How to convert Sennheiser HD555 headphones to HD 595s with a screwdriver...

So it turns out you can convert Sennheiser HD555s into Sennheiser HD595s just by removing a piece of foam.

The drivers are literally the same parts. Sennheiser just blocks up some of the air intakes with foam on the cheap model. Oops.

Note how the replacement drivers are labeled "555/595". Yet the 595s cost twice as much...

source / more details here

Internet wins.

LOL

YOU MEAN THIS WHOLE TIME!?

sweet

I have 201's. Find me a way to make them 595's.

i wouldn't recommend just blindly removing those pads and expecting a serious sound improvement, i did this "mod" to my 555 about half a year ago and reversed recently. the bass "booming" became very apparent, especially when i plugged them into my old sblive (which obviously has a better dac) as opposed to onboard sound card, and even more apparent when plugged into a quality a/v receiver i bought recently. those pads are supposed to damp bass resonance imo, they're not there to make 555 sound worse...i trust my hearing, so if hd595 has different build and inner acoustics they might actually not need that foam..

with that said the 555/595 replacement driver pic is serious business, after all sennheiser advertise 595 thd as < 0,1 % and 555 as < 0,2 %, if i understand correctly this is exclusively a driver property. senn are a serious firm, they should be confronted with this for explanation.

the enclosure is physically the same mold, just a different color. the headband is slightly nicer looking on the 595, that's the only difference.

basically, it comes down to this: less air intake means crappier frequency response. and that's exactly what you get, if you trust senn's self-reported numbers:

555: 15 Hz to 28,000 Hz

595: 12 Hz to 38,500 Hz

i just love you

oooh oooh! big question! if you hack open really old earphones/headphones, the wiring tends to be copper, meaning you can recycle speakers and jacks by just tying the cut and stripped bits of wire together, ensuring a connection. But in more modern / higher quality headphones, if you cut and strip the wires, the stuff inside does not conduct when just tied together, is often coloured, and feels different too (is it fibre optics?). Basically I want to know if it's possible to do the same shit with stuff cannibalised from high-end electronics.

That shit make sense? Basically I'm a retard with modern electronics lol

edit: ahh reading shit on the net implies that the coloured wires in more modern headphones is just some more coating that can be stripped off. I shall try this innit

  On 2/14/2011 at 1:18 AM, ezkerraldean said:

the stuff inside does not conduct when just tied together, and feels different too (is it fibre optics?)

it's still copper, it's just coated with enamel. you can scrape or burn it off if you need to make a connection.

  On 2/14/2011 at 1:05 AM, chaosmachine said:

the enclosure is physically the same mold, just a different color. the headband is slightly nicer looking on the 595, that's the only difference.

 

basically, it comes down to this: less air intake means crappier frequency response. and that's exactly what you get, if you trust senn's self-reported numbers:

 

555: 15 Hz to 28,000 Hz

595: 12 Hz to 38,500 Hz

well it looks the same..

the thd numbers are more important because they hint at a different driver, if this is not the case senn are fucked.

there are better ways to clog air intake anyway, it's foam not rubber after all, similar stuff is used in speakers to reduce sound wave reflections.

hey cool i have 555s; glad i didn't get 595s!

f u sennheiser!

omG !! @ original post.

I HAEV MODIFIED MY UNIDEN SCANNER TO REMEMVER 80 CHANNELS INSTEAD OF 30 AND ALSO PICK UP PRIVATE CORDLESS FONE CONVO

If you peel the back binding in the Analord binder, analord 12 is in there. cheeky bastard.

if you take the extra 8bits of data from the 24bit Oversteps wav files from each song, you get 14x8bit data.

if you recombine these extra 8bits, you get Kiosk

I own the 555s, anybody else gonna try this? How incredibly funny...

i contacted fritzheiser and got a reply from the local representative

my message :

Just a quick inquiry regarding the difference between HD555 and HD595.

http://mikebeauchamp.com/misc/sennheiser-hd-555-to-hd-595-mod

According to the link above the only difference between HD555 and 595 is aesthetic and the drivers are identical, yet the price difference is rather significant and so are the advertised technical characteristics, especially the the advertised THD. Can you confirm or deny this finding ?

reply (translated from hebrew):

the difference between the models are:

better signal to noise ratio (for 595)

different inner acoustic build

upgraded capsule

wider frequency response 12hz - 38khz

lower thd

i replied with a more specific question whether the drivers are different between the 2 models..no reply so far.

  On 2/14/2011 at 6:45 PM, The Overlook said:

I own the 555s, anybody else gonna try this? How incredibly funny...

its easy and undoable, so why not. see if sounds better to you, in my experience it didn't.

You may have gotten used to the sound with the foam, Eugene. Acoustic preferences are funny that way.

How many times have you gone to a high-end electronics store and found the cheaper Klipsch speakers sounding "better" to you than the $20K McIntosh, etc.?

it's very probable,

although kids who remove the pads and go apeshit about heavier and messier bass calling it an improvement in quality is also quite probable, read what the xnor guy says in that thread too.

i try to avoid listening to hi-fi that is beyond my budget :)

watmmm wins again

fuck ya sennheiser