Sennheiser HD 560 S Over-The-Ear Audiophile Headphones - Neutral Frequency Response, E.A.R. Technology for Wide Sound Field, Open-Back Earcups, Detachable Cable, (Black) (HD 560S)

I'm not an audiophile or headphone expert. I played drums as a teenager and later took guitar lessons for 10 years, still play the guitar almost daily, and love music in general. Hard rock has always been my favorite genre. I use headphones with my PC while watching YouTube music videos and concerts and also while playing video games like Cyberpunk 2077, Skyrim, Diablo IV, etc. I also have a pretty big library of old and new music on a 7th gen iPod Touch (now discontinued) and do some critical listening with that. I had been using budget headphones like the Koss KTXPro1 and Logitech G333 gaming earbuds, but always wanted to try something considered as "audiophile" headphones. My son is somewhat of a headphone expert, so I reached out to him for buying guidance. His ideal headphones would be completely neutral, with no emphasis on either highs or lows. To start, he gave me a FiiO K3, which is a DAC/headphone amplifier. I didn't know I needed one, but he insisted. He also convinced me to download and install the open-source Equalizer APO application and its companion Peace UI component. It's a bit daunting for a newbie to get started with the headphone amp and equalizer software, but there are plenty of YouTube tutorial walkthroughs available. In a few hours I had the headphone amp and the Peace interface working, and had separate configurations saved for the Koss and Logitech headphones. I downloaded pre-configured settings for each pair of headphones, which are set with the preferred "Harman Curve". I had no idea about any of this stuff previously. By the end of that day, I had learned how to tweak and save additional configurations, and now could choose between multiple pre-sets for each pair of headphones. For example, I created a pre-set that boosted the bass, another that boosted the highs, and one that boosted both bass and highs while leaving the middle frequencies at the standard Harman curve settings. That allowed me to experiment and decide my own personal preferences for music listening. Just a primer - the headphone amp connects to the PC by USB, and it disables the built-in PC audio chip with a more powerful and clean signal. Then you plug your headphones into the headphone amp instead of the PC headphone input jack. Windows audio and volume is bypassed, so now the volume is controlled by the volume knob on the headphone amp. (You can turn off the headphone amp to listen through PC speakers or with the standard PC headphone jack.) With the headphone amp and equalizer software, both my Koss and Logitech headphones sounded better than ever and I was hearing details that I wasn't hearing before. I had heard of headphone amps before, but never thought they were necessary. I couldn't imagine not using one now. Then my son lent me his AKG K702 open back headphones to try. He likes them because they are pretty neutral. As he puts it, "you hear the music as the producer and engineer intended it to sound." The AKGs were the best headphones I had ever tried, hands down. I downloaded the pre-configured parametric EQ file for them and listened for a few days. I learned that I preferred a more bass-heavy sound, especially with the hard rock I usually listened to. (I am currently obsessed with a band named The Warning, but like many other artists including Spiritbox, Breaking Benjamin, Band-Maid, Evanescence, Muse, and older classic rock like Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, Zeppelin, Hendrix, and Van Halen.) Given that I liked a bit more bass emphasis, my son suggested the Sennheiser HD 560S. I love them. With the standard EQ configuration, the low bass is a little lacking for my taste. I want the bass drum emphasized. So I created a pre-set with the bass boosted at 52 Hz and left the rest of frequencies alone. Perfect! I created another pre-set with the same 52 Hz boost and an additional boost at 5K Hz. I have some high frequency hearing loss, so this compensates for that, and allows me to hear the cymbals a little better. Normally I listen with the bass boost pre-set only and can hear everything fine. The only minor gripe I have with the Sennheiser HD 5600S phones is the comfort level. The ear pads are soft and comfortable, and the clamping force isn't too much. But the headphones are somewhat bulky, especially compared to the Koss which are feather light and have almost zero clamping force. The Logitech earbuds are another story since they weigh virtually nothing and there's no clamping force. That said, I have used the Sennheisers for hours at a time and they're fine. You do forget they're on once you're immersed in the music or the game. I'll definitely choose the Sennheisers every time for critical listening. Occasionally I will use the Logitechs or Koss when watching non-music videos like interviews or product reviews, for the improved comfort level. Here's a good website for scientifically tested objective headphone ratings: https://www.rtings.com/headphones Definitely recommend the HD 560S as an entry level audiophile headphone. They're a tier above sub-$100 headphones for sure.

🎮 Gaming Audio & Positional Awareness These open-back headphones provide a wide soundstage and excellent imaging, which helps you accurately pinpoint footsteps, gunfire, and directional cues — a huge advantage in FPS games and competitive play. The neutral sound signature means you’re not getting exaggerated bass booms or bloated effects that can mask subtle movements, so distant enemies and spatial cues feel easier to locate than with typical bass-heavy gaming headsets. 🧠 Advantage in Competitive Play For titles where spatial awareness matters (like tactical shooters), the clarity and separation of sounds help you determine which direction an opponent is coming from and at what distance — making your audio cues more actionable than with many stock gaming headsets. 🎧 Comfort & Build for Long Sessions The headphones are lightweight and comfortable enough for extended sessions, so marathon gaming nights don’t feel fatiguing. However, keep in mind they don’t include a microphone, so you’ll need an external mic if you want to communicate in multiplayer games. 📈 Pros: • Great positional audio and imaging for competitive gaming. • Open design provides a natural, spacious soundstage. • Comfortable for long play sessions. • Wired connection means zero latency audio. 📉 Cons: • No built-in mic — requires a separate solution for voice chat. • Open-back design leaks sound and won’t isolate noise in busy environments. • Neutral tuning means less bass punch than some gamers might expect. 📍 Verdict: If you’re a gamer who prioritizes accurate audio cues and competitive awareness over booming bass or flashy RGB headsets, the Sennheiser HD 560S is a fantastic upgrade — especially for PC titles and competitive shooters. Just pair them with a dedicated mic and you’ve essentially got a high-performance gaming audio setup.

Clear and very tunable you your listening preferences. Open back allows sound to come through from your environment which is the trade off of having a better soundstage and more directional accuracy and allowing your ears to breathe and not feel over pressured during listening. Very light and comfy earpads that may be too warm for some being velour ear pads, but they are very soft and the headband is comfy as well. Good price for premium sounds.

I consider these the best overall open back headphones I've owned. In the past I've used the HD600 and HD6xx from Sennheiser and the Beyerdynamic DT880, and they all did certain things very well but the lack of bass was frustrating. These lower priced Sennheisers don't have quite the sparkly treble of the others (in particular the Beyers) but have very satisfying bass and lower midrange that the others lacked, and for me personally this makes up for what they don't do as well. As always with headphones YMMV based on your personal preferences, but I prefer these to more expensive models. They're also lightweight and comfortable for long sessions. I find I notice the clamping feeling when I first put them on, but it fades almost immediately.

Orgasmo auditivo !

Great for natural sound. Great for mastering but not monitoring, for obvious reasons. Great entry headphone for audiophiles.

just got the item ordered couple of days ago when there was a small sale and come back today finding its even cheaper now. quite disappointed to see this. I like the look and still testing them out, feel tight on my head at this stage hoping they will stretch. sound sounds quite good at this stage. i would have given more stars but just still testing them out and built for smaller heads

Non mi è mai successo prima con Amazon, di ricevere un ordine con caratteristiche contrarie alla descrizione posta sulla pagina web dell'oggetto messo in vendita. Premessa: la cuffia è stata descritta come in "condizioni pari al nuovo". Una cosa inaccettabile: aperta la busta di contenimento: 1. la scatola presenta segni di usura 2. aperta la scatola, non trovo la custodia (credo in spugna o altro materiale) che dovrebbe contenere la cuffia per proteggerla. 3. l'ascolto della cuffia è stato ovviamente soddisfacente. In queste condizioni ho disposto comunque e immediatamente il reso.

ON TIME ..GREAT PRODUCT