Sennheiser HD 560S

Very nice headphones with great sound. Good recordings sound fantastic and bad recordings sound… well, bad. These headphones are no frills and don't make things more beautiful than they are. As long as you feed him (or her) a diet of high quality music, audio enjoyment is guaranteed.

These are also great headphones for critical listening purposes (mixing/mastering/checking your mix/etc). The neutral and honest representations let you know quickly where things go wrong. Don't expect super deep bass, but they are certainly present and not only audible but also tangible.

Only downsides are the somewhat cheap-feeling plastic. It probably won't be cheap stuff, but my plastic Sony headphones feel so much better. Furthermore, the cable is really too long and has a bit of a mind of its own. Only add 15 euros to the price for a nice aftermarket cable because you will really want it.

Another possible downside is that you can't easily use these headphones on all devices. Well, it's possible, but the sound will be way too soft. My iPhone on maximum volume was just not enough. In my Teac DAC it worked fine and also in more professional devices such as synths and mixing consoles you will have no problems. The 150ohm resistor just needs a kick in the butt to get the best out of it. That is almost impossible with your phone without an amp.

For this money, there are few open-back alternatives that are honest and reproduce audio in this high quality. Certainly not inferior to headphones well above 300 euros. Recommendation!

Very precise and natural sound, you hear everything. Very impressive for live recordings and acoustic music. Ideal for people who don't want excessive bass. Low tones came into their own after a few hours of use.

Nicely balanced sound with not too exaggerated bass, so that the midranges do not disappear.