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Sennheiser HD 555 Headphones Review - In Use

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

Summary
As over-ear headphones, the Sennheiser HD 555s are comfortable, but heavy. They have velour padding, which is really soft, but can make your head feel itchy after prolonged use. Also, these things are really not portable: they have a thick band, giant cups, and a long cord, and there's no case or anything else to help manage it. The headphones also aren't very customizable.

Comfort (8.00)
Here we simply customize the headphones to conform to our heads, then wear them for an hour.

In general, we really think these headphones are comfortable. Although we never forgot we were wearing the headphones because of their moderate weight (9.5 ounces) and the pressure on our ears, we never felt uncomfortable, either. They sit well, and the open design means your ears don't get sweaty. The HD 555 headphones make for a comfortable listening experience.

Extended Use (7.00)
After about six hours of use, we did notice the weight a bit more, and the cloth had begun to feel slightly itchy. These sensations were very subtle, however, and didn't really detract from our listening experience. The main annoyance - which is very minor - is that our head movement was restricted a bit, since craning our neck too far forward or back would eventually cause them to slide off. So, these headphones aren't going to work with exercise or other vigorous activity.

Cable Connectivity (12.35)

The HD 555s have a cable that is three meters long. This is about 9.84 feet, which make these headphones a viable jump rope surrogate. The cable ends in a 1/4-inch plug, but fortunately there's a 3.5mm adapter.

Portability (0.15)
The Sennheiser HD 555s are not portable at all. As over-ear headphones, these things take up a lot of space. They also have about 10 feet of cord, but no case to keep everything organized. Granted, these headphones are made for in-home use, but it would've been nice if Sennheiser had included something to help ferry the HD 555s from place to place.

Customizability (2.00)

Other than the headphones themselves, there is only one other object in the box: a 1/4-inch adapter. A user is only privy to the basics of normal wear: extending the band and pivoting ear cups to better fit his or her head. The Sennheiser HD 555 headphones do not offer many options for customization.

Maintenance (2.00)
The HD 555s' cup padding can be removed, but that's the extent you'll be able to disassemble these without a screw driver. Under the padding is a cloth screen over the sound element that can't be taken off easily.

While this feature will allow you to replace the pads easily, it won't let you get at the sound element without ripping its cloth covering. Also, the band padding cannot be removed.
Other Features (5.00)

Battery Dependency
The HD 555 headphones do not require a battery. This ability nets them some easy points. Bose's QuietComfort series should take notice.

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