Sennheiser HD555 or Grado MS1?
- Thread starter wdEvA
- Start date
Having owned the SR80s I'd say Grados don't suit movies because of the soundstage, brightness and comfort issues, plus I found them too quiet to use with an MP3 player. Never used those Sennheisers but they're 120 ohm I believe, which is going to be a struggle for an MP3 player (ie you won't get the best out of them). Something like HD465 or HD595 would be more suited to use with an MP3 player. There's more than just Sennheiser and Grado out there too.
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Don't know about the Grado's but I own the Sennheiser 555's. Best audio purchase I have made so far without doubt. The headphones themselves are so comfortable, even wearing them for long periods of time.
I use them with my PC, which covers mp3, film and gaming usage and they have been excellent. I don't consider myself an "audiophile" but as far as I can tell the sound quality produced is pretty good.
Best £63 I have spent in a long time
hth,
aaazza
I use them with my PC, which covers mp3, film and gaming usage and they have been excellent. I don't consider myself an "audiophile" but as far as I can tell the sound quality produced is pretty good.
Best £63 I have spent in a long time
hth,
aaazza
Got a set of HD555's about 2 months ago and they are very nice, took a week or so to burn in but gaming is fantastic and movies are also crisp and clear with good bass!!
Got mine plugged into my XFi Xtreme card which helps no end!
Got mine plugged into my XFi Xtreme card which helps no end!
Sennheiser build quality is awful though, and the contact points for the cable fail and you start to get a intermittent connection.
They sounds totally different, Senn have a soft, laidback sound, Grado more forward. Senn might be more comfy, but the enclosed pads mean your ears get roasting hot (not free air) Grados sit on your ear so they don't overheat.
They sounds totally different, Senn have a soft, laidback sound, Grado more forward. Senn might be more comfy, but the enclosed pads mean your ears get roasting hot (not free air) Grados sit on your ear so they don't overheat.
Grado MS1? Do you mean the Alessandro MS1? (i.e. the tweaked Grados) I have a pair of them, with a more comfortable set of pads on, and they are not uncomfortable at all to wear, although I always imagine that the larger closed cup Sennheiser design would be snugglier on the ear. I think my MS1s are better for music than movies, they are bright and sharp and I think maybe a bit too much so for movies, but that is down to personal opinion of course. I think that they're fine. And they're also plenty loud enough imo. The other major difference would be that the MS1s will leak sound like anything, i.e. if you don't want to disturb people around then don't get the MS1.
There's plenty of high quality low impedence headphones out there that will do perfectly well with a low power battery device like an MP3 player. Just need to look harder. Look for an impedence of say under 80 ohms and you should be fine.wdEvA said:
Even 120 ohm headphones like the HD555 won't sound at all bad connected to an MP3 player, just they won't sound their best. In real terms that could mean something like a slighty muddy bottom end and not going quite as deep as they would would with a dedicated headphone amp. Probably a lot of people couldn't hear the difference though. I've used 120 ohm HD565s with an MP3 player and they still sounded very good overall, although I'm not a big fan of the Sennheiser sound in general.
