styling, comfort, can be driven at reasonable level with a Walkman

Highs can be harsh, earcups must be ajusted for best sound, drivers in the top of earpiece

At first these headphones did not impress me. The sound was very distant, and small. I could not believe that a company like Sennheiser would release such a product. Much of the frequency range seemed to be missing and the highs were harsh. I just happened to look inside the earpeice and noticed that the driver is located in the upper half of the earcup. Why in the world isn't the driver centered. I ajusted the phones lower on my head so that the driver would be at ear level and this made all the difference in the world. The frequency response smoothed out and they sounded fairly well. Some highs were still a little harsh but overall not bad. Plenty of bass centered around 50-60 hz. I am using a pair of AKG k240's to compare these to. The sound is still distant when compared with the AKG's and the overall frequency response it not as flat. Highs can still be slightly harsh but not as noticeable on classical or jazz. They will play at moderate levels with a Sony Walkman although most of my listening was done on Denon equipment. I am sure that Sennheiser had some reason for putting the driver in the top but to my ears this was a mistake. I am surpised that no one else has mentioned this fact and I wonder if some of the bad reviews were from those that didn't experiment with the placement of the ear cups. I also noticed that if you press the phones closer to your ear that the sound was much less distant. I will say they are very comfortable and the styling is sleek. Do yourself a favor and listen to the AKG K240 first before you spend this much for a set of cans. If you have enough power to drive the AKG's (they have very high impedance) they are a much better value to my ears.

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Sony, AKG, Koss

open wide transparant clean soundstage

little lean on bass

I bought these 'phones because I wanted good quality music. I already own the 265(well my dad does), but they become hot after a while and sound a bit muddy and miss air/opennes. These where the last 570's the store had, the "testers". Downside : I had no box to keep em in (I was on vacation). They were already broken-in but I had only portable source at hand. They sounded good, really good, but when there is some noise around (like in a car/train) they just don't sound as good. Then I came home. I realised that my sony d-e350 wheren't much of a source, my home equipment blew them away: more bass, more high, more detail I read around the web (after buying them) and sadly at a lot of places REALY bashed them though the ground, deep and hard. They don't have "audiophile" bass? up yours! yes they lack a bit, but not a much as "they" say. To much highs? maybe, but not as much as "they" say. They offer a wide transparant clean soundstage, a little more bass won't hurt, but they go deep, and a music-lover (or whatever you want to call it/us) with 99$ to spend really wont be dissapointed, if you have the 80$ extra (that's 180$, almost twice as high) and want a tad extra bass and a tad less high-treble, buy the 580's.

Similar Products Used:

senn 265, koss "the plug"

super comfortable very very good sound for $99 replaceable cord 64 Ohms so they can be driven by portable electronics.

People keep trying to compare apples to oranges. Yes the Sennheiser 580s are better but cost 50% more. It is like comparing a ford taurus to a Lincon ls.

I have used these headphones for over 3 months now. Got them with price match at circuit city, nothing can beat them for less than $100. First I let them burn in for over 72 hours at listening volume. All headphones are like speakers people you have to burn them in. This smothened the highs and tamed the bass a little bit. If you wear your headphones for hours in a day you will learn to love the big cans with soft cushion that completely encompas your ears. No squashed ears, No sweaty ears and just enough headband preasure to keep them from squeezing your head like a grape. I wear them at work for 6 hours a day. These are the best 64 Ohm heaphones on the planet! Wierd since these headphones cost more than the cd player they are hooked up to. Yes they are OPEN headphones which means they will let in ambient noise...if you Want closed headphones go buy the Sennheiser 280s or 2270s. The mids are perfect, transparent, clean. The upper highs are a little bright but better than most headphones. The bass is smooth and controlled. Yes the Sennheiser 580s and 600s are better but cost much more and will not work with portable equipment. In closing Sennheiser HD570: 1. extremely comfortable 2. Incredible sound for $100 3. Will work with Portable equipment.

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Grado sr60..good sound but OUCH to wear Sennheiser eh2200..good sound, comfy, cheap Various Koss and Sony phones

Bass definition, midrange, comfort, looks/style.

High frequency response; really the only qualm with these phones, but it is a rather large qualm.

I bought these from etronics.com because of the sale they were having. I heard good things about these cans from people and had a favorable impression of them after listening to them in a store. When they finally arrived and I plugged them in, it was a different story... The sound was incredibly bright, painfully so. The highs were etched and colored beyond reason. The bass was good, the midrange was transparent, but the highs were so disproportionately loud I was on the verge of sending them back in favor of the HD-580s (which are $150 right now). I am now on hour 20 of burning these headphones in. The sound has improved slightly. The etching has subsided, and the highs are a little less pronounced, but they are still... "out of whack" for lack of better terminology. Bright recordings border on terrible, and neutral recordings sound fair; still not great though. The bass has become very deep and full of impact, but it still doesn't outweigh the super-loud highs. The soundstage is mediocre, sort of small and tinny with a slight echo. The openness afforded by the diaphragm design gives them a sort of airy feeling. The timber levels are a little much, but that’s more a result of the unbalanced highs than anything else. Best tone is found listening at quiet volumes with a little treble taken off on the pre-amp. The open diaphragm design has a few obvious shortcomings; it causes the phones to cast off a lot of noise while listening, and also lets in a lot of exterior noise color the sound of the phones. These phones will work on portable players, but will expose the less-than-quality headphone amps usually found in these players. I’d recommend using them on at least a well powered headphone jack on a stereo receiver or even a dedicated headphone amp. One plus of these headphones is that they are incredibly comfortable. Overall these headphones are a good buy if you are just looking for nice looking, comfortable, good-but-not-great sounding headphones. If you are looking for entry level audiophile sound, I would probably go with the Grado SR-80’s.

Similar Products Used:

Sony MDR-600, Grado SR-80 + SR-325. Sennheiser HD-565 + HD-600, Beyeraudio, AKG, Onkyo

good sounding, light weight, comfortable, best used in a isolated environment absent of ambient noise.

lets in to much ambient noise...ruins the listening experience

I bought the Sennheiser HD570 because of some of the good reviews it recieved on and from listening to them at a store. But I sent them back because after listening to them in my apartment I found one big problem, they let an extreme amount of ambient noise in and that ambient noise ruined the listening experiences coming from the headphones.

Silky smooth highs

Emphasizes on highs thus making the bass extension seem a little shallow.

I've been using this headphones for a period of two months now and I am still so very impressed. I bought them off of ebay for $95.00 USD. I see them there often, and I think the price is great being these are $200.00 MSRP. These are my first headphones of high quality. And these are my first open-air headphones. I am not new to the audio world, but I am still a virgin with the headphone world. Just for reference, I run B&W 600s off of an Onkyo TS-D575X in my home... just so you know what kind of sound my ears are pleased with. Upon receiving them, I let them burn in for about 24 hours. The biggest difference that I noticed after the burn-in was how much smoother the highs were. Did burning them in make a night and day difference in the overall sound to me? No, but it did make a huge difference on the smoothness of these headphones. I am going to try to break this review up in difference section. I will differentiate on the following qualities: how smooth, how crisp, mid-range, bass extension, and bass tightness. Smoothness: The first test that I threw at it was "Date Night" by Faye Wong. At first, even though it sounded good, her voice was a little grainy. I wasn't surprised being that most speakers have a hard time with her voice in this song. Listening to it now, two months later, I fall in love with her voice everytime I hear it through the 570s. To better describe how smooth it sounds, this is one of the few songs that I've heard that on a good quality system, you can almost see the streams of the artist's voice flying through the sky. I can feel and see that with these headphones. I next played Gloria Estefan's "Tus Ojos" to see how smooth it played on higher notes. The 570s handled her voice with the greatest of ease. The entire album "Mi Tierra" sounded so wonderful with these. Every instrument played with clear colors. The last test I tried was "Story Weather" played by trumpet in Glenn Miller's orchestra. Hitting a high C was awesome with these! For those who listen to instruments with high notes, I guarantee you will love these. Crisp factor: I listened to Django Reinhardt a lot. I'm not sure if a lot of people know who this is, but he was a very famous guitarist back in the days of big band who was known for being able to play the guitar very fast... with just 3 fingers. :) After listening to a lot of high notes being played ridiculously fast, I was very satisfied knowing that I could hear as each note came to a stop. Each pluck held it's note, and with these headphones, you can clearly hear when the note halted. Outside of music, I tried a game to see if I can hear anything a little more clearer. I tried out Unreal Tournament, and used the machine gun so I can hear the shells drop on the floor. I shot continuously and kept spinning around, and I was able to hear where each shell hit the floor. Very nice. Mid-range: Aside from it's clarity on high notes, I think these is the second best aspect of these headphones. Any Bach or Strauss that I threw at it was played beautifully. I think I can leave it at that. Bass extension: For this, I think nothing is better to test than hip-hop and techno and dance. The more I played hip-hop, the more I realized that these headphones emphasized a little more on the mid to high range. Even though bass was good, it was apparent that the freq response was not perfectly flat on these. But please don't misunderstand. It is my opinion that the only people that will be upset are those who are looking for the kind of bass that Koss or Sony put out in their headphones. From my ears, in terms of audible sound, it sounded as if it reached the low 20s frequencies, but not further down. Bass tightness: This is where the Sennheiser 570s make up for what seems like a shallow bass extension. Though it does not reach the lowest of low notes, it plays them ever so perfectly in my ears. Tight and responsive bass. That is what I heard from every chello, every double bass, and every conga in all the jazz and salsa that I listened to. There were tracks that I played where I was able to hear the double bass in the background play each note clearly. For music with precise bass, these headphones did an excellent job. I tried out another game for this one, Dead or Alive 2. The thunder roared realistically, and everytime I threw a punch, you could feel it as it hit the opponents body. That's one of my favorite ways to see if the bass is tight. Play a fighting game or a boxing game and see how much you can feel the impacts. :) As you can tell, I absolutely love the sound of these headphones. A couple things I should add though. The build quality. Even though it is very light weight, and is made of plastic, it feels as though it was was built. I really enjoy the fact that the cord is only attached to one side of the headphones. It really helps with preventing tangles. And I especially like the fact that I can detach the cord from the headphones itself. That comes in

superlative price to performance ratio extremely comfortable (I listen for hours on end) natural, 'open' presentation excellent for acoustic jazz, classical chamber, folk and 'tasty' rock these things are revealing, so bright recordings don't fare well

None at this price point. Not for headbangers (that stuf sounds better on cheap gear anyway) Not for thumpers (hang out in parking lots instead) Can become muddled on complex orchestral works

I happenned to be in Circuit City, browsing for CD's, when I spot a solitary pair of these, tagged at $89, NIB. Knowing the Senn rep but never experiencing it for myself, I couldn't resist. I use them exclusively at work now, averaging 4-6 hrs daily. Source is my laptop (yea one day I'll address that problem, but for now I'm saving my pennies for a decent home system: simaudio I5,rega jupiter,joseph audio monitors).One year later, I'm still listenning to these puppies and if you try to take them from me I'll go postal! Audio product reviews are as much about context as about the reviewer's preferences. Here are mine: music taste is broad but leans toward acoustic instruments, small classical and jazz ensembles, but I also listen to a variety of rock as well. sound preferences: a natural presentation, smooth articulation, balanced tonal response across the frequency spectrum (read don't give more bass or treble or mid than is supposed to be there in the first place) This is a superlative product at this price point. Good audio should not rival Tiffany price tags. So much of audio industry hype is just advertising ploys designed to sell image rather quality. Never forget the audio law of diminishing returns: 'mo money aint mean mo betta' cheers my bothers n sisters this is your world to build

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Sony not sure which model but not even close to senn's

Fairly detailed; Rather lightweight and comfortable to wear.

Painfully etched highs; Distant, echoey presentation.

Painful. That's the 1 word that sums up my listening experience with these 'phones. You want to turn the volume up to feel like you're hearing all frequencies, but the highs are so etched that your ears will bleed if you do. Now I did buy these things, so obviously I thought they sounded good on a SHORT listen in the store, compared with cheaper headphones from various manufacturers. But once I got them home and tried to actually listen to them for any length of time I definitely regretted the purchase. In fact, I later purchased a cheaper (~$60?) pais of Aiwa cans that I ended up using much more, despite the fact that they aren't exactly hi-fi. This year I finally bought a real pair of hi-fi cans: Grado SR-325. Yes, they do cost more, but they are definitely worth it to me. And even the cheaper Grado's are MUCH more listenable than the Senn HD-570's. If you really like Sennheiser, though, then you probably need to step up to the HD-580 or HD-600, which are significantly better than the HD-570 (and HD-590).

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All Grados, Sennheiser HD-580, and an Aiwa.

exceptionally comfy wonderful sound bassy single cord

a bit muffled compared to the hd535 I have a big head and the top band seemed a bit tight to me...whereas the hd-535 are more comfortable

Great Cans, not as good as they should be...If you have a choice buy the hd-535's I've recently gotten to audition both together at once...The hd535's by Senn are better all around...The 570's have more bass, but less clarity than the hd-535s...Both sets are awesome though. The hd-570s are the 2nd best phones I've ever heard. Don't even consider Sony headphones or Denon Headphones over Senn...I've never heard the famed Grado's so I can't comment there...but go for these or the hd-535's both are wonderful phones.

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Denon AHD-750 Koss Quadraphones Sennheiser hd490 Sennheiser hd497 Sennheiser hd570 Sennheiser hd535 various Phillips headphones Sony MDR700 various JVC Headphones various Sony Heaphones

Amazing sound quality Lightweight Removable cord (unplugs from headphones)

Requires decent power for higher volumes (read: not very good with a discman)

I originally bought these headphones as a gift to myself (for doing well on exams), and because I then had my full stereo in my room, did not use them too much. However, when my roommate wanted quite, I was always impressed with the quality of these phones. I take great care of the set - keep them in a shoebox in a dark, cool, dry trunk and never handle them roughly. The care I take with these headphones has surely paid off as they perform just as well today (I'm listening to them right now) as they did on day one. I underscore, the sound quality is fantastic. I've been without my stereo for five months, and have been listening with these for the duration. Whenever I put them on, I am always amazed by the sound quality - clear, albit bright, with good bass extension. They seem to be built well, but I am careful with them, so I cannot fully judge their durability. After wearing them for five minutes, I often forget I am wearing them because they are so comfortable.

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None