[bizi]

A greeting to all people in this great forum! I come here after recommendations from pianoworld and many other forums.

There have been many great reviews and buying guides. And base on my budget, I narrow it down to HD555 and SR80. Unfortunately, without opportunity to try them on any local stores around, I am stuck to determine which one is better for my purpose.

I am buying a new headphone in a primary purpose of playing on my digital piano RD700SX and an occasional watching movies and listening music on my computer. So the headphone should be "flat" and produces true sounds, without boosting or coloring them. The comfort is also one thing I consider (a lot of people say that HD555 is very comfortable, I cannot find it at any store so I try a HD280 and wonder if the HD555 is similar to that).

Also, if anyone has experienced with the HD595 please put some comparison here. Although the HD595 is a bit out of my budget but I have seen many compliment that HD595 is superior to the HD555. I just wonder if I should invest more money for more expensive headphone just to get the "true sound".

I am only in searching for 3 weeks. Before that I have no knowledge about this multimedia world. So please share with me any information that you think would be useful for a novice. I am very appreciate that.

 

[bizi]

I still need help from people who have experience with those headphones. I will upload some music of my taste so that if you still have your headphones then you can try them and share with me your thoughts.

Electric Piano Example - from Seaside_Lee from pianoworld:
Electric Piano 1 sample.mp3
Moonlight Sonata 1st movement - Beethoven:
Image:Beethoven Moonlight 1st movement.ogg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Innocence album- Danny Wright:
02-Julie's Day.mp3
09-Forrest Gump Suite.mp3
01-Wings of Hope.mp3

 

[MrKazador]

Headphone setup in sig.
I gave a listen and all except 01-Wings of Hope sounded very dark. I don't know if its the low bitrate but the HD555 wouldn't seem to go well with this type of music IMO.
Wings of Hope did sound nice though...

 

[bizi]

For the first two, they are indeed sad songs with dark sound, especially the Moonlight Sonata. I choose them to test the difference between the "bassy" SR80 and the "neutral" HD555 on the low range.
But most music in the Innocence are lively and in mid & high range. The fact that you find them very dark is a good information for me to reconsider those headphones for my purpose.
Maybe you are right about the bit rate, but I cannot find any higher bit rate in my collected music.
Thank you for your input, MrKazador. I am grateful.

 

[audionewbie]

sorry, don't have the 555's but recently got the 595's and have got at least part of the moonlight sonanta on a compilation album. It sounds fine to me here. The one from the link sounds fine too, piano bass comes through clear and higher notes are distinct.

sorry can't help too much but i doubt you would be disappointed in the 595's if you could afford them, then again, i am no expert on classical music nor on headphones, it just sounds nice and clear to me.

 

[ciphercomplete]

Well these two are about equal in terms of sound quality albeit they do things totally different. So I think you have to evaluate them on utility.

I think the hd555s are slightly better than the sr80s only because the work well with a larger range of music. I could listen to any genre with the hd555s but I only enjoyed metal, rock, and certain (dark) jazz recordings with the sr80s.

I never thought of the sr80s as good cans for piano. IMHO you need "depth" to get a good lifelike piano and the sr80 really has no soundstage. They are very forward. They have an airy sound about them that mimics a larger soundstage for a while but after a couple hours you realize that it is an illusion. That said the hd555s are not exactly piano monsters either.

The hd555s are awesome for watching movies on the computer.

Things I like about the sr80:
*speed, speed, speed
*detail (although this is due to them being overly bright)
*tight bass
*does an excellent job with acoustic music

Things I don't like about the sr80:
*comfort (they don't bloodly my ears or anything but I just couldn't wear them for longer than 45 minutes the bowl pads would either be too hard or would itch depending upon my mood)
*No soundstage which equals no classical and no jazz for the most part (at least for me)
*I found myself only using them for rock and metal (genre specific)

Things I like about the hd555:
*Great midrange for the price
*responds excellent to amplification (despite what many naysayers say)
*great movie can
*gets female vocals right
*great for movies
*works for most genres

Things I don't like
*lacks detail
*bass is less detailed but it is deep
*not a particularly fast pair of cans but also not the slowest

Maybe you should buy the hd595, they are going for cheap right now. Or get the sr225 if you have spare coin. Either of those will get you closer to this "true sound" you are looking for. The akg k-501s get pianos perfect IMHO but I plug these cans for everything.

 

[bizi]

Thank you, ciphercomplete! It is very informative and very useful. Now I have a better image of what I will have if I buy the HD555 or SR80.

There is one thing that I don't understand. What is the speed of the headphone? And how is it contribute to the quality of a headphone?

I start my search with Sennheiser and Grado since they are popular brands. You turn my attention to another direction by mentioning about AKG. How do you like your K-501? (btw, it seems to be discontinue model, and so far I cannot find any reviews about it)

 

[QQQ]

I'm under impression that a lot of people on head-fi confuse or even equals bright treble and better detail.

If i was OP i would choose HD 555 in a heartbeat, but that's just me.

 

[dayamax]

i have the HD555, and i think they are excellent for classical music, especially symphonies.

 

[donunus]

bizi,
I have tried sr80s and 555s on a yamaha keyboard that I have. The 555s blow the sr80s away for this purpose IMO. 555s just have much more ambience and richness plus they are more comfortable to boot. My money will go to the 555s for that purpose.

 

[moogoob]

I like both, but I'd go with the 555s for your purpose. SR80s are amazing for rock, jazz, metal etc., Senns are far more flexible. Plus comfy! Movies and video games sound great on the 555s as well, which is where I have most of my experience with them. (a buddy of mine uses a pair as his PC sound output instead of speakers)

 

[alitomr]

For your purpose and for 99.99999% of the purpose of anyone who listen to anything, the HD555 in 0.00000000001seconds.

I tried the SR80 ina friend of mine studio and they were simply common to my ears. There was nothing to them that would make me consider them in the same league of the HD555. They were brighter and the guitar strings sounded more clear but that was about it. In every other single aspect the HD555 is a MUCH better pair of headphones.

 

[moogoob]

Quote:

Originally Posted by alitomr /img/forum/go_quote.gif For your purpose and for 99.99999% of the purpose of anyone who listen to anything, the HD555 in 0.00000000001seconds. I tried the SR80 ina friend of mine studio and they were simply common to my ears. There was nothing to them that would make me consider them in the same league of the HD555. They were brighter and the guitar strings sounded more clear but that was about it. In every other single aspect the HD555 is a MUCH better pair of headphones.

Yeah, SR80s aren't studio phones. But I LIKE the way they colour everything.

 

[bizi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by donunus /img/forum/go_quote.gif bizi, I have tried sr80s and 555s on a yamaha keyboard that I have. The 555s blow the sr80s away for this purpose IMO. 555s just have much more ambience and richness plus they are more comfortable to boot. My money will go to the 555s for that purpose.

I know there must be some keyboard players around here who already tried those headphones.

It is a very straight answer. Thank you donunus!

Quote:

Originally Posted by QQQ /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm under impression that a lot of people on head-fi confuse or even equals bright treble and better detail.

It is indeed confusing for me. I guess it dues to the fact that high and bright treble make an illusion of the sharpness of the sound, and secondly, dues to the fact that I got some unverified information from my friends.

I have a friend who claims his earphone provides better detail than his previous one simply because it has louder sound under the same volume. And another friend who think his earphone provides better bass because it boom-boom his ear canal harder.

So, in order to help a junior head-fier like me, I hope you can share your point of view. While I am doing my research, I find a lot of your posts that is experienced and informative. So I hope you can also share some tips to value the quality of the headphone.

And last, I already placed an order to the HD555 base on the suggestions in this thread. Thanks to all of you guys!

However, I hope to keep this thread going as it is getting more and more interesting for me.

 

[QQQ]

I think you should wrote the SR-80 off. They're strongly colouring the sound. For your purposes - first and foremost choice is HD 555. Even if you didn't mentioned them, it's logical to suggest them. Look no furtner, buy them.