Audio-Technica ATH-W5000

Design

The Sennheiser HD 555s look very plasticky and aren’t put together particularly well. The ATH-W5000s look better, and feature better construction. Even with the whole double-arc weirdness that’ll be hovering above your head they manage to look snazzier.

Audio-Technica ATH-W5000	Sennheiser HD 555

Frequency Response

Both headphones have a bit of an issue with frequency response. One thing to notice: our HD 555 graph is from our older days when we started measuring at 20Hz. Please keep this in mind for accuracy’s sake.

The HD 555 nets a small advantage here.

Audio-Technica ATH-W5000	Sennheiser HD 555

Distortion

The same ‘oh shucks, our HD 555 graph is old and shows junk data’ speech goes for distortion as well: ignore everything before 100Hz, because it’s not reliable data and we don’t score on it.

Both headphones have similarly low distortion, only the ATH-W5000s have a bit of a blip towards the high end and the HD 555s have some rumblings of distortion towards their low end.

Audio-Technica ATH-W5000	Sennheiser HD 555

Tracking

Both headphones did about the same on tracking, with the HD 555s being slightly less erratic.

Audio-Technica ATH-W5000	Sennheiser HD 555

Isolation

Keep scrolling. Nothing to see here.

Audio-Technica ATH-W5000	Sennheiser HD 555

Comfort

The ATH-W5000s feel a bit big, but the HD 555s felt a bit scratchy. Overall, we thought they were about the same comfort level.

Wear
Audio-Technica ATH-W5000	Sennheiser HD 555

Verdict

While we’ve mentioned the price a dozens of times in this review, it really is the most significant feature about the ATH-W5000s (aside from their swank facade). The HD 555s aren’t perfect, but they offer solid audio quality at an affordable price. If you want, you could always cut down a tree and whittle your own wooden backs.