[You Failed]

Hi, I'm not very experienced at all in the headphone market so I was looking for some advice.

I've been wanting a pair of open back, circum-aural headphones for some time now and have read a few reviews and shortlisted the Sennheiser HD485's as they were very reasonably priced and seemed to be pretty highly recommended. However, my budget recently increased slightly so I'll be able to afford anything up to about £70 and I found that the Sennheiser HD555's could be bought for this price.

What I was wondering was, would it be worth it for me to spend the extra money (£80 compared to £50) and buy the 555's. I'll mainly be using the headphones for listening to music on my laptop, gaming on my laptop and also for practising the electrical guitar without annoying any next door neighbours. I listen to quite a wide range of music, mostly Metal but also some Dance and a some more chilled out Acoustic stuff. Which of the two headphones would be most useful for this sort of listening?

Of course I'm open to other recommendations, as long as the headphones don't exceed about £80, thanks in advance.

 

[You Failed]

Anyone help please?

 

[JayB18]

Never heard the HD485 and I didn't care for the HD555 (too slow and dull sounding). Look into the DT440 or AD700. I'd really recommend the MS-1 but they are supra aural.

 

[You Failed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JayB18 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Never heard the HD485 and I didn't care for the HD555 (too slow and dull sounding). Look into the DT440 or AD700. I'd really recommend the MS-1 but they are supra aural.

Thanks I appreciate the suggestions, unfortunately, both those sets seem to be a bit out of my price range. I'd like to see a few more suggestions as well from some other users, it seems this area of the market can be quite subjective so it would be good to see which headphones are consistentely recommended in this price range.

Thanks again.

 

[Al Hounos]

I really enjoy my 555s, and have for a few years now. They're really versatile. They sound great unamped out of my DAC or mp3 player, but they still have room to grow- they now sound better than ever plugged into my amp. For the price you can get them vs the price of other phones they compare to (595), they're pretty unbeatable.

That said, my HD650s should be here tomorrow.

 

[Kenix]

Never heard the HD485, but I do enjoy my HD555s very much. However for metal and dance, you may be better served by a closed back headphone that offers more bass. I wouldn't say the bass is lacking on the HD5xx series, but it is very tight and focused. Dance/house/electronica sounds fine through them to me, but I get the feeling there is room for improvement.

 

[scompton]

I've never heard the HD555, but the HD485 was my first good headphone. It's very nice. It's one of the most comfortable headphones I've ever used. After a couple of years, I sold it to a coworker after I bought an HD580. The coworker has been using them every day for that last 2 years. The HD580 was an upgrade, but the difference wasn't huge.

Unfortunately, very few people here have heard the HD485 so you're going to get a lot more opinions about the HD555.

 

[swbf2cheater]

I own both, so I'll give you a mini description of both.

The 485 are my favorite set of all time...out of every set i own, they are my favorite. Not the best sounding...just my favorite because they are so versatile. The bass is big sounding and can get muddy on high bass tracks, but still great. The highs are lacking but the mids are great. The overall sound produced is very warm, like a soft warm towel on your ears

They are incredibly comfy, you can wear them indefinitely without any pain. Cowon s9 cannot power them well, Sansa fuze is a little better. Overall, geared for ALL types of music, every genre sounds great. It's soundstage is heavily lacking, not a good gaming set, but does the job well.

the 555 are just a higher quality version of the 485. They feel a little different but equally as nice. The sound is not as warm, it is not geared for music in my opinion. The soundstage is fantastic, noticeably different than the 485 and more broad. I would not use them for music, they have a different sound than the 485s. Everything else is near the same as the 485 with bass as an exception, the 555 has clearer bass, but more toned down. The 485s bass is huge and can get a little fuzzy. 555s are excellent gaming headphones.

For music - 485
for everything else - 555

 

[You Failed]

Mm, thanks for the feedback guys. I'm really not sure now, it sounds like for music, especially for the music I listen to, that the HD485's might come out slightly on top due to the bigger bass, but for most other things the HD555's seem to be the better pair.

I think I might go for the 555's, mainly because they seem so versatile and good all rounders and I'll be using them not just for music but for many other things as well. My wallet won't be too pleased with this decision though =P

Thanks again.

 

[Zaubertuba]

I might add there are some simple (and some not-so-simple) modifications you can do that can squeeze even more performance out of the HD 555's. They share drivers with the HD 595's, and the differences in the two models are actually modest.

Note some mods may not work best for some styles of music or some uses.

I have a pair of HD 580's, which are much preferable for classical music (detail, soundstage), but I prefer the more "forward" headstage of the HD 555's for movies.

 

[You Failed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zaubertuba /img/forum/go_quote.gif I might add there are some simple (and some not-so-simple) modifications you can do that can squeeze even more performance out of the HD 555's. They share drivers with the HD 595's, and the differences in the two models are actually modest. Note some mods may not work best for some styles of music or some uses. I have a pair of HD 580's, which are much preferable for classical music (detail, soundstage), but I prefer the more "forward" headstage of the HD 555's for movies.

Oh, I haven't heard about these modifications? Is there a good thread where I can read about this, or a website? Thanks.

 

[Kenix]

Some people have tried turning their HD555s into pseudo closed cans by filling the housing with blue tac. Not my cup of tea, but supposedly the results aren't bad. I'm sure "HD555 mod" will come up with threads about it and more.

 

[You Failed]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kenix /img/forum/go_quote.gif Some people have tried turning their HD555s into pseudo closed cans by filling the housing with blue tac. Not my cup of tea, but supposedly the results aren't bad. I'm sure "HD555 mod" will come up with threads about it and more.

Mm, not too sure about this. One of the main factors I considered when I was looking at headphones was actually whether they were open or closed and I found that it was open that I really wanted, so I don't really want to reverse that. I guess I'll have a little nosey though and see what happens.