Sennheiser HD 555 Headphones Review - Intro

By Mark Brezinski
Published on April 04, 2008
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Intro	Tour & Design
Performance	In Use
Value & Comparisons	Conclusion
Ratings & Specs

The HD 555 headphones hail from Sennheiser's lineup of over-ear home theater solutions. They have open backs, which will provide a more natural, airy aural experience. This quality also means people in the same room will also get an earfull, however. The cord is long enough to comfortably tether you to a jack across the room, whether it's 1/4-inch or 3.5mm. Their cloth-covered padding and swiveling ear cups provide a comfortable fit.

The downside of the HD 555s is that they really are homebodies: they won't travel well. The headphones are huge, the plug and necessary 3.5mm adaptor are a huge protrusion from your media player, and the cord is long enough to jump rope with. Further, the lack of isolation and propensity for leakage means it isn't ideal for public places.

The HD 555 headphones currently retail for $179.99, and are available for sale off Sennheiser's website.

Section	The Good	The Bad
Tour & Design	The design is simple, but still looks good. The long cord can easily span the distance between the couch and your home theater setup.	The design might seem plasticky. The top and bottom halves of the band don't have much tolerence for bending; the place where the cup meets the band is a bit fragile.
Performance	Good performance in frequency response and distortion.	They don't provide very good noise cancellation, and have high leakage.
In Use	Comfortable to wear, partially thanks to the cloth-covered padding.	These headphones are simply not portable. They're huge, non-collapsible, and have a ridiculously long cord without anything to help manage it.
Value & Comparisons	If you're looking for home theater headphones, and the leakage and lack of cancellation aren't issues, these aren't a bad deal.	If you're looking for anything moe than the description to the left, chances are the HD 555s won't be able to suit your needs.

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