[JediSpam]

I currently have a pair of Sennheiser HD555s. I love them and have had them for a few years. Am I going to see any benefit in getting a headphone amp? I've been considering the bravo ocean amp. I know HD555s are not the greatest cans so  I was wondering if I would notice a substantial difference in sound quality. Thanks.
 
HD555 Specs:
Freq. Response: 15-28,000 Hz
Impedance: 50 Ohm
SPL: 112 dB

 

[NA Blur]

Take a look here:
 
http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/ultimate-headphone-guide-articles-what-headphone-amplifier-and-why-do-i-need-one

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

I currently have a pair of Sennheiser HD555s. I love them and have had them for a few years. Am I going to see any benefit in getting a headphone amp? I've been considering the bravo ocean amp. I know HD555s are not the greatest cans so  I was wondering if I would notice a substantial difference in sound quality. Thanks.
 
HD555 Specs:
Freq. Response: 15-28,000 Hz
Impedance: 50 Ohm
SPL: 112 dB

What source(s) will the headphones be plugged into?
 
Might be better to sell off the HD555 and put all cash towards better headphones.

 

[NA Blur]

Quote:

What source(s) will the headphones be plugged into?
 
Might be better to sell off the HD555 and put all cash towards better headphones.

I agree fully with this statement.

 

[JediSpam]

Source will be my Android phone (FLAC) or CD player

 

[JediSpam]

I'm wanting to stick with Sennheiser. Are the 558s a worthy upgrade?

 

[techboy]

I have used bravo ocean and it makes a huge difference with my rs 180 and pioneer SE a 1000 headphones compared to using with asus stx amp. Bravo does a good job but the build quality is cheap and poor.

 

[NA Blur]

In my opinion the HD558 is NOT worth the upgrade.
 
Take the graphs for one:
 
http://graphs.headphone.com/graphCompare.php?graphType=0&graphID[]=2851&graphID[]=2861&scale=30
 
See how the two overlap until the treble which is probably caused by positioning rather than differences the actual sound?  This means they sound identical and those that hear otherwise are adding some subjective bias.
 
I cannot justify the cost to receive the HD598 only to find out it sounds just like the HD558.
 
Here are a few options:
 
Philips Cityscape Downtown ( one of the best sounding headphones for the price, a little bassy )
 
Audio Technica ATH-M50 ( excellent build, known for its great sound, closed )
 
You can check out Tyll's Wall of Fame here:
http://www.innerfidelity.com/content/innerfidelitys-wall-fame
 
To me it sounds like you, like many of us, notice how bright and somewhat hard to listen to the HD558 can be.  It is a great headphone for certain types of music and movies, but it is a pretty hard headphone to listen to for hours.

 

[imahawki]

Quote:

In my opinion the HD558 is NOT worth the upgrade.
 
Take the graphs for one:
 
http://graphs.headphone.com/graphCompare.php?graphType=0&graphID[]=2851&graphID[]=2861&scale=30
 
See how the two overlap until the treble which is probably caused by positioning rather than differences the actual sound?  This means they sound identical and those that hear otherwise are adding some subjective bias.
 
I cannot justify the cost to receive the HD598 only to find out it sounds just like the HD558.
 

Are you seriously claiming that all headphones (or speakers for that matter) with the same, or similar frequency response charts sound the same?

 

[JediSpam]

Audio Technica ATH-M50 sound good but not sure if I want closed. I really like the comfort of my HD555s and i thought that had to do with them being "open". Am I totally off track there?

 

[Mr.Sneis]

I know that when I had the hd555's they did not respond well to amplification.  That is they probably did improve a tiny bit, but you're not getting the real deal at the end of the day versus say an hd600 or hd650 which almost unequivocally need amplification.

 

[NA Blur]

Quote:

Are you seriously claiming that all headphones (or speakers for that matter) with the same, or similar frequency response charts sound the same?

I am claiming that the HD558 and HD598 sound the same.

 

[JediSpam]

Yeah. I'm also reading that the 558/598 don't really benefit from an amp and are great without.

 

[JediSpam]

Now that I understand that amping the Sennheiser 5 family isn't that feasible, what about getting a DAC? Would I see benefit there? Recommendations? Thanks!

 

[NA Blur]

If you do a ton of PC listening then an external USB DAC is well worth the cost as it greatly reduces noise.  To me this is probably the biggest improvement for PC listeners next to improving source material.
 
What do you listen to more a portable player, gaming system, or PC?