Sennheiser HD 555 Review October 14, 2009 at 10:40 pm
It has been out for a while but I thought it would be a good idea to share what it have been like using the Sennheiser HD 555 for more than 6 months and have over more than 300 hours of music and movie on it. For starters Sennheiser classify this headphone as audiophile grade and suitable for movie and music. So the HD 555 it is considered the mid range of the entry level audiophile grade headphone from Sennheiser and price between HD 515 and HD 595.
The built quality is good and does not feel flimsy or break easily but mainly made of plastic. Ears cap are soft and made of micro fiber clot like material so it would be easy on the skin. So since this is over the ears type of headphone it very comfortable for long hours of usage. Keep in mind that this is an open type of headphone which mean it will not isolate sound from around and you can hear them while playing music but this type of design in theory offer better sound dynamics because this type of design allow more air flow for more dynamic sound pressure that is required for good sound. It comes with only 6.3 mm plug but include a converter to convert 6.3 mm plug to 1.5 mm plug and when attached with the converter is quite long stretching making it inconvenient to plug to 3.5mm devices with space constraint. It rated at 50 ohm means it can be powered by iPod but have to max out the volume for decent loudness, recommend to use amplifier for better sound. It can be use with PC too since it is just under 64 ohm.
Ultimately comes down to how good it sound, let’s begin by talking about the way it sound are directed at an angle to create sound stage instead of direct into your ears, just like listening from a well position pair of speakers, this obviously is a very good feature to have and make listening feel natural. The HD 555 really shines when it comes to voice; there is a lot of details and depth in the voice that the music doesn’t outshine. Separation between voice and music is very good and does not overlap each other especially when listening to opera musical. Because of this there is a lot details in the sound even guitar string squeaking is also noticeable. The only downside is the bass, it can generate bass for those mid bass sound but it is lacking the deep strong punches for those heavy bass types of music.
Overall Rating: 4 out of 5
Specifications
- Nominal impedance : 50 Ω
- Contact pressure : 3,5 N
- Weight w/o cable : 260 g
- Jack plug : 6,3 mm stereo (3,5 mm Adapter)
- Transducer principle : open, dynamic
- Ear coupling : circumaural
- Cable length : 3 m
- Frequency response : 15 – 28000 Hz
- Sound pressure level : 112 dB (1 kHz and 1 Veff)
- THD, total harmonic distortion : < 0,2 %
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