Sennheiser HD 497 or HD 515?

Sennheiser HD 497 or HD 515

  • HD 497

    Votes: 13 56.5%

  • HD 515

    Votes: 10 43.5%
  • Total voters
    23
D

Darknyt

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 10, 2004
Messages
400
Well my pathetic little Phillips HP550 are finally getting thrashed enough for me to consider replacing them. After supergluing them for literally about the 10th time, and with the earpads all ripped up (besides some suspicious audio abnormalities) I'm looking into a couple different Sennheisers.

Should I get the HD 497's or the HD 515's? I'm trying to stay sub-$100 as I already have a great set of Z-680's and these are for night gaming.

While both are open-backed, I guess the main diff I read so far is the 497's are superaural and the 515's are circumaural. I've heard great things about the 497's for their price point, but I'm not sure about the 515's as the reviews I've seen are pretty mixed, though they've always been compared to much better cans.

Any tips or suggestions are much appreciated as I am a headphone noob. I play mainly games with these and some music, but rarely any movies.

HD 497
http://rcljud-bild.se/Produkter/Produktforstoringar/H%F6rlurar/sennhiser-hd-497.jpg

HD 515
http://lefflers.se/Library/Products/Sennheiser/Graphics/Sennheiser_hd515_f.jpg
 
the forum rules said:
(14) Do not post MATERIAL where you do not have permission to distribute it electronically or otherwise. This includes posting images directly from a website (Bandwidth Theft) Images are to be hosted personally or by a third party host.
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Nuff said about the pictures you provided? ;)
 
Mister X said:
Nuff said about the pictures you provided? ;)
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Just trying to help give visuals as a jumpstart. Forgot about that little no-no.

I know from reading this sub-forum, that you must have an opinion on this one . . . no love?
 
Just trying to help give visuals as a jumpstart.
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I understand.... so I stole the pics and dumped them on Imageshack for you. :D





And I did vote so...
 
I voted 515's because to me, they are far more comfortable and still sound pretty good.
 
HD497s are very uncomfortable over long periods of time.

I actually traded mine in the slightly worse HD457s just because they are so much more comfortable while sound quality is almost identical.
 
price range? maybe we can recommend something better.... and also.. head over to head-fi.org.... they know about head phones real well....
 
while I love my HD-497's sound quality, i have to admit that it is relatively uncomfortable to the other headphones out there. But if you do get one you will eventually get used to it.

I'm not too familiar with the HD-515's.. arent they quite a bit more than the 497's price of ~37 dollars?
 
Are you bent set on the sennheiser's? There are other headphone makers that make sub 100$ headphones too, like AKG(K26 or K141 series), Beyerdynamic (DT231), and grado(SR60 or SR80). There is also the Sennheiser HD280pro, which is decent for 100$ but has its quirks.

Anyways, I have the HD497 and they are ok (would'nt pay more then 40$ though, that's for sure). They are good enough to use with the radio, and cheap enough to bring along on the plane, but other then that....... They are not the most comfortable in this price range, the sound is dry and very unidirectional, and each side has its own cable, which on mine is getting all tangled up.
You can think of the HD280pro as just a little better sounding HD497, with more clamping force, bigger, and more isolation.

Given the same choice again, I would strive to listen to the Beyerdynamic DT231 compared to the HD280 and HD497. They look rather comfy with the soft velour ear pads.

SomeoneWhoIsntMe said:
I have the HD-497s, and they're absolutly orgasmic.
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^_^, wait till you hear the better ones! They will blow your mind.

~Hope this helps, and keep us posted on what you decide.
 
I like my HD497's. I've had them for about a year strong now and they haven't let up on me. They have a very clean tone as well as a nice bass. Even at lound volumes it won't sound too punchy.

Questions for those with HD497's:

Has anyone used them on a headphone amp? Is it worth it for these headphones to get one?

Has anyone here replaced the stock cable with high-quality cable? Is that worth the time and effort to make your own?
 
·PitBuLL· said:
I like my HD497's. I've had them for about a year strong now and they haven't let up on me. They have a very clean tone as well as a nice bass. Even at lound volumes it won't sound too punchy.

Questions for those with HD497's:

Has anyone used them on a headphone amp? Is it worth it for these headphones to get one?

Has anyone here replaced the stock cable with high-quality cable? Is that worth the time and effort to make your own?
Click to expand...
Yeah, but it depends on the amp you're going to pair them with. Typically, no one's going to buy a $300 amp to use with these cans, if you buy a CMoy or other related/similar headphone amp (read, cheap) the gains aren't super noticeable, although they are there.

And replacing the stock cable would be a bit difficult, they detach, so you'd either have to bypass that mechanism or solder it to some sub-mini pins (and get them to fit)
 
You should not even look under 100$ headphones when you are looking "serious" brands. Its better to get good phones once, than many crappy ones...
 
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