[palmfish]

+1 I cant hear the difference either. Welcome to the club of normal human hearing!

 

[donunus]

 
 
"..waits for some doofus to say my setup isn't high end enough to hear any significant changes" pfffffffffffffffff

hahaha but sometimes this is the case as well as lack of proper training/experience in listening and what to listen for. I for example have been an audiophile for around 25 years yet it took me a while the first time to train myself to hear differences between flac and high bitrate mp3s. Even until now for me, its hard to tell the difference all the time because not all recordings have the information that mp3s have a hard time reproducing. The occasional times where mp3s can fail at certain sound samples to sound exactly like the original source file is when the file has snappy cymbal hits (where mp3s exhiit pre-echo) or with frequencies above 18khz or so making the sound ever so slightly less airy on transparent sounding equipment. There are also other samples documented on sites like hydrogenaudio like the castanets file that mp3s have had a hard time reproducing.

 

[palmfish]

hahaha but sometimes this is the case as well as lack of proper training/experience in listening and what to listen for. I for example have been an audiophile for around 25 years yet it took me a while the first time to train myself to hear differences between flac and high bitrate mp3s. Even until now for me, its hard to tell the difference all the time because not all recordings have the information that mp3s have a hard time reproducing. The occasional times where mp3s can fail at certain sound samples to sound exactly like the original source file is when the file has snappy cymbal hits (where mp3s exhiit pre-echo) or with frequencies above 18khz or so making the sound ever so slightly less airy on transparent sounding equipment. There are also other samples documented on sites like hydrogenaudio like the castanets file that mp3s have had a hard time reproducing.

Well, I cant hear anything above 12kHz so MOG sounds as good as 24/192 FLAC to me!

 

[Fuzziekiwi]

It is only certain songs where the cymbals sound slightly different. I've done blind tests. But it is SO difficult that I've started to delete most of my FLAC files. I only kept a few for the future, for when I plan to get better headphones/equipment.

 

[micrors4]

Bought a pair off 558s on an impulse yesterday at Best Buy for $143, also ordered a Fiio E7 to power them.  I can't say too much until I try them with an amp, but I am really liking the the airy-ness they have.

 

[NerdsofSteel]

so what is the difference between the hd 518 and hd 558? would the 518 be if my first time getting audiophile headphones? I can buy it for $170 here and it I believe it might come with warranty cause the store is an authorized dealer. though I'm still waiting an email back from sennheiser.

 

[StanD]

  so what is the difference between the hd 518 and hd 558? would the 518 be if my first time getting audiophile headphones? I can buy it for $170 here and it I believe it might come with warranty cause the store is an authorized dealer. though I'm still waiting an email back from sennheiser.

The 518, 558 ad 598 all share the same transducer, The differences are in the housings. I believe the 518 housing is more constraining on the sound, The 558 is very similar and there's a mod ( remove some internal black foam strips) that takes 5 minutes that makes the 558 sound very close to the 559, some say just as good, I say slightly different, very good and close enough.

 

[NerdsofSteel]

what's up with the sound on  the 518?

 

[StanD]

  what's up with the sound on  the 518?

It's the little sibling that can't run as fast as its older brothers (polite way of saying it doesn't sound as good). IMO if one can afford the small price differences to upgrade to its bigger brothers, one should move it up a notch.

 

[NerdsofSteel]

  It's the little sibling that can't run as fast as its older brothers (polite way of saying it doesn't sound as good). IMO if one can afford the small price differences to upgrade to its bigger brothers, one should move it up a notch.

hmm I see a hd 558 for a $100 on ebay, I'll see if I can get that if the seller respond back
 
what about the 595? How does that compare to the 558?

 

[MineTwine45]

My first pair of audiophile headphones were the HD 518s. Good sounding to my ears, clearest things I have heard to my noob ears (I haven't heard anything more audiophile, I know anything higher tier than these will blow them out of the water). They really got the audiophile bug into me, and lemme tell you, I'm loving every bit of it!

 

[jaja]

I just got my HD558's and removed the foam right off the bat.  Even out of the box I'm enjoying these.  Quite wonderful mid range is what was first apparent to me.  This is me comparing to akg q701's.  The mids actually sound fuller than the akg's.  Female vocals as you guys pointed out sound lovely and smooth.  Sub bass performance is a little weak relative to the midbass which is just a smidge bloated but doesn't detract.  Bass texture doesn't sound as nice as the akg but it for sure has more midbass.   Highs aren't detail monsters like the akg's and beyers I have but they are relatively smooth and enjoyable to me.  I was afraid of the sennheiser "veil" especially coming from mid and upper treble tilted headphones in my inventory and my preference for those signatures but I was proven wrong.  I still feel the akg is a little more refined in sound however I am thoroughly enjoying these senns.  Soundstage is quite generous maybe slightly smaller than the akg's however the layering and being able to pick out instruments is just as good.  I really have no regrets for the price that these headphones go for.  I got mine for 128 new. 

 

[teb1013]

Glad that you are enjoying these. $128 is a good figure for new. Mine cost $105 refurbished.

 

[StanD]

The HD558's sound much better than many others will admit, enjoy them.

 

[Musiccc]

  I didn't care for the sound signature of the stock HD 558's, so i modded them to my preference, but everyone is different, there's lots of people that are satisfied with the stock sound, so there's no need for modding if you're happy with the sound.

 
Many people do the  mod without really understanding what they are doing.