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Sennheiser HD560S Headphones Review
I have a long personal history of enjoying Sennheiser headphones, and their name is synonymous with respectable audio quality. The HD600 series of headphones is often cited as the long-running gold standard for personal audio reproduction, and with good reason.
Last year, the company launched the HD560S. It’s a more affordable take on an “audiophile” neutral headphone, and as with all anticipated gear it went through a huge rollercoaster swing of hype, backlash, and nitpicking. Now that the dust has settled, how does this $199 headphone fare?
Note: I purchased this headphone for regular price at Best Buy. I don’t receive a kickback if you decide to buy one. None of the links in any of my articles are affiliate links as I don’t believe in the practice. For more information about my reviews and monetization, please click here.
OVERVIEW
At $199, the open backed Sennheiser HD560S (official site here) isn’t the absolute cheapest of the company’s higher grade headphone options. That honor still belongs to the Drop-exclusive HD58X, which now sells for $170. However, this newer model has enough going for it that I think it’s worth that small premium, and depending on your tastes it’s probably also worth considering over many of Sennheiser’s more expensive options.
Inside the plain cardboard package you get the headphones, a ten foot audio cable with a 6.3mm source plug, and a helpful adapter if you’re using a 3.5mm connection instead. The thick cable and dongle-style adapter are both best suited to home use, although there’s a large aftermarket pool of replacement cables for Sennheiser’s 500 series headphones and any of them will work with this model.
These headphones are very easy to drive and don’t need any kind of special amplifier. In spite of their 120 ohm impedance, they have a rated sensitivity of 110dB, which is astounding. You can drive these out of just about any source and get great audio performance.
