Customer Reviews

Sennheiser HD595 Open Headphone 50 ohms

5 star:		(44)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Highly recommnded.
These are my 5th pair of Sennheissers over the last 40 years or so, although I have tried others. I still have two old models. They were very good headphones. Theses 595's totally blow away the others. They are extremely comfortable and well constructed. I use them on a reasonable hifi system of Marantz cd player and an old Trio amp that is buit like a tank and very powerful.
The 595's sound is clear as a bell. The instruments all are separated and focused in the sound stage. There is plenty of base which is tight and doesn't sound like a sock filled with sand. The treble sounds clear. I listen to a variety of music. Rock (like Skynyrd) plenty of welly. Female vocals ( Melua, Cassidy) are filled a human quality.
Orchestral is detailed and involving.
Listening to Celtic, Country, Jazz or Folk with a few different instruments is fabulous though, as it is like sitting in front of the band. Shut your eyes and you can imagine the players in the room.
I don't think I would use them on my mp3 because of their size however (except at home - but I already have a pair of Sennheiser in ear ones for that).
If you are considering a new pair of phones, you will not be disappointed with these.

My Sennheiser HD600's finally gave up working after many years of use so I decided to try these HD595's instead, and let me say that I'm certainly not dissapointed! Fantastic sound quality - great hi and low freq, and everything in between pretty much faultless. I can honestly say that I prefer the sound of the 595 over the 600's - and half the price!
Comes with a handy headphe hanger too which is not a gimmick as you might think.
I highly recommend these - you won't be disappointed!

I bought these to replace my 16 year old Sennheiser 45?.

They're excellent headphones - very good sound already especially running off a proper amplifier. Very comfortable although that they are circumaural caught me by surprise at first. They have a soft cloth-like pad which fits around the ear holding the headphone itself away unlike the old ones which sat on top of the ear. It's actually quite nice as the ears feel they are more in the open.

These are fully open backed. Also the driver is further away from the ear. This means that if you want to run them at higher levels you'll get notable leakage for your neighbours to hear. I like to hear clearly what's going on around me so the complete lack of isolation is a good thing. I can overlay my music at a nice quiet level on top of the sounds of the office and still hear someone approaching or someone talking to me. In the office environment the leakage at that level isn't noticeable above the sound of computers. Ours is a fairly quiet office.

At home I can up the level a bit and get great sound, but in a quiet home anyone in the same room will hear them. Still, you can get high performance levels while those watching telly in the next room don't hear. These are very much headphones for those that want excellent sound quality and imaging from what is a very effective medium to achieve it, but not for someone who wants isolation either for themselves or for those around them.

I also plan to use these as reference headphones to check equalisation on field recordings and to listen back to binaural recordings which have to be heard on headphone for best effect, though I'd have to do that back at home. In the field I'd either use ear canal headphones or something like the 280Pro. The coiled cable on those is perhaps a consideration for situations where cable snagging can be a problem such as office or mixing desk.

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I've now directly compared these with the 280. The 280 do actually have more prominent bass, whether due to the cavity or that's the way they are. Also the 280 reveals things like cymbal hits in "Fun Loving Criminals" differently, maybe with more brightness (and a little more hiss from the sound card). You can hear the sticks hitting with both, but on the 280 it's obviously there. This test was done off a PC sound card.

The 595 shines off my proper amplifier. I've not tried the 280 in that situation. The 595 is softer once you've found how to make it fit well, and sounds more 'open'. You're best if you can trying both before buying to see which of the two you like best. They're both good. They're different to each other and maybe suit different music. They both reveal things that my old ones didn't.

Okay, here goes. I have been researching headphones for ages as I listen to music at all hours of the day and night. I use Sennheiser IEM's for my out and about listening and wanted a good set of cans for the house and office. After an age of browsing I finally went for these.

Something I have found is that audiophilles slag these cans off, saying that better can be had for the same price. Well, let me say two things to counter that. 1) The prices these cans sell for on Amazon are soooo low that I don't think anything can compare to these at this price point. 2) Audiophilles spend stupid money on amplifiers and source equipment which will alter the sound coming through any given set of cans.

If you are in the market for comfortable, high quality phones you will struggle to beat these. The sound quality is just immense. I am listening to my pair unamped through an iPod and Beth Orton is singing sweetly to me. Just amazing. These headphones are only 50ohm, despite the fact that Amazon advertise these as (the older) 150 ohm version.

If your not in the know, ohms are a rough indicator as to how hard your source will have to work to power them. 50 ohms is low, a good set of earphones will work at about 32 ohm so it is not too much to expect an iPod or discman to power these to a more than adequate volume.

The sound is very sweet, I wont (cant) go into the technical aspects but the sound is very neutral, nothing too bright with the treble and the bass is restrained but definitely there. These cans excel on strings, listening to Bonny Prince Billy's 'The Letting Go' had me in goosebumps.

So, after all my waffling I can offer this advice. If you are looking for an entrypoint into the world of audiophilia without melting your credit card these phones are perfect. The sound is about 90% as good as you can ever go, and if you decide to chase that last 10% you will utterly destroy your bank balance in the process. For me, for now, that 90% is more than enough and I am discovering my music collection anew.

These cans are for music lovers. Period. Enjoy.

Without going into the silly money of the 650s etc, these are probably the best headphones you are going to get.

Unless you are used to audiophile quality gear, you will suddenly hear new things in just about all the music you listen to with these. The detail of the mid and high range is exceptional, and the bass is full and puncy without being overdone.

My music tastes are very wide ranging, and they have yet to dissappoint in any area. I primarily use them with an X-Fi Elite Pro sound card for music and occasional movie use, and I think they make a brilliant pairing.

Use on portable devices in public places is pretty difficult for a number of reasons, size being one of them. The other is they are of course open, which means they let sound out and also outside noise in. But in return for that you get brilliant sound when its quiet around you. And I mean brilliant!

These were incredibly well reviewed on Amazon.com and I chose them because they were the cheapest genuine audiophile quality. They are extremely comfortable, well made, nice to use... And the sound is better than most hi fi even just on my computer. With good equipment they are as enjoyable as my Danish speakers with silk cones, maybe more so because you hear everything. They kind of cushion around your ear. It's quite marvellous from that last time I used headphones twenty years ago.

I listen to delicate classical music mainly but they can cope with big sounds with zero distortion. A revelation.

These headphones can be summarised in one sentence:
"You haven't heard music until you've listened to it through a pair of Sennheiser 595s."

Sennheiser headphones don't come cheap, so like everyone else I did extensive research before I made my purchase. At the time, the high street was selling 555s at £90 and the 595s at around £180. I settled on a cheaper pair of Sennheisers from HMV as they were on offer, unknowing how uncomfortable they would be until I found a display pair in a shop on the way home. Upon arriving home I decided to simply return the HMV headphones and put a bit of extra money to get the 595s as the price on Amazon was just too good to miss. Best decision ever. I would have gladly paid the £180 after having used them for a month and gotten used to the constant quality they deliver.

I'm no audiophile but I like my music loud, bass-rich and clear - the 595s deliver on ALL levels. I do mainly listen to Rock and Metal music; however I tested them on a range of different genres for reference.

The build of these headphones is great, they are light but feel very durable and well put together. The over arch features very comfortable padding and is unnaturally twistable, so you can move one earpiece away from your ear in either direction with no problems whatsoever. My favourite build feature of this pair is that the earpiece actually covers the whole ear instead of resting over the ear entrance. This feature blocks out most of the background noise and the ring padding around the earpieces are unbelievably soft.

As I mentioned, I put these headphones through their paces to see how it handles each type of music. By far the best were the rock and metal type band music, as well as the synthesized dance tracks. The bass is powerful and very deep and the default setting on most audio devices is more than adequate to set the bass levels properly. Vocals sound crisp and clear and guitar riffs and solos are a real treat for the ears.

For a random experience I plugged these headphones into my TV whilst playing on my XBOX 360 and it gave by far the best results. The background music and sound effects on Halo 3 were aurally stunning. Every sound from the footsteps, gunshots, grenade explosions and enemy battle cries sounded fantastic - my personal highlight is whilst in the Last Resort map in the Base, the metal-on-metal sound of reloading your weapon within the confinement causes the sound to not only be satisfyingly sharp, but it echoes as if in a real warehouse. I also tested it whilst playing Bioshock in the dark which was a very enjoyable, if not a jumpy, experience. You can hear the splicers mumbling in the distance and the sound of scraping metal as the hook-wielding splicers drag their weapons around is something right out of a horror movie. With both games, the sound is set so that sounds fade in and out of either headphone depending on where the sound is coming from - although a very basic feature of the games the headphones handle them extremely well, making it easier to pinpoint where the action is taking place and where to avoid the danger hotspots...

The only con of these headphones, which is actually a pro depending on the situation, is the cable length. It is very long so if you were hoping to listen to music with these headphones whilst walking around with your iPod, you will be hauling round a fair bit of wiring. On the other hand, I can sit on the sofa across my living room and there is enough wire for me to plug it into my TV and be able to lie back and play without problem. If you are just sat about listening to your iPod the wiring isn't a problem. Another slight issue is noise leak, if you are listening on your own it isn't an issue, but at medium-high volume within quiet surroundings, other people close around will be able to hear a bit of noise from what you are listening to.

For the price on Amazon compared to that of the high street, it is an absolute bargain. I am so glad I decided to go for these headphones and I highly recommend them to anyone looking to get a quality set of headphones within the £100 limit.

Firstly - I agree with everything said in the other reviews.

I have had a pair of these beauties for a few weeks now and they just keep getting better and better. A quick search on the net and sites such as Headfi will reveal these cans are very highly regarded and also improve with use. There are people claiming that you need to leave them running for 24 hours plus in order to 'burn in' but I have found it much more fun to run them in whilst they are on my head.

I bought Sennheiser PMX100's some time ago and those bobby dazzlers opened my ears as to how good headphones, even at that price range, could be. These HD595 will give you sound reproduction to rival a speaker set-up worth thousands of pounds, won't disturb the neighbours and you won't even feel them on your head after 5 mins. Close your eyes and let the music wash over you........ahhhhh.

Only very recently received a pair from Amazon - so not yet "run-in" for the recommended 20 hours or so. But they do carry beautiful sound straight to your ears. The ear pieces sit around the ear far more than my old HD490s did and seem to bathe the ears in sound to give a more 3d feeling. The HD595's band fit around my oversized head quite nicely. So should be comfortable for many hours.

Well worth the dosh - just think how much equivalent sounding speakers would cost! I'm somewhat concerned that my recent spate of CD and quality download music purchases might get further out of hand.

Well pleased.

This is my first pair of high quality headphones and I spent some time before commiting to these ones. First of all dont be mislead by the description. To my knowledge there are only two types of HD595s available; a 50 Ohm and a 120 Ohm version. These ones are 50 Ohm while the Amazon decription states 150 Ohm in the title which is somewhat misleading.
I had the chance to compare those with a pair of Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro, DT770 and Grado SR80s and prefered the more balanced sound of the HD595. Perhaps they are not as strong in bass as the competitors but deliver a fairly uncoloured sound impression.
The other advantage is that these perform well on portable equipment if needed without the need of an extra amp.
All in all there are a great pair of top range headphones that can only be recommended.

Update Jan 2009: My first pair partially blew a driver. This might have been due to leaving them at freezing temperatures for a few days or after dropping them on the floor. The membrane of the driver was totally shrivelled and the sound got distorted. I sent them for warranty repair to Sennheiser UK just under the 2 year warranty period ended. Their service department was a bit messy and they seemed to have lost my service order so sent me a completely new pair free of any charge. thanks very much sennheiser - excellent customer care. After a little bit of breaking in the new ones sound as good as the old and I am more than happy to reiterate my recommendation. Just treat these cans with respect and dont drop them on the floor etc ;-)