well-balanced musical presentation that's amazing to hear at this price. Signature German audio ease, even-toned musical pace and transparent detail resolution in a headphone ready for home, campus or listening room. Cool looks keeps in style but its the sound quality that will keep these cans affixed to your head in pure acoustic pleasure. Huge HeadRoom favorite at the price!Review this product
- Showing 11 of 11 reviews.
Flag This Review
Link To Review
The best bang for your buck
Posted by alexpoli7 on 2012-12-24Posted on Sennheiser HD 518
Recommend Product: Yes
Pros: Comfortable, Good value, large soundstage, great looks, low impedance
Cons: none maybe that they are made mostly of plastic.
These headphones are the best bang for the buck you can get. I had Sony MDR-V6's and those are excellent headphones, and are incredibly balanced. The Sennheiser HD518's are a little bit more bassy out of the box, but after and 4 hour break in, the mids and highs really open up and shine. These headphones are insanely detailed, you can hear every note from every instrument. They are low impedance and therefore do not need an amp, especially If you running them from a macbook pro. These headphones are incredibly comfortable, not squeezing your head to tight but still holding on. The padding on the top band is incredibly soft, while the ear cups are a little harder in terms of padding. The padding is all covered by a nice soft fabric that does no irritate the skin. However, this fabric does attract hair and acts like a magnet. The sound though is impecable. These headphones are just so detailed. I must warn you though, these are open and you will get sound leak, so keep that in mind.
These headphones are great bang for the buck, especially as beginner to mid level audiophile headphones.
19 out of 21 people found this review helpful. Did you?
My son's second good headphone
Posted by Tobias from Montreal, QC on 2012-05-05Posted on Sennheiser HD 518
Recommend Product: Yes
Pros: Comfort, value
Cons: Some may not care for so much upper bass
In a nutshell, these are great value phones with a distinct sonic signature you may love... or not quite.
I bought them for my son to replace his Grado SR-60s. The Grados had had the connection from the cable to the earcup repaired too often. (My son was not easy on his phones in his teens.)
He wanted headphones like my Sennheiser 580s, which are no longer available and IMHO a little too good for his MP3s and NAD amp. He's delighted with the 518s : the comfort, the smooth midrange and especially the bass.
Which is my personal problem with them. The frequency response chart (bravo to headRoom for publishing it!) tells the story. There is a lot more energy in the octave between 40 and 400 Hz than in the rest of the frequency range, and that means they impose their sonic signature on the music. To me, it works for some recordings but not all. If they were mine I would get tired of it.
Not my son, though. He declared them very sincerely "Awesome" when he first tried them out, and he uses them for hours at a time, when he's at his computer. Not sure I've ever been more successful with a gift.
41 out of 46 people found this review helpful. Did you?
Impressive.
Posted by MarcosRV from Brazil on 2012-05-02Posted on Sennheiser HD 518
Recommend Product: Yes
Pros: Comfort, price, design, sound quality, works great without amping.
Cons: 3.5mm adapter format, relatively cheap foam cup.
First of all, we must talk about Sennheiser's headphones profile. They're made for people who want excellent sound quality and comfort, instead of "monster beats". The germans never cared much about pounding bass, that's true. Their main priority is a well-balanced, clean yet powerful sound, so it is with any Sennheiser model.
But I gotta say, right when I put these cans in my head, the first thing I've noticed was the kicking bass. Yes, in a Sennheiser. No, it still can't be compared with the lows of a Denon, but very powerful indeed.
I'm coming from a HD 201, and the difference is HUGE, even with the 201s being the greatest entry-level headphones I've ever used. Much more lows, a REAL sound stage, with absolute comfort and beautiful design.
My musical taste is kind of unrestricted, I've already listened to almost everything with them, so here's what I can say about its feedback on some musical genres: astoundingly clean with jazz, funk, soul and other old uncompressed sounds, punchy but crystal clear with electronica, totally distortion-free with rock/heavy metal at high volumes, you can hear each instrument perfectly. And it doesn't need an amplifier, even with the iPod the sound is powerful.
But a warning: as the 518 is so good it unfolds good secrets in your music, it will reveal the bad ones too. Low-bitrate MP3s and badly mixed songs will be a problem for sure, nothing will be hidden anymore. Update your song collection with high-bitrate MP3 or FLACs, it'll be necessary.
Verdict? They're AWESOME, worth every penny! :)
UPDATE: I´m using the HD 518 with a headphone amp now, and I could notice a generous increase in sound depth. Try it if you´re gonna use them with any portable player/cell phone, great results.
UPDATE 2: after almost 1 year of use, the build quality proved itself strong, and I've found out that the best EQ setting for these cans is the mid-scoop (smiley face). Some people may not like this preset because of its "fun" nature, but it's where the HD518 shines at full force, working very well with most music genres.
39 out of 41 people found this review helpful. Did you?
Fulfil My Expectation Really Well
Posted by systemfreak from Surabaya, Indonesia on 2012-04-30Posted on Sennheiser HD 518
Recommend Product: Yes
Pros: Comfortable, Affordable, Bass Quality, SQ
Cons: Cable, Portability
Yes, i've been using this cans for around 2months, this is my 5th cans for fullsized headphone, the previouses are Superlux 668B mod, Shure 240, Urbanz Block, and Sennheiser 202ii.
Well, what can i say about this cans :
- This is cheap for its performance, it has foward and smooth vocal presentation, good speed at mid freq playback, crisp treble, and once that's special, the bass quality is really good for me, neat, but punchy. Don't forget about the soundstage, it has good soundstage, just good, can't say more
- It has good comfortability, the velour pad makes me choose it as one of the best among all cans i've ever tried. (i've tried lots, monster, akg, ath, etc). Well, if i may compare with ATH M50 which has same price range, the clamping of M50 is just worse, but the pad is more comfy. But, remember, M50 is more portable, but HD518 is open back so it has "cool sensation" while using for a long listening session
- The build quality is strong enough in my opinion, and its outer case design, just better than 558 (this is a reason while i was buying 518 instead of 558, 598 just too pricey)
LAST, the cable, i just hate the cable, because it's really hard to find the replacement, the packaged cable is so long and has 6.3mm standard jack, if it's converted into 3.5mm, the jack becomes so long and uncomfortable to use. Just that
21 out of 21 people found this review helpful. Did you?
Great Pair of Headphones
Posted by Dan on 2012-02-03Posted on Sennheiser HD 518
Recommend Product: Yes
Pros: Vocals, Bass, Comfort, and Durability
Cons: Cord Length, Audio Jack, and Sound Leakage
These are one of the best headphones ever owned. Though, you can't really get the quality it has with your common Realtek or iPod - you need a sound card to hear what it really got for power. I prefer the Audio Amp Sound Card that, I think it's Acer, has. With a great sound card, they sound way more better than the Monster Beats. I own a pair of Monster Beats Pro and with the Sennheisers HD 518 plugged into the amp, they sound way better than the Monster Beats Pro. More sharper with vocals and bass is thumping.
24 out of 25 people found this review helpful. Did you?
100% Pure Bass
Posted by SMRDcompany from Serbia on 2011-12-10Posted on Sennheiser HD 518
Recommend Product: Yes
Pros: Excellent design, comfortable, fits your ears perfectly, the bass goes way low
Cons:
They give you the true sound. Also they vibrate like crazy while listening to dubstep, which is a pro for me. Got them hooked on a Creative X-Fi Titanium and I'm destroying the hell out of my songs :)
The design is amazing, not one sound skips your ears, but the isolation is non-existent, meaning they are very loud for the enviroment. But that's okay, because they are not made to be portable anyways. Buy them now!
32 out of 41 people found this review helpful. Did you?
The Headroom crew was right about these!
Posted by Zobel from Montana on 2011-11-14Posted on Sennheiser HD 518
Recommend Product: Yes
Pros: great sound, easy to drive, very comfortable
Cons: long plug length when using the adaptor
I love these! Clarity and focus and a warm dynamic presentation that shines on my portable CD player! These provide terrific sound from your computer or portable without needing an extra amp. Transparent detail, great imaging, very musical!
46 out of 49 people found this review helpful. Did you?
Very nice!
Posted by Tympan from OR on 2011-10-21Posted on Sennheiser HD 518
Recommend Product: Yes
Pros: sound, comfortable
Cons: connection should be mini jack 3.5
I own a high end player Hifiman HM-801 and an iphone 3 and must say they sound great with the Hifiman but I enjoy them even more with my iphone 3 (loudness on and lossless files a must)
If you like punchy well defined bass, smooth overall sound presentation, and own an iphone 3, I highly recommend them. These cans sound fantastic with all music and especially with Reggae, Dub, Electro, Transe...
I highly recommend these 518, can't go wrong for the price.
29 out of 31 people found this review helpful. Did you?
Awesome Headphones !!!
Posted by assassin4263 from Bangalore, India on 2011-08-29Posted on Sennheiser HD 518
Recommend Product: Yes
Pros: Comfortable, Sounds great and a good bang for the buck.
Cons: Long plug when using 3.5mm adapter.
These are really great headphones for music and movies. Even games sound incredible and is comfortable for long use too. The only thing that bothers me is the long plug when using the 3.5mm adapter. But the rest is great. I think its the best headphones you can get for this price. Also try it out with PowerDvd 10 or above. Selecting dolby headphone option in it will give you the best surround sound you can ever experience.
28 out of 29 people found this review helpful. Did you?
Good headphone for a beginner like me
Posted by thane on 2011-08-12Posted on Sennheiser HD 518
Recommend Product: Yes
Pros: Good value
Cons: None
my first headphone that I ever purchased at this price range. so far I really like everything about its performance. I so regret that I ever owned bose multimedia computer speakers, which costs twice as much as this headphone and has crappy sound quality in comparison to the sennheiser headphone.
29 out of 32 people found this review helpful. Did you?
Wow!! Did not know headphones sound could be so good.
Posted by Yosemity Sam from Winchester, OR on 2011-05-08Posted on Sennheiser HD 518
Recommend Product: Yes
Pros: For the price, it is unbeatable. Very comfortable.
Cons: None
I bought this for my musican wife to listen to music from a variety of sources. She was amazed and very pleased. Thanks HeadRoom for providing this quality for such a good price.
69 out of 80 people found this review helpful. Did you?
-
Ordering Information
-
Customer Support
- Contact Us
- Toll free 800-828-8184
- Send Us Feedback
- B-stock Outlet
- Things On Sale
- Gift Certificates
- Manufacturer Directory
- My HeadRoom
-
Learn
-
More Info
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
All site contents copyright © 1995-2013 HeadRoom All Rights Reserved
Hours M-F 9am-5pm MST Privacy Policy | Contact Us