[Goober]

I know no one probably cares since these are old and discontinued but here goes anyway.

Anyways, I missed my chance on the 565's and I was too impatient to wait so I thought I'd give the 535's a try. Well the good news is they are very efficient and anything will probably drive them easily. The bad news is they seem to be very picky about the source. On my crappy old sound card they sound little better than my $20 sony's. On a portable stereo they definately sound better but still not worth the $80 I paid. Overall I'd say that they're pretty bright and on some songs the midrange seems a little withdrawn, like the singer is in the background. I expect an amp might take care of those problems though.

I also find them uncomfortable. I know Senn's are supposed to be comfortable but I really hate the way these are supported by the top of my head. It'd be nice if there was a little pressure on the sides. When I look down they try to slide off. My cheap Sony's are much more comfy.

Now for the problem I'm having. Whenever I listen to them, even for a few minutes, my ears feel all stuffed up and my head feels kinda weird. This didn't happen when I first got them but started the last couple of days.

Oh well, now I have to decide whether to swallow the 15% restocking fee and send them back or maybe buy a better sound card to test them on.

Anybody have any comments?

 

[jude]

Oy.....

Goober, I wish I could be of more help here. I'm not at all familiar with the HD-535's -- not even with their general reputation.

Obviously, if the general opinion of those phones is bad, then eating the 15% restocking fee is better than eating the whole cost of them and being stuck with them.

So those familiar with the HD-535's, please offer some advice to Goober.

 

[Tides]

Maybe you can put the 535 on ebay ?
then use the money from that toward 580 or even 600. ( either one is far superior than 535, and more comfortable.)

Instead of 15% restocking fee option. I give Ebay a shot with a reserved price.

best of luck~!

Tides

 

[slindeman]

Your portable may not have enough juice to power them if its one of the low power 5mW varieties. Hard to say for sure. My 545's are powered fine by my 15mW portables, and they sound $100 better than stock headphones and my Sony MDR-V200's. They will sound very bright if you've never listened to good headphones before, and just a tad bright it you have.

It's true the 5x5 series does not clamp on the side of your head much at all. Upgrade to the 580/600 or 570/590 if you want more side clamping.

My suggestion: listen to them exclusively for a few days to allow your ears to adjust, then switch back to your $20 Sony's and see how closed-in and dark they sound in comparison. If they aren't comfortable, though, then it's not worth keeping them. Also you ought to try the Grado SR-60/80 which are in the same price range.

BTW, they're not discontinued, nor are the 565's. They are both listed on the Sennheiser USA website. They are just hard to find.

 

[Goober]

I'm not using a portable, I'm using one of those portable radio's that plug into the wall and have a handle. Sorry about the misunderstanding. I don't think volume is a problem since nothing I've plugged them into has to go past half volume before becoming deafening.

As for the treble, do all high quality phones have this much or is it just these? I think my cheap speakers may actually have a little smoother treble and I thought they were harsh.

I've done some comparison between these, my cheap sony's and some cheap Koss. I can tell that the 535's are more open but I don't think the Sony's are more dark, in fact I think these are darker.

I haven't considered the Grado's because I don't listen to much fast music and I didn't think they were good at anything else. Is that true?

I just wish my ears would stop feeling like they have cotton in them.

 

[joelongwood]

Goober, I'm unclear as to what you mean by "fast music," but I can tell you that I prefer my Grados over my Sennheiser HD-600s for all kinds of music except classical and large orchestral pieces. Smaller groups and acoustic vocals in particular take on an immediacy with the Grados that is very addicting. Listening to the Senns after my Grados leaves me feeling that I've left the stage and am now sitting in the audience.
As far as comfort goes, the Senns are very comfortable, but I sometimes get a claustrophobic feeling with them, whereas the Grados just kinda rest on my ears with zero clamping factor. Just my opinion.

 

[Goober]

I meant fast music as opposed to softer, more relaxing music. I may try out some Grados anyways. They might go better with my crappy equipment. Does the SR-60 have enough bass to be satisfying for movie watching or maybe I should just buy a cheap closed pair for that in addition to a better pair for music. The Senn's have quite a lot of bass. In fact, I'm not sure my head likes that much bass being directed straight into my ears.

Makes my head feel stuffy or something.

Thanks everyone.

 

[Tides]

I just watched U571 dvd with my senn hd600 and dsp pro ( first time with DSP pro) , pretty awesome.
! Especially the sounds effects depth charged scene. I totally felt the impacts on those charges . SUPERB !

later I plan to watch Saving Private Ryan with my cans

Tides

 

[Eagle_Driver]

Goober, the source that you mentioned is a boombox - and a boombox's headphone jack can be crappier (sound-wise) than even a mediocre portable CDP. In other words, that headphone jack in that boombox can deliver 20mW of crap (rather than the 5mW of relatively good sound that most PCDPs deliver).

 

[Goober]

Well I didn't want to call it a boom box because it's rather small and not very boomy but I suspect you're right anyway. I really think I should have looked into upgrading my source before plunging into new headphones. Oh well, I figured good phones + bad source = ok sound but it's more like good phones + bad source = crap.