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  • Introduction

  • Comfort Design & Features

  • Audio Quality

  • Conclusion

  • Science Introduction

  • Frequency Response

  • Distortion

  • Other Tests

  • Introduction
  • Comfort Design & Features
  • Audio Quality
  • Conclusion
  • Science Introduction
  • Frequency Response
  • Distortion
  • Other Tests

Introduction

Comfort Design & Features

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Very comfortable cans that have a removable cable for easy maintenance

Sennheiser tried to emulate the design of their older headphones with their HD 558 aesthetically, and they actually did a pretty good job updating the look. The all-black look is well executed, and very clean-looking, and while the band material isn’t the most durable thing in the world (heavy plastic), the Sennheiser HD 558s do offer good protection from the ills of a broken cable by making the whole thing removable in the event of breakage. Cables on headphones are the most likely point of failure if there are no additional solder points, but these can be swapped out without hassle.

The all-black look is well executed, and very clean-looking.

While to many people the Sennheiser HD 558s are very comfortable with their soft ear pads, those with larger heads reported a pinching sensation at the top of the ear cups after listening for about an hour. Over the length of a 6-hour listening session, the fit doesn’t change too much, so it gets similar marks here.

Open-backed cans are called so because the back of their casings are open, allowing a huge range of driver movement for more accurate sound. Unfortunately, this also means that not only does sound leak out like crazy, but sound from the outside world comes in. Granted, even though your music will drown out some of the noise coming in, you’ll probably want to limit the noise in the environment you’re listening in.

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Audio Quality

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Even frequency response makes for accurate sound.

By reproducing sound at an even level across the spectrum of audible frequencies, these headphones may not be the best bet for bass-lovers, but will do fantastically well for most everyone else. That being said, it does do a somewhat poor job of maintaining a constant sound pressure level in the high end.

These headphones may not be the best bet for bass-lovers, but will do fantastically well for most everyone else.

In our other measures, there isn't much else to note that there is a rather error-free performance: these headphones don’t have much in the way of distortion, but there is a little bit at the low end. Similarly, the Sennheiser HD 558s maintain a nice, smooth tracking response, with only a minor hiccup towards the 7kHz mark. Even at that, you shouldn’t be able to hear a 3dB shift unless you know exactly what you’re looking for.

Unsurprisingly, these cans leak a fair bit of sound, again due to the nature of open-backed headphones. If you’re going to be listening in a highly-populated room, be sure to keep the volume at a minimum. These are not recommended for the office if you like to blast your music.

Conclusion

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The HD 558s impress for the price.

For the price you’d pay, the Sennheiser HD 558s offer a good level of sound quality, comfort, and aesthetic appeal, and are the worthy successors to the HD 555s. The Sennheiser HD 558s are damned impressive mid-range headphones.

While they don’t light the world on fire with their performance, when you buy the Sennheiser HD 558s, you’re getting a set of headphones that give you a remarkably flat frequency response for the price. Be wary though, as bass lovers will probably not like the dropoff in emphasis at the 90Hz mark.

Should the cable break, you can always replace it with another Sennheiser cable, which is a huge plus in terms of prevented frustration, wasted money, and time lost. While open-backed cans aren’t typically the most durable headphones in the world, the Sennheiser HD 558s offer the right features to make sure that they’ll stick around for quite a while should you take them home.

If you’re looking for a set of solid performers for a mid-range budget, the Sennheiser HD 558s are a good bet if you’re okay with a little lacking bass. With features built in to protect your investment, the HD 558s are a good buy if you liked the HD 555s.

Science Introduction

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The HD 558s are great for home listening, as they have a flat frequency response that allows them to be equalized well. Let's see just exactly how well they did.

Frequency Response

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A flat response is prized in the purist community.

With a max deviation of 5dB, the frequency response of the {{product.name}} maintains an even emphasis of every frequency along the range of audible sound, save for a severe underemphasis in the high end at about 10.25kHz and higher. Because many of the sounds in that range are harmonic frequencies, you are unlikely to notice it.

So why have a flat frequency response? Mostly, it means that the headphones are not what changes the sound of your original files, and you hear music as it was intended to be mixed. If you don't like that, you can always use an equalizer to alter the response to a more pleasing pattern that suits your tastes.

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Distortion

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Some distortion in the low end, but nothing worrying.

The Sennheiser HD 558s don’t have much in the way of distortion, but there is a little bit at the low end. Still, as it’s at worst 1%, you shouldn’t be able to hear it no matter how high you crank the volume. Even though the Sennheiser HD 558 can blast out sound at a level of 117.17dB, we urge you to keep your volume at a minimum, as it is super-easy to fry your ears with headphones. If you’d like to know more about safe listening habits, check out our article on Noise-Induced Hearing Loss.

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Other Tests

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Meet the tester

Chris Thomas

Chris Thomas

Staff Writer, Imaging

@cthomas8888

A seasoned writer and professional photographer, Chris reviews cameras, headphones, smartphones, laptops, and lenses. Educated in Political Science and Linguistics, Chris can often be found building a robot army, snowboarding, or getting ink.

See all of Chris Thomas's reviews

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