Sennheiser HD 515 vs HD 555

[Sem]

Hi

i need some new headphones for watching TV/DVDs

and i I'm not sure if i should go for the Sennheiser HD 515 or the HD 555

the 515 costs £49.99 while the HD 555 costs £79.99

is it worth the extra?
I'm not someone who needs the absolute best sound quality

as long as its equal or better than the Technics RP-F880 i used before I'm happy

thanks

[reevesy]

have'nt heard the 515s but the 555's sounded pretty good in the shop.
i was humming and harring over the 555s but ended up with the 595's for the extra £20 or £30 i ended up paying for them.
i'm sure you're be happy with either....think i read somewhere that the 555s would be the better choice if you're gonna use them with movies as well as music.
if you can afford the extra i'd say go with the 555s

[reevesy]

have'nt heard the 515s but the 555's sounded pretty good in the shop.
i was humming and harring over the 555s but ended up with the 595's for the extra £20 or £30 i ended up paying for them.
i'm sure you're be happy with either....think i read somewhere that the 555s would be the better choice if you're gonna use them with movies as well as music.
im sure you could find a good deal on line with the 555s so i'd say go with them

[reevesy]

eh,dont know what happened there?
mods,feel free to remove one or the other

[flangemonkey]

The 555s are much, much, much better than the 515s - it's difficult to believe that they're from the same product line, really. The difference between the two is easily worth the extra money. The difference between the 555s and the 595s is far less marked, however in my opinion, and was not worth the extra spend at all...I actually preferred tne 555s sound to the 595s!

I have recently auditioned the HD595 and the HD515. Both were fresh out of the box, so the audtions were only ever comparitive rather than being accurate as to either's full potential. Despite that the HD595 was clearly superior, especially in the harder-to-achieve areas of fine detail, soundstage and image depth. The HD515 was far from being a poor headphone, it simply wasn't as accurate.

That said, and relative to their use in my (PC source) second system, I bought the HD515's. Thus, after extended use I can add further thoughts about them. And there are two such thoughts that come to the fore. First is that maximum potential is not reached for some time. Second is that in order to maximise that potential they need a very good source, input via a dedicated headphone amplifier or hifi/AV amplifier. When given both the HD515 are capable of very serious results for what is a very modest outlay.

For more serious listening I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the HD595's. Albeit with the same provisos of source and amplification quality. With regard to the HD555's I have read that they were optimised for AV: their spatial response being more forgiving of sub-par (in terms of accuracy) source material.