[pp312]

Quote:

Overrated and overpriced like all senns here in the uk £135 which is $220 for these which are more or less rebadged senn 555 or hd595.

I've no doubt Senn phones are as overpriced in the UK as in Oz, but I can assure you that the 558s are not rebadged 555s. Both the frequency response and the bulk of reviews and comments makes that perfectly clear.   
 

 

[derbigpr]

Quote:

I've no doubt Senn phones are as overpriced in the UK as in Oz, but I can assure you that the 558s are not rebadged 555s. Both the frequency response and the bulk of reviews and comments makes that perfectly clear.   
 

558's blow 555's out of the water, they're even better than 595's.  I'd say 518's are comparable with 555's in terms of sound quality.
 

 

[jrkong]

YESH! what's with everyone think that the 5x8's are a repackage of the 5x5's!

 

[gavinfabl]

Well I should get my 558s from Amazon UK this week. They have them at a great price at the moment.

I am using LD MKIV tube amp, so will see how they compare to my FA-003s.

 

[RayleighSilvers]

Just got these today, and I have to say I'm very underwhelmed. Used them for about 6+ hours with various things (mp3 player, MW3 through Turtlebeach x41 amp, music through onboard pc soundcard). I'm a complete noob when it comes to analysing music. Given that my history of headphones range from the hiss-tastic turtlebeaches to the cheap koss ksc75 to some fake sony's off ebay) I thought I'd be blown away with the 558's but I'm not. Compared to the Koss's the soundstage sounds about the same (quite small), and so does everything else (Musical seperation, bass etc..) I'm finding it hard to notice much differences.
 
Comfort is surprisingly bad at the moment. I'm hoping it'll get better, but at the moment it's leaving my ears sore since I wear glasses. The sound of the senns is also tiring my ear drums.
 
Maybe it require's a burn in, or even the mod, but given that these phones cost more than all of my other phones put together I should be blown away by them out of the box, not wondering whether I should return them.

 

[GigaFi]

Give it 48 hours of burn-in, you'll definitely notice a difference in SQ.
 
As for comfort though, I found them a bit tight with glasses too. The 598s don't have this problem
 
Quote:

Just got these today, and I have to say I'm very underwhelmed. Used them for about 6+ hours with various things (mp3 player, MW3 through Turtlebeach x41 amp, music through onboard pc soundcard). I'm a complete noob when it comes to analysing music. Given that my history of headphones range from the hiss-tastic turtlebeaches to the cheap koss ksc75 to some fake sony's off ebay) I thought I'd be blown away with the 558's but I'm not. Compared to the Koss's the soundstage sounds about the same (quite small), and so does everything else (Musical seperation, bass etc..) I'm finding it hard to notice much differences.
 
Comfort is surprisingly bad at the moment. I'm hoping it'll get better, but at the moment it's leaving my ears sore since I wear glasses. The sound of the senns is also tiring my ear drums.
 
Maybe it require's a burn in, or even the mod, but given that these phones cost more than all of my other phones put together I should be blown away by them out of the box, not wondering whether I should return them.

 

 

[RayleighSilvers]

Quote:

Give it 48 hours of burn-in, you'll definitely notice a difference in SQ.
 
As for comfort though, I found them a bit tight with glasses too. The 598s don't have this problem
 


 

Are you saying it from an audiophile perspective or mine? I'm not sure if I'll be able to notice since I have a hard time describing music as it is. Maybe it's just my ear that aren't trained enough. How big was the difference for yourself? 
 

 

[GigaFi]

The 558s were my first pair of headphones so I did not notice the change at first but eventually I realized it sounded much better after days of use.
 
I bought a pair of 598s shortly after the 558s and noticed it sounded ALOT worse than the 558s out the box despite having the same drivers but after ~2 days in, it started to sound nearly identical which shows that burn-in did make a difference.
 
It's probably a mixture of physical and mental thing though but I think you'll grow to like them.
 
Quote:

Are you saying it from an audiophile perspective or mine? I'm not sure if I'll be able to notice since I have a hard time describing music as it is. Maybe it's just my ear that aren't trained enough. How big was the difference for yourself? 
 

 

 

[RayleighSilvers]

Quote:

The 558s were my first pair of headphones so I did not notice the change at first but eventually I realized it sounded much better after days of use.
 
I bought a pair of 598s shortly after the 558s and noticed it sounded ALOT worse than the 558s out the box despite having the same drivers but after ~2 days in, it started to sound nearly identical which shows that burn-in did make a difference.
 
It's probably a mixture of physical and mental thing though but I think you'll grow to like them.
 


 

I hope so. The 558's are my first pair of serious headphones as well and before I started browsing these forums I would've thought anyone who spends more than $40 on a pair of phones to be crazy. What equipment do you use with your phones?
 

 

[Ikkinator]

Seems the 558 is better than I originally thought. 
How's the 598 compare?

 

[GigaFi]

I found the 598s more comfortable, less bassy, less bright, and uglier. I wouldn't mind having either one to be honest.
 
Quote:

Seems the 558 is better than I originally thought. 
How's the 598 compare?

 
Straight out of my laptop or iPod Nano. Don't really know how bad they sound because I have nothing to compare it to but my wallet doesn't want to find out.
 
Quote:

I hope so. The 558's are my first pair of serious headphones as well and before I started browsing these forums I would've thought anyone who spends more than $40 on a pair of phones to be crazy. What equipment do you use with your phones?
 

 

 

[derbigpr]

Quote:

Just got these today, and I have to say I'm very underwhelmed. Used them for about 6+ hours with various things (mp3 player, MW3 through Turtlebeach x41 amp, music through onboard pc soundcard). I'm a complete noob when it comes to analysing music. Given that my history of headphones range from the hiss-tastic turtlebeaches to the cheap koss ksc75 to some fake sony's off ebay) I thought I'd be blown away with the 558's but I'm not. Compared to the Koss's the soundstage sounds about the same (quite small), and so does everything else (Musical seperation, bass etc..) I'm finding it hard to notice much differences.
 
Comfort is surprisingly bad at the moment. I'm hoping it'll get better, but at the moment it's leaving my ears sore since I wear glasses. The sound of the senns is also tiring my ear drums.
 
Maybe it require's a burn in, or even the mod, but given that these phones cost more than all of my other phones put together I should be blown away by them out of the box, not wondering whether I should return them.

 
 
It sounds to me that what you need is a good source.  Some DAC/amp combo or soundcard. Xbox is a bad sound source, turlebeach is a bad amp, pc soundcard is obviously bad and mp3 player, probably bad as well.    Remember that your headphones only sound as good as the best component of your system.
 
Out of Asus Xonar ST --> Little Dot Mk5 my HD558's sound almost as good as HD650's in all aspects except bass, and they actually have a better soundstage.
 

 

[derbigpr]

Quote:

Straight out of my laptop or iPod Nano. Don't really know how bad they sound because I have nothing to compare it to but my wallet doesn't want to find out.
 

 
Thats your problem right there.   Its your source that sounds bad, not the headphones.

 

[derbigpr]

Also, what kind of music are you guys playing trough? Mp3's or FLAC's?   Because playing 128kbs mp3 trough such headphones is kind of like watching a VHS tape on a fullHD plasma TV.

 

[RayleighSilvers]

Quote:

Also, what kind of music are you guys playing trough? Mp3's or FLAC's?   Because playing 128kbs mp3 trough such headphones is kind of like watching a VHS tape on a fullHD plasma TV.

All my files are either 320kbs or FLAC.
 

 
Quote:

 
 
It sounds to me that what you need is a good source.  Some DAC/amp combo or soundcard. Xbox is a bad sound source, turlebeach is a bad amp, pc soundcard is obviously bad and mp3 player, probably bad as well.    Remember that your headphones only sound as good as the best component of your system.
 
Out of Asus Xonar ST --> Little Dot Mk5 my HD558's sound almost as good as HD650's in all aspects except bass, and they actually have a better soundstage.
 

It's true I haven't tried it through a good source yet. I'm thinking of getting a new mp3 player, probably cowon. Would that suffice? In terms of non-portable dac/amps, my uncle spend a lot on his rigs so I'll go and test it out there. Hopefully I'll notice an improvement. I understand what you mean about having the right equipment but in my (uneducated) opinion, if I use the same source for both headphones (i.e ksc75 and HD558) and the output impedance of the player is low enough to drive them both, then I should notice a significant difference in sound. I wish there were more demo units in shops, really can't afford to spend anymore money testing out what works best when I don't even know what I'm doing