Sennheiser HD 560s Open-Back Headphones - Official Thread

Headphones Official Headphone Model Discussion
65

Anybody try pad swapping these to tame the treble?

I read they got a revision some time ago to tame that treble and give them some more girth to the lows too.

I honestly don’t mind a bit of treble energy myself, but one thing I don’t get along with my DT770’s is the velour makes my skin around my ears itchy. I had to change them to the synthetic leather ones Beyer sell, which honestly, don’t sound half bad. But is the velour on the stock pads similar on these? Is it synthetic and coarse like the Beyers?

66

I have the HD 560s and the pads are soft, not scratchy.

Of course, different people can experience things differently but I’ve never had any comfort issues with these headphones.

1 Like
67

Forgive me if this topic has been covered elsewhere. I’m new here. I recently ordered the HD620S from Amazon perhaps two weeks ago. Good price. Amazon Return. When I opened the box I noticed grills on the side, open grills. Sure enough they were not HD620S headphones at all. They were HD560S headphones. I did the Help process on the Amazon web site of course and got a call back. Amazon apologized but instead of insisting I return them, told me to keep the HD560S headphones and they would refund my money anyway. Cool I thought, I can do that. I had purchased the HD560S headphones not long after they came out and liked them but, being treble sensitive, rejected them for that reason. But, I plugged this pair in anyway. Why not? I sh1t you not, the treble spike is no longer there. Not only that but there is a small midbass bump as well. They sound like different headphones. Much better soundstage and imaging than something like the 599s but yeah, different headphones. I checked to make sure someone didn’t put some foam or tissue inside the earcups. Nope. Is this some kind anomaly or did Sennheiser tweek them? Does anyone know?

68

There has been at least one change, possibly two. There is a bit of conflicting info about if/how the sound has changed.

Here’s a link to a trustworthy (in my view) site that has good info about this: HD560S revisions

New study by Dr. Olive and Dan Clark on the Harman target and its compatibility (or lack thereof) with current measurement rigs
69

So Sennheiser did “fix ‘em” in the treble a bit then. And the midbass bump was my just my perception. They are better headphones for it in my opinion. Thanks for the link Nick. Interesting web site.

1 Like
70

As we age, treble spikes automagically disappear.

2 Likes
71

They may be reduced in intensity, but they don’t disappear. I’ve 86ed a number of headphones over this issue (treble spikes).

72

I have the new HD560S and HD550, and I think there probably was a change to the HD560S at some point.

Based on Solderdude’s graphs at DIY Audio Heaven (like this one), the post-2022 HD560S appears to have about a -3 dB overall tilt compared to the pre-2022 version. Or about -0.3 dB per octave.

Since there are no 5128 measurements of the post-2022 version (that I’m aware of), I’m simply adding a -3 dB slope to the pre-2022 HD560S measurements in EAPO to try to approximate it for now. This probably puts its response a bit closer to the HD550 in some ways, though there are still some differences in the treble and upper mids.

I’m still a bit undecided about which headphone to keep. Though I think I find the HD560S more comfortable and pleasant to listen to out of the box. And I like its lower pricetag. Both headphones can benefit from a little correction though in certain spots imho.

The area of biggest difference between the HD550 and the post-2022 HD560S appears to be in the treble. Especially above 10 kHz. Plots of the HD550 look notably brighter/airier there. The HD560S appears a little more forward in the upper mids though. It’s hard to be sure though until some new 5128 measurements of the post-2022 HD560S can be done.