Sennheiser HD 505's premium audio proposition is somewhat lighter on the wallet

Hindustan Times

23-04-2025

There was a time when Sennheiser's sound signature was a comfortable place. Its traits were clear — versatile across music genres and steadfast resoluteness against 'v-shaped' tuning. Much still remains true, except Sennheiser no longer retains that exclusivity of sentiment (Bose had a say, but has since faded away), as the competitive landscape has sharpened significant over time. Sony 1000XM5 and Apple AirPods Max found a sweet spot with premium headphones, Sonos Ace is extending its legacy and Dyson's OnTrac have reworked conventional wisdom to good effect. The question for Sennheiser is, can the new HD 505 reclaim some of that lost sentimental territory?
A few factors should work well in the HD 505's favour, as you further shorten the headphone shortlist. It is an interesting choice of materials which blends plastic, metal and a luxurious velour-like material into a lightweight design (around 237 grams; the AirPods Max tip the scales at 386.2 grams in comparison). It is an open-back design, which is just the ticket if a wider and more dynamic soundstage is what you prefer — the trade-off being this will be less adept at blocking out ambient din. The sound signature and tonality balance, with the specifics of design to keep in mind, is a reminder of the older times.
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The 120-ohm angled transducers play their bit in delivering strikingly impressive sound across genres of music and a further varied usage including podcasts and TV shows. There's pristine clarity being delivered, irrespective of volume levels, and even lower quality audio files are processed rather well and don't betray than less than elaborate bitrate origins as you move along the playlist. Wired headphones have their advantages, and the latter, certainly finds its roots in Sennheiser's simpler approach to headphones.
The Sennheiser HD 505 are far from the definitive headphones if you're looking for powerful bass or a general v-shaped (such a tuning environment boosts lower frequencies and subsequently over-compensates with vocals) equaliser out-of-the-bix. The focus here is natural sound, as far as possible, and delivering a sense of balanced realism. The underlying theme is that these headphones get more right with sound than less-than-perfect. That is also accentuated by the wider than usual soundstage, which gives the finer elements in a track their space to shine through. Details are nicely filtering through, and crisp higher frequencies remain comfortable without ever erring towards too much sharpness.
An interesting thing to note here is, the transducers in use with the HD 505 have previously been seen in the HD 560S as well — but for use now, they have received tuning improvements for vocals (these transducers can go higher in the frequency response range) but there's a comparative reduction on the lower frequencies, with somewhat lesser extension (12Hz now, compared with 6Hz in the 560S). This seems to be a fine balance that Sennheiser has played with the hardware.
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It is, before we draw conclusions, imperative to illustrate the competitive landscape the HD 505 (this costs ₹27,990) finds itself in. The closest, in terms of price, would be the Sony 1000XM5 (that's around ₹34,990), while the Dyson OnTrac (around ₹44,900), the Sonos Ace (around ₹39,999) and the Apple AirPods Max (you'll be parting with ₹59,900). It must remain in perspective that these are collectively pushing a case for noise-cancelling with music, which the HD 505's increasingly rarer open-back design doesn't allow for. Our comparison is purely on the aspect of sound, signature and how well the headphones have been put together.
The Sennheiser HD 505 will appeal to a very specific demographic of buyers. For starters, you must cross out on the checklist, what you'd be able to do without. Noise cancellation and isolation, for starters. Throw in wireless connectivity for good measure. The HD 505 are focused, wired headphones with an open-back design. There aren't many headphones that now follow this choice. A wide, detailed sound signature is primarily delivered very well. The comfort even after hours of wearing this, is a bonus.