Sennheiser product lines

[Un4tural]

I was looking at  headphones my gf had (hd429) and to getting me a set, (got px360, used) and i was wondering, if there's a handy website with sennheiser product ranges, successors and tiers of the products... a quick glance left me completely clueless, their website has a weird mish mash of products listen, i just want to have some sort of reference for the products... I don't want to study a university degree to understand range of their offerings... HD429 seems to be discontinued, logically i check hd430 which seems to be a completely different animal. 

 

so well yeah, in essence looking for some kind of explanation or flow chart to their products as numbers seem to have no significance? the quality is good but it'd be nice to know where they fit in. Sorry if it's actually really obvious and I'm being thick as oatmeal.

 

edit: ok 429 still on sale i guess. 

[ItsTurbo]

Amazon is your best bet, that's where I got my Sennheiser HD 439s, for $50.

[Un4tural]

1 minute ago, CodenameScorpion said:

Amazon is your best bet, that's where I got my Sennheiser HD 439s, for $50.

I've already purchased some, I'm looking more for an understanding of how their branding works. Nvidia makes sense, you got a sort of generation for 1xx then tier for x2x, and kind of half tier with the 3rd number. sennheiser seem to be special, somehow? never got ATI branding either of their tiers of GPUs, but luckily they have a system easy to understand...

[ItsTurbo]

3 minutes ago, Un4tural said:

I've already purchased some, I'm looking more for an understanding of how their branding works. Nvidia makes sense, you got a sort of generation for 1xx then tier for x2x, and kind of half tier with the 3rd number. sennheiser seem to be special, somehow? never got ATI branding either of their tiers of GPUs, but luckily they have a system easy to understand...

Tier 1: HD 800

Tier 2: HD 650, HD 600

Tier 3: HD 595, HD 25-1 ii

Tier 4: HD 280, 380, 555

Tier 5: 238, px 100 II, maybe some more

[Dackzy]

Ummm find the sennheiser headphones you are looking at and google their name + frequency response

[Un4tural]

Quote

Here's my interpretation of their HD series:

 

First digit (HD5xx) is the range, higher number means higher end:

• 2xx, 3xx and 4xx are fairly cheap, closed-back and all-purpose. I believe the "Pro" variants have a fairly flat frequency response curve and can be used as a low-cost reference model.
• 5xx: Their mid-range, 'sweet spot' segment. I suppose one could call these the entry-level in the high-end headphone market. Very open and fun-soudning with excellent soundstage, quite an airy sound. Easy to drive at 50 Ohm.
• 6xx: A step over the 5xx line, warmer in the sound signature and supposedly more detailed. Also much harder to drive at 300 Ohms.
• 7xx: Somewhere between the 6xx and 8xx series. The only model currently is the HD700 which is sort of like a budget HD800 although the sound signature is said to be a little different (and actually better according to certain peoples' tastes) than their bigger brother. Half the price and half the impedance (150 Ohm) compare to the HD800.
• 8xx: Their flagship line. Need I say more?

Second digit (HDx5x) indicates position in the line, there isn't any definite naming scheme but it varies from range to range. Higher number means a higher model.

There's also some differences between different models in terms of sound signature. The HD558 is said to have more bass compared to the HD598 which has a more neutral bass response.

 

Third digit (HDxx8) isn't really relevant above the 5xx range as everything ends with a 0 and their older models where they use both the last numbers (HDx80) to indicate range. In their current line however it seems to indicate revision. For example they replaced the HD555 with the HD558, the number bump indicating it's a newer version of the HD55x.

 

Once again, this is just my interpretation and it's indeed bit fuzzy as they seem to have changed the way their naming scheme works a few years ago. I think the HD580 used to be the top of the HD5xx range (with the HD280 and HD380 being on top of the HD2xx and HD3xx lines respectively) before they replaced it with the HD590 and then the HD595. I might be entirely wrong on this though, so forgive me if some facts are incorrect.

 

credits to Timmyfox, found this after a fair bit of searching about. i feel like this could use an evolution tree of it's own tbh

[Dackzy]

6 minutes ago, Un4tural said:

 

credits to Timmyfox, found this after a fair bit of searching about. i feel like this could use an evolution tree of it's own tbh

What about the sennheiser orpheus...

[Un4tural]

2 minutes ago, Dackzy said:

What about the sennheiser orpheus...

it's not perfect i guess, now there's ones with 8 and 9 in the end too. this helps a little bit though. the numbering of their products other than first number used still make no sense to me. px360 apparently used to cost 100-200£ which isn't really "Low end" so yeah, maybe someone with good knowledge will chip in later, would be nice.

[Dackzy]

Just now, Un4tural said:

it's not perfect i guess, now there's ones with 8 and 9 in the end too. this helps a little bit though. the numbering of their products other than first number used still make no sense to me. px360 apparently used to cost 100-200£ which isn't really "Low end" so yeah, maybe someone with good knowledge will chip in later, would be nice.

Why does it have to be from sennheiser? I can recomend you many headphones if I knew what you would use them for and what sound signature you like.

[Un4tural]

1 minute ago, Dackzy said:

Why does it have to be from sennheiser? I can recomend you many headphones if I knew what you would use them for and what sound signature you like.

I am not looking for headphones, i do have some that work fine, more to understand the range and naming scheme of sennheiser as it makes little to no sense to me at the moment, other than sorting them by price. 

[Dackzy]

Just now, Un4tural said:

I am not looking for headphones, i do have some that work fine, more to understand the range and naming scheme of sennheiser as it makes little to no sense to me at the moment, other than sorting them by price. 

Oh okay then, I did not want to make a list with all the headphones in them so here is what I did.

Extreme high lvl: sennheiser orpheus

High: HD 800/800s

Mid/high: HD 600, HD 650, HD 700, HD 630VB, HD 8

Mid/Mid/high: HD 6

Mid: HD 518, HD 558, HD 598, game zero/one, HD 380, HD 280

Mid/Mid/Mid/Mid/low: PC 363D

Mid/Mid/Mid/low: PC 333D, PC 323D

Mid/Mid/low: HD 471, HD 361

Mid/low: HD 451

low: HD 201, HD 202

[Guest]

Trying to extract any meaningful information from the Sennheiser naming scheme is a pointless waste of time. Get the headphone with the sound and features that you want at a price you are comfortable with.

 

The numbering may be interesting to look at retrospectively, but it isn't a useful buying tool.

[Un4tural]

1 minute ago, SSL said:

Trying to extract any meaningful information from the Sennheiser naming scheme is a pointless waste of time. Get the headphone with the sound and features that you want at a price you are comfortable with.

 

The numbering may be interesting to look at retrospectively, but it isn't a useful buying tool.

again, just want to figure out the scheme,  it'd be helpful if say, i see a bargain high end headphones, that are generation or two behind, quality will still be superb, but cost margin of the price of the current refresh.

 

but mostly just wondering on how to decode the naming of the products...

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Un4tural said:

again, just want to figure out the scheme,  it'd be helpful if say, i see a bargain high end headphones, that are generation or two behind, quality will still be superb, but cost margin of the price of the current refresh.

 

Pretty sure I just said that this ISN'T the way to do it.

 

Bottom line: 5xx and below is "low end", "mid-fi", "crap", "weaksauce". 6xx and up is "endgame", "hi-fi", "TOTL". Keep in mind that these terms mean basically nothing.

 

Trying to classify the "premium" headphones along the lines of 6xx < 7xx < 8xx is invalid; partially because it is subjective, but also because the 6xx has the most balanced and realistic frequency response of probably any headphone. The HD 700 doesn't come close, while the HD 800 is embarrassingly behind considering the price.

 

Again, it comes down to individual preference and needs. Research the model, not the model number scheme, and buy a headphone based on what it sounds like.

[SuicideAnomaly]

1 hour ago, SSL said:

 

Pretty sure I just said that this ISN'T the way to do it.

 

Bottom line: 5xx and below is "low end", "mid-fi", "crap", "weaksauce". 6xx and up is "endgame", "hi-fi", "TOTL". Keep in mind that these terms mean basically nothing.

 

Trying to classify the "premium" headphones along the lines of 6xx < 7xx < 8xx is invalid; partially because it is subjective, but also because the 6xx has the most balanced and realistic frequency response of probably any headphone. The HD 700 doesn't come close, while the HD 800 is embarrassingly behind considering the price.

 

Again, it comes down to individual preference and needs. Research the model, not the model number scheme, and buy a headphone based on what it sounds like.

I don't believe I ever asked you, but what is your favorite 6xx model?

[Guest]

10 minutes ago, SuicideAnomaly said:

I don't believe I ever asked you, but what is your favorite 6xx model?

 

It's a great question that I hope to be able to answer one of these days. The HD 650 is on my very shortlist of headphones to buy.

[SuicideAnomaly]

1 minute ago, SSL said:

 

It's a great question that I hope to be able to answer one of these days. The HD 650 is on my very shortlist of headphones to buy.

Perhaps once things settle down a little bit with work, we can set something up and I can loan you the duo to audition.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, SuicideAnomaly said:

Perhaps once things settle down a little bit with work, we can set something up and I can loan you the duo to audition.

 

That's very generous. Sure, if you're up for it.

[Un4tural]

so bottom end, the numbers mean nothing... i guess. Still something i guess. guess ill aim for 6xx when i get next pair.

[Exeon]

18 hours ago, CodenameScorpion said:

Tier 1: HD 800

Tier 2: HD 650, HD 600

Tier 3: HD 595, HD 25-1 ii

Tier 4: HD 280, 380, 555

Tier 5: 238, px 100 II, maybe some more

I wonder where their new momentum line fits in

[Exeon]

7 hours ago, Un4tural said:

so bottom end, the numbers mean nothing... i guess. Still something i guess. guess ill aim for 6xx when i get next pair.

I'm told that the 6xx line is their sweet spot, the 700 isn't nearly as well received and the 800 although I hear amazing things, is quite the step-up in pricing.

[Dackzy]

1 minute ago, Exeon said:

I wonder where their new momentum line fits in

Depends on if you talk sound quality or price.

[Un4tural]

I did not expect this be such a mess to be honest... model to model basis at best i guess. Even beats lineup makes more sense at this point, though sound quality is more consistently crap i guess.

[Dackzy]

1 hour ago, Un4tural said:

I did not expect this be such a mess to be honest... model to model basis at best i guess. Even beats lineup makes more sense at this point, though sound quality is more consistently crap i guess.

That is because sennheiser has products for many different use cases, while beats are fashion headphones and only really have on line up.

All the bigger headphone companies have many different line ups that fits different needs.

[KaminKevCrew]

5 hours ago, Exeon said:

I wonder where their new momentum line fits in

realistically, it doesn't. It's a headphone for a completely different group of people, so it really doesn't make a whole lot of sense in a list like this. The momentum and the urbanites were both fashion headphones, made to compete with the likes of beats and things such as that. The momentum, while sounding pretty good, isn't really a headphone that fits in the Sennheiser Hi-Fi lineup, especially considering that almost everything sennheiser sells above the $100 price point is open back, and the momentums are closed back.