Thursday, March 20th 2025
Sennheiser Announces HD 550 Hi-Fi Headphones
The Sennheiser brand today unveiled the HD 550, a Hi-fi headphone that balances revealing performance with effortlessly smooth tuning. Boasting sprawling stereo imaging and an ultra-light build, the HD 550 is an open invitation to unpack the lush layers of today's music and games for hours on end.
"Audiophiles looking for featherlight headphones with honest voicing and deep bass extension are in for a treat," said Klaus Hanselmann, Sennheiser Audiophile Product Manager. "While the HD 550's airy detail is obvious, customers will fall in love with its delightfully polite touch - perfect for listening for hours on end."
A Deeper Audiophile Experience
The heart of the HD 550 is its custom 38 mm transducer, made at Sennheiser's audiophile production facility in Tullamore, Ireland. Its speedy performance yields exceptional clarity from 6 Hz to 39.5 kHz, all while producing less than 0.2% total harmonic distortion. At 150 ohms, it's an ideal match for a wide variety of Hi-fi gear, scaling with ease when paired with premium audio gear such as Sennheiser's own HDV 820.
The fully open-back design utilizes a new acoustic mesh that protects the transducers while removing any remaining barriers between the listener and their music. Their angled arrangement creates an expansive soundstage that drops the listener into the epicenter of the recording. Gamers will experience superb, lag-free spatial awareness and immersion for both competitive and casual sessions. True to the Sennheiser brand's heritage, the HD 550 delivers punchy bass, crystal-clear transients, and neutral mids without straying from the truthful voicing that audiophiles prefer.
Built for Comfort
Situated in chassis renowned for its long-term comfort, the HD 550 features a more relaxed clamping force compared to other 500-series stablemates. Weighing less than the most popular gaming controllers at a mere 237 grams [8.4 oz], the HD 550 practically disappears on the head. A soft-touch textured headband and ventilated metal mesh earcup covers keep the listener comfortable without sacrificing durability.
Like other models in the 500 series, the HD 550 features a modular design, allowing for easy swapping of cables and earpads. It ships with a 1.8 m cable terminating with a stereo 3.5 mm jack plug with a 6.35 mm adapter, making it compatible with a wide range of devices. A range of additional cables—sold separately—makes it easy for listeners to adapt to balanced sources and mic-enabled jacks, for example.
Availability
The all-new HD 550 is currently available for pre-order, shipping the first week of April at an MSRP of 299.90 EUR.
Source:
Sennheiser
"Audiophiles looking for featherlight headphones with honest voicing and deep bass extension are in for a treat," said Klaus Hanselmann, Sennheiser Audiophile Product Manager. "While the HD 550's airy detail is obvious, customers will fall in love with its delightfully polite touch - perfect for listening for hours on end."
The heart of the HD 550 is its custom 38 mm transducer, made at Sennheiser's audiophile production facility in Tullamore, Ireland. Its speedy performance yields exceptional clarity from 6 Hz to 39.5 kHz, all while producing less than 0.2% total harmonic distortion. At 150 ohms, it's an ideal match for a wide variety of Hi-fi gear, scaling with ease when paired with premium audio gear such as Sennheiser's own HDV 820.
The fully open-back design utilizes a new acoustic mesh that protects the transducers while removing any remaining barriers between the listener and their music. Their angled arrangement creates an expansive soundstage that drops the listener into the epicenter of the recording. Gamers will experience superb, lag-free spatial awareness and immersion for both competitive and casual sessions. True to the Sennheiser brand's heritage, the HD 550 delivers punchy bass, crystal-clear transients, and neutral mids without straying from the truthful voicing that audiophiles prefer.
Built for Comfort
Situated in chassis renowned for its long-term comfort, the HD 550 features a more relaxed clamping force compared to other 500-series stablemates. Weighing less than the most popular gaming controllers at a mere 237 grams [8.4 oz], the HD 550 practically disappears on the head. A soft-touch textured headband and ventilated metal mesh earcup covers keep the listener comfortable without sacrificing durability.
Availability
The all-new HD 550 is currently available for pre-order, shipping the first week of April at an MSRP of 299.90 EUR.
10 Comments on Sennheiser Announces HD 550 Hi-Fi Headphones
The price point of this thing puts it squarely between the HD 600 & HD 560S, putting it at ~$330 USD if you convert directly. Fills a void in their lineup of open back headphones, roughly the same price as the closed back 620S, which is nice I guess.
First number is the product tier.
Second, Third & 4th are the target range of the low-mid-highs. 0 being de-emphasized, 9 being emphasized.
o or c = open or closed back
Making up a product: Bobs Headphones Model 1357c
1=low end product
3=mild-de-emphasis on bass
5=neutral mids
7=mild-emphasis on highs
c=closed back
I listen to random hifi channels from time to time, I know there are a lot of nuances to headphones, sound and frequency response in general. However, you can make a product stack from the same companysimple with my naming convention utilizing frequency response curves, instead of completely worthless, as is Sennheisers naming convention.
Let's take 3 Sennheiser products, the 820S, 599 & 560S and do a quick guess on what they would be like with my naming convention.
HD 820 would be something like a 8355o.
HD 599would be something like a 5655o.
HD 560S would be something like a 5455o.
Now, the people buying the 820 have ways of changing the response curve with audio equipment, I hope. However, people buying the mid-range products don't have the hardware(but can get the software, but 90% won't bother), and it can be handy to be able to look at a product and know what kind of sound signature it's going for.
Now sure, there's imaging and soundstage and whatnot, but this gives a simple naming convention to understand what you're getting with a headphone and it's certainly better than what Sennhesier has now, which is a HD 559, 569, 560S and 599 all priced under the HD 550.