Sennheiser - HD 560S

If you listen with low volumes the difference will be minimal with almost every single headphone you try. An AMP can help a bit as the ALC can run about 90-96ohm headphones max. HD560s are 120ohm. AMP could help to refine the sound a little when using lower volumes.

The Sennehiser HD 560S. Probably the best sub-200€ option for competitive gaming.

I love my HD 560s as well! Using them with the very affordable Moondrop Dawn Pro.

I use Sennheiser HD560s

I'm not a fan of any brand, but they are some that I respect. Sennheiser for it's quality, especially on open back headphones but senny come on man, experiment with an open back that has proper bass extension and no 660s is not that, think of 560s with a little bit more bass presence and less glare. Or not, Aeribus Acustics would love to eat your cake. Hifiman for it's driver design; say whatever you want for the QC or the build quality which I agree they feel like egg shells; zero flex and ready to shatter but man those earcups are just the best. And those massive drivers... it truly makes a difference. But they need to brainstorm about the headband design; I'm not a big fan of those massive fork style headbands, an hd800s-esque design would have been better.

I'm an amateur music producer and also gamer. I used IEM like Moondrop Aria, Moondrop Chu and Moondrop Chu 2, before deciding to buy Over Ear Headphone Sennheiser HD 560s, because I really like "flat" sounding IEM and Headphones. For a price of 10$\~20$, Moondrop Chu and Moondrop Chu 2 will beat the majority of that price bracket, but the moment I bought my 80\~100$ Sennheiser HD 560s, I started to understand that I liked Over Ear more than IEM, I felt like IEM is way too intrusive, and borderline not comfortable for long sessions. Don't get me wrong, when recording vocal / guitar I use my IEM due to the better isolation, but the soundstage I achieved with Sennheiser HD 560s, was literally waay too good to be true. Like it was easier to pinpoint the location of the enemies, as well as it is also easy to hear them. This is insanely different in comparison to when I was playing using IEM like Moondrop Chu2, where sometimes I mixed up if the enemy was in front of me or behind me. I know it sounds weird, but somehow that is what happens with me when using the IEM. Maybe more expensive IEM would fix this problem, but as of now I use my HD 560s to mix and master my music as well as playing game, while I don't use IEM anymore except when recording / need the sound isolation. Sennheiser HD 560s would pretty much be the end of my headphone journey for gaming, mixing and mastering. I really doubt the jump from this headphone would have the same impact.

Yeah totally agree with that, but the turtle beach was insanely bad. I have Sennheiser open backs and while the bass isn't anything to write home about, it's not a noticeable thing.

Take your time to save. The products are not going anywhere! The sound blaster x g6 is a staple but its an older product thats been refreshed with usb c (at least that im aware). I may sound like a simp for fosi audio but the k7 gaming dac amp is roughly the same price and is far more compelling for a gamer due to all its features. Unfortunately when i needed a dac/amp the steel series game dac was the best option that had the functions i wanted and the creative gc7 had just come out and didnt have enough reviews. Feel free to dm if you ever need help! https://fosiaudio.com/products/k7-dac-headphone-amp?srsltid=AfmBOoq0obxVPgjPTZdakN4iZ255AFdk2KUIjMFi1YFlP8HP_7TVl9Me

Disagree. The clamp force for me is so loose that they barely stay on and fall off with any motion: even if I just tilt my head backwards, they slide off. They are very lightweight though. I haven't felt the hinge bump yet in a year of use either.

I'm not a fan of any brand, but they are some that I respect. Sennheiser for it's quality, especially on open back headphones but senny come on man, experiment with an open back that has proper bass extension and no 660s is not that, think of 560s with a little bit more bass presence and less glare. Or not, Aeribus Acustics would love to eat your cake. Hifiman for it's driver design; say whatever you want for the QC or the build quality which I agree they feel like egg shells; zero flex and ready to shatter but man those earcups are just the best. And those massive drivers... it truly makes a difference. But they need to brainstorm about the headband design; I'm not a big fan of those massive fork style headbands, an hd800s-esque design would have been better.

I went from a40s with a mixamp to the hd560s with an aftermarket boom mic, then changed from a mixamp to the steel series game dac because the micamp was dying. What i love about the 560s is just how natural and open they sound but with a little eq, the bass can really come alive. I think they are a perfect starter headphone aside from the high impedance. I really enjoy the hd560s but the high impedance is a huge barrier to someone just getting into higher end audio because you need a good amp/dac to run it at its full potential. You can likely power them through onboard audio but you likely wont have an enjoyable experience and find yourself having to crank the volume. While not the most expensive headset, if you dont already have a boom/tabletop mic, and an amp/dac itll be more money than your used to spending on audio. I would highly recommend checking out the fosi k7 gaming amp/dac or the k5, hyper x and creative also having gaming dac amps but the fosi k7 is GOAt tier for its features. Very few amp/dacs are built for gaming.

My favorite headphones are the meze elite, and they share a lot of similarities to the 105 aer as said in another comment. Other headphones I tend to enjoy on the daily are hd560s, hd6xx, dt1990 and the he1000 stealth. Although as I said, the 105 aer tends to be my daily pick. They sound amazing and are very comfortable! Edit: forgot about music. It depends somewhat on the headphone. The meze elite is very fun with movie scores and big symphonies, but on the daily i listen to anything from ásgeir to some Ren. 105 aer works for it all.

Sennheiser. If you use their premium headphones with a separate microphone, you can even have them produced outside of china. E.g. the Sennheiser HD560S (and everything similiar or more premium ofc.) is produced in germany and rumania. Extremely good headphones, leagues ahead of any of those crappy gaming headsets.

I have been on a similar journey - literally just bought the Sennheiser 560S for €164 today! I think they can be found for even cheaper elsewhere. I'm really impressed with them so far, but I've only been listening with them for about 2 hours so far, so I might be in some sort or honeymoon period. I demo'd the Edition XS in the shop as well, they were selling for a little over €300. I liked the sound from them but wasn't completely blown away. I also didn't like how they fit - they were huge around my ears and felt loose when I turned my head, etc. The 560S are a much better fit for me, comfy and stable. I have also heard about HifiMan QC issues, and didn't really hear anything in them to justify the extra €150. From what I've read though, the Sundara's are lighter/smaller around the ears.

Shocked that nobody has mentioned the Audeze Maxwell. Given your use case and budget they would seem to be a top 3 choice. I've owned a pair for quite a while and they are honestly amazing at both content consumption and also gaming. They come with a mic built in and you don't need a separate DAC/AMP. The Sennheiser 560S and PX38X are also great options.

I prefer my 560s for the ultimate easy listening experience, since they're so damn comfortable, but the bass is more punchy than the 600/650, so I have to tone that down a bit (but it's good for exciting listening sessions).

I know this is an old thread, but I'm sure it has been more popular than ever post release. I stumbled on it and thought I'd weigh in as a HD 560S owner. I don't have a ton of experience with mid-high end headphones, but my experience with these been nothing short of stellar in games and music. I picked up a refurb pair from Sennheiser during one of their sales for significantly under sticker and they arrived looking brand new, no sign of use. From my research at the time, reviews said they outperformed many significantly more expensive options. The biggest trade offs with them is no microphone and their aesthetics / build quality. I've come to love how light the all plastic build is, and they've survived some pretty gnarly pulls from snags on my chair or pets pulling on the cord. The stock pads ARE very bad, and I replaced them with a pair from Wicked Audio after a month or so. The upgrade made a world of difference for fit and comfort, so I suggest someone buys upgraded pads day 1. For music, while some folks report them as grating for longer sessions, I felt so the opposite. Listening to some songs was like hearing them in a whole new way, picking up so many little details I had never heard before. I love that they're so balanced, and not the overly amplified bass that has become the staple of so many mainstream / v-shaped headphones (especially among the wireless options). People who prefer a a ton of bass will probably not like the HD560s. My current microphone setup has a decent integrated amp, so I can run them in high impedance mode which gives great volume levels. They are not the loudest headphones if someone is trying to run them off a basic PC sound card. Higher end motherboard sound cards, or a monitor that comes with a decent integrated DAC is a must, otherwise someone should consider the appropriate hardware for powering them in the purchase price. If someone needs an integrated microphone, I seem to recall hearing that the Sennheiser PC38X from Drop is the same hardware as the 560S but with a mic attached, so that's an alternative option.

Sennheiser 560S and don't look back. Get you a cheaper DAC/AMP like Creative's USB-C one and you'd be set.

If you listen with low volumes the difference will be minimal with almost every single headphone you try. An AMP can help a bit as the ALC can run about 90-96ohm headphones max. HD560s are 120ohm. AMP could help to refine the sound a little when using lower volumes.

Sennheiser HD560S, equalised to a Harman curve for that bit of extra bass. It's just the best option for comfort + clear, balanced sound that works well across genres in that range, and they're easy to tweak to your tastes with an app like Equaliser APO without any loss of resolution.

Ive own all 3. All good for spatial sound in games like R6, COD, OW, Marvel Rivals, etc. My personal favorite goes to the 650's but that could be recency bias.

Great headphones, great price. These are my daily drivers and I've loved them for years now. My only advice would be to play with EQ if you feel like they don't have enough bass at first - they respond really well to a bit of a bass nudge. But that's just my tastes.

So I've been hunting for a good wireless pair of cans (up to ~€350, available in Europe, don't care about ANC or app features as long as the sound is worth the money, neutral sound preference with at most a slight bass boost) for a while now, and it all keeps returning to the same issue - they keep hurting the top of my head because they don't clamp all that hard and the whole package ends up hanging right off of that narrow headband. Even the B&W Px7 S2 and CA Melomania P100, my favourite picks otherwise, quickly ended up hurting my head despite all the praise for their comfort. Apparently I've just got a steeper dome than most, while I don't mind earcups that really snap on as long as they have good cushions - my wired mainstays are a 1MORE H1707 and Senn HD560S, both of which I can wear for hours without any trouble even with glasses, despite their reputation for clamping down. The Grado GW100x were also quite comfortable, but there I just couldn't get used to their on-ear sound signature. So what's there left to try in the wireless department that'll give my head a good squeeze? I did leave the Senn Momentum 4 and Bose QC 45 as a last resort yet just because I'm a little bored of consumer tuning so feel free to recommend those if they fit the bill, but what else is there to try besides just piling on extra padding and hoping that helps instead?

For around 330, the Sennheiser HD 5605 is a strong pick if you want great sound for music and gaming. But if your main goal is listening to music while falling asleep or to relax, a pillow speaker might honestly be the best option way more comfortable than wearing headphones in bed.

I'd say the HD560s is better than the HD600 for gaming but not for music. It can't be overstated how amazing the HD600's are for music because of how natural vocals and timbre can come across. But it suffers from a lack of sub-bass and a "3-blob" soundstage that makes it sound a bit claustrophobic and not immersive for gaming. On the other hand, HD560s is great for gaming because its drivers are slightly angled which presents a spaciousness effect to the sounds and gives you better positional imaging to where they're coming from. It also has more extended sub-bass, so explosions in FPS games like Battlefield 6 feel powerful. The downside is that the lower mids are slightly thin compared to the HD600, and the lower treble around 4-6khz comes off a little bit sharp, resulting in a slightly fatiguing sound after a few hours. More specifically, guns in CS2 and BF6 can have a metallic etch to reloading sounds which then translates into musical instruments like cymbals or "S's" in vocals being somewhat splashy. Despite my sonic nitpicks, the HD560s is one of the few great value headphones for gaming, especially if you can get them in used/refurbished condition for under $100.

I dont know much about wired headphones, I have an XM5 but it wasnt for me. The ANC is nice, but the sound felt a bit muffled and not as detailed as my open backs. Plus, when it gets hot, closed backs might become ovens for your ears. Often the first headphone to be recommended is the Sennheiser HD6 series, for good reason. The venerable headphone line has remained the standard for a neutral/correct sounding headphone since the release of the 600 back in 1998. If youre looking for more bass, consider the HD6XX. The 6XX is a repainted HD650 as sold by Drop.com for a lower price, around $179 on sale. This is a version of the HD600 tuned for extra bass and less treble, creating a more rich sound. If the 600 is plain tea, the 6XX is more akin to milk tea. This is a vocal focused headphone that does better with male or sustained vocals, making it pretty great for pop or alt rock. On the flipside, because of the less emphasised treble, some songs may sound veiled, as if listening to some instruments through a curtain. For example, the female vocals on ABBA's Dancing Queen sound masked on the 6XX, but sustained male vocals such as on d4vd's Feel It sound godly, like a flood of sound crashing against the inside of your head. That being said, I have tried 600 and 6XX, and I personally prefer the 6XX. The difference to me is quite subtle though. Additonally, the HD6 series headphones have pretty high impedance (resistance) so you may need an amp for these. Not an expensive one though, I use a $30 Fiio KA11 and my desktop volume is set to 18/100. Right now, I'm lusting over the Sony MDR-M1 closed back headphones. They have a more exciting V-shape response that amplifies the impact of EDM tracks rather than vocals. I only tried one for about 30 minutes, but it hits the right spot for me for genres like techno. Basically the complete opposite of the HD6 series headphones. Additonally, the MDR-M1 is easy to power, so you can run it out of anything. A more neutral closed back is the Fiio FT1, but I found that it wasn't much different from the pair of HD560s I was daily driving at the time so I didn't end up getting a pair. I prefer the more wide and clear sound of open backs. I've also heard good things about the AKG K371 and K361, both of which should be more neutral sounding closed back headphones. Going back to open backs, I think the HD560s is the better all rounder than the HD6 series headphones. You sacrifice a bit of sound quality as compared to the HD6 headphones. The 560 driver doesnt sound as resolving, like comparing 720p to 1080p, and the 560 generally sounds more boring. However, you get a wider soundstage and better imaging: basically the instruments feel more 3d and its easier to tell where each instrument is playing from. Additionally, the tuning of the HD560s isn't far off that of the HD600, and when I compare my 6XX to my 560, I feel that my 6XX isn't significantly better, maybe 15% better at most for music. Because of the better 3d sound effect, the 560s is the better headphone for gaming, orchestra, or game OST music. I'll end it by saying that for most music, the 600 series is be better, but the 560s is more versatile, cheaper and easier to power. (I have tried the "improved" HD560s, the HD550, and I felt that it sounded so completely wrong that I couldn't listen to it for more than 1 minute. It sounded very muffled, as if I was underwater.) There are *many* headphones in this price bracket, and I think you should try as many as you can. I only listed the ones I own or left an impression on me.

I really like my Sennheiser HD560S I caught on sale around black friday last year

sounds like you've got no amp or a poor one. these have plenty of bass, I listen mostly to deep house, dub techno, etc.

I own Hd560s ,i bought aura dac ,i use on pc,do u know anyway to improve them for gaming for music i use eq and it works great,issue is Gaming sounds bit weird sometimes

560s is possibly the upgrade you are looking for. You can attach different cable and microphone. I went Game Zero - HyperX Cloud 2 - Game One - 560s. Zero regrets.

Sennheiser 560s with an inline mic cord. Plug into my ps5 controller. They are great

No lol. Sennheiser like the HD560s is also plastic and doesn't break, it's just bad design.

Not a gaming headset but the HD 560s are on sale right now for under $200. Great sound quality for the price.

Yeah, I just picked some up for $180 at best-buy (guess I over payed lol) I got a DAC/AMP but it hasn't arrived yet so I can't wait to hear what it sounds like when I can actually give it the right amount of power!

If you want to maximize comdort and audio clarity my personal favorite are Sennheiser. Sennheiser 650 - highend Sennheiser 560s - midrange Sennheiser 599 - lower midrange Try them out and you'll be very pleasantly suprised.

If you want the absolute best sound quality, the Sennheiser HD 560S is currently on sale in Amazon for 11,000. But those are open back headphones, and you can't really use them for work as they don't have microphones. Commuting is also something that's not intended. If you want reference grade Bluetooth headphones, the Audio Technica M20x BT is available for around 7,500 rupees. For Bluetooth headphones wirh ANC, the Sennheiser Accentum is available at exactly 10,000.

Any Sennheiser wired mainliners 5xx and up, like the 560S, 600 and 660S2. Between thick memory foam padding, big earcups and open backs you barely notice they're there once you're used to them, and you do get great balanced sound too.

Saw on Amazon tonight (9/6) the Sennheiser 560S is on sale for $199.95 (27% off). That's a terrific price for a very nice headphone (neutral, of course, as it's a Sennheiser). Not sure if you wish to spend $200, but that's a great buy👍 It's a terrific higher-end headphone!

My 560s is my most comfortable set. These look more like the HD6** series, which are comfortable as well, but not like the 560s.

I just picked up the sennheiser hd 560s really cheap, wired though

Sennheiser HD560s are great enthusiast headphones.

Short answer: HD 560S is my pick. I play games and listen to music from a laptop, and I use the laptop mic. Long answer: How did we get here? Glossary of terms: (the things that arent quite accurate or that im not sure of are in quotation marks) Driver: The speaker in the headphone that makes sound. DAC: Digital to Analog Converter. Your music is stored in digital data and it needs to be converted back to an electrical signal in order for you to listen to your music. The DAC is in charge of this. Basically, it plots "coordinates on a graph" using digital information, then draws a best fit line through the points to recreate an analog signal. Amp: Amplifies the signal going to your headphones. Increases the amount of power going to your headphones, measured in milliwatts (mW). Impedance: The resistance of a pair of headphones or amp or any part of your audio chain. Measured in ohms. Sensitivity: The measure of how loud your headphones can get for a given amount of power. Measured in dB/mW. Closed back: Closed back headphones have a solid cover over the back of the driver. This blocks out more noise from the surroundings, creating noise isolation. They tend to have more bass, since low frequencies are reflected by the closed back. Additionally, the closed back makes it hotter for your ears inside. Example: Sony XM6. Open back: Open back headphones do not cover the back of the driver with anything solid. You might see some foam or metal grills covering the driver, but for the most part air can reach the back of the driver. They are easier to tune since you don't have to account for the reflections caused by a closed back. However, they let sound in and also let sound out, the latter phenomenon is called noise bleeding. Example: Sennheiser HD 600. Most audiophile headphones tend to be open backed. Since you don't have to deal with the reflections from the closed back design, open backs have a more open and clear sound. However, these are meant to be used in quiet environments, since the open back will let surrounding noise in. On the other hand, travel headphones and studio monitoring headphones are generally closed backs. On the train, or walking down a busy street, the closed back design helps isolate yourself from outside noise. Closed backs are similarly beneficial if you are a musician trying to figure out when to play your piece in a middle of a loud studio. I'll digress a bit and talk about the resistance (impedance is the industry term) of headphones. In the 80s, most studios had recording desks with very high output resistance. Ideally, you'd want all of your power supply to go to your headphones. However, if the other parts of your system have higher resistance proportional to that of own headphones, they tend to "take away" power from your headphones. This can make them sound "sloppy" since the driver inside doesn't have enough power to start or stop the speaker cone in time. This is why old headphone designs like the Beyerdynamic DT880 (1981) have very high impedances. However, nowadays our audio sources, like modern DACs or amps have very very low output resistance. Hence, modern headphones don't need to have crazy high resistances anymore. I have heard from somewhere that PC motherboards can come with very high output resistance, but I haven't experienced it before. Back to the source question: can you plug your headphones directly into your PC? Idk, it depends on your PC motherboard, I've got no issues doing it with mine. For peace of mind, I would get a cheap external DAC/amp like a Fiio JA11 to mitigate any potential issue. When it comes to gaming or general music listening, it is largely subjective as to which kind of headphone is best. Common recommendations at the $200 price points are things like the AKG K612, Hifiman HE 400 SE, Sennheiser HD 560S, Beyerdynamic DT990 Pro and so on. Most often, "studio" headphones aren't really recommended for reasons I will explain at the end. Personally, the HD 560S is probably the best blind buy out of the bunch. Its tuned to be generally neutral sounding with extra treble. This means that there is a slight emphasis on high frequency sounds like cymbal hits or female vocals. In general, the HD 560S is a good all rounder, without leaning too far towards any specialties. If you prefer EDM or something more energetic, you might need to look somewhere else. The 560S also has decent soundstage and imaging. Soundstage refers to the feeling of sound being projected past your head, or simply, how "wide" the sound feels. Imaging refers to the accuracy of the direction of the audio cues you are hearing. The 560S's sound wide enough that you can get the feeling of a miniature band performing in front of you, and images well enough that you can point to where each instrument is coming from. For gaming and movies, these traits help with a sense of immersion. It's not the best at busy sounding music though, as the positions of instruments start to become cluttered. The HD 560S is also generally more ergonomic than others at its price point. It has a detachable cable (unlike beyerdynamics), its durable, it has decent build quality and fits comfortably. On top of that, it has a high-ish impedance (120 ohm) that prevents your motherboard from siphoning power away. They can still get pretty loud though, since the 560S is very sensitive. I can plug mine directly to my laptop and get away with my volume set to 20/100. About studio headphones: I'm not into music recording or production so I may be very wrong here. When talking about studio headphones, I was referring to professional monitoring headphones since those have less overlap with the consumer scene. These are the ones you see artists in the studio wearing when recording. Examples include the Beyerdynamic DT770, Sony MDR 7506 or the Sennheiser HD 25 (especially for DJs). They tend to be closed backs, with an emphasis on noise isolation and listening to beats/voices. As a result, they may sound shrill/unnatural for music while lacking the technical advantages of an open back headphone. That's why you will rarely see these recommended for production, gaming or home listening. Then again, audio is subjective, and personally I like HD 25s a lot for home listening. At the end of the day you should probably try the headphones yourself if you can. Everyone's hearing is different, and we all have different preferences so whatever you can find online should not be taken as objective fact. Asking for the best headphone for ___ is like asking for the best restaurant: its highly subjective. That being said, since you need headphones ASAP, I'd say the HD 560S is the best for beginners at the under $200 price point. I hope you enjoy whatever you buy.

As someone who has owned the HE400SE before, the timbre is pretty strange and they're quite uncomfortable, not to mention the build quality. 560S, DT880 if EQ, AD900X, X2HR are all better options (I have owned all of these at some point).

If I didn't have the HD 560s I would grab the used like new with the extra 30% off