Sennheiser HD595 first impressions

So, I got to try out my friend's pair of Sennheiser HD595's a few days ago, and while I didn't get to try them for a long time, I figured I'd write down my impressions here. Now, to note... I listened to them through an O2 Objective Amp, while I'm used to my Audio Technica ATH-ESW9's running through a FiiO E17 docked in its companion amp, the FiiO E09K.

First thing I noticed was... well, these things are different than my ESW9's. The HD595's are open-ear headphones, so they'll leak sound into the environment. That's not an inherently bad thing unless you're looking for isolation, but my ESW9's are closed-ear, which keeps the sound right in the ear. Perhaps the best way of describing it is that the ESW9's are more in your face (not that it really is), while the HD595's are wide and spacious.

I'd describe the HD595's as very laid-back, very relaxing headphones. Perhaps that's the open-ear part of the headphones making them like that, but the sound was pretty smooth and flowy. I could probably sit these on my head and doze off. Points for comfort as well, I seem to remember them being pretty cozy on my head.

After a while, though, I started to notice the bass. Specifically, how little of it there was. Now, the ESW9's aren't a bass-heavy set of cans by any means, and there are even times when I think the bass is just a tad too heavy. The HD595's suffer from the exact opposite. When there's not a lot going on in the song, I really like the bass balance. It's light, it's soft... I didn't catch enough to comment on the quality of the low frequencies too well, but the balance was really good... until the music revved up and a multitude of instruments started chiming in. These were the times when I actually had trouble picking out the bass, and this is actually a first for me to say that I wish the bass had more presence. So, the HD595's are pretty light on the bass.

About the only other thing I can comment on are the vocals. Now I've seen other people comment that the mid-range is where the HD595's are most dominant, and I can kinda see that as the percussion... was a little recessed in comparison. But the thing that stood out about the mid-range was the vocals interacted with it. They were more forward than the rest of the instruments, yes... but only slightly so. I kinda felt the singers and the instruments almost competing with each other, as the vocals had the tendency to flow and blend into the instruments, making it hard for them to stand out.

And as a minor aside, for some reason, I felt it was a little harder to pick out the acoustic guitar than I'm used to, but eh... Not really something I'll put against the 'phones unless I get to the point where I can comment on sound quality.

... Which I unfortunately can't do. I didn't have much time to do an A/B comparison with my ESW9's since we were on a schedule and had to take off sooner than would allow me to do so. But for what it's worth, that's what I got out of my audition, and that's my first impressions on the HD595's.