Piffles
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jun 1, 2006
- Posts
- 116
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- 11
First of all, I'd like to warn you that this post is completely pointless... I'll just be giving my personal, unprofessional impressions on the HD595s after having listened to them for a day. So, if that's nothing to you, don't bother reading on.
The reason I purchased the 595s was that I tried the 580s on in a shop, with a good amp and all, and was very impressed. I was attracted by the laid back sound and the warmth which, I thought, would make the headphones pleasant to listen to for extended periods of time (not this agressive "in-your-head" sound that a lot of them have). However, I use an M-Audio USB interface as a source which has a just above pathetic amp to the phones jack (pathetic being mp3players, discmen etc), so I wanted some easy-to-drive phones similar to the 580s. The 595s were the ones that seemed to meet those conditions best.
Previously, I had been using my dad's prehistoric AKGs, bought in the late 80s, called "parabolic" something or other. My dad assures me they were very highly rated headphones at the time.
Yeah, right!
Anyhow, first impressions:
The Good:
- At first, I thought they were very nice, lovely warm sound, lots of atmosphere. I thought: finally! headphones that sound like loudspeakers.
- Surprisingly, they are also very detailled. I can hear lots of noises on the recordings that I couldn't hear with the AKGs.
- They are very good at "big things": orchestras, complex arrangements with lots of different instruments. They are very good at seperating all the instruments, giving a clear sound from all of them and spacing them out.
- They also perform very well on "atmospheric" music: soft jazz, film music, moody stuff etc.
- They can also do "small things", and excel on Jazz trios (guitar + drums + bass), especially on the bass.
The Bad:
- Then I changed music styles a little and put some Mark Knopfler on. They are very good on Mark's older albums, especially the bluesy tracks like You and Your Friend, Fade to Black but when it comes to Mark solo stuff, especially the acoustic stuff, you notice one thing: Too much bass, just too much (especially bad on A Place where We Used to Live). It's not that it's overpowering or drowns out the rest, it's just that there's too much of it. The strange thing is, even with that amount of bass, the highs still come out clearly. They're just not powerful enough compared to the bass.
- A while later, I switched to classical guitar. Same verdict: too much bass. It's very noticeable here, because they guitar is an instrument that produces a very small and round sound. All the information (volume, tone, coulour etc) is all compacted into that very small round sound. Any deformation of the shape of the sound has very noticeable and negative consequences. Having too much bass makes the sound too "fat" and "clumbsy". It loses a lot of subtlety and gentleness.
- Finally, I went over to Flamenco. That made me notice another not so impressive quality of these headphones: they lack "punch". Flamenco is a quite percussive type of music. The headphones tend to soften the attack on a lot of instruments (guitars and percussions especially). The phones sound too lazy for Flamenco, too slow and smooth. They lack the raw emotion, the "bite" of Flamenco. I checked this out on some rock afterwards and that confirmed my impression: on Dire Straits's Six Blade Knife, the bass line is too soft. Although very loud (lots of bass), the bass lacks punch.
Conclusion:
- I think my experience pretty much confirms the Sennheiser reputation: very warm, nice sounding headphones but made for people who like to relax to a smooth sound. Not for people who like to be right in the middle and have an agressive, in-your-face sound.
- I have to say, on the whole, they are very good phones. A lot better than my dad's old AKGs. When I put them back on, I really noticed how thin and analytical they sounded in comparison.
- However, I'm very annoyed by their lack of sweetness on guitars. I play classical guitar and the AKGs were great for that. They gave a really sweet and true sound. The 595s are a bit clumbsy. You hear the hands, the noises, the recording hiss, everything, it's just that the guitar is not really there as it's supposed to be.
- I read somewhere, AKGs are famous for being good in the mid range and have little bass. That can explain my impressions since I've been listening to AKGs all my life.
So, to conclude the conlusion: very good phones but not really for me - which is a shame.
The reason I purchased the 595s was that I tried the 580s on in a shop, with a good amp and all, and was very impressed. I was attracted by the laid back sound and the warmth which, I thought, would make the headphones pleasant to listen to for extended periods of time (not this agressive "in-your-head" sound that a lot of them have). However, I use an M-Audio USB interface as a source which has a just above pathetic amp to the phones jack (pathetic being mp3players, discmen etc), so I wanted some easy-to-drive phones similar to the 580s. The 595s were the ones that seemed to meet those conditions best.
Previously, I had been using my dad's prehistoric AKGs, bought in the late 80s, called "parabolic" something or other. My dad assures me they were very highly rated headphones at the time.
Anyhow, first impressions:
The Good:
- At first, I thought they were very nice, lovely warm sound, lots of atmosphere. I thought: finally! headphones that sound like loudspeakers.
- Surprisingly, they are also very detailled. I can hear lots of noises on the recordings that I couldn't hear with the AKGs.
- They are very good at "big things": orchestras, complex arrangements with lots of different instruments. They are very good at seperating all the instruments, giving a clear sound from all of them and spacing them out.
- They also perform very well on "atmospheric" music: soft jazz, film music, moody stuff etc.
- They can also do "small things", and excel on Jazz trios (guitar + drums + bass), especially on the bass.
The Bad:
- Then I changed music styles a little and put some Mark Knopfler on. They are very good on Mark's older albums, especially the bluesy tracks like You and Your Friend, Fade to Black but when it comes to Mark solo stuff, especially the acoustic stuff, you notice one thing: Too much bass, just too much (especially bad on A Place where We Used to Live). It's not that it's overpowering or drowns out the rest, it's just that there's too much of it. The strange thing is, even with that amount of bass, the highs still come out clearly. They're just not powerful enough compared to the bass.
- A while later, I switched to classical guitar. Same verdict: too much bass. It's very noticeable here, because they guitar is an instrument that produces a very small and round sound. All the information (volume, tone, coulour etc) is all compacted into that very small round sound. Any deformation of the shape of the sound has very noticeable and negative consequences. Having too much bass makes the sound too "fat" and "clumbsy". It loses a lot of subtlety and gentleness.
- Finally, I went over to Flamenco. That made me notice another not so impressive quality of these headphones: they lack "punch". Flamenco is a quite percussive type of music. The headphones tend to soften the attack on a lot of instruments (guitars and percussions especially). The phones sound too lazy for Flamenco, too slow and smooth. They lack the raw emotion, the "bite" of Flamenco. I checked this out on some rock afterwards and that confirmed my impression: on Dire Straits's Six Blade Knife, the bass line is too soft. Although very loud (lots of bass), the bass lacks punch.
Conclusion:
- I think my experience pretty much confirms the Sennheiser reputation: very warm, nice sounding headphones but made for people who like to relax to a smooth sound. Not for people who like to be right in the middle and have an agressive, in-your-face sound.
- I have to say, on the whole, they are very good phones. A lot better than my dad's old AKGs. When I put them back on, I really noticed how thin and analytical they sounded in comparison.
- However, I'm very annoyed by their lack of sweetness on guitars. I play classical guitar and the AKGs were great for that. They gave a really sweet and true sound. The 595s are a bit clumbsy. You hear the hands, the noises, the recording hiss, everything, it's just that the guitar is not really there as it's supposed to be.
- I read somewhere, AKGs are famous for being good in the mid range and have little bass. That can explain my impressions since I've been listening to AKGs all my life.
So, to conclude the conlusion: very good phones but not really for me - which is a shame.
