Donning a pair of quality headphones is a great way to really immerse yourself in the music, but you can feel a little closed in after a while. Open-backed cans allow in more air for a more spacious sound, and Sennheiser has just announced a new pair for audiophiles on a budget – the HD 560S.
A little more than a week after announcing it was marking its 75th anniversary with a limited edition gold edition of the excellent HD 800 S open-back audiophile headphones, Sennheiser is keeping the listening party going with a much cheaper pair of reference-grade circumaurals.
"We are excited to introduce the entry-level audiophile HD 560S headphones," said the company's Jermo Köhnke. "In terms of bass response and value for money, this product represents a paradigm shift for open, dynamic headphones. With linear acoustics tailored to critical listening sessions, we have designed the HD 560S for audiophiles who evaluate a recording’s entire journey through the audio path."
Aimed at music professionals and home listeners, the HD 560S's transducers, which sport new polymer-blend diaphragm membranes, are reported to have been specifically tuned for accuracy, and are angled to mirror an optimal triangular listening position of living room speakers. Listeners can look forward to a wide frequency response of 6 Hz to 38 kHz, expansive soundstage courtesy of the open-back earcup design, 110-dB sensitivity and 0.05 percent total harmonic distortion.
Sennheiser says that the 120-ohms impedance should allow the headphones to be used with "virtually any music source." Where it can get pretty hot inside the earcups of closed-back headphones and a number of popular models can start to weigh listeners down during long-haul sessions, the ventilated cups should see that cool heads prevail and these headphones tip the scales at just 240 g (8.5 oz) too, while the plush velour earpads have been designed to rest softly but securely on the head.
The HD 560S headphones go on sale on September 29 for a suggested retail price of US$199.95, and come with a detachable 3-m (9.8-ft) cable ending in a 6.35-mm (0.25-in) jack, and a 3.5-mm (0.137-in) adapter with its own 15-cm (6-in) lead.
Product page: HD 560S