TECHWEEK
The headphones are delivered in a nice box with a flip cover, decorated in the traditional Sennheiser combination of white, blue and shades of gray. On the front surface there is an image of headphones, on the edge – brief characteristics.
The kit includes the headphones themselves, documentation, a three-meter cable for connecting to a source with a 6.3 mm jack, and an adapter from a large jack to a minijack (3.5 mm) with a total length of 23 cm.
The quality of the supplied cable is excellent – it is flexible, not prone to tangling, and at the same time does not raise doubts about its strength. The manufacturer’s logo is applied to the connector.
The adapter looks solid too. The connectors are gold-plated, the build quality is almost perfect – everything is as it should be.
Design and construction
The design of the headphones is simple and austere, without unnecessary hints of “premium”. One color version – black.
Of the decorative elements, there is only a small logo on the outside of the cups, plus the manufacturer’s name on the top of the rim.
The rim is plastic, but there is no doubt about its reliability. The logo is painted, sooner or later it will start to wear off. But during testing, I got the impression that this will happen very soon.
On the inside of the rim, there is a soft velor-coated pad for a comfortable fit to the head.
The headphones are open because the outer part of the cups is covered with a mesh. The left earbud is marked with three protruding points that are easy to find by touch. The cups are attached to the rim in one place, while they can move slightly in the vertical plane and slightly rotate around their axis due to the hinge at the junction. It all looks interesting and original, but it is this mount that is most likely the “Achilles heel” of the case.
The cable connector is located at the bottom of the left cup. When plugging in, the connector must be turned clockwise until it snaps into the tab inside the connector for a secure fit.
The cable will not be able to fall out for sure, and it will be difficult to accidentally pull it out with a sharp movement of the head.
On the inner side of the rim near the cups, the model name, as well as the designations of the right and left headphones, are applied. The cup holder can be pulled out to adjust the size of the headband, the power reserve is 5.5 cm on each side. The inner part of the arc is reinforced with a black painted metal plate.
The dimensions of the opening of the ear pads are relatively large – 45 × 75 mm. Even large ears can easily fit in them, unpleasant pressure on the curl of the auricle is not felt. We will return to the issues of wearing comfort in the corresponding chapter of testing.
The ear pads are removable, you can purchase a replacement in the official Sennheiser store. Well, various Chinese manufacturers have already rushed in and offer their products – in the case of Sennheiser, this always happens extremely quickly.
Judging by the manufacturer’s description, the HD 560S is equipped with the proprietary EAR (Ergonomic Acoustic Refinement) technology, which assumes an angled driver position. As conceived by the developers, this allows you to achieve a sound similar to that produced by acoustic systems, correctly located in a specially prepared room. Apparently, just placing the speaker at an angle explains the presence of a protrusion on the inner surface of the cup, which is clearly visible in the illustration above.
Sennheiser HD 560S are extremely comfortable headphones to use. Large, soft and tactilely pleasant velor ear pads gently wrap around the ear, while due to the open design, the inner cavity is well ventilated – it does not get hot even after several hours of wearing. The angle of rotation of the cups in all planes is extremely small, but at the same time it is sufficient for them to take the most comfortable position. As mentioned above, the length of the arc is adjustable over a fairly wide range, so it will be convenient for owners of heads of various sizes.
At the same time, the weight of the headphones is only 240 g, they are almost not felt on the head. If the sound of the HD 560S is closer to the well-known HD 660S model, then in terms of the features of the case, it is to the ultra-light HD 599. After a couple of hours of continuous use, the first signs of discomfort appear, but you can get rid of them simply by slightly increasing the size of the arc, thus relaxing the pressure on the head. Although it is not too big, which will especially delight the audience wearing glasses.
It makes no sense to talk about noise isolation in the case of open headphones – it is practically nonexistent. And in order not to disturb others, they will not work either – there will be “leaks” of sound, and significant ones. Of course, there will be a difference with listening to music through the speakers, but in a quiet room everyone around will hear almost every note and every word in the songs they listen to. On the head, the headphones are quite stable, when turning the head, they do not try to fall. And you don’t need more – hardly anyone decides to use them in training or jogging.
Accordingly, headphones are not very suitable for mobile use – their place is at home. The cable length is appropriate – 3 meters, the main plug is a 6.3 mm jack, which is used in most Hi-Fi devices. At the same time, if you have, for example, a mobile DAC capable of “swinging” headphones with an impedance of 120 Ohm, then a complete adapter for a 3.5 mm minijack will come in handy. We tried listening to the HD 660S using a variety of sources – the result was impressive in all cases, which we’ll talk about in the next chapter.
Conclusion
For relatively little money, Sennheiser offers an extremely comfortable model that provides almost perfectly flat sound. Yes, the HD 560S doesn’t even have a hint of “premium” in its appearance, but the headphones do their job perfectly and will become an excellent “ticket to big sound” for those who take their first steps in it. Or even for experienced listeners who have a limited purchase budget and want the most bang for the buck.
