[derbigpr]

Quote:

Haha, no... they are said to take every flaw the HD800 had and made them worse, plus added some more anoying flaws,

Yea lol, people who haven't heard them say that.  Reviewers who spent lots of time with them liked them a lot.

 

[ocswing]

 
Quote:

Yea lol, people who haven't heard them say that.  Reviewers who spent lots of time with them liked them a lot.

The only thing people have heard are pre-production versions and I don't think I've seen any of them say either of those sentiments. Well the Headfonia one, yes, but haven't seen anyone else support his impressions, nor anything that it's the worst of the 800 only moreso. Just read through HD700 thread.
 

 

[thermalboyz]

here one interesting pic found. 

 

[dleblanc343]

Unfortunately Mike's first impression is very poor and all over the place. I can't really take it seriously; I personally think he's so enthusiastic about them because of new toy syndrome.
 
Quote:

Haha, no... they are said to take every flaw the HD800 had and made them worse, plus added some more anoying flaws,

 

 

[malbert]

The K550 have lots of impactful tight bass.  It is not difficult to get a proper seal and after the first time it's easy.  Get them, enjoy them.

 

[derbigpr]

Quote:

 

The only thing people have heard are pre-production versions and I don't think I've seen any of them say either of those sentiments. Well the Headfonia one, yes, but haven't seen anyone else support his impressions, nor anything that it's the worst of the 800 only moreso. Just read through HD700 thread.
 

No offense to HD700 thread, but it makes me sick.
Its full of people arguing about headphones that they haven't heard, or seen, or even held in their hands.  Those few who have heard them had generally positive impressions, and those negative impressions are mostly people whining because they think headphones are ugly... or they expected a HD650 v2, and are now disappointed because HD700 is not a new HD650. 
There are some impressions of german hi-fi forums as well, and a german review video on youtube, also all positive from those who tried the headphones, considering its a preproduction model.  And the final production model can only be better. I would expect that Sennheiser gave out so many "beta" models out to public not because they wanted to show off, but because they wanted feedback from the costumers.  Considering what those who actually heard the headphones said, the only problems would be slight lack of bass compared to HD650 and slightly spiky treble, and I would expect that both problems would be sorted in the final version. To me its enough to read Mike's impressions at headfonia, we have very similar tastes in sound signature, usually what he dislikes I dislike as well, and what he likes, I tend to like it as well. I find his reviews most precise than any other when it comes to headphones.  And he said he likes HD700's more than LCD2 or HD800 for example.
Considering the direction in sound signature that Sennheiser is taking with their latest headphones (for example new HD5x8 series) I would expect HD700's can only sound great, not dark, but not bright, piercing or thin, which I really hate.

 

[derbigpr]

Quote:

Unfortunately Mike's first impression is very poor and all over the place. I can't really take it seriously; I personally think he's so enthusiastic about them because of new toy syndrome.
 


 

I doubt someone who's heard basically every high end headphone out there can have a new toy syndrome after having and using the headphones for a pretty long time.  His impressions are not just first impressions. He updates the article all the time and latest impressions are still positive.
 

 

[wkamil]

Quote:

It's not that they sound bad, they don't, technically. They sound almost like Q701's in terms of sound signature, detail, imaging, sound stage, etc.  But the sound they produce is still too thin, too analytical, too hollow, without body, even less body than K701 in fact. Its what it says on the box:  reference headphone. Its for studio use, for mixing, not for listening to music, and you can totally feel that while using them. I mean, comparing the experiance of listening to them to HD650's for example would be... HD650's are like drinking hot, sweet, thick cocoa drink, while K550's are like drinking ice cold carbonated mineral water.
 
The biggest problem for me, same as with Q701, but to even bigger extent, is sibilance. In some music its like listening to SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS all the time. Even on well recorded CDs...like Patricia Barber - Companion. Usually its a nice bassy warm sounding music, very cozy with HD650's, but with K550's sibilance dominates the experiance and it just lacks body.  These are not as good for vocals or jazz as Q701's. I find they sound best with acoustic guitars.

You have definitely bad copy of Companion if you hear SSSSSSSSSSS all the time on K550. Or bad source.
 
 

 

[derbigpr]

Quote:

You have definitely bad copy of Companion if you hear SSSSSSSSSSS all the time on K550. Or bad source.
 
 

Well,  if it was bad source or bad copy, then those issues would be present with other headphones as well, but they're not. No sibilance whatsoever with HD650's for example. 

 

[CantScareMe]

Quote:

You have definitely bad copy of Companion if you hear SSSSSSSSSSS all the time on K550. Or bad source.
 
 

The k550 isn't sibilant exaggerating. 
 
derbigpr
Maybe in the configuration and setup you've got the k550 and k701 are overly sibilant. I've experienced this with some setups with the k550. Especially with the shure 940 is this true though- really need the correct setup to tame some of it's sibilance, but i couldn't tame it to a level that was acceptable to me.
 
But to say that that anything that's brighter than the hd650 is not to your liking, because it's brighter, is well let's say rather restricting!! 
Good for your wallet though There's plenty of headphones you shouldn't touch if you find the k550's sibilant- especially in the high end closed headphone league. I don't actually know what to recommend from what i've heard. But from what I haven't hear the sony z1000 is getting rave reviews for some reason- maybe it'll do it for you. 

 

[tdockweiler]

Quote:

Well,  if it was bad source or bad copy, then those issues would be present with other headphones as well, but they're not. No sibilance whatsoever with HD650's for example. 

HD-650 or HD-598 is actually good at HIDING sibilance. That's probably why you're not hearing it.
 

 

[derbigpr]

Quote:

The k550 isn't sibilant exaggerating. 
 
derbigpr
Maybe in the configuration and setup you've got the k550 and k701 are overly sibilant. I've experienced this with some setups with the k550. Especially with the shure 940 is this true though- really need the correct setup to tame some of it's sibilance, but i couldn't tame it to a level that was acceptable to me.
 
But to say that that anything that's brighter than the hd650 is not to your liking, because it's brighter, is well let's say rather restricting!! 
Good for your wallet though There's plenty of headphones you shouldn't touch if you find the k550's sibilant- especially in the high end closed headphone league. I don't actually know what to recommend from what i've heard. But from what I haven't hear the sony z1000 is getting rave reviews for some reason- maybe it'll do it for you. 

 
I don't mean to say that anything brighter than HD650's is not to my liking.  I'm fine with brightness (unless its over the top), I just hate sibilance, because it sounds like a distortion in music.  Q701's are somewhat sibilant, but not nearly as much as the K550's, at least on my setup.
 

 

[CantScareMe]

distortion in music!
 
I've never heard the k701 so i can't comment on these. But as i said before, there is so very many more headphones that more sibilant than the k550's. 
 
The denon d7000 and the ultrasone ed8 both are (not overly though). This is true from whichever setup I run them from, and whichever music I hear. But is that a bad thing? No.

 

[derbigpr]

Does anyone else have problems with smell and feel of K550?  I'm getting very itchy around and on my ears after 30 mins of wearing them. I know its not sweat because I'm not sweating, and I'm not dirty either. ;P
Recently I watched a documentary on stuff thats made in China and on chemicals and colors used to make and paint artificial leather and cloth, which is then used to make shoes, clothing ,etc. Those colors are illegal to use in Europe or USA, because they are apparently very toxic, so toxic that people who unpack the containers that arrive with ships have to wear gas masks to avoid breathing the fumes that build up during shipment. I'm usually not one of those guys that care where stuff is made, but I really dont like the smell of K550 and it reminded me of that documentary. I noticed the smell when I opened the box, I though it came from the plastic mold in the box, but it appears now that the ear pads actually stink. Its a smell between melting plastic and those air mattresses for water. When I take a deep whiff of it, it leaves a bitter feel in my mouth and throat. Really bad because the headphones are actually built very well from great materials, but I think velour pads would be a better choice. Or at least real leather.

 

[CantScareMe]

What the.
 
Mate, where did you get yours from?? You just made me sniff mine. Nothing wrong at all. I've just switched listening from the d7k to these as these give me a nice flavour for classical music that the denon''s can't.
 
I'm not saying yours are fakes- but could they be. Otherwise there might be some discrepancies in the manufacturing of these.