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der_Hendrikos

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    @der_Hendrikos

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    Germany / Canada
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    Student

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  1. Thanks for the feedback! Glad you liked the review. I plan to review some of the other stuff I have around as well, so it's nice to hear that people enjoyed the first one I put up. As for your question: at the moment, I am powering the HD 558 off of my laptop and sometimes my iPod, but I am looking into buying an external USB DAC/amp sooner or later. Since the headphones have a 50 ohm impedance, which is not a lot considering the size of the drivers inside the HD 558, the sound won't be entirely different, but still slightly more balanced and rich. You can however use them on any PC, laptop, phone or music player without a dedicated amp just fine. Hope that answers your question!
  2. Sennheiser HD 558 Review - Audiophilia on a Budget For a long time, my go-to solution for music listening both at home and on the go have been earphones or in-ear monitors. They were (at the time for me) pretty affordable, offered great sound for the price, and were easy to tuck in a bag or pocket to have with me at all times. But as much as I loved and still love the sound and convenience of IEMs when I'm out and about or traveling, I soon realized that there's just something more distinguished and refined to owning and using a quality pair of over-ear headphones. And thus my search began. A search that would span several years and several hundred Euros worth of investments to this day. The first set of headphones I discovered for myself were a pretty basic pair of closed-back headphones from Philips, which served me well for more than two years. After they had died eventually, I looked to replace them, but never found something that would serve all my needs. I tried a variety of products ranging from open- to closed back, from HiFi-grade to DJ headphones, all from a wide range of manufacturers. None of them quite lived up to what I was looking for. Fast forward roughly three years, I decided to give the entire problem another shot. I had previously bought a fresh pair of Sennheiser IEMs, which were great, but kind of left me hungry for more. So I checked out - casually at first - what Sennheiser had to offer for over-ear headphones in the 100-150 € range. Unsurprisingly, the HD 500 series (consisting of the HD 518, HD 558 and HD 598) quickly caught my attention. I tried out the HD 518 and HD 558 in detail, since the 598 were just outside of my budget, and quickly settled for the HD 558 due to their clean, non-flashy look, great comfort and outstanding sound clarity and definition. The cashier then scraped 130€ off of my debit card and I officially owned my first pair of somewhat audiophile-grade headphones. The HD 558 are marketed by Sennheiser as entry-level Hi-Res headphones, and they live up to that without a doubt. They feature Sennheiser's E.A.R. technology, which means the drivers inside the ear cups are angled in order to better focus the sound into the listener's ear canal, as well as a frequency response ranging from 15 Hz to 28.000 Hz, a 50 ohm impedance and they blast 112 dB at 1 kHz/1 Vrms. Taking a closer outside look at the headphones, you'll find velours padding on the inside of the ear cups and inside the head band that is comfortably soft, yet does in no way feel flimsy. On the outside of the ear cups, over where the drivers are located, Sennheiser put protective plastic covers with holes in them, which are covered again by a layer of black fabric. A black and silver Sennheiser logo can also be found centered on the outside of each ear cup. On the bottom of the left ear cup, a 2.5 mm (1/10") jack is located where you can plug in either the 3 m (9 ft.) oxygen-free detachable cable that terminates in a 6.3 mm (1/4") plug and is included in the box, as well as the optional 1.2 m (4 ft.) cable with a 3.5 mm (1/8") plug that is available from Sennheiser's online store. However, there is also a 6.3 mm (1/4") to 3.5 mm (1/8") adapter included with the HD 558, so you can still use them with your PC, laptop, iPod, phone, etc. right out of the box. The headband features a plastic mechanism for size adjustment, and both ear cups swivel enough to comfortably fit on pretty much any size and shape of head. Combine that with the velours padding and the 260 g (9.2 oz.) weight the HD 558 pack, and you got a rock solid pair of cans that's easy to wear for a prolonged period of time, yet does not feel clunky on your head at all. But of course, it is the audio quality and listening experience that form the heart and soul of a headphone, so let's get to that. In a word: the HD 558 blew my listening mind. From the lowest bass notes to the highest overtones and sizzles in a song, the clarity and amount of detail these headphones recreate music with is staggering. In tradition to Sennheiser's typical sound signature, the extreme highs are not quite as sharp as the mids and lower highs, but that does not impact the experience the slightest. In fact, I do quite like this aspect of their sound, because it makes listening to music at higher volumes a whole lot more comfortable if the highs don't feel as piercing to your ears if you crank a track up. The excellent clarity in the highs and mids is also contrasted and complemented by saturated (but not oversaturated) lows, giving especially low guitar notes, bass guitar and drums a favorable spice. Since the HD 558 are open-backed headphones, the sound stage is naturally pretty large. I personally first really got what that is all about while listening to U2's 360° live album, where when I closed my eyes, I would actually get the sensation of the band sounding like it was playing in front of me, and even being able to hear different instruments being located in different places around and at different distances from me. So, in conclusion: The build quality is superb, in spite of the plastic construction. No complaints here. The sound is clear, rich and focused, and listening to music on the HD 558 is just a pure pleasure. The design of the headphones as well as the packaging feels professional and does not promise anything it can't live up to. One small thing I would have liked to be included in the box, however, and be it at a 5€ or so increase in price: the 3 m (9 ft.) cable that's included is way overkill for me. I use the HD 558 with my iPod and laptop 90% of the time, and a 1.2 m (4 ft.) cable terminating in a 3.5 mm (1/4") plug like the one you can buy from Sennheiser's website would have been a nice thing. Bottom line thoughts: Overall, I would whole-heartedly recommend the Sennheiser HD 558 open-back headphones any time. But please be aware of what they are and don't demand else from them. For instance, don't expect them to have pounding bass, or be quite as focused as IEMs or closed-back headphones. But if you are looking for headphones that offer a clear, detailed sound signature and great overall construction, then do give them a try if you get the chance.
  3. To my knowledge, the Sony Xperia Z3 and Z3 Compact do so as well, as does possibly the Z5 lineup.
  4. Rival 300 is great. It's a shaped mose though, so if you want a symmetrical one instead, five the Rival 100 or Sensei RAW a try. I don't personally like the Logitech G402 or G303
  5. A HDD making ticking noises like a clock usually means the read/write head is hitting one of the limiters. It's a problem that can be caused by corrupted code on the controller, failure of the servo moving the head or some other software or hardware problem. It's possible that this issue is not picked up by S.M.A.R.T. or other diagnostics tools depending on what part of the drive is causing it. It might be a sign that the drive is failing but it might also just be a thing your drive does randomly, I had a Hitachi drive in my notebook once that did a similar thing and it still works fine. Anyways, prepare for the case that it might die at any point, so have backups of all your important data ready.
  6. Also great: Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa pronounced in French
  7. As I understand it, you want to know why the windows.old folder is not affected by a Windows 10 reinstall? My best guess would be that since the windows.old folder contains the data from the previous OS the computer ran on (if you updated to Win 10 from 7 or 8/8.1), the Win 10 restore is configured to not erase the files in there so that a reverse to the previous OS is sill possible even after Win 10 has been installed from scratch.
  8. Also, when you're in safe mode you could try running the Win 10 setup from a bootable Windows installer USB key, there mostly my way to go. In order to create a bootable USB, download the MediaCreationTool.exe from Microsoft's website (Click "Download tool now" here: https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/software-download/windows10), then insert a USB key of at least 4 GB capacity and run the tool. Select the drive you inserted and click next until the wizard says its done. There is then a Setup.exe file on the drive which you need to run as admin. That is going to trigger a reinstall of the OS without deleting you personal stuff, pay attention to the options shown though. Hope that gives you an alternative. As always, I take no responsibility for what you do.
  9. Yup, pictures, music, documents, videos... all that. Not sure about settings and installed apps/programs, but maybe those as well
  10. You should be able to do a reinstall without erasing your personal data under Win 10. When selecting the restore option you find in the settings app, it should ask you if you want to wipe the disk or just overwrite the OS files. Don't quote me on that though, I usually do manual clean reinstalls myself.
  11. First off, I gotta agree with @Katsunaka that you should probably try to open the mouse up and check if it's just some dirt cuasing you problems or if in fact the left mouse button's switch is broken. Also, check the warranty on the mouse, maybe you can get a repair or replacement from the manufacturer. Other than that, maybe check out the SteelSeries Rival 100 if you still want to buy a new mouse. It's usually around $35-40 on Amazon or other retailers, but it is really solid for the price. Great lightweight construction, no unnecessary buttons, and it feels really smooth and well-built when using it. https://steelseries.com/gaming-mice/rival-100
  12. What operating system are you using on the laptop?
  13. Just found out this thread existed. Now I'm not gonna leave again, probably ever. Great stuff around here. NOTE: Not listening to music right now, so I can't post what I'm currently playing... sorry. Will come back soon though
  14. You're welcome! I personally own a pair of Sennheiser HD558s, which I love for all they are, but then they're also open-back. Great sound and build quality for the price (~ $120) though, give them a listen if you're ready
  15. The HD7 and HD8 DJ are (as you can guess from their names) closed-back headphones that are marketed towards fans and producers of electronic music and therefore are pretty heavy on the bass side of things. If you want to go for that kind of sound, than do go and try them out, I listened to them a while back and they pack a well focused sound and are very sturdy. But depending on what you want to listen to, they might sound a bit dull. Light rock, blues or classical music for example don't really benefit from being so bass-driven. If you do want a more flat response curve (meaning that the low, medium and high frequencies are about equal in volume), Sennheiser has the HD 280 Pro. They are closed back studio headphones, so they reproduce the sound of your source very accurately, but at the same time, the also look like studio headphones and I wouldn't call them very fashionable. Well, you gotta know for yourself. You can usually get them for around $100 on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-HD-280-Pro-Headphones/dp/B000065BPB/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1465886364&sr=8-1&keywords=sennheiser+hd280+pro Other than that, I will have to agree with @Dackzy that closed-back is not really Sennheiser's game. Maybe check out the stuff AKG, Audio-Technica and Beyerdynamic have in their range of headphones. Good chance you might find something that suits your needs there. Greetz
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