The first time you hear a good open-back headphone the room seems to get bigger, and the HD 560S is the cheapest place I know to have that happen. Open-back means the earcups are vented rather than sealed, so sound leaves and enters freely, and in exchange the presentation stops feeling like it’s happening inside your skull. These are 120 ohm, 280 grams, with a detachable 1.8 metre cable and a screw-on quarter-inch adapter in the box. Sennheiser aimed them at studio reference targets rather than at fun. Nothing charges. Nothing pairs.
Tonally they’re close to a monitoring standard, which is the entire point and also the catch. Detail is excellent, imaging is precise, and you can hear into a mix in a way that fifty dollar headphones simply don’t allow. But there’s a substantial lift from around 4kHz that makes them bright, and the low end doesn’t extend far, so listeners who want warmth will find them thin and slightly hard. The upside is that being close to neutral makes them very responsive to EQ. Pull that treble down a decibel or two and a lot of the complaints evaporate.
Comfort is the strong suit, mostly. Big cups, soft pads, and low weight spread the pressure well, and they’re easier to drive and more comfortable than Sennheiser’s pricier HD 6XX. It isn’t unanimous though. Owners regularly complain about clamping force before break-in, and the ventilation is poor enough that my ears warm up sooner than they do on other open-backs, with the headband starting to nag after about two hours. The genuine disappointment is the build. The all-plastic construction feels wrong at this price, and that’s hard to talk yourself out of once you’ve picked them up.
Wired only, and quite firmly so. The 120 ohm impedance and the quarter-inch adapter mean these are a desk headphone, not a phone headphone, and they’re explicitly unsuitable for portable use. The cable is nearly ten feet long, which is great at a desk and absurd anywhere else, and it transmits every brush against your shirt straight into your ears. The bigger annoyance is the proprietary 2.5mm connector at the earcup, which narrows your aftermarket cable options considerably. And because they’re open-backed, everyone in the room hears what you’re listening to, and you hear them.
These are for someone at a desk who wants to hear recordings properly and has a quiet room to do it in. Mixing, editing, critical listening, or just taking music seriously for an evening all fit. Don’t buy them for an office, a commute, or a plane, because the open design leaks in both directions and defeats the whole purpose. If you want the classic warmer alternative, the HD 6XX is the perennial comparison. But for the money, very little touches the 560S on sheer honesty, provided you can forgive the plastic.
Pros
• Open-back sound at a price that used to be impossible
• Close to a studio reference tuning, and takes EQ well
• Light and roomy, easy to wear for hours
• Easy to drive, no headphone amp required
Cons
• All-plastic build feels cheap for the money
• Bright, with a noticeable lift around 4kHz
• Ten foot cable, and a proprietary 2.5mm connector
• Open design leaks sound both ways, so useless in shared spaces
Our score: 8.3/10