[SSL443]

  Well it took 3 tries but I finally got a "good" pair. I've been burning them in and also listening and I'm having trouble coming to grips with how resolving they are. Either that or they are misbehaving and I'm wondering if it's the nature of planar headphones. I love hearing the performance sounds I've been missing. The issue is that certain tones like solo piano or banjo or any strongly percussive midrange tone, there is a kind of bloom at the end of the sound sometimes. On other "regular" headphones you can hear something is going on there, a kind of blur, but on the HE-560 it's audible as a kind of resonance, almost scratchy, but barely there. 99% of the time they sound amazing but then I hear these little details and I wonder what's going on and I worry, after my first pair was defective with a very noticeable rattle. I would estimate I have 80 hours on them so far. Is it a matter of how gracefully a headphone handles "problem" material, or like I said, is this their nature? Other than worrying about this I can go for hours in amazement of how great they sound.
 
Prior to these the best I have had is Grado SR-225 (original) and Westone ES60. I'd appreciate any guidance people have to offer regarding this.

 
I've never heard what you're describing with piano. As mentioned, specific recordings are needed to compare.

 

[jdriver]

Never mind, I am dumb. I am hearing normal performance sounds I have never heard before and/or defects in the original recordings. I had been comparing the "suspect" sounds between the 560's and my Grado's. When I listened to the same sounds on my KRK VXT room monitors they sound the same as the 560's, revealing obviously defective recordings. The Grados, bless their hearts and I love them dearly, they just gloss over the defects. It may be euphonic but it's not accurate! Just for giggles here are two short loopable clips to give an idea what I was getting hung up on.  
 
http://wikisend.com/download/596794/loops.zip

 

[SSL443]

  Never mind, I am dumb. I am hearing normal performance sounds I have never heard before and/or defects in the original recordings. I had been comparing the "suspect" sounds between the 560's and my Grado's. When I listened to the same sounds on my KRK VXT room monitors they sound the same as the 560's, revealing obviously defective recordings. The Grados, bless their hearts and I love them dearly, they just gloss over the defects. It may be euphonic but it's not accurate! Just for giggles here are two short loopable clips to give an idea what I was getting hung up on.  
 
http://wikisend.com/download/596794/loops.zip

 
That's about what I figured. The 560 is pretty quick and resolving.

 

[WhiskeyJacks]

  Never mind, I am dumb. I am hearing normal performance sounds I have never heard before and/or defects in the original recordings. I had been comparing the "suspect" sounds between the 560's and my Grado's. When I listened to the same sounds on my KRK VXT room monitors they sound the same as the 560's, revealing obviously defective recordings. The Grados, bless their hearts and I love them dearly, they just gloss over the defects. It may be euphonic but it's not accurate! Just for giggles here are two short loopable clips to give an idea what I was getting hung up on.  
 
http://wikisend.com/download/596794/loops.zip

You Are not retarding for not knowing, and I had a good few mid tier(prices maybe around 400-500$) before getting the HE-560, but I was fortunate enough to buy a grill modded, pad modded, and cable modded headphone from a friend on Head-fi. So, granted yes brain burn was required either way, and with some of my poorer recorded files i definitely heard any mistakes and or lack of quality via these headphones. 
 
I wanted to ask what amp and dac are you using?, I know many on head-fi that I have talked to about this have suggested an dac that is very transparent but and amp that has some warmth to it and isn't harsh in the treble region. I personally Have used the Pan am, GO1000, iBasso Pb2(great pairing with the Dummy buffers, the 602s, and the LM49990s opamps in there) and the desktop amp that I chose and kept was the Audio-gd NFB28 balanced dac and amp. Now, I have used others like the first Lyr, the vali, magni, o2, etc but in terms of pairing, transparency, detail retrieval, speed, bass extension, sound stage, etc, and with out sounding brighter on good recordings the NFB28 gave me that. It puts out I believe about 8 watts are 40 ohms if  I can recall. It is fully balanced source and class a amplification; the DAC section being very transparent, revealing, with good space and separation on the headphones I have use. The amp in my opinion is fantastic, and gives a slight smoothness to the HE-560s but keeps them revealing, fast, with good extension, doesn't take away from it's positive features. 
 
Alo Panam was  a good combo as well, though I wish a bit more watts at lower impedance. Sorry for the ramble it is early, I am sick, and I think you just need to check to synergy with the amp and he-560, and also give brain burn some time.

 

[jdriver]

Nothing fancy here for sources I'm afraid. X5, X5ii, and a Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 for DACs, amps are a PA2V2 and something called a mini-head which consists of 2 OPA227 op amps + 2 BUF634 and some resistors and 2 caps. Puts out a quite a bit of very clean power though with the 24v power supply.

 

[Sonic Defender]

  Nothing fancy here for sources I'm afraid. X5, X5ii, and a Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 for DACs, amps are a PA2V2 and something called a mini-head which consists of 2 OPA227 op amps + 2 BUF634 and some resistors and 2 caps. Puts out a quite a bit of very clean power though with the 24v power supply.

That all sounds pretty decent! Must be an enjoyable rig.

 

[WhiskeyJacks]

Nothing fancy here for sources I'm afraid. X5, X5ii, and a Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 for DACs, amps are a PA2V2 and something called a mini-head which consists of 2 OPA227 op amps + 2 BUF634 and some resistors and 2 caps. Puts out a quite a bit of very clean power though with the 24v power supply.

Yeah I would have to agree with sonic defender. What you have should be sold as a source, and as your amp should be fine as long q as it can put enough power into lower impedance. I mean my he560 sounds great from my dx 90 via IBasso pb2 or meier 2stepdance, so I don't doubt you can drive yours well

 

[d4rkch1ld]

Help me people problems started. Yesterday i was listening to angels & demons ost and i noticed driver rattle i checked for hair and there was none. Then i removed the grille to see if something got inside the cups and i noticed some clicking sound. When i put headphones on and i press on big plastic ring where grilles and connector for cable go i can clearly hear clicking sound when i play music with deep bass that becomes a rattle. If i press the ring while music is playing rattle stops.
Any ideas if this is repairable? Is is possible to pull out that piece and the refit with maybe some dampening?

 

[XenHeadFi]

  Help me people problems started. Yesterday i was listening to angels & demons ost and i noticed driver rattle i checked for hair and there was none. Then i removed the grille to see if something got inside the cups and i noticed some clicking sound. When i put headphones on and i press on big plastic ring where grilles and connector for cable go i can clearly hear clicking sound when i play music with deep bass that becomes a rattle. If i press the ring while music is playing rattle stops.
Any ideas if this is repairable? Is is possible to pull out that piece and the refit with maybe some dampening?

Yes... the ring is not tight enough and there is a small gap. This allows the grill to rattle. It's also probably due to random chance and how many "open" holes are along the edge of your grill. I wish HIFIMAN had reinforced the edge of their grills as this would reduce this issue.
 
A bit of putty (blue sticky stuff) around the edge that seems to rattle will fix it. Maybe try the grill mod, but not sure if the grill mod was designed to fix this issue as it was to help with rear reflection of energy.

 

[manishex]

Where exactly would i put the putty, i've had this trouble for a very long time, but only noticed it after jerg mod. Grill mod does nothing. Ive put putty and glue on the ring and then more inbetween the interface of ear pad and housing

 

[XenHeadFi]

Where exactly would i put the putty, i've had this trouble for a very long time, but only noticed it after jerg mod. Grill mod does nothing. Ive put putty and glue on the ring and then more inbetween the interface of ear pad and housing

Sounds like you have a slightly different problem. The putty should be on the inside, filling in the edge from the cup-grill-plastic ring. If it is still rattling after glue and putty, I am not sure what it could be. There should be no room for the grill to move along the edge.
 
Is your grill bowled slightly inward toward the magnet? I just noticed my stock grills were slight concave, and I flattened them. When I put the grill back on, I tested different orientations and found one that didn't produce as much give. Now, when I tap around the ring, I do not hear clicking. I wonder if the strong magnets in the cups are slowly deforming the grill since the stock grill is at least paramagnetic (doesn't seem to be ferromagnetic) as I've had it get pulled out of my fingers by the magnets...

 

[d4rkch1ld]

I guess i did not explain properly? Its not the grille its the big plastic piece in which grille sits.

 

[SSL443]

  I guess i did not explain properly? Its not the grille its the big plastic piece in which grille sits.

 
Are you sure it is that piece that is rattling? It's possible that applying pressure is improving the seal and preventing the diaphragm from slapping against the magnets.

 

[Sanlitun]

   
Seeing how not many chimed in: It's a matter of preference in regards to the comparison.
 
If you absolutely adore the HE-500's signature, then I doubt you'll be happy with the HE-560 in comparison.
 
The HE-500 has a much pronounced treble response compared to the HE-560.
 
In terms of overall sound, the HE-500 tends to have more slam, impact, and bass quantity as opposed to the HE-560's softer and more laid-back signature. 
 
The HE-500 is like the HE-6's baby brother. While the HE-560 is closer to the HE-1000 in terms of tonality. 
 
Hope this helps!

 
I'm toying with the idea of trading my HD800 for the HE-560. I never listen to the Sennheiser as they just have too much treble energy for me. 
 
On the other hand the LCD-X that I have been using now seem too colored and too dark. I gave my HE-500 a re-listen and I am really liking their balanced sound and resolution. I think I stopped listening to the HE-500 because of all of their little problems with build quality and the forks coming unscrewed. Because of this I hadn't heard them with the Bakoon, and the sound is really outstanding. The treble seems to be there and providing detail, but it is not fatigueing like the HD800.
 
We do have a dealer here, so I will give the HE-560 a listen and see where it goes. 

 

[XenHeadFi]

  I guess i did not explain properly? Its not the grille its the big plastic piece in which grille sits.

 
The cup is rattling? That does not sound good. If you do not see anything that is obviously loose, then I suggest contacting HIFIMAN.
 
I am not comfortable enough to take apart the cups.