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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.
Sound Quality
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.
The same "oh shucks, our HD 555 graph is old and shows junk data" speech goes for distortion as well: ignore everythign 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.
Both headphones did about the same on tracking, with the HD 555s being slightly less erratic.
Isolation
Keep scrolling.
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 |
ATH-W5000 |
Sennheiser HD 555 |
Verdict
We've mentioned the price to death at this point, but it's really 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 can even cut down a tree and make your own wooden backs for them.
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ATH-W5000
ATH-W5000
ATH-W5000
