Sennheiser HD 559 Open Back Headphone - Black

1.0 out of 5 stars

By Ashlyn - Reviewed in the United States on October 13, 2018

I loved them, then they broke.

I bought these headphones in April of this year and I immediately fell in love with them. They're comfortable and they're not too big and clunky like a lot of over-the-ear headphones on the market are. The sound quality is fantastic and they look very sleek. Like I said, I absolutely love these headphones. And then, just today, after regular use for the past 6 months, the plastic on the side cracked. And once it cracked a little, the plastic piece separated entirely, exposing the wire. Let me preface by saying I do not pull them open to place them on my head and I'm not rough at all. My head is not large by any means, in fact, these are a little big on me. I can not fathom why they would just break. They are completely unusable now. I tried gluing them back together but due to where the break is (as you can see in the picture), they don't stay together. I'm very disappointed. I expected more than a 6 month life span out of a $100 pair of headphones.

5.0 out of 5 stars

By Kevin - Reviewed in the United States on April 9, 2018

does not fit 3.5mm jacks, only 1/4 inch.

My son loves them, great sound. The only down side is we didn't read close enough to see that this only has 1/4 inch plug and no adapter to make it fit 3.5mm jacks. I had to also buy https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000068O6B/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 but otherwise these are great.

5.0 out of 5 stars

By Sebastian Powers - Reviewed in the United States on November 8, 2018

Melty Goodness

I had a pair of Sennheiser HD 558s and I loved them, they were stronger on the bass side but I bought them refurbished and unfortunately they broke. For about 2 months I stuck with my replacement Samson SR850 and they were super bright and sibilant in comparison, but no having THESE the difference from both of those is amazing and I've been listening to them for less than 30 minutes. They're a bit tight at first, as most new headphones are but you gotta break them in, duh. I've been listening to indie pop/rock/folk, some rnb and hip hop and a little rap, some future bass and kawaii future bass (specifically Snail's House) and when you change spectrums its pretty noticable and it opens up the headphones more. Still haven't gotten to any rock, metal, or djent yet so we'll see. Comparing these to their predecessor the 558, even though I removed the foam piece in those, the 559 is WAY more open back, a "true" open back if you will. I can hear myself speak at low to decent volumes but when the music is going I don't even notice my tower fan on. As well, the leakage isn't terrible either, at max volume you can't hear the bass the headphones are producing, meaning you can wear these on the bus, just not in a library. If you're looking for good music or gaming headphones that will allow you to hear the space in whatever your doing, get these. Personally I use these for gaming, music, and video editing and I'm not changing or turning back, sennheiser4lyfe.

2.0 out of 5 stars

By Tom Kreutz - Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2019

Comfortable, but poor low frequency audio fidelity

I've used Sennheiser HD 580s for decades with a Yamaha digital piano (P80), an absolutely terrific combination. I just tried the HD 559, supposing that all Sennheiser open back headphones are likely to be excellent. Not! The bass half of my piano sounds as though it's wrapped in cotton - not at all like any piano, acoustic or digital, I've ever played. So perhaps they might make some music sound good to some people...but with regard to low frequency fidelity, they're really quite poor. My Apple earbuds sound better (in the bass) than these headphones. In short, if you want a digital piano to sound like a real piano, choose other headphones. (BTW, I find them to be very comfortable.)

4.0 out of 5 stars

By Bryce - Reviewed in the United States on June 4, 2020

Great sounding headphones with some one annoying shortcoming.

These headphones check pretty much every box for me, except for one important one. While being 99 dollars, not including a 3.5mm adapter is just stupid cost cutting measure. I know you guys could have included it. I have purchased plenty of $99 headphones that came with the adapter so with the $7 adapter I purchased I can actually use these headphones. Do I recommend these headphones despite this ? Yes, just be warned that you will need an adapter for 6.3mm to 3.5 mm ( standard headphone jack ) so you can use these if you lack audio equipment like me. Sound and comfort are great, I would easily recommend these headphones over the ATH-M40x i tried prior to this. Despite the annoyance of the lack of adapters included these headphones are a solid pick for the average person who wants to listen to their music in high quality.

5.0 out of 5 stars

By Paul - Reviewed in the United States on September 22, 2018

Better than the hd598

If you're looking for great sound stage and really good base for open backs, these are your phones. These in my opinion sound better than the hd598s which I own. They have better base and sound stage and overall makes every single song more enjoyable than on the 598s. 10/10 if you're looking for new headphones under 200$ you should defiantly check these ones out.

5.0 out of 5 stars

By Troublemaakerz - Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2018

My husband LOVES these headphones

Now I can enjoy time listening to what I want to without having to listen to everything he's watching/listening to as well. He really is happy with the open back headphone because his ears sweat less and can use them for 8-10hours easily without any issues. I tried these on myself and the foam that goes over the ear is a bit too hard and it gives me headaches, but I'm very sensitive to pressure on my head, so I couldn't use them. Note: We did have to purchase a Sennheiser Adapter Cable for it to be able to work with his PC, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to use it. I'm not sure why the company didn't just charge more and include it in the box. Oh well.

5.0 out of 5 stars

By Brassporkchop - Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2019

Great open back headphones

I discovered open back headphones a few years ago. I got them because I need to be able to hear what's going on in the room I'm in while I still wanted great quality sound. A bonus is while closed headphones make it sound like the source of the sound is within your head, open backed headphones sounds like you're within the same environment as the noise. It's not really a better or worse thing just personal preference. Anyways I like it. My previous 2 pairs of open backs are Grados. They're good but I wanted to try something new. Both of my grados had cords that ended up breaking on me. I saw the cord on these can be changed. HUGE bonus, I'll be able to just swap in a new cord when they break. But what I didn't anticipate is how much better the build quality are on these. Also I find them more comfortable. The Grados are alright but I think I'm converted to Sennheisers.