Наушники — Sennheiser HD 550

Sennheiser announced the open-back HD 550 dynamic over-ear model on 18 March 2025, with pre-orders opening that day and shipping planned for the first week of April. It joined the 500-series at an MSRP of USD 299.95 (CAD 399.95) and was positioned both for home listening and for gaming, where Sennheiser pointed to lag-free spatial awareness as a use case. Compared with other 500-series models it applies less clamping force on the head.

Key specs that matter

A custom 38 mm transducer, produced at the Sennheiser audiophile facility in Tullamore, Ireland, is fitted in each cup. The quoted frequency response runs from 6 Hz to 39.5 kHz, with harmonic distortion kept under 0.2%. Nominal impedance is 150 ohms. The headphone weighs 237 g. It ships with a detachable 1.8 m cable ending in a 3.5 mm stereo jack plug, plus a 6.35 mm adapter for full-size headphone sockets.

Engineering and use context

The transducers are mounted at an angle inside the cups rather than facing straight into the ear canal, a layout Sennheiser uses to place the driver output toward the ear from the front. Ventilated metal mesh covers close the outside of the earcups, and an acoustic mesh protects the transducer from dust while leaving the back open. The design is modular, so the cable and the earpads can be swapped by the owner without tools when they wear out. Sennheiser sells additional cables separately, including versions for balanced sources and versions with a microphone-enabled jack for computers and game consoles. A soft-touch textured headband spreads the load across the top of the head, and the pads are covered in synthetic velour. Open-back construction means the HD 550 lets noise pass in and out freely, which makes it better for quiet rooms rather than commuting or shared offices.

Pairing

With its moderate impedance the HD 550 sits between low-impedance portable headphones and the 300-ohm models in the Sennheiser range. The small jack connects directly to laptops, desktop sound cards, consoles and portable players, while the adapter covers integrated amplifiers and dedicated headphone amplifiers with a full-size socket. Buyers who own a balanced headphone amplifier or DAC can move to one of the optional balanced cables without changing the headphone itself, and gamers can fit the microphone cable for voice chat.

Alternatives

The Sennheiser HD 660 S2 is a more expensive open-back dynamic model at USD 679.95, using a 300-ohm transducer and shipping with both 6.3 mm and 4.4 mm balanced cables.