HD560S - 3 Questions from a total Noob

Submitted by BananaHands3 t3_10o8qqs in headphones

Hello everybody, I am completely new to the open back headphone world having just come from what I would call a consumer headset, I have pretty limited understanding on this world. I have just recently sold my PXC 550 II, I really enjoyed them while they lasted but have decided I wanted to take the plunge into something more 'serious' so to speak.

Having just bought the HD560S ( awaiting their arrival tomorrow ) on the recommendation of many many many people here and other places I just have a few questions if anybody would be able to help I would very much appreciate it.

I understand through research that these are a quite neutral and analytic headphone which is what I believe I am after, a very small selection of music examples that I listen to - Led zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Metallica, Pink Floyd, Queen, Shuggie Otis.

Question 1 - Will this headphone sound mind blowing in comparison to my old closed back ones listening to, for example - No Quarter Live TSRTS? Specifically the Solos, which blow my mind even on the cheapest of headsets.

Question 2 - Really struggling to understand the ease of drivability with lots of people claiming they need and Amp/Dac and lots of people claiming they don't, Planning to mainly use them with my work Laptop ( Asus Tuf A15 FA506QM) as well as plugged straight into my Wired xbox series S controller. I have tried to find info on my motherboard/ soundcard online but I could not find anything... Do you think the Laptop and Controller will run these fine as they are and will I get any distortion or 'lesser sound quality' ?

Question 3 - Will the apple Dongle be worth buying to plug into my laptop as an external DAC or will the laptop Output suffice? Please bear in mind I am in England so I think the Dongles here are the Undervolted EU ones.

Thanks everybody

9

Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

Dust-by-Monday t1_j6djavv wrote

The 560s is really easy to drive out of just about anything. I run them out of my iPhone with the lighting dongle and they're plenty loud at half volume. Is it possible to get a US Apple Dongle by importing it?

The 560s will probably sound find straight out of your laptop.

8

BananaHands3 OP t1_j6dpdqz wrote

I'll definitely give them a try out of the laptop to start off with

I could get a US dongle on ebay, but i've seen some FiiO Amp/Dac combos for sale near me for around £10 more than it would cost to import a dongle. At that point would it not be better to just get one of the FiiOs ?

2

Dust-by-Monday t1_j6dt9b1 wrote

FiiO makes good stuff. I have their Q3 and BTR3K and they work great

4

slowandintheway t1_j6d5epf wrote

Just bought the same (awaiting delivery as well).

They are 120 ohms (weird) so you might think they would be hard to drive but they are also sensitive (110dB), so probably ok without amp but I ordered one anyway. Curious if the Sennheiser app has EQ for these.

My Apple USB-C/3.5" dongle does not work on my computer (iMac) but it is pretty amazing on my phone and iPad for a $9 product. Your laptop has a DAC, how good it is, who knows?

4

BananaHands3 OP t1_j6do1sd wrote

What amp did you end up going with?

Not sure if the Sennheiser app has EQ , I still have it installed so I will take a look tomorrow and report back.

1

slowandintheway t1_j6e2e6c wrote

I bought a Qudelix-5K. $109, amp/DAC with EQ app.

5

metalrufflez t1_j6frqmj wrote

And the party piece, it’s a BT Receiver. I didn’t need the extra power but wireless IEMs were too enticing to pass

Small and light, can drive any entry level headphone easily (and supports balanced 2.5 if you need more juice), amazing app with great parametric eq and autoeq support, chrome extension, supports PS4/5, can be used as a USB DAC

This is by far the best audio purchase anyone can make for the $110 (that is not an IEM).

1

BehaveWithClass t1_j6fatvx wrote

No eq for wird headphones via Sennheiser app. You'd need a dedicated eq App.

1

StanKukin t1_j6d5oa6 wrote

Sure you gonna enjoy the 560s but of course no one can guarantee whether you will be wowed by their sound or if you even gonna like it. Everyone’s hearing can be vastly different. However, if it’s your first decent set of open backs, my recommendation is to give yourself some time to adjust to them. Your first impression might be - that’s a lotta detail and highs and none of the low end - your hearing will adjust to the balanced sound for a period of few days. After you are used to them, if you still feel like the sound is too thin/shouty - consider getting a basic entry dac/amp dongle like ifi go blu or something equivalent form fiio.

3

BananaHands3 OP t1_j6doh58 wrote

I've been seeing a lot of FiiO E10k & FiiO A3 for sale around here, would either of those be a good pairing if the onboard audio is no good?

2

Nosapaw t1_j6dfn53 wrote

>Will this headphone sound mind blowing in comparison to my old closed back ones listening to

Can't guarantee anything, everyone has a different experience with this stuff, at least in my case, i was definitely mind blown, you could not, who knows, although if you say "blow my mind even on the cheapest of headsets." I'm quite positive.

>Really struggling to understand the ease of drivability

Unless you have like a really, really bad source , they should be fine.

>Please bear in mind I am in England so I think the Dongles here are the Undervolted EU ones.

In that case, i would rather look into other Dongles, maybe from tempotec

2

BananaHands3 OP t1_j6dpnky wrote

Alright thanks man, will look into tempotec as another option.

1

Cubing_Burger t1_j6dzgwe wrote

Hi! I got my hd560s like 2 weeks ago, upgraded from the razer barracuda x.

They did not blow me away, i did not notice a different at first. I did however find myself listening to music more and more, and i sang along more, and i danced more.

In my experience this is a sound you grow into, and you'll be extremely happy you did. But it's not as drastic a change as I expected, and you might expect it to be.

Btw: it doesn't need an amp. I run it through a Samsung dongle which has an amp but the 3.5 jack from my laptop does the job.

2

NeoliberalSocialist t1_j6f9rki wrote

The best way to get the most out of any headphone is to use an EQ preset made by someone like r/oratory1990 to smooth out the frequency response that engineers weren’t able to smooth out themselves via hardware. You don’t need an amp for these. The “mind blowing”ness of headphones mostly comes from an addiction to buying new cool tech, but your headphone should sound pretty amazing. Especially with EQ!

1

angelf2704 t1_j6e3vb8 wrote

Hello, they don't require a lot of power but they're pretty transparent to the source. If your source has a thin sound, you will hear that and it pretty unpleasant (harsh treble). I believe they pair really good with warm sounding sources such as an iFi Zen DAC. Had them twice in the past.

0

Character_Record1232 t1_j6ei33f wrote

You will probably get different kind of anwsers so why don't you take your conclusions since you already buy them ?

0

D00M98 t1_j6fd2g0 wrote

Answer 1: No one would know what you will think. You can wait 1 more day and let us know.

Answer 2: HD560S needs 9 mW to support peaks/transients of 110 dB, 27 mW to 115 dB. Not difficult to meet. But will be marginal for dongle. Dongles typically don't list detailed specs. Apple dongle output 31 mW at 32 ohm; 3.6 mW at 300 ohm. It is around that 9mW at 150 ohm; it will not meet 27 mW at 150 ohm. So it will depend on how loud you listen and what type of music/recording (and dynamic range in the recording).

Also, if you care about audio quality, $10 dongles (including Apple dongle) do not sound as good, compared to better dongles and desktop setup.

0

Professional-Swim-69 t1_j6fqaga wrote

Will reply with more details later Just got it last week and I listen to exactly same bands

0