[livewire]

Geez! I cant wait to get my paws on these puppies, then burn em in & mod em.

 

[Circuitbender]

Serious brofist to OP for posting this deal. In for 1... when I saw the price... Amazon usually has the lowest prices for everything and this is a full 40 dollars cheaper that Amazon.

 

[lazyjae]

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I had never needed to use an amp before these either. They're only 50ohms, so I figured my iPod could power them fairly easily. I'd used my HA-RX900s on them before, and they have a similar (or higher) impedance than these. The iPod powered those fine. The HD555s get loud enough through my iPod, but they just sound terrible. I didn't think switching to my Xonar DX would make much of a difference, but it really did. But, who knows, maybe yours are powered fine and the sound just isn't your thing.

Guess I'll never know until I try it out. I'll def look into getting an amp and report back. What it doesn't explain is why my M50's sound equally as horrible and I've been reading M50's don't need amp to sound good. Which leads me back to needing to burn em in.

 
I'm expecting, in a week or so from now to be gloating about how much I love the M50 since burn in for 555's are said to be 6 months

 

[hans030390]

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Guess I'll never know until I try it out. I'll def look into getting an amp and report back. What it doesn't explain is why my M50's sound equally as horrible and I've been reading M50's don't need amp to sound good. Which leads me back to needing to burn em in.
 
I'm expecting, in a week or so from now to be gloating about how much I love the M50 since burn in for 555's are said to be 6 months

Yeah, definitely try an amp for them. It doesn't have to be great or anything...I don't believe the Xonar DX is superb in that aspect, but it definitely made a huge difference in these. What all have you tried using your M50s with?

 

[Genekim1]

Hi everyone,



I have 280 and I think they sound great. If I get 555, will I notice the difference easily?

Should I save money and use it towards better ones in the future?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Anaxilus]

So what sounds bad about the M50?  Maybe explaining that will help us let you know if you should even bother.

 

[lazyjae]

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So what sounds bad about the M50?  Maybe explaining that will help us let you know if you should even bother.

It sounds very muddy and veiled at the moment particularly the mids. The instruments/vocals don't sound clear at all - like sludge. I can only describe it as the sound of listening to very cheap headphones where the sound seems to be coming in from the other end of a tunnel. I just got them yesterday I did my HW before buying these and 9/10 times people preferred the M50's over the 280's but out of the box, the 280's sounded so much better.
 
I'm in the process of burning them in so it's too soon to say much more.

 

[JustinTX83]

Just got mine in. Even un-amped, they are still pretty dang impressive. I just wish the noise leakage wasn't so bad.

 

[lazyjae]

Great news.
 
Both M50 and 555 mellowed out some compared to when I first put them on. It's actually bearable now but still needs a lot more play time. The soundstage on the 555 expanded a little. I just compared it to the earphones I was listening to yesterday, before I plugged the 555/M50 in and the in ears sound really bad. Yesterday they both sounded equally as bad as the in ear - shrill highs, sludgy everything, lousy bass and overall distant/congested sound.
 
It still sounds like noise is coming from the other end of a tunnel but it's more closer now.  I played the same tunes I played yesterday and on one particular song, it sounded so bad. Now it's improved, though by only a bit but shoooot as long as it doesn't sound like it first did, I'll be a happy camper. The drum petal is still a bit messy, and the guitar is still sludgy but the rest of the drums sound much more distinct. The low end actually softened up and I had to raise the bass today.
 
 
lol sometimes, there's so much sound leakage on the Senns, I wonder why I bother putting these headphones on. It's like a speaker in and of itself.

 

[hans030390]

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It sounds very muddy and veiled at the moment particularly the mids. The instruments/vocals don't sound clear at all - like sludge. I can only describe it as the sound of listening to very cheap headphones where the sound seems to be coming in from the other end of a tunnel. I just got them yesterday I did my HW before buying these and 9/10 times people preferred the M50's over the 280's but out of the box, the 280's sounded so much better.
 
I'm in the process of burning them in so it's too soon to say much more.

The M50s are definitely bassy and could use more mids, but that sounds WAY worse than my M50s. I bought mine used, though, so I'm not sure if burn-in is a factor in that for me or not. What sources have you tried them with?

 

[lazyjae]

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The M50s are definitely bassy and could use more mids, but that sounds WAY worse than my M50s. I bought mine used, though, so I'm not sure if burn-in is a factor in that for me or not. What sources have you tried them with?

I just plug it into my desktop stereo Micro Monitor ma-8 - Roland. My hd280's sounded nice plugged into these.
 
I'm listening to the Senn 555 right now while the M50 is playing music from my ipod. I have to admit, I'm impressed by how it sounds on my ipod. Much better than when the hd555 was plugged into the ipod.

 

[TheGame21x]

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Just got mine in. Even un-amped, they are still pretty dang impressive. I just wish the noise leakage wasn't so bad.

Well, they are designed to be open back headphones (even though, with the foam in place it's really only semi-open) so the noise leakage is to be expected.
 
My pair should be here on Monday. I'm looking forward to hearing them and comparing them to my M50s (which I love, by the way).

 

[hans030390]

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I just plug it into my desktop stereo Micro Monitor ma-8 - Roland. My hd280's sounded nice plugged into these.
 
I'm listening to the Senn 555 right now while the M50 is playing music from my ipod. I have to admit, I'm impressed by how it sounds on my ipod. Much better than when the hd555 was plugged into the ipod.

Yeah, it sounds like it's just your stereo monitors that aren't working as well with the M50s and HD555s for whatever reason. Now, maybe the HD555s won't ultimately offer a sound you're looking for, but I'm almost positive you'll be pretty impressed with them once you find a good source for them.

 

[lazyjae]

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Yeah, it sounds like it's just your stereo monitors that aren't working as well with the M50s and HD555s for whatever reason. Now, maybe the HD555s won't ultimately offer a sound you're looking for, but I'm almost positive you'll be pretty impressed with them once you find a good source for them.

Why it was so bad in the beginning remains a mystery to me but the fog is beginning to clear on the 555's. omg, I'm beginning to really enjoy them. I put them on blast all day and night yesterday.
 
Yesterday, I was cringing at the sound, today I'm smiling at the changes. It's so subtle and then it creeps in on you.
 
 
I do want to get an amp now to see how it'll improve the sound. Any amps that easy on the wallet that are compatible with both M50 and Senn?

 

[hans030390]

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Why it was so bad in the beginning remains a mystery to me but the fog is beginning to clear on the 555's. omg, I'm beginning to really enjoy them. I put them on blast all day and night yesterday.
 
Yesterday, I was cringing at the sound, today I'm smiling at the changes. It's so subtle and then it creeps in on you.
 
 
I do want to get an amp now to see how it'll improve the sound. Any amps that easy on the wallet that are compatible with both M50 and Senn?

I'm thinking about picking up a pre-built CMoy amp on eBay for around $45. It should be able to match my Xonar DX when it comes to powering the HD555s, but I won't know for sure until I can order it. If that's too much, you may want to try out some of the Fiio amps...I just doubt they would work that well. 
 
If you don't mind a non-portable solution and have a desktop PC, you could invest in a Xonar DS (has swappable op-amps) or DX. At least then you should be able to hear the difference I keep mentioning.