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Sennheiser HD 595 Headphones
Usability
You see, one thing about a good, nay, great, set of headphones is that you don't notice that you're wearing them. It may not happen at first; the Etymotics that I checked out recently took a bit of time to get to that point with. I hated them at first but my ear canals finally submitted. The first time I put on the Sennheisers, my head and ears thanked me profusely because, you know, I talk to body parts like Dr. Doolittle converses with animals. The earpieces have a nice velvety covering that gently strokes the area surrounding your ears. As far as over-the-ear headphones go, they felt better than most others I have tried. The headband flexes plenty; you won't feel like the earpieces are trying to make mash out of your brains. As with any earpieces that smother your ears, the Sennheisers might get a little bit "warm" over a long listening period; if you don't like to sweat whilst groovin', I have two pieces of advice for you. One: do not, under any circumstances, listen to "Night at the Village Vanguard" by Sonny Rollins and company. Two: turn your air conditioner down a bit to compensate for the heat. As I mentioned earlier, you can replace several of the parts on the headphones, which increases long-term durability. I removed the earpiece pads and cable to see how difficult this process was; it wasn't. The pads snap out with a gentle tug and, upon removal of a driver cover, the cable simply detaches from a mount within the left earpiece. If your dog thinks the cable is tasty, or you sweat entirely too much into the pads, don't fear. You can change them out in a few minutes with little or no technical expertise, so long as you have a set of opposable thumbs. Sound Quality Ok, so back to that easy chair and glass of your liquor cabinet's finest. Get comfortable, and relax. That's how these cans sounded to me. Warm. Organic. Soft. Supple. To paraphrase Esquire's review of Knob Creek bourbon, the HD 595s are a "big fat pussycat" of a set of headphones. You just want to cuddle up to the sound. Let this serve as a warning to those of you who want a nicer set of headphones to match up with a not-so-nice music collection (read: low quality mp3 encoding). You'll want to take a butcher knife to anything sub-160kbps in your library after playing the tracks through the HD 595s. As headphone fidelity gets better, you really start to notice the difference between a good encoding and a sub-par encoding. Listening to most anything through these headphones was thoroughly enjoyable, if a little neutral. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. Bass was plentiful, but it didn't hit with absolute precision. It sounded very natural if a bit soft, dropping some detail but giving the impression of comfort to the sound quality, in my opinion. Mids and highs held a ton of detail without getting harsh. The open design really opens up the soundstage compared to the in-your-head feeling you get with IEMs. It was easy to pick out where and how close instruments were located in a good recording. The Sennheisers sound a lot bigger than they are. They weren't quite as razor sharp as some other phones I have heard, but they might come off as a bit more immediately accessible to some because of this. Where I heard outright analytical precision with the Etymotic canalphones, I definitely felt like more of a listener with the Sennheisers. The only kind of music I felt didn't "work" on the Sennheisers was metal. Because to properly do metal, you have to have a 45-foot tall tower of vicious loudspeakers blaring music that makes you believe that life is, in fact, pain. What I'm trying to say here is that, for almost any application, you'll be happy with the sound coming from the left and right sides of the HD 595s. They're a very well balanced set of headphones. The HD595s are really easy to drive, reaching higher volume levels through an iPhone or a stereo system without having to crank the settings to eleven. And everyone around you will know exactly what you're listening to - the open design leaks sound to the area around you like crazy. Sound comes in pretty easily as well, so a quiet listening location is a must when you are using the HD 595s. Coffee shop friendly, these ain't.
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1 User Comment 1 - Posted by
audiosawesome
on October 2, 2009 - 12:53 pm The reason they may seem neutral or flat to you is because when you get audiophile phones such as sennheisers the optimum enviroment to listen to them is with proper amplifiers hence the 1/4 stereo jack, it makes all the difference.
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