Sennheiser HD 518

orangecat · April 18, 2014

I bought my HD 518's off Amazon.ca for $100 Canadian and I feel as if they are worth every penny I paid for them. So far I like them alot but there are some very small annoyances.

Positive:

Headband is soft.
Guitars sound very nice and crunchy.
Kick drums have a very distinct sound.
Great soundstage.
Extremely open.
Did not take long to break in.
Reasonably comfortable to wear.
Ears do not get that warm.
Very nice and clear mids and highs.
Symbols are sharp and present.
Bass guitars sound very strong.
1/4 to 1/8^th adapter makes a very solid connection.
3 small bumps on left earpiece so you can feel if you have them on right.
Extremely loud.
Very punchy bass.

Negative:

Bass is rather quiet but does play the very low frequencies below 40hz well.
Not as good for rap/hip-hop or electronic music.
Earcups are sometimes itchy due to their materials. (Update: They soften up after use and are quite soft. They are only itchy because the materials were new at the time of writing this review.)
Stock cable is extremely long (8 feet).
Stock cable has a 1/4 inch connector rather than a 1/8^th.
1/4 to 1/8^th adapter feels cheap and the end might break off.
1/4 to 1/8^th adapter is hard to get off.
Entire house can hear when I listen to loud music.
Look like they are from the 80s.

Overall I think these headphones are great. I use them for gaming, music and movies and they sound wonderful but everything bad I had to say about these headphones isn't that big of a deal and some of them like the very long cable can be fixed with replacement cables and the earcups can be replaced too. I asked my father to have a listen to these headphones and he said they sounded way better than anything he has heard in a long time. I would really recommend these to a friend or family member who likes to listen to rock music, play games or watch movies.

Overall: 9.4/10