely.
 
The HD569 had a slightly better isolation than the DT770 pro but don't expect miracles. The isolation on both is not quite as good as a Sennheiser HD280 pro.
 
There are two cables in the package. A long 3m cable with a big fixed 6,35mm jack and a 1,2m one with a small 3,5mm connector. I want a 3m cable with a small jack. The original 3m cable can be fitted with an adapter but this will make the whole connector very large and clumsy on a macbook. So I ordered a 3m cable with small 3.5mm jack on ebay.
 
The impedance is only 32Ohm. Good for mobile use but a little low at home on a Musical Fidelity x-cans. It does work but the volumeknob needs to be in the low regions.