HD555-HD595 are the same??

w3bbo

w3bbo

w3bbo

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They both use the same drivers according to THIS thread with the only difference being a restrictive piece of foam which damages the soundstage in the 555's when compared to the 595's. Removing this piece of foam is a relatively easy task if that forum is to be believed.
 
I have the 555's and have just done the foam removal mod.

It took me less than 15 mins and that was taking my time, just do one cup at a time, take each piece out and put it down in front of you as you take it out with the following piece on top the way it should go back in. Step by Step and its realy easy.

Only warning is remove the driver very gently due to the connected wires if your heavy handed or careless then you could end up having to solder one back on but HIGHLY unlikely.

They sound a little better Bass mainly and more "open" but i'm not an audiophile so my feedback is uneducated.

No doubt though that they are a class set of headphones for a mid range budget. I did orignaly want the 595's but am realy happy with these and feel like "maybe" i do have the 595 quality in the 555 price range now ? placebo effect ? who knows but i do know that they sound brillient.

Tinkering is good, get it done :)
 
There was some discussion on this recently in Khaaan!'s thread on some 595s he bought. I don't think he was convinced that they are in fact that same.

I have the 555s and I love them, but haven't gotten around to trying this mod yet. I'm not sure if I've convinced myself to bother yet, as if I don't prefer the sound then there's no turning back. Something also tells me the foam is there for a reason.
 
Headphone drivers, just like speaker drivers can be tuned. Look at the frequency range of the 555's and 595's. Do people really think, putting a piece of foam in the ear cups will alter the frequency range the drivers put out?

Take two racing cars within a team, exactly same parts with both cars. Each car can be setup differently for a particular driver or driving style. Admittedly, there is a world of difference between a car and a headphone driver, but the design of both car and headphone driver allows the characteristics to be altered. In the case of the headphone driver, the sound is altered.
 
Robbie G said:
There was some discussion on this recently in Khaaan!'s thread on some 595s he bought. I don't think he was convinced that they are in fact that same.

I have the 555s and I love them, but haven't gotten around to trying this mod yet. I'm not sure if I've convinced myself to bother yet, as if I don't prefer the sound then there's no turning back. Something also tells me the foam is there for a reason.
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With the foam removel mod its reversable, you can just put it back in.

If you go the one step further and actualy cut away parts of the inner casing then theres no going back from that if you don't like it :(
 
Marsman said:
Headphone drivers, just like speaker drivers can be tuned. Look at the frequency range of the 555's and 595's. Do people really think, putting a piece of foam in the ear cups will alter the frequency range the drivers put out?

Take two racing cars within a team, exactly same parts with both cars. Each car can be setup differently for a particular driver or driving style. Admittedly, there is a world of difference between a car and a headphone driver, but the design of both car and headphone driver allows the characteristics to be altered. In the case of the headphone driver, the sound is altered.
Click to expand...

Problem is on that other thread, the frequency curve between the 595 and 555 modded is almost identical.

And if the drivers were tuned, shouldn't they have a different part no? Otherwise how do they know at the factory which driver to put in which cans?
 
Marsman said:
Do people really think, putting a piece of foam in the ear cups will alter the frequency range the drivers put out?
Click to expand...

Yes, as this is effectively a form of drive unit tuning. This can be done with different grill materials, and some manufacturers that use off-the-shelf drive units in speakers apply felt, leather or other materials around tweeters to tune frequency characteristics to suit. I can hear a difference in sound if I put my fingers over part of my HD580 grills.
 
Greebo said:
Problem is on that other thread, the frequency curve between the 595 and 555 modded is almost identical.

And if the drivers were tuned, shouldn't they have a different part no? Otherwise how do they know at the factory which driver to put in which cans?
Click to expand...

Did you not notice the different label on the 555's compared the 595's in Danza's link? If they are exactly the same, no difference, why different label?

Unless Sennheiser are trying to throw people by labelling the drivers differently, when they are identical.

If the difference is the foam, and with that removed, why don't they sound the same?
 
Marsman said:
Did you not notice the different label on the 555's compared the 595's in Danza's link? If they are exactly the same, no difference, why different label?

Unless Sennheiser are trying to throw people by labelling the drivers differently, when they are identical.

If the difference is the foam, and with that removed, why don't they sound the same?
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The drivers are the same. The labels you can see are manufacturing date codes. The part numbers are the same, and are not visible. Maybe not even on the drivers at all.

Remember that not sounding the same is often totally subjective, and any measured variation could well be down to creep in manufacturing tolerances from one batch to another, or from one machine to another.

I imagine a pair of modded 555s and 595s with drivers from the same batch would be effectively the same.
 
danza said:
The drivers are the same. The labels you can see are manufacturing date codes. The part numbers are the same, and are not visible. Maybe not even on the drivers at all.
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Ah, of course, :) Didn't occur to me they were dates. :rolleyes:

Danza said:
Remember that not sounding the same is often totally subjective, and any measured variation could well be down to creep in manufacturing tolerances from one batch to another, or from one machine to another.
Click to expand...

True indeed.

I have seen quite a few people say removing the foam from the 555's, they didn't think they sounded the same as the 595's. Many prefer the 555's with the foam in. Why is that? if 555's are effectively 595's with added foam.

If the drivers are identical, and no tuning/alteration is done, and quite a few people are finding they don't sound the same with the foam removed, then something else is different.

Must be down to quality control. The drivers that go into the 555's, aren't of the same quality of the drivers selected for the 595's. To cover up the 555 drivers lesser quality, Sennheiser slaps foam in, to alter the sound.
 
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I did mod my 555s but even still I found the 595s sounded better. I had the 555 headphone for 3 years and have used them for hours daily so was quite accustomed to the sound given out by them. I would not have bothered posting my thread either had the 595s sounded identical.

Some said I only say this to justify buying the 595s, well consider this, I paid £75 for my 595s and since my 555s broke I would have ended up paying the same (if not more) for replacement 555s so there's very little to justify for the sake of it :p

The drivers may have the same part number but as was mentioned on HeadFi by some folk and here before too, it doesn't mean they sound exactly the same either! Like many electronic parts, the higher end parts that don't cut it in the manufacturing stage get put into lower models (cpu cores for example).
 
Would be interesting to know if the 555's do get not up to par drivers, that don't qualify for the 595's, or if it's solely down to the housing construction. Suppose we will never know.

ATi did, or probably still do something similar. Maybe it's standard for many companies. An older line of their cards, they used the same chip for the top model and for a lesser model. The chips that didn't make the grade go into the lesser model.
 
Yeah, we've explored the idea that they might 'speed bin' drivers, but it seems that if you order a replacement, it's the same driver for the 555 as it is for the 595.

Who knows what happens in the factory at the point of manufacture (when the headphones themselves are manufactured).
 
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